The Edmonton Oilers maybe could’ve just won the 2020 draft lottery

Look, the 2020 draft lottery was wildly confusing but it kind of makes more sense and I’ll put it all very simply: The Edmonton Oilers maybe could’ve just won the 2020 draft lottery.

If I’m understanding this all correctly, while the Oilers didn’t officially win the draft lottery, one of the eight teams who lose in the play-in round will have a chance to win the right to draft first overall.

So, in theory, if the Oilers lose in the first round of the play-in round to the Chicago Blackhawks, they have a 12.5% chance to draft first overall and select f̶u̶t̶u̶r̶e̶ ̶E̶d̶m̶o̶n̶t̶o̶n̶ ̶O̶i̶l̶e̶r̶ Alexis Lafreniere.

The Edmonton Oilers had only a 11.5% chance to select Connor McDavid and look what happened. Who’s to say the Oilers couldn’t do it again? It would, after all, be complete maximum chaos.

And as a fan of complete maximum chaos, this is all tremendous.

Long story short, one of the Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks, Phoenix Coyotes, Minnesota Wild, Vancouver Canucks, Nashville Predators, Florida Panthers, Calgary Flames, New York Rangers, Winnipeg Jets, New York Islanders, Columbus Blue Jackets, Toronto Maple Leafs, Pittsburgh Penguins, or of course, the Edmonton Oilers.

But in all seriousness, the fact that a placeholder team won the lottery is wild. It bumps the Detroit Red Wings, who had the best chance at first overall with an 18.5% chance, to fourth overall.

Selecting second will be the Los Angeles Kings and third and fifth overall will be the Ottawa Senators. Sixth belongs to the Anaheim Ducks, seventh goes to the New Jersey Devils and the Buffalo Sabres will select eight overall.

If the NHL is unable to complete its season, the league will conduct another draw of the teams ranked 8-15 based off of points percentage. If the league is able to continue and complete the play-in round, the league will hold the second phase to determine who will pick 1st overall between the end of the play-in round and the beginning of the playoffs.

On Twitter: @zjlaing