Detroit Red Wings: NHL Draft Lottery changes could help the organization

The Detroit Red Wings were screwed over in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, and overall the past few seasons’ lottery results were not the best. However, the league is reportedly exploring some changes that will make some positive changes to the draft lottery setup.

There were some new changes that were proposed in a recent league-wide memo that would take effect as early as this year. These rule changes would require approval from the NHL Board of Governors to put them into action.

As it stands, the Detroit Red Wings are on pace to have another rough year in the points column. This means they are likely headed for another draft lottery appearance hoping to be the closest to the top.

If the Red Wings continue to struggle through the rebuild, they may be near the top for a few more seasons. However, these rules could help things play out in a much more fair manner than they have the past few seasons.

The proposed NHL Draft Lottery changes would help the Detroit Red Wings.

As it stands now, the league would make three large-scale changes. Two of them would go into effect in 2022, and one would go into effect in 2021. Here are the three proposed NHL Draft Lottery rule changes:

"Teams would be limited to no more than two lottery wins in a five-year periodTeams would only be allowed to jump 10 spots with a lottery winThere would be a reduction in the number of picks decided by the lottery, from three to twoPer Sportsnet‘s news updated on the matter."

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The two lottery wins in a five-year period may not be the most helpful, but it would also allow the Red Wings to avoid getting screwed over in repeated years.

Beyond that, the Red Wings would avoid having teams sneak in from near playoff-spots, with the max jump being ten spots.

Then, the rule change that would take effect this year would be a reduction in the number of picks decided by the lottery from three to two.

This is the one in which would have helped the Red Wings in the 2020 NHL Draft Lottery. During the NHL Draft Lottery in 2020, the Red Wings missed out on top prospect, Alexis Lafreniére who went to the New York Rangers after they won the first overall draft choice.

The Red Wings ultimately fell to the fourth overall selection, where they chose Swedish forward Lucas Raymond.

While, yes, Lucas Raymond is a great forward and is going to be a top talent in this organization for years to come, falling to fourth was a travesty and tough to stomach while watching the NHL Draft Lottery unfold.

So as the league continues to weigh out the changes, the Red Wings may have less of a chance of being screwed over in the 2021 NHL Draft Lottery if the changes go through.