The Colorado Avalanche are in the 2017 NHL Draft lottery, not the playoff hunt. It’s still several months until the draft lottery takes place — probably at the end of April, as happened last year. However, the Avs are in the hunt for first-overall.
It would be better if they didn’t get that first-overall pick.
Draft Lottery
The way that the draft lottery works is that the teams not making the playoffs get weighted according to their finish in the season. They then get put into a lottery to see which teams pick in the first three positions.