The NHL and NHLPA are close to a new collective bargaining agreement that would include solutions for the league's revenue losses the COVID-19 shutdown has caused, according to ESPN's Greg Wyshynski.

The framework discussed would extend the CBA for "around six years," Wyshynski adds.

All 700-plus players are expected to vote on a new CBA, and the return-to-play protocols to restart the league with an expanded 24-team playoff this summer. The league has yet to announce the two hub city locations where the games will be played.

As part of the potential agreement, the salary cap would reportedly remain stagnant at $81.5 million over the next three seasons.

One major point of contention has been escrow, which is a system that withholds a percentage of the players' salaries to ensure all hockey-related revenue is split equally between the NHL and the players. A huge loss in hockey-related revenue due to the hiatus has drastically altered the league's finances.

New York Rangers star Artemi Panarin and Anaheim Ducks veteran Ryan Kesler voiced their dissatisfaction about the high escrow levels, with the former saying the system has "protected the owners' income."

Due to the steep revenue losses, there was speculation escrow could rise as high as 35% for the players, according to Wyshynski. Under the current CBA structure being discussed, however, escrow has reportedly been capped at 20% for the first two seasons of the deal.

Both sides also reportedly support a 10% salary deferral for the players. That money would be paid to the players in two years under what is expected to be a lower escrow rate, which would help the owners' cash flow in the coming seasons.

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Social media users were left scratching their heads after watching the extremely unlikely and controversial result to the 2020 NHL Draft Lottery.

Twitter reactions did not disappoint after a to-be-determined play-in round loser - which reportedly had a 2.5% chance of winning - claimed the No. 1 overall pick, while the league-worst Detroit Red Wings fell to the fourth spot in the order:

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The winner of the 2020 Draft Lottery has yet to be determined.

One of the placeholder teams participating in the best-of-five qualifying round of the expanded 24-team playoff format will make the first overall selection at the 2020 NHL Draft.

Here's a look at the complete draft order from picks one through eight:

With a placeholder team winning the top selection, a second lottery will be conducted at some point between the end of the qualifiers and the first round of the 16-team playoffs to determine the final draft order. The eight teams eliminated from the play-in round will each get a 12.5% chance of securing the top pick in the second phase of the lottery.

"Team E" of the placeholder clubs won the top spot with odds of just 2.5%, which belongs to the 12-seed in lottery percentages, according to TSN's Bob McKenzie.

If the play-in round cannot be completed, the remaining bottom eight teams will get a one-in-eight shot at the top selection, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

The Ottawa Senators, who owned a combined 25% chance of landing the first overall selection between their two picks, will pick third and fifth. The Detroit Red Wings fell to No. 4 after holding an 18.5% chance of nabbing the top selection.

The Los Angeles Kings will select second for the first time since 2008, when they drafted blue-chip defenseman Drew Doughty.

Alexis Lafreniere - an electrifying winger from the Rimouski Oceanic of the QMJHL - is expected to be selected with the top pick. The 18-year-old tallied 35 goals while leading the league with 112 points in 52 games. His 2.15 point-per-game rate was the CHL's best since Connor McDavid scored at a 2.50 pace with the Erie Otters in 2014-15.

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2020 NHL Draft Lottery
When: Friday, June 26, 8 p.m. ET
How to watch: NHL Network, NBSCN, Sportsnet, TVAS

It's finally time for the NHL Draft Lottery.

Nearly everything about this year's lottery will be different. It's taking place months after it was originally supposed to. It will include eight unnamed teams as we await the results of the NHL's play-in rounds. It may have to be conducted in two phases depending on Friday's outcome. Some top prospects and executives will be available - virtually. Even the exact date of the actual draft is still unknown.

But as always, we do know one lucky team will eventually emerge with the No. 1 overall pick.

Let's explore everything you need to know heading into Friday's televised lottery draw.

Odds to win No. 1 pick

The Detroit Red Wings finished the abbreviated regular season with the worst record in the league and thus own the top individual odds of landing the first overall selection. The Ottawa Senators, however, own the San Jose Sharks' first-round pick, giving them the second- and third-best odds, and therefore the best chance to wind up picking first overall.

Though the Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils finished the campaign tied in points percentage, the Devils have a better shot at landing the No. 1 selection by virtue of their inferior winning percentage in regulation and overtime.

Format

Fourteen teams are vying for the top picks of the draft. Eight of those teams are currently unidentified; they will be the clubs eliminated from the play-in rounds of the league's 24-team postseason.

Friday night's event is the first phase of the lottery. The eight losing teams from the play-in round will be represented in this phase as unassigned picks, as illustrated above. There will be three draws in Phase 1: The first will determine the team selecting No. 1, the second will decide the team selecting No. 2, and the third will set the team selecting No. 3.

