NEW YORK RANGERS WIN 2020 NHL DRAFT LOTTERY

The New York Rangers have been awarded the #1 overall selection in the 2020 National Hockey League Draft by virtue of a lottery.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed the Rangers had their ball selected in the lottery machine.

It’s expected the Rangers will pick Rimouski Oceanic forward Alexis Lafreniere with the #1 selection.

“Along with the skill, is his competitiveness,” Rangers GM Jeff Gorton said on NHL Network regarding Lafreniere. “You go back to the World Juniors, if you followed him with Rimouski, right away you can see he has the kind of talent that we’re all looking for but he also drags everybody into the battle with him. We’re all looking for a player like that.”

The following is the order of selection for the National Hockey League’s 2020 Entry Draft following the second phase of the lottery held on Monday night (first overall selection plus picks 9-15 were determined in a second phase held at the conclusion of the qualifying round of the playoffs; 2019-20 season points percentage ranking in parentheses):

1. N.Y. Rangers (18)

2. Los Angeles Kings (28)

3. Ottawa Senators (from San Jose Sharks, 29)

4. Detroit Red Wings (31)

5. Ottawa Senators (30)

6. Anaheim Ducks (27)

7. New Jersey Devils (26)

8. Buffalo Sabres (25)

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Selections 9-15

(assigned to the other seven teams that lost in the best-of-5 Stanley Cup Qualifier round; in inverse order of their 2019-20 season points percentage)

9. Minnesota Wild (21)

10. Winnipeg Jets (20)

11. Nashville Predators (16)

12. Florida Panthers (15)

13. Toronto Maple Leafs (13)

14. Edmonton Oilers (12)

15. Pittsburgh Penguins (7)

(With files from the Canadian Press)