from Rory Boylen of Sportsnet,

As we inch closer to the eventual resumption of the NHL season (pending an agreement between the league and players’ association), Friday night will give hockey fans a little theatre when Phase 1 of the Draft Lottery is conducted.

Like everything else right now, this year’s version is going to operate a little differently.

Fifteen teams will still be involved in the lottery and the overall odds will not change from recent years. The bottom-seven teams, those not returning to play this season, will be directly involved in the lottery, though remember, Ottawa holds San Jose’s pick.

There will also be eight “placeholder” teams to represent those who get eliminated in the best-of-five play-in series to come at a later date. So there’s a chance we won’t know which team picks first, second or third after Friday.

Due to the unusual circumstances, this year’s potentially two-phase lottery could result in a wild order at the top of the draft. Teams that otherwise wouldn’t have sniffed the lottery now have a small chance to end up with the first-overall pick.

So, with that in mind, in this week’s Sportsnet NHL newsletter we wanted to note a few of the wilder possibilities that could result from this year’s lottery.

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