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Guide to the 2023 NHL Draft Lottery

2022 NHL Draft Lottery Montreal Canadiens First Overall

The date and time for the 2023 NHL Draft Lottery has been announced, with the live event taking place on May 8, 2023 at 7 PM Eastern time (4 PM Pacific Time). This is one of the biggest events on the NHL schedule each year, especially for the 16 teams who find themselves on the outside looking in when the NHL playoffs begin in May. 

Bill Daly announces the Montreal Canadiens’ #1 overall draft position during the 2022 NHL Draft Lottery (Photo by Mike Stobe/NHLI via Getty Images)

This year’s draft lottery might be the most valuable one since the 2015 draft lottery saw the Edmonton Oilers land the first overall pick and the right to select Connor McDavid. Whoever wins the lottery and earns the top selection in this year’s draft will get the chance to land Connor Bedard, while the runner up will have their pick of the remaining talent. How does the draft lottery work, which teams have the best odds, and who might they select at the top of the draft? Let’s take a closer look.

How Does the Draft Lottery Work?

The current draft lottery system encourages, and even rewards, losing in the NHL, but not as much as it used to. Before the lottery, the NHL’s last place team was guaranteed the first pick in the following draft, and that guarantee has been removed, de-incentivizing (only slightly) the tanking battle at the bottom of the NHL standings. Several rules were changed in 2022 when the NHL decided that only two winning lottery balls would be selected meaning there are only two winners compared to the three winners that we were used to.

Related: 2023 NHL Draft Guide


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Each of the 16 teams that miss the playoffs will have a chance to win with the teams earning significantly better odds at winning a high pick if they are lower in the standings. It’s also worth mentioning that a lottery win doesn’t guarantee one of the top-two picks in this year’s draft as teams can only jump a maximum of 10 spots, meaning that only the 11 teams with the best odds even have a chance of landing at first overall. If the team with the 16th best odds end up winning the lottery (unlikely but definitely possible) they could only jump up to the sixth or seventh overall picks, so the last place team could land first overall without technically winning the lottery.

The last place team in the NHL has a 25.5% chance of winning the top spot which are the best odds by far, explaining the wild race to the bottom of the standings that we see after the Trade…

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