NHL draft lottery: Maple Leafs have best odds
How the process works and which teams have the best chance of winning
This year's NHL draft lottery isn't just for the top pick two other draws will be held to determine which teams get the second and third choices.
Changes agreed to in2014 go into effect this yearand makeit possible for the worst team in the standings tofall outside of the top three picks, but no lowerthan fourth.
Here are the teams ranked by theircurrent odds of landing the top pick which is based on point percentage aftergames scheduled to be played on Sunday, April 10, the final day of the regular season.
- Toronto Maple Leafs - 20 per cent
- Edmonton Oilers- 13.5 per cent
- Vancouver Canucks - 11.5 per cent
- Columbus Blue Jackets- 9.5 per cent
- Calgary Flames- 8.5 per cent
- Winnipeg Jets-7.5 per cent
- Arizona Coyotes- 6.5 per cent
- Buffalo Sabres - 6per cent
- Montreal Canadiens - 5.5 per cent
- Colorado Avalanche- 3.5 per cent
- New Jersey Devils - 3per cent
- Ottawa Senators - 2.5 per cent
- Carolina Hurricanes - 2per cent
- Boston Bruins - 1 per cent
Draft lottery explained
The NHL lays outhow the lottery works:
- The lottery machine is loaded with 14 balls, each bearing one number, 1 to 14
- One set of four numbers is drawn from the machine, with eachball expelled from the machine at a ten-second interval
- Without regard to the order the numbers are drawn, there are exactly 1,001 four-number combinations
- Each of the 14 teams is assigned the number of combinations corresponding to the odds allocated to them by their regular-season finish
- That means the team given a 20 per centchance to win the lottery is represented by 200 of the 1,001 possible combinations, the team with a 13.5 per centchance is assigned 135 combinations, and so on
The winners
Previous draft lottery winners and who they selected:
- 2015: Edmonton Oilers - Connor McDavid
- 2014: Florida Panthers - Aaron Ekblad
- 2013: Colorado Avalanche - Nathan MacKinnon
- 2012: Edmonton Oilers - Nail Yakupov
- 2011: New Jersey Devils* - Adam Larsson
- 2010: Edmonton Oilers - Taylor Hall
- 2009: New YorkIslanders - John Tavares
- 2008: Tampa Bay Lightning - Steven Stamkos
- 2007: Chicago Blackhawks - Patrick Kane
- 2006: St. Louis Blues - Erik Johnson
*New Jersey won the lottery in 2011, but the rules stipulated they could only move up a maximum of four spots, raisingthem from the eighthoverall pick to the fourth. Edmonton selectedfirst that year, drafting Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.