Welcome to another edition of the Hockeybuzz hotstove.
The Edmonton Oilers were hardly the favourite entering the draft lottery - they came in 3rd with an 11.5% chance - but luck was on their side once again, as they won the 1st overall pick for the fourth time in six years.
The hotstove shares their thoughts on Edmonton winning Connor McDavid.
Todd Cordell At first I was annoyed to see the Oilers win the lottery again - it's getting quite repetitive at this point - but I'm warming up to it.
Whether Edmonton deserves it or not, they were among the worst teams in the NHL, so it's not as if they don't need McDavid.
It'll be incredibly fun watching him skate alongside Taylor Hall, and this should mark the last time the Oilers are picking 1st overall for a while.
It'll also be fun to have a superstar talent to watch out West because, Tyler Sequin aside, the West doesn't have any high flying true superstars in the mould of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Alexander Ovechkin, and co.
It's kind of nice that McDavid will get to play in Canada, too.
Matt Henderson Obviously McDavid ended up in the best place for him. I don't even think there's a question about that...
Listen, I know people are going to be sour, but the fact is that a really bad team won the Lottery. The Draft is supposed to be about bad teams getting good players. That's what happened here. Now obviously the Oilers under any other leadership are probably better but that's not the world we live in.
I'm over the moon about Edmonton winning the McDavid sweepstakes. There are no excuses anymore. And no, they shouldn't go trading from their core all of a sudden.
Michael Stuart I think this is great for the Oilers, but terrible for the NHL as a whole.
Heading into the lottery, the National Hockey League probably wanted to see McDavid go to either a team that needs the exposure that comes with a generational talent or a team in a massive television market. Instead, they got neither.
Edmonton is a small-market Canadian city, and it generates enough interest already. Adding McDavid isn’t going to boost ticket sales in Edmonton like it would in a place like Columbus; adding McDavid isn’t going to generate the mass media attention in Edmonton that it would in a place like Newark/New York. Simply put, this is a ‘meh’ destination for the player widely regarded as the best since Sidney Crosby.
When you combine that with the fact that Edmonton has already had its fair share of first overall picks, this result looks even worse. The league likes to market its first overall selections. Crosby is the face in Pittsburgh, Stamkos the face in Tampa Bay, Tavares the face in New York, etc. That’s tough to do when Edmonton keeps getting the top player.
The bottom line is that the Oilers have had their time to shine at the podium. It’s time for some other team with a starving fan base to get its shot. I remember the day the Lightning selected Steven Stamkos first overall and all the great feelings that came with it. The Oilers had that moment when they selected Taylor Hall... and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins... and Nail Yakupov. It doesn’t seem right for Edmonton to get that opportunity for the fourth time in six years, while other teams continue to wait.
Tim Chiasson My first reaction to the Oilers winning the lottery was to throw up a little. After I got over the disgust I was somewhat relieved that the Oilers will finally be done picking so high.
The Oilers winning highlights why the lottery came under fire lately but it's great for Connor McDavid, and Canada, to have him in a Canadian market.
Now all MacTavish has to do is not screw this up somehow.
Adam French I love McDavid in Edmonton. That was my second favourite scenario to Arizona winning it. With Arizona, we would get to hear about conspiracy theorists coming out of the woodwork for the next decade. With the Oilers, we'd have the entire hockey world's eye on them. Already the trade Hall, Eberle, Yakupov, Nugent-Hopkins and/or Draisaitl are coming up. It's going to be great. Plus I can already hear large numbers of people making fun of the Oilers for taking another "small one dimensional scorer" instead of a defenseman. Also, did anybody see Daly's smirk? That was awesome. Even he was like "Really? Again?" If anything, the Oilers selecting first overall gives us plenty of fodder for the off-season as everybody throws out random trades for it that no self respecting GM would glance at twice. The entertainment is endless.
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