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NHL considering major changes to draft lottery format

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Colton Pankiw
March 8, 2021  (4:15 PM)
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According to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston, the NHL is proposing some major changes to the current draft lottery format.

Perhaps the biggest change of the three being proposed is that teams would be limited to no more than two lottery wins in a five-year period. This change would eliminate what we saw with the Edmonton Oilers who picked first overall four times in a six-year span in the 2010s. Another change is that teams can only jump 10 spots in a lottery win. This situation happened last year when the New York Rangers won the first overall selection and took Alexis Lafreniere despite the fact that 13 teams placed behind them in the standings. The final change being proposed is a reduction in the number of picks decided by lottery from three to two.

Shortly after Johnston released this in a Tweet, his colleague Elliotte Friedman said that these changes wouldn't take place until the 2022 draft., and previous lottery victories will not count towards a team's total, meaning everyone starts off fresh. While these changes have yet to be made official, they would likely be welcomed by the majority of fans, many of whom find flaws with the current draft lottery set up.