The top three picks in the 2019 NHL Draft will be awarded through the lottery at 7 p.m. CT Tuesday night in Toronto. The stakes will be high for each of the teams that missed the playoffs given the availability of Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko, who are widely expected to be selected with the top two picks.
NBCSN will be broadcasting the action live along with an online live stream.
The Avalanche boast the highest odds for the No. 1 overall pick at 18.5 percent thanks to their ownership of the Senators’ selection through the Matt Duchene trade. Colorado could potentially add Hughes or Kaako to a core that already includes Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen (not to mention college defenseman Cale Makar), which could be bad news for the rest of the Central Division.
Blackhawks fans will want to temper their expectations after the team’s failed charge to the playoffs pushed them higher up the standings and further down in the lotto odds. The Hawks have just a 2.5 percent chance of winning the No. 1 pick and an 8.2 percent chance of moving into the top three. It’s far more likely that they’ll end up with the 12th overall pick, which would still give them a chance at a great prospect but not necessarily a future star like Hughes.
How does the lottery system work?
Here’s a breakdown of the system from last year:
“The lottery determines the first three picks in the draft order. Teams that missed the playoffs are assigned odds based on the reverse order of the regular season standings.
The league uses a system where 14 balls numbered 1-14 are placed into a chamber. Balls are drawn one at a time to create a four-digit sequence that corresponds to a board where 1,001 possible combinations have been divvied up at random among the 15 teams based on the lottery odds. The team with the matching combination wins the pick. Here’s a look at the numerical table used for the 2016 NHL Draft Lottery.
This process is repeated twice more for the second and third overall picks, with the combinations for the teams that already won picks being ineligible to win again. The fourth through 15th picks are then ordered by worst records.”
Team-by-team odds
- Avalanche (via Senators) – 18.5%
- Kings – 13.5%
- Devils – 11.5%
- Red Wings – 9.5%
- Sabres – 8.5%
- Rangers – 7.5%
- Oilers – 6.5%
- Ducks – 6%
- Canucks – 5%
- Flyers – 3.5%
- Wild – 3%
- BLACKHAWKS – 2.5%
- Panthers – 2%
- Coyotes – 1.5%
- Canadiens – 1%
How to watch the 2019 NHL Draft Lottery
Time: 7 p.m. CT
TV: NBCSN
Live stream: NBC Sports Live
