The Blackhawks have the most draft points at 12. If this plan were in effect, and if the this was the final standings, and assuming the tie breaker is final overall league standings, the draft order for the top 5 would be: CHI; SJS; SEA; NSH; PIT.

Legend: Conference, Tragic Date, Game # (the # of games the team had played at the time they were eliminated from making the playoffs, GR or games remaining at tragic date, the total # of draft points, and the DP at Game# or the total # of draft points accumulated at the number of games played.

The Blackhawks have the most draft points at 12. If this plan were in effect, and if the this was the final standings, and assuming the tie breaker is final overall league standings, the draft order for the top 5 would be: CHI; SJS; SEA; NSH; ANA.

Under the Gold Plan, not adopted by the #NHL, but practice in the #PWHL, teams get 'draft points' starting when they get eliminated from potentially making the playoffs. This table is sorted by the Tragic Date, or the date at which the team was mathematically eliminated from making the playoffs.

As of this posting on Thursday, April 17, 2025 at ~7AM EST, 8 teams have concluded their 2024-2025 NHL seasons, with 7 teams finishing their seasons tonight.

I don't know. But it is an interesting thought experiment.

The follow up question is how different would GMs treat the trade deadline if they knew they still needed to compete enough to win the right to the first overall draft pick?

Does Chicago trade Seth Jones and Petr Mrazek at the trade deadline? Does San Jose trade Jake Walman and Fabian Zetterlund?

But if it was a Gold plan, the current standings would look like this screenshot below, where the lowest seeded team (currently the San Jose Sharks) are not in a position to earn the 1st overall draft pick.

NOTE: Most teams still have a game to play, with the Detroit Red Wings having 2 remaining.

per Wikipedia:

days later, after their game #69.

According to the current system set up, they have the highest and second highest chances at the 1st overall 2025 draft pick, as the NHL does a lottery system. (Notoriously)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NHL_ent...

But, what would it look like if it was applied to the NHL 2025 season which is coming to a close this week?

A recap - The SJ Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks, far and away the worst teams in the league. SJS was eliminated from making the playoffs in mid-March, after game# 68. The Blackhawks a couple

Instead, teams earn points for every remaining win or OT/SO loss, which become 'draft points'. The team with the highest draft points, gets the highest draft pick.

I have only ever seen this system used in the PWHL, and this is the PWHL's 2nd season, so I have only ever seen it in action once.

Essentially, it is to counter the FO from depleting a team to the point that they lose a majority of games left, and have the greatest chance at getting the top overall draft pick.

First, what is the Gold Plan?

I could lift a bunch from the Wikipedia page (link below) but in a nutshell, it is an 'anti-tanking' approach, so that teams still have something tangible to play for even if they won't be in that seasons playoffs.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Pl...

It makes it truly challenging to find new streamers, streaming right then.