NHL Draft

EmptyNetter

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Jun 22, 2006
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North Shore, MA
It's kind of complicated, but here goes. . .
The first 14 teams to pick are the teams that didn't make the playoffs. Draft order is determined by team record over the previous season -- worst team picks first, 2nd worst picks second, etc. Except . . . there's a lottery ball. If your team's lottery ball is drawn then you can leapfrog forward 5 places and everybody you leapt over moves back one draft spot. This confusing rule was added to ensure that a team finishing last doesn't necessarily pick first in the draft -- some teams have been accused of playing very bad hockey in order to cinch up the #1 pick for next season. After the Stanley Cup is awarded, the final 16 teams are given their draft order based on their playoff performance.

As for the number of draft rounds, I think it depends on how many players are draft eligible that year. Divide that number of players by 30 (each draft round has 30 selections, one spot for each team) and you've got the number of draft rounds. There's often about 9 rounds but I've heard of draft years with 11th round selections.
 

Dr GLU

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Mar 1, 2002
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Northern Hemisphere
After the Stanley Cup is awarded, the final 16 teams are given their draft order based on their playoff performance.

As for the number of draft rounds, I think it depends on how many players are draft eligible that year. Divide that number of players by 30 (each draft round has 30 selections, one spot for each team) and you've got the number of draft rounds. There's often about 9 rounds but I've heard of draft years with 11th round selections.

Both of these statements are incorrect.

The 16 playoff teams are placed in order of finish with division winners receiving the last 6 spots, again in order of finish. Then, the cup winner is given the 30th pick and all teams with picks after the winner are moved up one spot.

There are 7 rounds in the NHL draft currently. It used to be 9 up until the new CBA, and was longer before that (1994 was the last draft with more than 9 rounds).
 

EmptyNetter

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Jun 22, 2006
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North Shore, MA
Oops. :blush: Sorry for the misinformation.

There are 7 rounds in the NHL draft currently. It used to be 9 up until the new CBA, and was longer before that (1994 was the last draft with more than 9 rounds).

What happens if there are more than 210 draft-eligible players, though?
 

Seph

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Sep 5, 2002
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Oops. :blush: Sorry for the misinformation.



What happens if there are more than 210 draft-eligible players, though?

Then however many players more than there are picks go undrafted and try to have a better season in order to hopefully get drafted in the next draft. Or the one after that. If they exceed their draft eligibility they can still try to sign with a team as a UFA or try out for AHL/ECHL teams (like John Madden did). Some go to Europe looking for jobs. And some just hang em up and move on with their life.
 

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