The NHL Draft Lottery is fast approaching. Here’s a reader’s guide to the 2018 version of the Draft Lottery.

What It Is

The NHL Draft Lottery is the system used to determine the draft order for the NHL Draft, held in June every offseason. The teams with the worst records have the highest chance of picking first of the 16 teams that did not make the playoffs in that season. It is designed to prevent teams from tanking, or losing games on purpose to get a higher draft pick, because with the draft lottery it is not guaranteed the worst team picks first.

When

April 28th, 2018 starting before the Sharks-Golden Knights game at approximately 7:45 PM and finishing at the first intermission.

Where

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

How Can I Watch

On NBC and CBC

Draft Lottery Order and Percent Chance to Pick First

Buffalo Sabres, 18.5%

Ottawa Senators, 13.5%

Arizona Coyotes, 11.5%

Montreal Canadiens, 9.5%

Detroit Red Wings, 8.5%

Vancouver Canucks, 7.5%

Chicago Blackhawks, 6.5%

New York Rangers, 6.0%

Edmonton Oilers, 5.0%

New York Islanders, 3.5%

Carolina Hurricanes, 3.0%

New York Islanders (From Calgary), 2.5%

Dallas Stars, 2.0%

St. Louis Blues, 1.5%

Florida Panthers, 1.0%

Top Prospects

Rasmus Dahlin (Frolunda, SHL)

Filip  Zadina (Halifax Mooseheads, QMJHL)

Andrei Svechnikov (Barrie Colts, OHL)

Brady Tkachuk (Boston University, NCAA)

Adam Boqvist (Almtuna IS, Allsvenskan)

Noah Dobson (Acadie-Bathurst Titan, QMJHL)

Evan Bouchard (London Knights, OHL)

The 2018 NHL Draft, whose order is decided by the NHL Draft Lottery, will be held June 22-23 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.