NHL Draft Lottery 2017: Date, Odds and Latest Regular-Season Standings

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:

Atlantic	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	Top 3 Lottery Odds	No. 1 Pick Odds
Metropolitan	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	Top 3 Lottery Odds	No. 1 Pick Odds
Central	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	Top 3 Lottery Odds	No. 1 Pick Odds
Pacific	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	Top 3 Lottery Odds	No. 1 Pick Odds
EASTERN CONFERENCE
*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%
*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
*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%
*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%

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).

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.