Preview: How Preds Can Win 2026 NHL Draft Lottery

So, you are saying there’s an opportunity.

The 2026 NHL Draft Lottery takes place on Tuesday evening, and whereas the Nashville Predators do not have the best likelihood to earn the primary total decide in subsequent month’s Draft, they’re actually within the combine.

The Preds enter the Lottery, which will likely be broadcast reside at 6 pm CT on ESPN, with a 3.5 p.c likelihood at successful the highest choice. Nashville is at present slotted tenth amongst groups with a chance on the first decide, and it owns 35 of the 1,000 doable lottery ball combos, therefore the three.5 p.c likelihood.

The almost certainly final result for the Preds is to stay within the tenth spot with a 73.3 p.c likelihood to take action, in keeping with TSN’s Draft Lottery simulator. There is an 18.4 p.c likelihood for the Predators to maneuver again to the eleventh total decide, and a 3.7 p.c likelihood to pick out second.

From the NHL, some explainer factors on how the Lottery is managed:

• As every lottery ball is drawn, odds will change and groups will likely be eradicated. The viewing viewers will be taught which groups are nonetheless within the operating in actual time.

• The Draft Lottery will decide the order of choice for the primary 16 picks within the first spherical of the 2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft.

• Participants are all groups that didn’t qualify for the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs (or the groups which have acquired the first-round drafting positions of these non-playoff groups).

• The Draft Lottery will likely be performed in two phases, the primary to find out the primary total decide within the 2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft and the second to find out the second total decide.

• REMINDER: The NHL introduced modifications to the Draft Lottery format on March 23, 2021. Among the modifications in impact since 2022 is a restrict on the entire variety of alternatives (10) a group taking part within the Draft Lottery can “move up” within the occasion it wins one of many Lottery Draws. Thus, solely the highest 11 seeds will likely be eligible to obtain the primary total choice within the 2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft.

While there are 9 groups forward of Nashville which have higher odds, the New York Islanders had been ranked tenth final yr with the identical odds because the Preds – they usually gained the 2025 Lottery. Enough to say, something can occur.

Nashville at present owns 12 picks within the 2026 NHL Draft – three within the fifth spherical; two within the second, third and fourth rounds; and one in every of the primary, sixth and seventh rounds.

The Preds are internet hosting a Draft Lottery Watch Party on Tuesday at BetMGM Sports Lounge inside Bridgestone Arena at 5:30 pm CT. Join for an opportunity to win one among 35 Preds prizes, together with a 2026-27 Quarter Season Ticket Plan.

Catch the Draft Lottery on Tuesday evening on ESPN at 6 pm CT, after which keep tuned to NashvillePredators.com all through the following two months because the Preds put together to make their alternatives within the first spherical and past.