The Issues with the 2020 NHL Draft:

Wow! The NHL season continues to get crazier and crazier as time progresses. Last Friday night, the NHL had its draft lottery to determine the order of the 2020 draft. The rules and logistics were extremely complicated and there were thousands of possible outcomes. To clarify, the league decided that the eight teams who lost in the "play-in” round of the expanded playoff format would also have an opportunity to obtain a top-three selection in this upcoming draft, in addition to the teams who did not qualify in the playoff tournament. Unfortunately, for those bottom seven teams, this is exactly what happened. One of the eight teams who were given the opportunity to compete for the Stanley Cup and maintain relevancy throughout their fanbases will be granted the opportunity at the first selection in the NHL draft. To make matters worse, this year’s consensus number one selection Alexis Lafreniere is supposed “the best prospect since Connor Mcdavid” according to many. He is a franchise-altering player that can make an immediate impact on any team as a top-nine winger. Currently, Lafreniere must be having mixed emotions right now. Last Friday, he thought he was going to finally figure out what team he was going to play for the majority of his career. These players in the class of 2020 have already been deprived of a regular draft setting without any spotlight or recognition. Unlucky for them, their wait for some sense of normalcy will have to continue to wait. However, what is crazy is that Lafreniere will now be joining, at worst, a fringe playoff team to start his career. How often is it that a player of that caliber is going to join a somewhat of an established franchise in his rookie year? Lafreniere does not have to worry about going to a bottom barrel team like the Senators or Red Wings, respectively.

In our opinion, on a broader spectrum, however, this year’s draft is not a good look for the league. In general, the draft lottery is a great idea as to how the draft should be determined. Usually, the league has done a great job with the processing and televising of the lottery, as well. The lottery is able to generate interest throughout the losing fan bases and it prevents teams from tanking as the Sabers did with Connor Mcdavid in 2015. It is a smart strategy and is definitely better than the previous idea of an ordered draft. The draft is effective as tanking is an even worse look for the league. It is much worse than a last-place team failing to obtain a top selection. However, there needs to be a balance. Bottom placed teams should not be guaranteed any top picks. On the other hand, it is never a good look for the league when a twelfth place team gets the chance at the number one overall pick. Although the lottery generates revenue and interest, why aren’t there fewer teams in the lottery? In a normal year, if there were seven teams in the lottery, instead of sixteen, wouldn’t that enhance the competitiveness of the league?

The perfect middle ground for this solution would include having a lottery with fewer teams which would still demote tanking and would enhance the parody of the league. Unfortunately, due to the lack of uncertainty with the bottom seven teams, the league's drafting system looked even more messed up this year. This is saddening, as they were doing a very respected job with the current issues of returning to play this summer. Instead of having a strange and complicated draft this year, the draft lottery should have been limited to just the seven teams who were unable to compete in the “play-in” round.

This year is unique and if the league wants to help the bottom barrel franchises in the league, they should have included any team participating in the expanded playoff format in the process. It is just not fair to those seven teams. What happens if a top team like the Penguins or Oilers are able to compete for the Stanley Cup, yet lose in the play-in round? Imagine they lose and are then rewarded from losing in the tournament. At this point, the league should hope that there are a few upsets as possible in the “play-in” round to prevent such situations from happening. Both the fans and franchises would create havoc if a team like the Maple Leafs were to win that pick. Additionally, how do you think the Red Wings felt after this draft lottery? They have the full right to be pissed. Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman refused to express his disdain and frustration in his press conference the night of the lottery. However, it was abundantly clear that he was upset. The red wings had the worst record this season by a landslide and they did not attempt to tank. Like every other year, they had an 18.5 percent chance at the first pick. Instead, they received the fourth pick, while another established fringe playoff team will get the number one pick.

Luckily for the league, not all of the seven teams excluded from the playoff tournament have the right to be upset. In our minds, the only other teams that should call for change are the Sabers, Winnipeg Jets, and maybe the Senators—The Jets have the right to be mad as in a regular year they were the team that was actually given the right to the first overall pick—. As mentioned previously, one main criticism of the lottery has been the strange percentages of the last-place teams. In other words, as the last-place team, the red wings had a higher chance of obtaining the fourth pick than a top-three pick. Is that necessarily fair? Instead, no matter the outcome, if the league limited the draft lottery to just the seven teams, the red wings would’ve had better odds at a top-three pick. In a regular year, teams are able to accept those percentages as it is a “lottery”. But, this year it was much harder for those teams to accept.

Also, the fans of those franchises are struggling to accept this year's outcome of the draft. They should understand, however, that just because a team has the highest odds at a pick, nothing is guaranteed. These lower teams have waited for the lottery for four months and probably won’t play a game until December or January. A team like the Red Wings or Sabers needed to remain relevant and enhance their marketing for their upcoming season.

While acknowledging this, the league is currently not generating any money. From the NHL’s perspective, having an unknown team as the first overall selection will only increase interest in the second draft lottery. A counter-argument to the unhappy fans could be made that each of the six teams were still able to obtain high draft picks in a very deep draft. Fans need to understand that in the NHL, usually, the late draft picks are what separates NHL franchises, considering the constant parody in the league.

While some unhappy fans Might say that the draft is rigged, we would have to disagree. To prove this, each year the NHL shows the video on the exact day of the process of the lottery. If one were to conduct research on the odds in the lottery, they would understand that it was very likely that both Ottowa and Detroit were not going to select number one overall. These are all the realities of a so-called lottery.

Lastly, as Steve Yzerman said, he was not surprised seeing that a placeholder team had one the first overall pick because of the strange “odds”.

Some fans believe that the draft was rigged just so commissioner Gary Bettman could enhance viewership and interest in the next lottery. However, at this moment there is no proof of those claims whatsoever. In such strange circumstances like this year, the league should’ve given the teams that needed the most help the best players. As Sportsnet’s Brian Burke said it best, “I think this result is nothing short of a disgrace.” Unfortunately, there is no way the league can fully prevent tanking. As a result, fans should not expect a permanent change from the draft lottery. However, they should be fighting for fewer teams in the process. Hopefully, in the near future, the league considers minor changes to the so-called “draft lottery”.