- The bottom 9 teams in the regular season qualify for the draft lottery (The number of teams eligible is based on the percentage of total NHL teams eligible for the NHL draft lottery).
- All eligible teams qualify for the 1st overall selection.
- No team can worsen their draft position by more than one spot.
- Odds of improving one's draft position are based upon final regular season positioning. Odds of obtaining the 1st overall selection are as follows:
20th - 35%
19th - 22%
18th - 13%
17th - 9%
16th - 7%
15th - 5%
14th - 4%
13th - 3%
12th - 2%