When Is the NHL Draft Lottery 2021?

The NHL Draft Lottery is an annual event that determines the order of selection for the first 14 picks of the NHL Entry Draft. This year’s lottery will be held on July 23, 2021.

Introduction

The NHL Draft Lottery is an annual event in which the 14 non-playoff teams from the NHL’s regular season each have a chance to win the first overall pick in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft. The lottery is held before the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The 2021 NHL Draft Lottery will be held on Tuesday, July 13th, 2021. The 14 teams that will be participating in the lottery (in alphabetical order) are:
-Anaheim Ducks
-Buffalo Sabres
-Calgary Flames
-Carolina Hurricanes
-Chicago Blackhawks
-Colorado Avalanche
-Columbus Blue Jackets
-Dallas Stars
– Detroit Red Wings
-Los Angeles Kings
-Minnesota Wild
-Montreal Canadiens
-New Jersey Devils
-New York Rangers

What is the NHL Draft Lottery?

The NHL Draft Lottery is a weighted system that gives all non-playoff teams a chance at the first overall pick in the NHL Entry Draft. The lottery is used to determine the order of selection for the first 15 picks in the draft, with the remaining 14 picks being determined by reverse order of regular season finish.

The NHL Draft Lottery was introduced in 1995 as a way to level the playing field for non-playoff teams and create more parity throughout the league. The lottery has undergone several changes over the years, most notably in 2019 when the odds were expanded to give every team a chance at winning the first overall pick.

The 2021 NHL Draft Lottery will take place on July 23, 2021.

When is the NHL Draft Lottery 2021?

The NHL Draft Lottery 2021 is scheduled to take place on July 23, 2021. The event will be televised live on NBCSN in the United States and on Sportsnet in Canada.

How does the NHL Draft Lottery work?

The NHL Draft Lottery is an annual event that gives 14 non-playoff teams a chance to earn the right to select first overall in the NHL Entry Draft. The lottery is conducted in two phases. In the first phase, the 14 teams are ranked in reverse order of finish, with the last-place team having the best chance (18.5 percent) of winning the lottery and being awarded the No. 1 pick.

The remaining 13 teams each have a chance (between 0.8 percent and 2.1 percent) of winning one of the remaining top three picks, with those chances increasing based on regular-season finish.

The second phase of the lottery is held if one of those teams wins one of the top three picks. In that case, all 14 non-playoff teams will have a shot at winning one of the remaining top two picks, with each team’s chance again being determined by regular-season finish and increasing based on draft position.

There are two key changes to this year’s NHL Draft Lottery procedures as a result of COVID-19:

First, if Phase 2 is required, it will be held before Phase 1 instead of after it as in previous years;
Second, for this year only, any team that qualifies for Phase 2 will be guaranteed no lower than an 8th overall pick regardless of whether it wins one of the drawings or not.

Who can win the NHL Draft Lottery?

The 2021 NHL Draft Lottery will be held on Tuesday, June 2. The draft lottery drawing will determine the order of selection for the first 15 picks of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.

The 14 teams that did not make the playoffs, or qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs, will be entered in the draft lottery. The 15th pick will be determined by a play-in series between the seventh- and eighth-place teams in each conference.

The team with the worst record in the regular season will have the best chance of winning the No. 1 overall pick in the draft lottery. The odds decrease incrementally for each team, with the second-worst team having slightly less than a 50% chance at winning No. 1 overall, and so on down through all 14 non-playoff teams.

The odds are reset each year, so even though a team might have had a poor season, they’ll still have the same chance to win No. 1 overall as any other team in the draft lottery.

Conclusion

The 2021 NHL draft is on July 23, and the draft lottery will be held on June 2. The lottery will consist of three drawings: one for the first pick overall, one for the second pick overall, and one for the third pick overall. The 14 teams that did not make the playoffs will be entered into the lottery, and the team with the worst record will have the best chance of winning the first overall pick.