The NHL made the 2020 Draft Lottery about as complicated as possible, with teams that didn’t make the postseason getting picks 2-8 and leaving the No.1 pick to the eight teams who lost their Stanley Cup Playoffs qualifying round series.
The No. 1 pick was announced Monday evening by a slightly disheveled looking Garry Bettman and went to the New York Rangers.
Each of the eight teams had a 12.5% chance of getting the pick and with it, presumptive top pick Alexis Lafrenière. To show that the NHL wasn’t rigging the drawing (ahem Sidney Crosby) all eight balls were dropped into a little machine in a bizarre display, along with Bettman confirming the logos of each team. Of course, the ball dropper messed up slightly, dropping the Rangers ball just before Bettman “confirmed” the logo.
Because Draft lotteries are about the luck of the draw, and people need to impose some kind of order on random chance, fans had some fun spouting off the conspiracy theory that Rangers ball was actually frozen.
And as always, someone has to be the voice of reason.
Anyway, welcome to the NHL Alexis Lafrenière, where everyone is extremely normal.
