in NHL Props

New NHL Lottery System

With owners and players on the verge of resuming the status quo of haggling over dollars and cents, the NHL has gone ahead and settled two off-ice issues that will go a long way to bringing the level of interest back up to normal off-season levels.

First of all, the NHL has finalized the numbers for the weighted draft lottery that will take place next Thursday in New York. Also the league has selected a tentative date of July 30 in Ottawa as the date for the draft itself.

Following a complicated equation that factors in a team’s recent playoff success and number of recent first overall selections, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Columbus and the NY Rangers will have the best chances of securing the first pick with 3 balls each out of the total of 48 balls.

Anaheim, Calgary, Atlanta, Chicago, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Nashville, Carolina and Phoenix will have 2 balls each, and the remaining 16 clubs will each have one ball.

Despite the reports that the NHL will hold its draft in Canada’s capital city, Ottawa president Roy Mlakar refused to confirm anything other then the date and the fact that the Senators were willing to approve anything that the NHL wanted.

Rimouski Oceanic forward Sidney Crosby will be the probable first pick in the draft, and scouts say that he has the potential to lift the value of any franchise lucky enough to obtain him for the next ten years.