What Is the ‘NHL Draft’ in Sports?
The “NHL Draft” (officially the NHL Entry Draft) is the annual event where the 32 National Hockey League teams select new amateur players to join the league.
Think of it as the league’s primary system for stocking its talent pipeline, which is especially important in hockey since many drafted players don’t immediately jump to the pro level.
How It Works
The NHL Draft is unique because it uses a complex weighted lottery system that affects the top picks. This is designed to prevent “tanking” (teams purposely losing) to get the best pick.
- Seven Rounds: The draft is long, usually consisting of seven rounds (224 total picks).
- The Lottery: The 16 teams that missed the playoffs are entered into the lottery. The team with the worst record has the best chance to win the #1 pick, but no team is guaranteed any specific slot. The lottery determines the top two picks, and the remaining non-playoff teams are ordered based on their regular-season records.
- The Playoffs: Teams that made the Stanley Cup Playoffs pick later, in reverse order of how well they did (the Stanley Cup winner picks last).