For the first time in the history of the NHL Draft Lottery, the drawing of the lottery balls will take place live on television.
Previous broadcasts of the lottery — which began in 1995 — have revealed results that were determined before the live television show. The exception was the COVID-19-pandemic-impacted lottery in 2020, which included a live-broadcast draw of team-logo lottery balls.
The usual process — conducting the actual lottery in advance, under the supervision of a lottery technician, an accounting firm and media witnesses — sometimes led to unfounded accusations of fixed results. This was especially true when draft featured so-called generational prospects, most notably in 2005 with Sidney Crosby, 2015 with Connor McDavid, and 2023 with Connor Bedard.
Matters weren’t helped in 2023, when ESPN accidentally tipped, before deputy commissioner Bill Daly had a chance to turn over the card, that the Columbus Blue Jackets had fallen to the No. 3 spot.