For unknown reason with Romero i fell like we have Van Der Sar again , lol . <| sep |> I would be so mad . <| sep |> What isnt working ? <| sep |> Oh wow I haven ' t seen this and now I can ' t stop cringelaughing . <| sep |> 30 teams in the NHL . 16 make the playoffs . The 14 that don ' t are all in the draft lottery . The 30 th place team has the best odds of getting the first overall pick and then odds get worse from 29 th 17 th . 16 thwinner of Stanley cup afterwards . Multiple rounds in the draft so you may sometimes hear ' he was selected 15 th in the 5 th round ', etc . Any of the 14 can technically receive it but it ' s usually the worst or second worst team of the previous year . To be draft eligible you must be at least 18 as of the draft year . Worst teams get the best new young stars and this creates or tries to create parity in the league . Teams give players contracts which have expiration dates and once expired , they enter free agency where any team can sign said player but the player gets to decide . Also players can be traded for players , draft picks , future considerations ect . Not for money in the NHL but you can trade some of the remaining salary on said players contract . There is also a salary cap so the teams with the most money cannot just buy all the best players . Explanation from phone but hopefully you understand . There are many rules in place to protect players rights , etc . That I didn ' t feel necessary to add . Basically the same through the 4 major sports that do it this way in NA hockey , baseball , American football basketball