LA Kings to Draft Second Overall in 2020 NHL Draft

The LA Kings will hold the second overall selection at the 2020 NHL Draft after winning one of the three drawings at the 2020 NHL Draft Lottery Drawing tonight at NHL Network's studio in Secaucus, New Jersey.

A Qualifying Round Team will hold the first overall pick, with the Kings selecting second and the Ottawa Senators selecting third.

This marks the fourth time in franchise history the Kings will have the second overall selection (also 1981-Doug Smith, 1986-Jimmy Carson, 2008-Drew Doughty) and fifth time having picked in the top two after selecting first overall in the franchise's inaugural season in 1967.

Participants in the Draft Lottery were all the Clubs that did not qualify for this season's Stanley Cup Playoffs and teams that are eliminated in the Qualifying Round of the playoffs when the NHL season resumes.

The order of selection for the first 15 drafting positions in the first round of the 2020 NHL Draft is as follows:

With a team not in the bottom seven winning the top pick, a Second Phase will be conducted among the eight teams eliminated in the Qualifying Round. That would take place between the end of the Qualifying Round and the first round of the playoffs.

The remaining positions are determined by the results of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The lottery odds for the seven non-playoff teams were determined by their point percentage during the 2019-20 regular season, which was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.

The eight potential losing teams from the Qualifying Round were represented in the First Phase of the draft lottery as unassigned picks.

The first drawing of the First Phase set the team selecting first overall in the draft, the second drawing set the team selecting second overall, and the third drawing set the team selecting third overall.

After the first drawing, the odds for the remaining teams increased on a proportionate basis for the second drawing, and again for the third drawing, based on which team wins the second drawing.