The NHL has set a date for the Draft Lottery

We finally know when the first part of this very confusing draft year will take place. 

According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, “it sounds like the draft lottery will be on June 2.”

Starting in this year’s draft, only the top two spots in the draft will be determined by the lottery, down from the previous number of three. Starting in 2022, a team can move up a maximum of 10 spots, making only 11 of the 16 teams who miss the playoffs eligible for the first overall pick. Also beginning in 2022, a team can win the lottery no more than twice in a five-year span.

The changes are set to augment the chances of the bottom teams of getting that first overall pick. This what best explained last month by TSN’s Pierre LeBrun: 

“There are a lot of people around the league that simply felt that a team like Detroit, undergoing a real rebuild, 23 points behind the 30th-place team last year, should not have been picking fourth,” LeBrun said on March 9. “So, look for that type of change and perhaps other parameters in the lottery to also change and I think it’s a long time coming for some teams who felt the pendulum had gone too far the other way.”

With the changes now official, it will surely make the lottery far more exciting.

And we finally know when it will happen!