Ken Campbell of The Hockey News: Multiple sources saying that the NHL won’t televise the draft lottery live, but they will video the entire process and they will make available to the public. The NHL has televised the results live in the past, but sources saying that there is so much at skate, the NHL wants everyone to be able to see the process unfold so that there are no accusations of impropriety.
“There will be full disclosure,” a source said. What form that disclosure takes is not yet known because both the league and its broadcast partners – Rogers Sportsnet, NBC Sports and TVA Sports – are still working out the details. We do know that the lottery will be held the night of April 18, which is the first Saturday of the playoffs. It will likely be held as part of the pre-game show for that night’s national game, which will be decided once the final playoff seedings have been determined. All 14 teams that have a chance of winning the lottery will be invited to send a representative to the event.
In the past, teams have been given video of the lottery drawing process to prove it’s authenticity. The public hasn’t been given access to this video past, but that is changing this year.
Next season the draft lottery will be changing again, with three lotteries for the first, second and third overall picks.
