5 Ways To “Fix” NHL Draft Lottery System That Make It Much More Fun

The New Jersey Devils have won two NHL Draft lotteries this decade after never winning the first-overall pick in its almost four-decade history. They were able to draft Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier to help put together a very good foundation down for the future. We’ve seen teams use the draft lottery to accelerate their ascent up the standings, while others botched their picks and kept themselves at the bottom. Now, after the New York Rangers moved up considerably in the draft lottery twice to get Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere, the conversation once again moves to “fixing” the draft lottery system.

Obviously, the first piece of news there would severely impact the Devils this season. Since they won in 2017 and 2019, they would not be able to move up at all in 2021, a draft that is very heavy on top defenders. This seems like one of those “change for change sake” moves by the NHL. So, if we’re making changes to the NHL Draft and draft lottery, let’s go crazy.

The league would do well with going with an off-the-wall system that will get more eyes on the product. Sure, the draft lottery gets people to watch now, but it’s only for the teams that are in it. There’s a way to make the NHL Draft a must-see experience. There are also ways to make it fairer.

The lottery isn’t as bad as some people make, but there are major flaws. So, might as well make it one of the craziest and fun nights on the NHL calendar. The draft lottery is a huge night for one NHL fanbase, but it’s also one that takes away a lot of what the NHL Draft could be. Imagine if we didn’t know which team had the number-one overall pick going into the night? Imagine if there were other ways to find the “winner” of the top pick?

So, this is to look at various other options. Some are already out there, and we will do our best to give credit where credit is due. Others are just ideas from my brain, which might be just a little bit insane but equally as fun. Let’s rank the ideas to fix the NHL Draft and its lottery system from “most boring” to “must watch”.

Go Back to Worst Goes First

Sometimes, the easiest path is the smartest path. The NFL and MLB still use a system where the worst teams get the best pick and there’s no other way around it. How often does tanking come up in those sports?

It’s definitely also with its flaws, but do teams lose more when there is a lottery than when there is not? So many times, we’ve seen football teams win games and ruin their chances at the number-one overall pick. The New York Jets had the inside route to the number-one pick and a transcending talent in Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Instead, they won two games, and now the Jacksonville Jaguars have the pick. This is from a league with only 16 (and soon 17) games, so every loss matters more for draft picks.

Each loss in hockey isn’t that important when it comes to draft status. Two years ago, the last 82-game season, Ottawa had the worst record locked up by seven points. Usually, the worst team in the league doesn’t need to “tank” to be the worst.

There are teams that sell at the deadline, but they would usually do that anyway. That is more about gaining assets for pieces that likely wouldn’t stick around over traditional tanking. This would be the easiest path to “fairness” and it would avoid teams like the Rangers making insane jumps to get the number-one overall pick.

A Tournament

There have been multiple media proponents that have proposed tournaments to get the last spots in the playoffs. It would provide a different look and feel to the teams at the bottom of the standings instead of being fed to the sharks (and not the San Jose kind). Bill Simmons has been pushing for this in basketball for well over a decade.

We came close to this in both the NBA and NHL with play ins for the last seed in basketball and a 24-team tournament in hockey. It was exciting, and it brought a level of competition to the middle of the standings that might not have existed in a normal year.

So, let’s bring that competition to the bottom of the standings in the NHL.

Starting next season, 16 teams will miss the playoffs. That could make a perfect NHL tournament. However, there’s the issue that the teams that just miss the playoffs would have an insane advantage. They likely didn’t sell at the trade deadline, and the other has been playing for the playoffs for a month while the other teams have been looking ahead to the offseason.

There are two ways to fix that. Either, make it an eight or ten-team tournament, or make the top eight seeds play in their own tournament, then the bottom eight seeds will have another tourney, and the winners face off for the right to the number-one overall pick. This wouldn’t impact the rest of the draft, but only the first pick. The tournament should be one and done, and it would happen over the course of eight days before the playoffs start. That would give playoff teams time to rest and prepare, while hockey is still on your television.

“The Gold Plan”

This is where things start to get fun. The Gold Plan has been around for a while. Sean McIndoe wrote about it for TSN back in 2016 after Shane Doan mentioned its possibility. Basically, the rule states that the winner of the number-one overall pick, and every pick following this, would be determined by how many points a team accrues after they are eliminated from the playoffs.

The idea is that the worst teams in the league would still have the best chance to get a number-one overall pick because they would be eliminated first. However, this plan does lean on the quality of the division a little too much.

There are some very cool parts of the plan. Fans of bad teams have a reason to root for wins again. The teams pushing for a playoff spot and miss won’t really have much of a chance to get the best player in the draft. While flawed, there are a lot of very good things about this plan.

Looking back, one Reddit user looked at who would win the top picks based on this plan. Spoiler alert, it’s bad for the Devils. Some of the highlights include the Flyers ending up with Nathan MacKinnon, the Atlanta Thrashers would have ended up with John Tavares, and the Edmonton Oilers would have been the winners of the Connor McDavid sweepstakes. So, he was destined to be there it appears.

The Devils would have ended up with players like Lawson Crowse, Michael Rasmussen, and Michael McLeod based on this plan (if they kept the same pick). It’s not a good spot to be in. This is a plan that is specifically looking to target tanking. It’s a little overblown, but it does give a reason for the media to cover the bottom of the standings.

Auction Style

This one might get a little complicated but stick with it. So, the basic premise of the idea is to hold an auction at the NHL Draft for the top-five picks. Start with pick number one, and allow the top five teams to bid on the player. This would have to eliminate the restrictions that come with an entry-level contract, but if the contract is restricted to just three years, it shouldn’t be a problem. Players should be getting paid more anyway.

Have you ever been to a live auction? This isn’t like eBay. We’re talking about an old-school, inside a barn or warehouse, sell everything for what it goes for auction. It’s exhilarating. Trying to find the pieces that you want, and then actually putting the right price on it is one of the most exciting experiences.

So, let’s take the bottom of the standings right now. The Sabres are at the bottom of the league in terms of pure points (since it is only a hypothetical, we won’t use points percentage). Then, it’s the Red Wings, Devils, Senators, and Sharks. So, the Sabres would be allowed to nominate a player, and then those five teams would bid on the top pick. Then, the second pick would be between the four losing teams and the sixth team all the way through the top five.

This mixes strategy with going all in on a prospect. A top team could pick the one prospect they want to make sure is cost-controlled, or they could pick a player they don’t want to get another team to pay for them. The strategy could backfire, which makes the entire thing very fun.

The rest of the draft would be paid based on a scale similar to the NFL Draft. What would the Toronto Maple Leafs be willing to pay for a brand new Connor McDavid? Would the Oilers overpay for Jack Eichel if they missed out on McDavid? Would they go $5 million per season on a rookie who’s never played an NHL game? Would they go $8 million to beat out the competition? It’s a fun theory that would make the NHL Draft one of the most exciting days in sports.