Photo: NHL.com

Phase one of the 2020 NHL Draft Lottery occurred on Friday night as the top eight picks in one of the deepest drafts in years were announced. An unknown team (to be determined after the NHL play-in round) won the first overall pick, which is expected to be center Alexis Lafreniere. The unknown team, which entered the lottery with a 2.5% chance of winning the first pick, jumped 11 spots to the No. 1, the most in NHL history.

Deputy commissioner Bill Daly said on NBCSN that the pick will go to a team eliminated in the NHL play-in round.

Lafreniere recorded 35 goals, 112 points, and a +41 rating in 52 games with the QJMHL’s Rimouski Oceanic this past season. To view the 2020 NHL Draft rankings according to NHL.com, click here.

The Ottawa Senators had two picks in the lottery after they acquired the San Jose Sharks’ first-rounder in the trade that sent defenseman Erik Karlsson to the Bay Area on September 13, 2018.

The Los Angeles Kings will pick second which is expected to be center Quinton Byfield, Senators will select third which is projected to be forward Tim Stutzle, Detroit Red Wings will go fourth, Senators (original pick) will get the fifth pick, Anaheim Ducks will have their turn at sixth, New Jersey will pick seventh, and the Buffalo Sabres will go eighth. Picks nine through 15 will be determined after the play-in round.

The Red Wings already locked up the last place in the NHL before the season paused, finishing 23 points behind the 30th-place Senators.

The Sabres have picked eighth or higher in each of the past eight drafts.

Since the Washington Capitals are already in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, we will not know where they will pick until after their season is over.

The 2020 NHL Draft was originally scheduled for this weekend at Bell Centre in Montreal before it was postponed due to the NHL Pause.

The NHL reportedly wanted to keep the draft at the original date but the 31 GMs and owners gave them a lot of pushback with the season results still unknown.

The top-four teams in the Eastern Conference, Vancouver Canucks, and Arizona Coyotes traded away their first-round picks this year on condition.

FROM NHL MEDIA RELEASE

NEW YORK (June 26, 2020) — The Los Angeles Kings and Ottawa Senators own the second and third overall drafting positions, respectively, for the First Round of the 2020 NHL Draft as a result of Phase 1 of the 2020 NHL Draft Lottery Drawing at NHL Network’s Secaucus, N.J., studio. The first overall drafting position will be determined in Phase 2 of the NHL Draft Lottery, to be conducted between the Qualifying Round and First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Phase 1 of the 2020 NHL Draft Lottery consisted of three draws: the First Draw (first overall pick), Second Draw (second overall pick) and Third Draw (third overall pick).

The First Draw winner was ‘Team E’ — one of the eight “placeholders” that represent the to-be-determined Qualifying Round teams that do not advance. Accordingly, the Draw for the first overall selection will be conducted during Phase 2 among only the eight Qualifying Round teams that fail to advance. All participants will have the same odds.

The Kings won the Second Draw for the second overall selection and the Senators, with a position previously acquired in a trade with the San Jose Sharks, won the Third Draw for the third overall selection.

Fifteen teams were eligible in Phase 1 of the 2020 NHL Draft Lottery: the seven teams that already have not qualified for the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs (#1-7) – ranked in inverse order of their points percentages at the time of the pause in the regular season – and the eight “placeholders” (#8-15), thus maintaining previously established odds for the Draft Lottery.

The five teams from the #1-7 group that were not selected in Phase 1 are assigned 2020 NHL Draft positions 4 through 8, in inverse order of their points percentages at the time of the pause in the regular season. The seven teams not selected in Phase 2, in inverse order of their points percentages at the time of the pause in the regular season, will be assigned 2020 NHL Draft positions 9 through 15.

The order of selection for the first 15 drafting positions in the First Round, only, of the 2020 NHL Draft following Phase 1 of the NHL Draft Lottery is:

1. TBD *

2. Los Angeles Kings

3. Ottawa Senators (from San Jose)

4. Detroit Red Wings

5. Ottawa Senators

6. Anaheim Ducks

7. New Jersey Devils

8. Buffalo Sabres

9. TBD *

10. TBD *

11. TBD *

12. TBD *

13. TBD *

14. TBD *

15. TBD *

* To be determined in NHL Draft Lottery Phase 2

First Draw

In the First Draw, the placeholder ‘Team E’, in the No. 12 position, had a 2.5% chance of being selected. The Draw for the first overall selection will be conducted during Phase 2 among only the eight Qualifying Round teams that fail to advance. All participants will have the same odds.

Kings Win Second Draw

In the drawing that assigned the second overall draft pick, the Kings had a 9.7% percentage likelihood for selection. The team has picked No. 2 overall three times: 1981 (Doug Smith), 1986 (Jimmy Carson) and 2008 (Drew Doughty).

Los Angeles had one of its combinations selected in the NHL Draft Lottery for the second time in franchise history. The Kings won the inaugural NHL Draft Lottery in 1995, moving from 7 to 3, and drafted Aki Berg.

Senators Win Third Draw

In the drawing that assigned the third overall draft pick, the Senators had a combined 28.4% percentage likelihood for selection (15.3% from owning the No. 2 position and another 13.1% from owning the No. 3 position, previously acquired in a trade with the San Jose Sharks). The No. 3 position was selected in tonight’s Third Draw. Ottawa has picked No. 3 overall once, in 1994 (Radek Bonk).

The Senators emerge from the 2020 NHL Draft Lottery with two picks in the top five overall (No. 3 and No. 5). A team has had two picks in the top five eight times – most recently the New York Islanders in 2000 (Rick DiPietro: No. 1; Raffi Torres: No. 5).

For each of the three drawings, 14 balls, numbered 1 to 14, were placed in a lottery machine. The machine randomly selected four balls. The resulting four-number series (without regard to selection order) was matched against a chart that shows all possible combinations and the clubs to which each was assigned. The chart showed that ‘Team E’ had been assigned the numbers (2-9-10-11) that were expelled in the first drawing, followed by the Kings (3-5-9-13) in the second drawing and the Senators, via San Jose (3-11-12-14) in the third drawing.

The remaining 16 selections in Round 1 of the 2020 NHL Draft (#16-31) will be determined by the results of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

By Harrison Brown