Teams eligible for 2020 Draft lottery finally revealed!

While it looks like the Draft lottery could take place in the coming month, nothing has yet to be made official by the National Hockey League. 

However, reports now show that we know which teams will be eligible for the draft lottery, in order to end up with the first overall pick. 

It is believed that the 2020 Draft lottery will include the seven teams that didn’t qualify for the 24-team playoff tournament, plus the eight teams eliminated in the qualifying round. It is also rumoured that the draft would take place after the postseason. 

The draft lottery will take place on June, 26th. 

The National Hockey League Players’ Association Executive Board gave the green light on a 24-team Return to Play proposal last week. Under the plan proposed by the NHL/NHLPA Return To Play committee, the top four teams in each conference would play each other in a mini-tournament for seeding while the remaining 16 teams face off in a best-of-five series play-in round to set the final 16 to compete for the Stanley Cup. Seven teams will miss out on the playoffs, including the Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils, Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks, Ottawa Senators and the Detroit Red Wings.

Here is how the draft order looks with the teams that will miss out on the 24-team playoff:

1. Detroit Red Wings
2. Ottawa Senators
3. Ottawa Senators (from the San Jose Sharks)
4. Los Angeles Kings
5. Anaheim Ducks
6. New Jersey Devils
7. Buffalo Sabres