Once again, the onus is on the Detroit Red Wings to stoke the rebuild without assistance from the NHL draft lottery.
While the Wings are three weeks into their offseason, the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers are among the franchises which, after adding players added via the draft lottery over the previous five years, are still competing for the Stanley Cup. Other playoff teams, of course, got lottery help before then, but 2017 was the year the Wings entered the lottery for the first time in franchise history after missing the playoffs for the first time in 25 seasons.