Lottery time: Cross your fingers and say a prayer for the Rangers

A little after 6pm tonight we will know what the 2020 NHL Entry Draft will look like for the New York Rangers

The first (and hopefully only) Stanley Cup Qualifier has been played and all of the series have been determined.  That means that at 6pm on the NBCSN and the NHL Network, we will watch the NHL announce which of eight teams (hopefully the New York Rangers) has won the first pick in the NHL Draft and the right to draft consensus first pick and generational talent, Alexis Lafreniere.

It took John Tortorella and the Columbus Blue Jackets five games, but they finally knocked out the Toronto Maple Leafs.  If Ranger fans  were frustrated by being swept by Carolina,  Maple Leaf fans should be suicidal.

The only saving grace for Toronto is that they are spared a Stanley Cup Playoffs first round elimination, the fate that they have suffered for three straight years. That makes it fifteen years of futility in which they have gotten past the first round just once.

It’s all good news for the Rangers when it comes to the draft.  They will end up with the first, 10th or 11th pick in the draft.  We’ve been through this before, but here are the scenarios that will determine their pick:

1. First overall pick:  If the Rangers win the lottery
2. 10th overall pick:  If the Rangers lose the lottery, but Minnesota or Winnipeg win it
3. 11th overall pick:  If the Rangers lose the lottery and it is won by Edmonton, Florida, Nashville, Pittsburgh or Toronto

The best news is that there is only one other Metropolitan Division in the running for the right to draft Alexis Lafreniere.  The bad news is that it’s the Penguins.   Ranger fans need to root for the Western Conference teams if the Blueshirts finish out of the running.  Better for Lafreniere to be in the West so he won’t play against the Rangers as often.

The second first rounder is decided

When the Leafs lost to Columbus it also determined which pick the Rangers would be getting from Carolina in the Brady Skjei trade.  The conditions of the deal were that the Rangers will get the worse of the two first rounders the Hurricanes possess, their own and Toronto’s.  Since Toronto’s pick will definitely be earlier than Carolina’s, that means the Blueshirts get the Carolina Hurricanes pick.

The ranking of that pick will be determined by Carolina’s performance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They earlier they are eliminated the better.  Let just put it this way.  The latest the pick will be is 31st overall if the Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup . The earliest the pick can be is 17th overall.  For that to happen, the following teams must lose in the first round: Carolina, Vegas, Colorado, St, Louis, Philadelphia, Tampa and Washington.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs

In case you missed it, here are the match-ups for the first round of the playoffs:

Eastern Conference

Philadelphia vs Montreal
Tampa vs Columbus
Washington vs Islanders
Boston vs Carolina

Western Conference

Vegas vs Chicago
Colorado vs Arizona
Dallas vs Calgary
St. Louis vs Vancouver

There’s a lot of drama in these match-ups, many involving the coaches.  Barry Trotz gets to coach against the Capitals and Alain Vigneault against Montreal.  Three of the six Western Conference teams made coaching changes during the season. The Lightning will seek revenge for being swept by the Blue Jackets and their former coach, John Tortorella.   Dougie Hamilton should be healthy against Boston , the team the drafted him.  Vegas’ Robin Lehner will be facing the Blackhawks, the team that traded him to Vegas at the deadline.

The playoffs start on Tuesday night, but tonight, all eyes will be on the NHL Network studios in New Jersey.  Cross your fingers.  Say a prayer.  Light a candle. It happened last year, it can happen again.

Blue Line Station will provide full covergae of the draft lottery and will have analysis of which picks the Rangers may have a shot at (if they lose the lottery).