Saturday the fate of the Edmonton Oilers franchise was drastically altered as it was announced they had won the 2015 NHL draft lottery, giving them the first overall pick in June’s draft.
Stop me if you’ve heard that before.
It’s the fourth time in the past six years the Oilers hold the top pick adding to Taylor Hall (2010), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (2011) and Nail Yakupov (2012).
They also had the seventh overall pick in 2013 and third overall last year.
Suffice to say it’s been a rough stretch of seasons for the Oilers and their fans, and while there’s blame to be placed on the management group, they were handed a Willy Wonky-esque golden ticket Saturday night.
The collective reaction from the hockey world over the thought of the Oilers receiving another top pick ranged from disbelief to pure anger.
Going into the lottery the Oilers had an 11.5 per cent chance to win based off finishing third last in the league, and the new lottery format granting each team that misses the playoffs a chance at winning the top prize.
The drama unfolded as NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly was handed 14 envelopes numbered one through 14, with each team in the lottery having a card and the winning team’s card being golden.
Beginning with the 14th overall selection, with each passing envelope had fan bases holding their breath hoping and praying that their team would win.
I’m not even a fan of any of the teams that had a chance of winning, but I was on the edge of my seat in anticipation of finding out where the next phenom, Connor McDavid, would end up.
Once it got to the seventh overall team, things started to get real. I couldn’t help but think about what McDavid would do to each of these teams.
Seventh, McDavid playing in Philadelphia, pitting him head to head with their cross-state rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins.
McDavid playing against his favourite player, Sidney Crosby. What a story that would be.
Sixth, McDavid going to a small market team in the New Jersey Devils, a “Mickey Mouse franchise” as Wayne Gretzky once called them.
Fifth, could McDavid help the Carolina Hurricanes return to their 2006 glory days? Would he be able to rejuvenate the fandom that has been dipping in recent years due to the Hurricanes lack of success?
Fourth, the big one, the Toronto Maple Leafs. Fans have been talking for months about what McDavid would do to Leafs’ franchise. Jump start their rebuild, help them lure a big name head coach and give them a hometown hero to lead them to the promised land.
As Daly opened the envelope and held the card in front of him, I could almost feel the tension in the air, despite the fact I was the only one in the room paying attention.
He turned the card around revealing the fact the Leafs didn’t win and would retain the fourth overall selection.
I was on the fence about Toronto winning the lottery. On one hand McDavid would have really helped a team that has been mired in disappointment after disappointment. The kid from Newmarket, not even 60 kilometres away, would have immediately invigorated their fan base into believing they could contend in the near future.
On the other, McDavid would get eaten alive by the Toronto media. Every mistake, every turnover and every loss this 18-year-old would get drilled relentlessly by the media group that causes players to hate where they play.
But it wasn’t meant to be, and next came the Edmonton Oilers.
Daly opens the envelope, holds the card facing him and says, “We have a winner.” Those words stung like poison as I looked at my friend and collapsed onto the floor in disbelief.
Everyone, with the exception of Oilers fans, felt the same as me. This franchise is rewarded once again for being incompetent, Their inability to put a winning team on the ice has reached it’s-not-even-funny-anymore levels.
Even McDavid himself looked weary. Sportsnet brought him in to be a part of the event so they could get a reaction from him right after the draw had been done.
After the shock of Edmonton winning, McDavid was paraded out from the room he was in and out to the stage to talk to George Stroumboulopoulos about what he thought about playing in Edmonton.
It looked like McDavid couldn’t even fake being happy about the situation. Instead of going to a truly rebuilding team like the Buffalo Sabres, the Arizona Coyotes or his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs, McDavid will now be going across the country to a team that can’t seem to do anything right aside from winning draft lotteries.
The situation is made even more undesirable since Oilers owner Darryl Katz is currently suing Erie Otters owner Sherry Basin for an unpaid loan.
Consider it paid.
I wonder if even for a second McDavid regretted saying that he would play for any team that drafts him.
But McDavid is a winner. His junior team won 19 games during his rookie year, followed by 52 last season and 50 this year. They’re getting set for their western conference final matchup with the Soo Greyhounds this week. He was also a key piece in Team Canada regaining their rightful spot atop the podium at the World Junior Championships this year.
While he won’t solve the Oilers problems on defence or in net, he’s such a presence offensively that the Oilers are immediately a better team with him.
It’s my personal belief that the Oilers should trade one of their young forwards for a stud defenceman, and I thought that before they won the lottery.
Hockey fans like to belittle the Oilers because of their string of let downs between missing the playoffs and questionable drafting choices, but this could signal a changing of the guard in Edmonton.
McDavid would essentially be the Oilers top centre before even setting foot on an NHL ice surface.
With Hall riding shotgun on the top line, you can’t help but wonder how many goals the two of them could rack up over the next decade.
The real loser of this event is the Arizona Coyotes. Finishing second last in the league gave them a 33.5 per cent chance to draft first or second overall.
But with the Oilers winning they’re bumped down to third, so instead of getting a potential franchise-altering player in McDavid or Jack Eichel, they’ll now have to decide whom to select after the obvious drop-off in impact potential the two of those players possess.
I really hope the Oilers can turn things around and become a successful franchise again. I’ve been hearing about McDavid since 2012, before it was announced that he would be granted exceptional status and allowed to play in the Ontario Hockey League a year early.
The Oilers had the top pick in the draft that year, and there are not a lot of people who thought they would still be in a position to have the first pick three years later when this 15-year-old would be eligible for the NHL draft.
McDavid has lived up to, and exceeded, all expectations placed on him for the past three years. Can he do it again on the biggest stage in the world?
Don’t expect a Stanley Cup next year Oilers fans, but better days are ahead.
This time for real.
