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Quick Read: The Doomsday Draft Scenario

March 25, 2020, 10:56 PM ET [29 Comments]
Michael Stuart
Ottawa Senators Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Ottawa Senators have waited all year, and now they are going to have to wait a little longer. The National Hockey League announced today that the 2020 draft lottery has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Everything including the location, timing, *and* format of the draft is said to be uncertain at this point.

With that news, teams around the league are apparently already pitching ideas. The Athletic is reporting that at least one team has suggested a tournament among lottery teams to determine who receives the first overall pick:

It’s an idea that sounds like a bit of fun… until you put any thought into it. It’s also a doomsday scenario for a team like the Senators, who planned on being bad this year to obtain lottery odds, and were the recipients of some good luck on the San Jose front. To have the rules of the game switched up so significantly this late in the process would be patently unfair.

Further to that point, imagine the Sharks showing up to the tournament. Are they supposed to try their hardest so that the Senators can get the first overall pick? It doesn't make a lot of sense. The simplest solution, of course, is just to rank teams by points percentage to the play stoppage, and allocate lottery odds as per usual. It’s not rocket science, but it doesn’t need to be.

With all that in mind, I'm curious to get your thoughts on what makes the most sense for the NHL's draft lottery conundrum. Should the lottery be run as normal with the 15 non-playoff teams at the time of stoppage? Should the lottery be expanded or contracted? Or should it perhaps be scrapped altogether? Let me know in the comments section.

The Sens Marketplace will be back tomorrow night. As always, thanks for reading.
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