Multiple sources have confirmed to thn.com that even though this year’s draft lottery will not be televised live, a video of the entire process will be made available for public consumption after the fact.
This, of course, is a first for the NHL, which has traditionally televised only the results of the lottery. But sources say that with so much at stake, the league wants everyone to have the opportunity to see the process unfold so there will be no accusations of impropriety. With large market teams such as the Toronto Maple Leafs, Philadelphia Flyers and (possibly) the Los Angeles Kings having a chance at getting the first pick and the right to draft phenom Connor McDavid, sources say the league wants to make sure everyone can see evidence that the process is above-board.
“There will be full disclosure,” a source said. What form that disclosure takes is not yet known because both the league and its broadcast partners – Rogers Sportsnet, NBC Sports and TVA Sports – are still working out the details. We do know that the lottery will be held the night of April 18, which is the first Saturday of the playoffs. It will likely be held as part of the pre-game show for that night’s national game, which will be decided once the final playoff seedings have been determined. All 14 teams that have a chance of winning the lottery will be invited to send a representative to the event.
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Good to hear. I've always felt that they kept it a secret for when a McDavid would come along, they could throw him on whichever team it benefited most (Arizona?).
So, they'll record the first run and when Edmonton wins it they'll throw the ball back in, erase the video, and try again until they get it right, and then release the footage?
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I'm starting to think they should televise a ping-pong ball draft for all non-playoff teams each year, making it a pretty good TV spectacle much like the first round of the draft itself.
The 14th-last team gets 14 balls in the pot; the 13th last gets 13 balls; and so on down to the last place team which gets only 1 ball in the pot.
The first team to have a ball sucked up by that vaccuumy thingy drafts 14th, the second drafts 13th, and so on. The last team to have a ball sucked up drafts 1st overall.
What would otherwise be a quick 5 minute event lasts an hour because of all the extra balls remaining from teams that have already been chosen getting in the way ("Argh, Winnipeg again!).
It could make great afternoon TV drinking stupidity with all sorts of shifting stats for talking heads to prattle on about.
Also lots of chances to use in conjunction the words "balls", "sucked", and "vaccuumy-thingy."
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They should have all 14 Non-Playoff GMs put into a sort of thunder-like dome to fight to the death for the 1st overall pick. Now thats damned good television.
"14 Men enter, one man leaves..."
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Cant believe that anyone actually believes the draft has ever been rigged for one team or another.
Its ridiculous to think that the owners of 30 NHL teams all conspired to benefit only one team and at the same time the overseeing group of Deloitte Touche (or whatever they are called nowadays) would turn a blind eye thereby jeopardizing their entire billion dollar business....which would have to occur to make anything but a random event from happening.
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Cant believe that anyone actually believes the draft has ever been rigged for one team or another.
Its ridiculous to think that the owners of 30 NHL teams all conspired to benefit only one team and at the same time the overseeing group of Deloitte Touche (or whatever they are called nowadays) would turn a blind eye thereby jeopardizing their entire billion dollar business....which would have to occur to make anything but a random event from happening.
I do agree, but then what's the harm in just showing it in the first place? Even showing the ping pong balls bouncing around and them selecting Edmonton yet again is better TV than opening an envelope.
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Cant believe that anyone actually believes the draft has ever been rigged for one team or another.
Its ridiculous to think that the owners of 30 NHL teams all conspired to benefit only one team and at the same time the overseeing group of Deloitte Touche (or whatever they are called nowadays) would turn a blind eye thereby jeopardizing their entire billion dollar business....which would have to occur to make anything but a random event from happening.
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Originally Posted by Slava
I do agree, but then what's the harm in just showing it in the first place? Even showing the ping pong balls bouncing around and them selecting Edmonton yet again is better TV than opening an envelope.
yeah i agree....i don't think the NHL ever really thought of it as a TV event until recently however.
And IMO it really isn't one still....but there are those who will claim tinfoil shenanigans unless they see it with their own eyes....and even then there will be those who still won't believe it.
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The first time ever...Except for the last time they did it.
The thrilling excitement of someone running a search on a spreadsheet.
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With the current lottery system, the best way to do this (and make it compelling to watch in some miniscule way) would be:
Make the list of number combinations available to the public so everyone can download it and play along at home.
Display every team's updated percentages after each ball is drawn.
At the start of the draw, there are 1001 possible combinations.
After one ball is drawn, that drops to 286.
After two balls, it's down to 66.
After three balls, there will be 11 balls remaining.
When it's time to draw the final ball, show the remaining 11 balls and tell us which team's win corresponds to each ball. That way, when the final ball drops, everyone will know the winner at the same time.
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Don't they draw numbered balls, which then correspond to a 6 digit number and each team has a percentage of the possible combinations. What are they going to do? Tell fans, follow along at NHL.com to see your teams thousand number combinations as we draw balls?
NHL will publicly document the draft lottery for the first time
