Random for redraft, weighted lottery balls for keeper and dynasty leagues.
Head-to-head categories, rotisserie or points, snake or auction — the output is the same ordered list of teams.
The real NHL uses a draft lottery precisely so that finishing last does not guarantee the top pick. Run your league the same way: give each team lottery balls based on where they finished, and let the draw sort out the order.
Weighted odds can run across every team, or only among the clubs that missed the playoffs with everyone else slotted by finish. For a brand-new league, skip the weighting — a flat random draw is the fairest start when nobody has a record yet.
Pick position carries real weight in keeper and dynasty formats — goalie scarcity alone can make an early pick worth arguing over — so make the reveal an event. Run the draw whenever suits you, then keep it sealed behind a shared countdown until the league is on a call or in the group chat.
Everyone opens the same link and the order lands for all of them at the same second, with each manager's own pick emailed to them at that moment.
Same generator, any league of 6 to 20 teams, in any format — snake, auction, keeper or dynasty.