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since the PA agreed to the 24 team playoff, then it should be a 7 team lottery and that is it. I don't care if team 7 wins the lottery and we fall to 4 if that's how they want to do it, although I do think the format should still remain that gives Detroit and Ottawa no lower than 2 and 4. People like to complain about Detroit "tanking" but look at teams 6 and 7...Buffalo? New Jersey? There is no more than can be said about those two teams. But even if they went with the same rules for the 7 teams, so be it, just do NOT include any of the 8 teams that would've NOT been in the playoffs in a normal season. Are you gonna reward Montreal with the #1 pick overall if they make it past the first round? What if they do eliminate a top seed in the 1st, does that seed now get a lottery chance because they were eliminated in the 1st? Do you hold the draft now with the same 15 teams, Columbus wins they lottery, then miraculously goes on a run in the playoffs and wins a Cup or damn close? How fair is that for the 7 teams that aren't getting a playoff chance? If that's the case, then lets hold the draft with normal rules, normal odds, 15 teams, then after that have a 31 team playoff, best of 3 1st round? Can't have your goose, cook it and eat it too. It's either playoffs or lottery. You CANNOT win a shot at The Cup AND get rewarded with Lafreniere or even a top 7 pick unless you've traded for it. Isn't it good enough that Montreal gets a shot in the playoffs and STILL could get a #8 overall? That will be a pretty damn good player for your efforts AND the playoffs!

I agree with Ryan: Like I've said, I generally don't have particularly strong opinions about lotto formatting. But if they go ahead with a 24-team postseason and they don't mirror the hugely boosted Cup chances they're gifting eight teams with hugely boosted odds for the two or three worst teams in the league, they can eat a bag pucks. And, yeah, if you can pull new rules out of your ass for the Crosby draft (because of unusual circumstances), you can do it for the Lafreniere draft (because of unusual circumstances). "You're only upset because you're a Wings fan." I mean, yeah, kinda. This draft was hugely important for us before the season was halted and it's just as hugely important for us here in late May. Given that, I'd interpret a 24-team postseason + no huge boost for us re: lotto odds as a spiritual mini-sequel to the implementation of the salary cap (and the bulls*** retroactive cap recapture penalty). "We can't sign off on a plan that helps out the Wings (and Sens), but let's add eight teams to the playoffs. Oh, also, you'd best believe we want some playoff teams to be eligible for the lotto. We're gonna have our cake and eat it. The Wings, well, maybe they shouldn't have sucked so bad." (Flashback to salary cap negotations: "It's simply not fair that this league has a few haves and a whole lot of have-nots. Detroit shouldn't have been able to buy a Cup, but that's exactly what they did in 2002. We're laboring under a system that favors some franchises and penalizes others. We need to erase that gap. We need parity.") This didn't bother me a week ago, as I honestly believed that the playoffs weren't even going to happen -- and that even if they did, it probably wouldn't be 24 teams. While everything is still up in the air, I can now see that there is a very clear path to the Wings getting shafted if The Majority is so inclined.

Indeed. Top-4 pick + Lots of picks + Yzerman's decent track record of finding good players outside of the prime 1st round territory = HYPE! We have to crush this draft; this rebuild needs a serious shot in the arm.