NHL Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner Gary Bettman and Bill Daly (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
The NHL proposed three significant changes to the Lottery Draft Process and recently was approved by the NHL Board of Governors. How could this affect the Minnesota Wild?
On February 12th, we learned via Pierre LeBrun that the NHL was considering changes to the Draft Lottery system. Those changes would include:
- The number of “lottery draws” reduced from three to two picks, meaning, if the team that finishes last in the league doesn’t win the lottery, they’ll pick 3rd overall instead of 4th
- Starting in 2022 (so not this upcoming draft lottery), the max number of places a team can move up is ten places, meaning the first overall pick can only be won by eleven possible teams, rather than the current sixteen.