The Maple Leafs, Blackhawks and Panthers were eliminated from playoff contention this past week. Where would they rank if the NHL team that recorded the most points post-elimination earned the No. 1 draft pick?
The Vancouver Canucks clinched last place overall in the NHL standings. It means they'll have a 25.5 percent chance of receiving the first overall pick in the 2026 NHL draft.
The New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Blackhawks and, most recently, the Florida Panthers, joined the Canucks as the first five teams mathematically eliminated from Stanley Cup playoff contention.
For Florida, the elimination ended the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions' three-peat hopes. For Toronto, it ended the NHL's longest active post-season streak at nine years.
In the NHL's current draft system, these former top teams will likely have only a remote chance at the first overall pick.
Were the NHL to follow the PWHL's lead and implement the Gold Plan, a new race would just be beginning for the Panthers and Maple Leafs, with their playoff experience still coming in handy.
Continuing The Hockey News' look at how the NHL draft order would differ if the league followed the PWHL's Gold Plan, the New York Rangers have maintained their lead in the system.
Under the Gold Plan, every point earned by a team after they're mathematically eliminated from playoff contention counts toward their draft order. When the season ends, the first overall pick isn't awarded to a team based on the random bounce of a lottery ball; instead, it goes to the team that earned the most points after their elimination.
Canucks Clinch Last Place
In the NHL, once a team is eliminated from the playoffs, there is no incentive to play to win. In fact, the lower a team finishes, the more they lose, the better their odds at picking first overall. The Canucks have done just that.
Since their elimination on March 23, the Canucks have gone 1-6-0. It was exactly what they needed to gain the best odds in the 2026 draft lottery. The Canucks have been outscored 38-22 in that span.
Now, they have six games left, and no wins or losses will move their positioning. The Gold Plan aims to avoid that.
New York Rangers Would Be Nearing First Pick
In contrast, since their elimination, the Rangers have been a difficult team to play.
They won in regulation over the Blackhawks, Panthers, New Jersey Devils, Detroit Red Wings and Washington Capitals, losing only once in that span.
Even in that loss against the Montreal Canadiens, the Rangers fell behind 2-0 only to tie the game 2-2 in the third period before the Canadiens scored the winner.
The Rangers now have 10 points since elimination.
Florida, Toronto, Chicago and Vancouver still could catch them, but the Rangers only need to win twice to hypothetically clinch the first overall draft pick under the Gold Plan.
If the NHL were to adopt the Gold Plan, the Rangers' recent winning run would have been as entertaining as it gets for a fan base that currently has little to cheer for.
Top Team Picks Their Opponent
The Gold Plan isn't the only unique and innovative rule the PWHL employs.
Perhaps most notably in the PWHL, the league's top seed can choose its opening-round opponent.
In the women's league's inaugural 2024 Walter Cup playoffs, the first-place Toronto Sceptres chose to face the fourth-place Minnesota Frost, which ultimately eliminated Toronto. In the second year, however, the first-place Montreal Victoire went against convention, choosing the third-place Ottawa Charge because Montreal had better regular-season results against Ottawa. It backfired with Ottawa eliminating Montreal in four games.
For NHL teams, several factors could come into play. For example, if the Colorado Avalanche were to finish first in the Western Conference, they could choose to play the Utah Mammoth rather than the Nashville Predators to minimize travel.
With the growth of the PWHL, it only makes sense that the NHL may, at some point, consider following the lead of the top women's league in the world toward certain tested innovations.
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