If a team participating in the play-in round wins a top-three pick, a second lottery phase conducted at some point between the end of the qualifiers and the first round of the 16-team playoffs will determine the final draft order.

Should all three top picks go to teams in the bottom seven, a second phase won't be necessary. The remaining bottom-seven teams will be assigned picks No. 4-7 in inverse order of their regular-season points percentage, and picks No. 8-15 will be assigned to teams eliminated from the play-in round in inverse order of points percentage.

Projected top picks

There's not much uncertainty surrounding the No. 1 pick in this year's draft. But what happens after that is far from certain in what many are calling one of the deepest drafts in recent memory. Let's take a look at some of the top prospects expected to join the teams that win the lottery.

Alexis Lafreniere

The native of Quebec is the undisputed top pick of this year's draft. The dynamic winger has dominated the QMJHL with the Rimouski Oceanic over the past three seasons, and he's the only player besides Sidney Crosby to ever win back-to-back CHL Player of the Year awards.

Not only did Lafreniere bolster his case with 35 goals and 112 points in 55 games with Rimouski this season, but he also earned tournament MVP honors while helping Canada win gold at the 2020 world juniors.

Quinton Byfield

Byfield was once seen as a legitimate threat to challenge Lafreniere at No. 1. Although Lafreniere has since widened the gap, Byfield will be a significant prize for another lottery-winning team.

The big-bodied center is nearly a full year younger than Lafreniere, and his raw skills and physicality make him one of the most intriguing players of the class. He amassed 32 goals and 82 points in 45 games in just his second season with the OHL's Sudbury Wolves.

Tim Stuetzle

Playing in Germany's top professional league as a teenager is impressive. Dominating Germany's top professional league as a teenager is even better. Stuetzle, now 18, cracked the Mannheim Eagles' roster at 17 and never looked back.

The winger posted seven goals and 34 points in 41 games this season, showing he can keep up with more developed players. Stuetzle was a top-50 scorer in the league and enters the draft as the top international prospect.

Best of the rest

Anything can happen when the 2020 NHL Draft finally rolls around. With such a strong class, players could easily rise and fall unexpectedly.

The top two defensemen in this selection are Jamie Drysdale and Jake Sanderson. Forwards Cole Perfetti, Marco Rossi, Lucas Raymond, Alexander Holtz, and Jack Quinn round out the top 10 prospects.

Any of the aforementioned players - and many not named here - could become NHL stars, and teams picking at or near the top of the draft will have some tough decisions to make. The NHL's complete prospect rankings can be found here.

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Jesperi Kotkaniemi will take part in Montreal Canadiens training camp as a full participant and will be available to play if and when the campaign resumes, a team source told The Athletic's Arpon Basu.

The 19-year-old prospect was hospitalized after injuring his spleen during a game with AHL's Laval Rocket on March 6. He remained in hospital overnight for observation and sat out the club's final game on March 11 before the AHL season was postponed and ultimately canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier in June, Kotkaniemi underwent a scan in Finland that showed his spleen was fully healed, according to Basu. Kotkaniemi was cleared to participate in off-ice workouts in April, but he had yet to be given the green light to take contact.

Kotkaniemi collected six goals and two assists in 36 NHL games during the 2019-20 campaign before the Canadiens assigned him to Laval on Feb. 1. He registered 11 goals and 34 points in 79 contests during his rookie season in 2018-19.

The Canadiens drafted Kotkaniemi third overall in 2018.

Montreal will face the Pittsburgh Penguins in the play-in round as part of the league's 24-team return-to-play plan.

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The NHL could have its teams play daily tripleheaders in an attempt to accelerate the season upon its possible return.

"I was always told to prepare for tripleheaders - that that's the kind of thing we would be looking at, tripleheaders on a daily basis," Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman said Thursday on NHL Network.

He added: "I've been told that as it stands right now, the last possible day of the Stanley Cup Final is Oct. 5. So you can pretty much do the math, that's something like 66 days (from the end of July.)"

Friedman added that timing multiple games a day at the same rink may be complicated, especially if both hub cities are on the west coast.

It isn't yet known how the league will sanitize everything between games. Other potential hurdles include extended overtimes delaying other games.

"If we do go two western cities, that's going to be very interesting for TV how they do that," Friedman said. "In theory, you can play at 1:00, 4:00, and 7:00 every day locally, which is 4:00, 7:00, and 10:00 ET. But these are playoff games, what if we go to overtime? We talked about the cleaning that needs to be done between games, maybe that's not long enough a time between games.

"I was told to expect tripleheaders, I don't have any reason to believe that's different, but I'm not sure how much time they need in between all of these particular games."

The league is expected to initiate Phase 3 of its return-to-play plan on July 10, which would allow teams to begin full training camps. There is no date set yet for when the 24-team playoff will kick off.

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