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The NHL draft lottery is expected to take place on April 29, per Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, with a number of organizations hoping to strike gold and land the top pick in this year's draft.

Much like the NBA's lottery, every team that fails to reach the postseason is given a chance to earn a top pick. This year, the expansion Vegas Golden Knights will be added with the condition that they will be given the same odds as the third team in the lottery.

With that in mind, let's take a look at the final regular-season standings and corresponding lottery odds:

NHL Draft Lottery Odds EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic GP W L OTL PTS Top 3 Lottery Odds No. 1 Pick Odds *Montreal 82 47 26 9 103 n/a n/a *Ottawa 81 44 27 10 98 n/a n/a *Toronto 81 40 26 15 95 n/a n/a *Boston 82 44 31 7 95 n/a n/a Tampa Bay 81 41 30 10 92 5.9% 1.8% Florida 81 34 36 11 79 17.1% 5.4% Buffalo 81 33 36 12 78 20.9% 6.7% Detroit 81 32 36 13 77 23.5% 7.6% Metropolitan GP W L OTL PTS Top 3 Lottery Odds No. 1 Pick Odds *Washington 81 55 18 8 118 n/a n/a *Pittsburgh 81 50 20 11 111 n/a n/a *Columbus 81 49 24 8 106 n/a n/a *NY Rangers 81 47 28 6 100 n/a n/a NY Islanders 81 40 29 12 92 3.0% 0.9% Philadelphia 81 39 33 9 87 7.2% 2.2% Carolina 81 35 31 15 85 14.4% 4.5% New Jersey 81 28 39 14 70 26.0% 8.5% WESTERN CONFERENCE Central GP W L OTL PTS Top 3 Lottery Odds No. 1 Pick Odds *Chicago 82 50 23 9 109 n/a n/a *Minnesota 82 49 25 8 106 n/a n/a *St. Louis 81 45 29 7 97 n/a n/a *Nashville 82 41 29 12 94 n/a n/a Winnipeg 82 40 35 7 87 8.8% 2.7% Dallas 82 34 37 11 79 18.3% 5.8% Colorado 81 22 55 4 48 48.0% 17.9% Pacific GP W L OTL PTS Top 3 Lottery Odds No. 1 Pick Odds *Anaheim 81 45 23 13 103 n/a n/a *Edmonton 81 46 26 9 101 n/a n/a *San Jose 82 46 29 7 99 n/a n/a *Calgary 82 45 33 4 94 n/a n/a Los Angeles 81 39 35 7 85 10.1% 3.1% Arizona 82 30 42 10 70 30.7% 10.3% Vancouver 81 30 42 9 69 35.3% 12.1% *Clinched playoff berth. Source: ESPN.com and Tankathon.com

Note: The Vegas Golden Knights have a 30.7 percent chance at receiving a top-three pick and a 10 percent chance at receiving the top overall selection.

The prize for winning this year's lottery is likely center Nolan Patrick, widely considered the top prospect in this draft. Patrick's upside is immense, as he seems to accumulate goals and assists rather effortlessly, but the downside is just as scary: a pretty significant injury history.

This year, he dealt with a sports hernia and an upper-body injury. That didn't stop him from scoring 20 goals and 26 assists in 33 WHL games. Not bad for a player who missed most of the offseason recovering from surgery on that hernia.



No, Patrick isn't the sort of generational talent the NHL has seen at the top of the draft in the past two years in Connor McDavid in 2015 and Auston Matthews in 2016 (and let's not dismiss Jack Eichel and Patrik Laine as amazing options with the No. 2 picks in those respective drafts, either).

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But he is the sort of player who could help set a franchise in the right direction and be the anchor on a top line for years to come. And his injury history isn't expected to affect his draft stock.

NHL Central Scouting director Dan Marr told Mike G. Morreale of NHL.com: "Nolan's situation is part of the game, and for NHL clubs it's a talking point in draft deliberations, and from many recent discussions with NHL personnel, it will have absolutely no negative implications or bearing on Nolan's draft status."

In other words, he's still the front-runner to be the top pick.

Nico Hischier has probably gained some ground, however. The talented forward bagged 38 goals and 48 assists in 57 QMJHL regular-season games this year.

And don't forget about defenseman Timothy Liljegren from Rogle in Sweden, who should be the first defenseman off the board.

This year's draft lottery won't have the buzz the past two years possessed. The McDavid and Matthews sweepstakes made for franchise-changing moments. This year, that level of talent isn't available, though most teams would be thrilled to land a prospect like Patrick or Hischier.