When 2020 NHL Draft Lottery had fans questioning the integrity of the system, after Rangers ball was mistakenly 'dropped'

On August 10, 2020, the NHL conducted the second phase of the NHL Draft Lottery. The New York Rangers ended up with the No. 1 overall pick. However, the process was surrounded by controversy and conspiracy theories. Many fans questioned whether the Rangers' selection was rigged.

The controversy began when the NHL employee who dropped the ping pong balls into the lottery machine appeared to be a little too quick when he dropped the Rangers' ball. Commissioner Gary Bettman had to intervene and verify the logo before proceeding. This blunder led to fans questioning the weight and logo of the ball.

While the Rangers' selection may not have as controversial as the New York Knicks' "frozen envelope" fiasco of 1985, it still generated significant attention. The fact that the Rangers, who reached the qualifying round, were rewarded with the first overall pick added fuel to the conspiracy theories.

Some fans and analysts questioned whether the NHL rigged the Draft Lottery to benefit the Rangers. The franchise had never received the No. 1 overall pick in the universal draft era. They are also one of the biggest markets in the league. The NHL benefits financially from them being a competitve team.

The process of the NHL Draft Lottery

The NHL Draft Lottery is an annual event that determines the order in which the league's teams will select players in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft. The lottery system is designed to give all teams an opportunity to land the first overall pick.

The NHL Draft Lottery system is based on a weighted system that takes into account each team's regular-season performance.

The team with the worst record has the best odds of winning the lottery, with a 25.5% chance of winning the first overall pick. The odds of winning decrease for each subsequent team, with the team with the 11th worst record having just a 3% chance of winning the first overall pick.

The NHL Draft Lottery works by randomly selecting a combination of ping pong balls that are assigned to each team. The more ping pong balls a team has, the better their odds of winning the first overall pick. Each team is assigned a certain number of ping-pong balls based on their regular-season performance. The team with the worst record receives the most ping-pong balls.

Once the winning combination of ping pong balls is selected, the team that corresponds to that combination is awarded the first overall pick. The remaining teams are then slotted in based on their regular-season performance, with the team with the second-worst record selecting second, and so on.