Coyotes picking No. 1 overall? Here’s how that could happen
Taylor Hall may have done it again.
Although the identity of the NHL club picking No. 1 overall in the 2020 NHL Draft won’t be known for some time, due to the unprecedented circumstances of this year’s lottery, there is a chance it could be the Coyotes.
The draft lottery was split into two phases this year.
The first phase was to determine where the seven teams not participating in the 24-team postseason format would pick.
However, the eight teams that will inevitably lose in the qualifying round of the postseason tournament were also eligible for a top-three pick. Of course, we won’t know the identity of the teams who lose in the opening round until it is completed, so placeholder
teams were incorporated into the lottery.
In the case of Friday’s Phase 1 results, a placeholder team wound up winning the No. 1 overall pick, which means a Phase 2 will now be necessary. That will take place after the qualifying round and involve the eight teams that lose in their respective series. Each team will have a 12.5% chance at the top pick.
The presumptive No. 1 overall pick this year is Canadian winger Alexis Lafreniere, who tallied more than two points per game this season for his junior club in Quebec.
Now, the Coyotes did trade their 2020 first-round pick to the New Jersey Devils in the December deal that brought Hall to Arizona, but there were restrictions on that pick. Specifically, the condition on the pick was that the Coyotes would retain it if it were a top-three selection.
At the time of the deal, Coyotes President of Hockey Operations and General Manager John Chayka added the condition to the pick in case the season went south and the Coyotes were a lottery team. Under the current return-to-play format, the Coyotes are postseason-eligible and still may end up with a chance at the top pick anyway.
Many on social media were quick to point out Hall’s connection to all this. After all, Hall’s teams have picked first overall on numerous occasions. The most recent occurrence was last season, when the Devils won the right to select Jack Hughes first overall. It happened before in 2017. His first team, the Edmonton Oilers, won the lottery in 2012 and 2015 with Hall working his magic.
Hall is aware of the luck that seems to follow his organizations. Back in 2017, Hall called himself a “lottery ball specialist” on Twitter.
The Coyotes, meanwhile, have had dreadful lottery luck throughout their team history. They finished a distant third in the 2015 draft that yielded both Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel, and they didn’t fare any better the following season when Scottsdale-raised Auston Matthews went first overall.
Is this the season where everything changes?
Well, a lot still needs to happen for the Coyotes to be awarded the No. 1 overall pick. First, they would have to lose to the Nashville Predators in the qualifying round. If the Coyotes move past the qualifying round, they would no longer be eligible for the pick and their firstrounder would transfer to the Devils as negotiated.