Wow, what a weird time for the National Hockey League. First, let’s talk about the draft lottery. There were eight potential “lottery pick” for next year's draft (not the usual 15), but only seven teams as of now will receive them. The eighth team will be decided later. The Detroit Red Wings had the best chance for the 1st overall pick at 18.5; however, the results were very unexpected.
The first pick actually to be one of the losers of the 1st round of the 24 team playoff bracket . This will be a separate draft lottery for only the 1st overall pick-every team in the lottery will have the same odds which is 12.5% and all of this will happen in phase 2 of the NHL draft lottery.
Another weird thing happening is the 24 team playoffs. Due to COVID-19, the NHL regular season could not conclude properly. So, the NHL commissioning board decided to have the best 24 teams according to regular-season points have one big tournament. In it, the first round, also known as the “play-in round”, it will be best of 5 games series, but after that round, each series will be a best of 7 games. All of these games will either be played in Toronto and Edmonton (both located in Canada) . The four best teams in each conference receive a first-round bye. The 8 teams are listed here:
Personally I can't wait to see what happens. I would not be surprised if either the Boston Bruins or the Colorado Avalanche made a run for the Stanley cup. Both teams have a strong goaltender and overall a good team.
Written by: Brady Bloch
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