If someone trades away their first round pick can they protect the pick if it becomes a lottery pick? If they can do that, can you protect up to a certain number of spots like the 5th or 10th?

I think lottery protected means if the pick gets a top 3 spot.

I'm pretty sure it has to be on the condition of the pick in the trade. If it's just a 1st round pick, then too bad for the team trading it, they lose it either way. But they could trade a conditional 1st round pick where if it's in the top [number of picks], it becomes a 1st round pick the next year, and on and on until it's not a top 3 pick.

Teams have lottery-protected picks before.

- When the Rangers gave up their 2016 1st in the Keith Yandle trade, the attached condition was 'lottery-protected in 2016, unprotected in 2017.' I think that meant that, had the Rangers missed the 2016 playoffs and also won any of the draft lotteries, they would have given up their 2017 1st instead (I think). However, should the Rangers have missed the 2016 AND 2017 playoffs and won any of the 2017 draft lotteries, they would still have had to give up that pick to the Coyotes.

- The Penguins did essentially the same thing in the Phil Kessel trade, largely because they gave up a 1st without any conditions to the Oilers for David Perron and then almost missed the playoffs.