2.2 Entry Draft

The annual entry draft takes place prior to the pre-season, and marks the official start to the SICHL season as the first league-wide activity in which all General Managers participate.

2.2.1 Eligible Players

A list of eligible players will be made available before the draft. Any player drafted in the most recent National Hockey League Entry Draft, and any player from the previous National Hockey League Entry Draft that went undrafted in the previous SICHL Entry Draft is eligible for the SICHL Entry Draft.

2.2.2 Entry Draft Order

The SICHL uses the NHL's method of determining draft order. Subject to the results of the Draft Lottery (see 2.2.3 Draft Lottery), teams pick in the same order each round, with each team getting one pick per round. Pick order is determined as follows:

1. Teams that did not qualify for the playoffs the previous season
2. Teams that made the playoffs in the previous season but did not win either their division in the regular season or play in the Conference Finals
3. Teams that won their divisions in the previous regular season but did not play in the Conference Finals
4. Teams that lose in Conference Finals
5. Team that was the runner-up in the Continental Cup Finals
6. Team that won the Continental Cup in the previous season

2.2.3 Draft Lottery

Teams that did not qualify for the playoffs are entered in a weighted lottery to determine the top three draft picks in the first round. Teams are seeded based on their Points After Elimination totals (see 2.2.4 Points After Elimination) from the previous season, with the greatest chance of winning the lottery belonging to the team with the highest number of Points After Elimination and the lowest chance belonging to the non-playoff team with the lowest number of Points After Elimination. Upon a tie in Points After Elimination the odds for all tied positions are combined and then divided equally amongst the tied teams.

The draft lottery affects only the order of the top three picks in the first round. Teams will select based on the regular Draft Order (see 2.2.2 Entry Draft Order) for the second and all subsequent rounds.

2.2.4 Points After Elimination

Once the simulator determines that a team is mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, Points After Elimination will be tracked for the purposes of determining odds for the draft lottery. (See 2.2.3 Draft Lottery)