Hockey hasn’t returned yet and still has a long way to go to finish the play-in round and Stanley Cup playoffs.
Tonight, the NHL will conduct Phase 1 of the draft lottery. Below, you can see a list of the top 7 teams in the running for a pick in the top 3 overall:
In spots 8-15 are the qualifying playoff teams, but we do not yet know where they will finish.
For tonight, there will be 3 separate drawings, one for each of the top three picks. If all three of those belong to one of the Top 7 teams above, that’s it. The 8-15 teams will then be filled in by inverse order based on their season point totals.
Now, if one of those 8-15 teams gets the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd pick in tonight’s lottery, the NHL will then have a Phase 2 Draft Lottery between the qualifiers and playoff round.
The Sabres have a 6.5% chance at landing the first overall pick, which is expected to be Alexis Lafreniere. Buffalo has similar odds at picking 2nd or 3rd.
The lowest the Sabres can pick is 10th, but it’s likely they will pick around 7 or 8.
The NHL Draft Lottery is tonight — 8 ET on NBCSN.
Reminder: The Sabres have more than a 50% chance of getting jumped by a team still eligible for the Stanley Cup. Odds of moving up are about 1-in-5. pic.twitter.com/AQ8Y6uBCUE
— Nick Veronica (@NickVeronica) June 26, 2020