ENP STAFF REPORTS
news@eastniagarapost.com

---

TORONTO — The 2015 NHL Draft Lottery will take place at 8 p.m. Saturday.

The Buffalo Sabres are the odds-on favorite to win the lottery, a weighted system implemented and utilized to determine the order of selection in the first round of the 2015 NHL Draft for the 14 Clubs not qualifying for the Stanley Cup Playoffs (or the Clubs that have acquired the first-round drafting positions of those non-playoff teams). The team has a 20 percent chance of getting the first selection and a 100 percent chance of getting either the first or second.

The results of the Draft Lottery will be revealed live on CBC and TVA Sports in Canada and NBC in the U.S. immediately preceding the start of Game 2 of the Penguins-Rangers First Round series.

In August 2014, the NHL announced changes to the Draft Lottery format . The changes included adjusting the odds of winning the first overall selection. The 10 highest-finishing non-Playoff qualifying teams will receive higher (better) Draft Lottery odds than they received previously with the four lowest-finishing teams receiving lower (worse) odds.

Based on team finish, the percentage chance of being selected in the 2015 Draft Lottery is:

      1.    Buffalo Sabres    20.0%
      2.    Arizona Coyotes   13.5%
      3.    Edmonton Oilers   11.5%
      4.    Toronto Maple Leafs     9.5%
      5.    Carolina Hurricanes     8.5%
      6.    New Jersey Devils 7.5%
      7.    Philadelphia Flyers     6.5%
      8.    Columbus Blue Jackets   6.0%
      9.    San Jose Sharks   5.0%  83.0%
      10.   Colorado Avalanche      3.5%
      11.   Florida Panthers  3.0%
      12.   Dallas Stars      2.5%
      13.   Los Angeles Kings 2.0%
      14.   Boston Bruins     1.0%

Fourteen balls, numbered 1 to 14, are placed in a lottery machine. The machine randomly selects four balls. The resulting four-number series (without regard to selection order) is matched against a chart that shows all possible combinations and the Clubs to which each is assigned.

The chart of assigned combinations will be posted at NHL.com on Friday. The complete process, including the video of the lottery drawing, also will be available on NHL.com after the lottery is conducted.

More details will be available later in the week.

---

For instant access to East Niagara Post's YouTube videos, social media feeds and more, 

download the new ENP Mobile app for Android.