Pierre Dorion, the general manager of the Ottawa Senators who have a combined 25 per cent shot at landing the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s NHL draft lottery, said on Thursday that the team is "very happy" about the new rules for the June 26 lottery that the league announced on Tuesday.

"We’re very happy with how the draft lottery will proceed," Dorion said. "We know we’re going to get two players in the top six, in the worst-case scenario, or best-case, one and two."

The Senators have the second-best odds (13.5%) at winning the draft lottery as well as the third-best odds (11.5%) which they obtained via a trade with the San Jose Sharks. The Detroit Red Wings (18.5%) hold the best odds of winning the lottery. And as a result of the lottery rules this year – lottery participants in the first phase will include the bottom-seven teams that didn’t qualify for the postseason plus the eight placeholder teams that will likely end up losing their qualifying round series – the Senators will also have a third shot at the top overall pick through the first-round pick they obtained from the New York Islanders. The eight teams outside of the lottery will also have a chance at the first, second and third overall picks.

"If you’re going to pick one and two, it could be different than picking five and six. Those players probably have a higher change at playing in the NHL next year, but at the same time, we know that we’re going to take two good players with our first two picks."

This year’s draft could be especially important to the Senators, as Dorion said the team isn’t planning on signing any undrafted free agents to long-term contracts.

"We know that we have a plan in place. We’re going to follow that plan. We know we’re not going to rush things. We’re going to do things properly, and I think that’s part of having long-term success and building a championship-calibre winning team in Ottawa if we do the right thing with this draft."