2015 NHL Draft Lottery procedure

Friday, 04.17.2015 / 12:00 PM / 2015 NHL Draft

By NHL Public Relations

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2015 NHL Draft Lottery procedure
The NHL has released the number combinations each team is assigned for the NHL Draft Lottery.

A weighted system used to determine the order for the first round of the 2015 NHL Draft for the 14 Clubs not qualifying for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the 2015 NHL Draft Lottery will take place on Saturday, April 18, in Toronto.

In coordination with the League, the results of the NHL Draft Lottery will be revealed in a live television broadcast on CBC and TVA in Canada and on NBC in the U.S. Saturday night at 8 p.m. ET, leading up to the networks' broadcast of Game 2 of the First Round series between the New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins.

The team winning the draw will secure the right to the first overall selection in the 2015 NHL Draft. Each of the 14 Clubs is eligible to win the first overall pick. The remaining 13 teams will be slotted in reverse order based on their regular season point totals. The drawing determines the order for the first round only. For all subsequent rounds, the order reverts to the original order of regular season and Stanley Cup Playoffs results.

Based on team finish, the percentage chance of being selected in the 2015 Draft Lottery is:

Team Odds of Winning Lottery
1. Buffalo Sabres 20.0%
2. Arizona Coyotes 13.5%
3. Edmonton Oilers 11.5%
4. Toronto Maple Leafs 9.5%
5. Carolina Hurricanes 8.5%
6. New Jersey Devils 7.5%
7. Philadelphia Flyers 6.5%
8. Columbus Blue Jackets 6.0%
9. San Jose Sharks 5.0%
10. Colorado Avalanche 3.5%
11. Florida Panthers 3.0%
12. Dallas Stars 2.5%
13. Los Angeles Kings 2.0%
14. Boston Bruins 1.0%

To determine the winner, the official lottery machine is loaded with 14 balls, each bearing one number, 1 to 14. The NHL Draft Lottery involves drawing one set of four numbers from the machine. One ball is expelled from the machine at a ten-second interval until four balls are discharged.

Without regard to the order the numbers are drawn, there are exactly 1,001 four-number combinations. Each of the 14 teams in the NHL Draft Lottery is assigned the number of combinations corresponding to the odds allocated to them by their regular-season finish (i.e., the team given a 20% chance to win the NHL Draft Lottery is represented by 200 of the 1,001 possible combinations, the team with a 13.5% chance is assigned 135 combinations, and so forth). One combination (11, 12, 13, 14) has been designated as a "re-draw," allowing for the division of exactly 1,000 combinations proportionately.

All number combinations are assigned to teams at random by Bortz & Company.

The video of the actual lottery drawing will be available on NHL.com after the reveal.