2024 NHL Draft Lottery Start Time and Sabres Odds

The 2024 NHL draft lottery is Tuesday evening when the Buffalo Sabres will find out where they’ll be selecting in the first round of the upcoming NHL draft. The Sabres are no stranger to the lottery process, as they’ve missed the playoffs for the last 13 seasons and have been consequentially awarded odds at the first overall selection. Here’s what you need to know about Tuesday’s draft lottery: start time, where to watch, odds, and the selection process.

Start Time

The 2024 NHL draft lottery is on Tuesday, May 7th, at 6:30 p.m. ET.

Where to Watch

The NHL draft lottery will be broadcast in the United States on ESPN and streaming on ESPN+. In Canada, Sportsnet and TVA Sports will air the lottery ahead of Tuesday evening’s Game 2 between the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers.

Selection Process

Due to the recent change in the rules, there are two sets of odds for each team that missed the playoffs. Here’s the breakdown of how the NHL draft lottery works, via Tankathon.

1. All teams missing the playoffs are in the Lottery 2. Teams with the least points get more chances at winning the Lottery 3. The 1st overall pick is awarded by a drawing of ping pong balls. A team can only jump ten spots, so only the top 11 teams are eligible for the 1st pick. If a team in the 12-16 range wins the first drawing, the first pick will be awarded to the worst team. The 12-16 seed team that won the first drawing is also locked into their new position. 4. A second drawing is held to determine the other lottery winner. Like the first drawing, the second winner can only jump ten spots, but this time it is using the re-seeded order following the first drawing. This second drawing will not affect the team(s) with locked-in positions from the first drawing. If a ten spot jump is to a pick that is already locked-in, this team will receive the next available pick. 5. Teams are only allowed to improve their positioning via the Lottery twice in a five year period (beginning with the 2022 Lottery).

Lottery Odds

Here are the odds for each team to win the lottery:

San Jose Sharks – 18.5%

Chicago Blackhawks – 13.5%

Anaheim Ducks – 11.5%

Columbus Blue Jackets – 9.5%

Montreal Canadiens – 8.5%

Utah – 7.5%

Ottawa Senators – 6.5%

Seattle Kraken – 6.0%

Calgary Flames – 5.0%

New Jersey Devils – 3.5%

Buffalo Sabres – 3.0%

Philadelphia Flyers – 2.5%

Minnesota Wild – 2.0%

Pittsburgh Penguins – 1.5%

Detroit Red Wings – 0.5%

St. Louis Blues – 0.5%

Since teams can only move up 10 spots in the draft order, here are the odds for each team to walk out of the lottery with the first overall pick.

San Jose Sharks – 25.5%

Chicago Blackhawks – 13.5%

Anaheim Ducks – 11.5%

Columbus Blue Jackets – 9.5%

Montreal Canadiens – 8.5%

Utah – 7.5%

Ottawa Senators – 6.5%

Seattle Kraken – 6.0%

Calgary Flames – 5.0%

New Jersey Devils – 3.5%

Buffalo Sabres – 3.0%

Philadelphia Flyers – 0%

Minnesota Wild – 0%

Pittsburgh Penguins – 0%

Detroit Red Wings – 0%

St. Louis Blues – 0%

Sabres Odds

The Sabres finished the 2023-2024 NHL season 11th from the bottom of the league. This makes them the last team able to win the first overall selection in the NHL draft. Their 3% odds are also the lowest of any team able to win the pick.

The 11th overall selection is their most likely to draft in, at 79.9%. If any one team ahead of them in standings (lower odds in the lottery) wins, then the Sabres will select 12th overall. If two teams ahead of them in the standings leapfrog them, then Buffalo will select 13th. They chose Zach Benson 13th overall in the 2023 draft, who had an immediate impact with the NHL club at 18 years old.

Besides winning to select first overall, the Sabres could pick second (3.2%) or third (0.1%) in the upcoming NHL Draft.

Here’s the Buffalo Sabres odds at each draft selection heading into the draft lottery:

1st – 3.0%

2nd – 3.2%

3rd – 0.1%

4th through 10th – 0.0%

11th – 79.9%

12th – 13.4%

13th – 0.5%

14th through 16th – 0.0%

We’ll have more on the NHL draft in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.