The 2020 NHL draft will be held this evening at 8pm est on ESPN. Who will go first? Was your team lousy enough to qualify for a chance at the first overall pick? If the system they have in place for how the draft will be implemented fair to the teams that were completely disqualified from playoff contention?
For those interested feel free to chime in!
The first pick in the draft will be Alexis Lafreniere from the Rimouski Oceanic, a very talented scoring winger. I “root” for the Buffalo Sabres, so yeah, they are kind of a mess right now. They are currently 7th in the draft order, so they have a little bit of a chance to move up to #1. This is a pretty strong Top-10, though, so they should get a good player as long as they don’t get skunked in the lottery draw (tonight is the lottery draw, though, not the draft)…
As for the draft lottery, I’m not a big fan of the lottery in general, and particularly not a fan of the current version of the NHL lottery. If they insist on having a lottery, then it should only include the bottom 3, or maybe the bottom 5, teams. There will be good, mediocre, and bad teams every season, and the teams in those categories change every season. I understand the reasons for having the lottery (to prevent tanks), but the league has gone too far in trying to prevent this from happening. In the end, bad teams should be drafting the top players so they don’t stay bad (in theory, anyway).
Yep, worded it wrong…Will correct that.
For me, I don’t like the place holders having a chance at a first round pick. I know the season got screwed up because of the virus but for me the lottery should have only included the seven teams completely eliminated from cup contentions. Seems very unfair that a team sill allowed to play in the playoffs will still have a chance at the first overall pick. I’m a Ducks fan and I will admit that if a place holder gets to pick in front of them I will be a bit “miffed”. Admittedly it looks to be a pretty strong draft, so your right anyone in the top ten should get a good player. Ottawa is sitting pretty with their odds. We’ll see NJ leaped over almost everyone to get Hughes last year. Will be fun to watch.
Go Bruins. 
Before this whole virus they were my pick to go all the way…With most everyone healthy on all teams they are still up there to win it all.
Yeah, I didn’t understand the thinking in how this NHL lottery format was created. Normally, the non-playoff teams all have a shot at the top pick, but I don’t even agree with that approach, so I dislike this year’s lottery format even more.
The Bruins will be a hard squad to beat in a series. They are so full of elite skill, experience and grit, they will be a contender as long as Bergeron and Marchand are there.
Bergeron and Marchand have more in their tank for sure…No sure how many more gallons Rask has though.
I can’t believe Rask is still around. I remember the day when Toronto traded Rask to Boston for Andrew Raycroft. Bad trade then…bad trade now. That seems to me like a lifetime ago.
Had Rask on more than a few of my my fantasy teams over the years…Won a couple of those seasons with a lot of credit going directly to him.