The National Hockey League will hold Phase 2 of the draft lottery tonight and the Florida Panthers are one of eight teams still in the running for the first overall pick in the 2020 Entry Draft, which, by allindicactions, will be forward Alexis Lafreniere.
The lottery will be held in the NHL’s studio in Secaucus, New Jersey, and will be hosted by NHL Network’s Jamie Hersch. The broadcast starts at 6:00 p.m. with coverage handled by both NBCSN and NHL Network here in the United States.
This second lottery is a rather straight-forward affair. The teams eliminated in the Qualifying Round last week (Minnesota, Winnipeg, New York Rangers, Nashville, Florida, Toronto, Edmonton, Pittsburgh) all have a one-in-eight chance (12.5%) to become Team E (the placeholder slot that won Phase 1 back on June 26) and claim the first overall pick.
Depending on how the drawing shakes out, the Panthers will pick in one of three spots in the first round of the draft. If they win the second lottery and become Team E, they get the first overall pick. If they lose the lottery, and the Wild, Jets, Rangers, or Predators win, they will end up picking 12. If the Maple Leafs, Oilers or Penguins win the lottery, Florida will get bumped down a spot to 13.
For subsequent rounds of the draft where they still have their own pick, the Panthers will pick 12. This means the Cats will pick 43rd overall in the second round, 74th overall in the third round (they also have Colorado’s third round pick), 105th overall in fourth round and finally, 198th overall in the seventh round. The Panthers traded away their own picks in the fifth and sixth rounds, but they do own Toronto’s fifth-rounder (137th overall), giving them a total of seven selections in 2020.