NHL ruling could have major impact on Jason Zucker trade between the Penguins & Wild.

I must admit if I am a member of the Minnesota Wild's front office I might be a little bit upset about this one. 

The National Hockey League has made a major ruling regarding some of the conditional draft picks that would be on the line during the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs and one of the trades that stands to be the most impacted by this ruling is the deal between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Minnesota Wild that saw Jason Zucker moved to the Penguins. Zucker was acquired by the Penguins in exchange for Penguins forward Alex Galchenyuk and defensive prospect Cale Addison, but the piece of this deal that will be impacted by this ruling is the conditional first round pick the Penguins also gave up in this deal.

The change stems from the fact that several teams that were almost a shoein to make the playoffs, the Penguins included, now find themselves forced to participate in a "play in" round before making it into the traditional 16 team tournament. That left many questions regarding whether or not the picks with playoff conditions attached to them, including the aforementioned pick traded by the Penguins in this trade, would be impacted by the play in format. Today we learned that the answer is yes.

"More specifically, for Trade condition purposes, a Club will not be deemed to have qualified for the Playoffs unless or until they have progressed into the Round of 16, and ‘Playoff Games/Rounds’ will only include the games/rounds played in the Round of 16 or later," said the league in a statement as per Pierre Lebrun. We believe this interpretation will best reflect the intentions of the parties at the time of the Trade."

So what does this mean for the Zucker trade? The condition on the pick would have seen it go from a 2020 first round pick to a 2021 unprotected first round pick if the Penguins were to miss the playoffs this season. At the time the trade was made that seemed near impossible, but if the Penguins were to lose in the "play in" series they would not only fail to make the playoffs as per the NHL's new ruling, but they would also find themselves inside the draft lottery. The Penguins of course would absolutely keep their 2020 pick in that scenario and the Wild would then be forced to wait an extra year for what would likely be a much less favorable draft pick. The Penguins will play the Montreal Canadiens in that series and they will be significant favorites so it may never come to pass, but if they do lose this could drastically change the outcome of this trade deal for both franchises.