A co-worker and I got discussing the Return to play and how it will play out as the draft lottery looms it got us thinking we know the bottom 7 teams for sure but with the return to play you have 8 additional teams who will fall out of contention for the playoffs and be re-slotted (If i understand it correctly). This means that the NYI pick (Currently 21st i believe) under a worst case scenario should they be swept by Florida could this potentially give Ottawa with a 3rd Top 10 pick or would they just fall back to their original spot once eliminated? I know the NYI is lottery protected so it cant be in the top 3 but if they did get eliminated right away how does this play out.

We weren't sure and there is a lot of conflicting information that I've found.