‘Placeholder team’ wins No. 1 pick in NHL draft lottery. Could that be the Canes?
The Carolina Hurricanes could have the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NHL draft.
If so, they’ll know ... sometime this year.
The draft will be held ... sometime this year.
The NHL draft lottery, or at least Phase 1 of it, was held Friday night. In a matter of a half-hour, it left everyone shaking their heads. It also left the draft lottery on pause.
The No. 1 pick of the 2020 NHL draft was won by “Placeholder Team.” That will be one of the eight qualifying-round losers in the NHL’s planned Return to Play postseason format. And that team will be determined in a Phase 2 of the draft lottery after the best-of-5 qualifiers, including the Canes’ matchup against the New York Rangers.
The Los Angeles Kings won the No. 2 pick Friday and the Ottawa Senators will have the No. 3 selection. The rest is “complicated,” as NHL commissioner Gary Bettman might say.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the NHL’s 2019-20 season was suspended and the NHL draft was postponed. The draft lottery, as deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Friday, was hoped to be the “first successful step of the Return to Play.”
In the draft lottery, the seven teams not involved in the postseason had the best odds of landing in the top 3. Had all three spots been filled by those teams, it would be over.
Not so, though. The eight qualifier losers were designated “placeholder” teams for the lottery draft. Now, one of them has won the No. 1 pick and Phase 2 of the draft lottery must be held after the qualifying rounds are completed.
All eight losers will have a 12.5 percent chance of winning the right to select forward Alexis Lafrenière of the Rimouski Oceanic in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, considered the consensus No. 1 pick this year.
Meaning the Canes could lose (to the Rangers) and still win big (in the draft).
Under the Return to Play format, NHL training camps will open July 10. The eight qualifying-rounds winners will join the top four teams in the Eastern and Western conferences in setting the 16-team Stanley Cup playoff field. The NHL and NHL Players Association still are working on the logistical details and protocols of holding the competition.
“It’s been a very collaborative effort, and I’m hopeful it all comes together very, very quickly,” Bettman said Friday.
As for Carolina, there is a twist to the first round.
The Canes acquired the Toronto Maple Leafs’ first-round draft pick in the 2020 draft in the Patrick Marleau trade last year. But that would change if the Leafs lose their qualifier and win the No. 1 pick. Under conditions of the trade, the Leafs’ pick is protected if it’s a top-10 selection. The Canes then would get the Leafs’ 2021 first-round pick.
The Rangers picked up a 2020 first-round pick from the Canes in the Feb. 24 trade that sent defenseman Brady Skjei to the Canes. But the Rangers get the lesser of the two Canes first-round picks in 2020 and would get the Leafs’ first-rounder should the Canes win the No. 1 pick.
The Canes made the biggest jump in the 2018 NHL draft lottery, moving from No. 11 to No. 2 in the first round. That got them forward Andrei Svechnikov in the draft.
