Going into the 2020 NHL Entry Draft the NHL was forced to do things a little differently due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With teams forced to play in empty arenas, there was also the question of how would the NHL complete the draft lottery.
So the NHL did something unprecedented and ran the lottery with a ball for all non-playoff teams to enter the lottery. Ultimately a "non-playoff team" won the draft lottery granted all non-playoff teams a chance to acquire, the 1st overall pick, Alexis Lafreniere.