The first phase of the NHL draft lottery came and went without a team claiming the No. 1 overall pick:
The team selecting first overall in 2020 will be one that loses in the qualifying round of the league's scheduled Return To Play Plan after the NHL's current suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic ends, per NHL.com.
Sixteen teams will be paired off into eight groups and play in that qualifier round. The winners will move on and face the top eight playoffs seeds in a standard NHL 16-team knockout-round playoff, and the losers will go home and receive the consolation prize of earning a draft lottery pick.