The Oilers, who had the second best draft odds (13.5 per cent) to the Maple Leafs’ 20 per cent for the No. 1 pick, tumbled to the No. 4 selection during the TV-show bingo-ball lottery for the first, second and third selections when the Winnipeg Jets and the Columbus Blue Jackets jumped ahead them. The Winnipeg Jets will pick second while the Columbus Blue Jackets get third overall. The Maple Leafs will also do their due dilligence on Finnish scorers Patrik Laine and Jesse Puljujarvi. Of course, anytime a team picks No. 1 overall they’re destined to receive a very talented player. They selected left wing Jake DeBrusk in that slot last summer, a pick that was criticized as a reach.
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The Bruins will know a great deal more in a couple of days about their prospects for NHL Draft weekend in Buffalo this June.
The hockey world will be in a collective freakout if the Edmonton Oilers somehow manage another first overall pick. (A year ago, they’d had four of 11 in the draw for McDavid and came up empty).
The Maple Leafs have overhauled their entire organization over the past two years, and the much-publicized rebuild scored a huge victory Saturday night.
While Canadian NHL teams will dominate the top of the draft, Canadian-born players will not.
He would presumably fill Toronto’s long-term No. 1 centre spot, plugged by less than ideal options following the departure of long-time team captain Mats Sundin.
“It’s nice to have a little bit of clarity (though) nothing is set in stone (about who goes first overall) in Buffalo on June 24)”. Jacob Chychrun, Alex Nylander, and Matthew Tkachuk are just a few of the other top end names that the Canadian teams hope they will be able to get their hands on.
“Tkachuk is a lot like his dad (Keith)”, Benning said. Already a shade past the cusp of being able to take an impact player with their 1st pick, Brian Burke and his irritating bombast must now go back to the proverbial drawing board disappointed, having dropped back a spot.
“I’m going to talk to them, but Toronto is not going to do anything with that first pick”, Benning said.
He’s considered a threat to score from anywhere on the ice and could have the best one-timer of any player in this draft class.
Auston Matthews, who grew up in Arizona, is the odds-on favorite to be the No. 1 pick.
There would have been a bloody mutiny among the National Hockey League suits inside the draft lottery studio in Toronto had three Canadian teams won all three National Hockey League draft lottery positions. Since 2010, they have picked first overall four times, sine 2010! The Avalanche, finishing just outside the playoffs, will now have three chances to move into a high lottery pick. He’s a transcending talent that has been compared to superstars like Anze Kopitar and Jonathan Toews, which tells you all you need to know about his game. Laine might be gaining momentum after he was named the Finnish League’s playoff MVP after scoring 10 goals and five assists in helping Tappara win the championship.
Under former Vancouver Canucks head coach Marc Crawford, Matthews had 46 points in 36 games, good enough for tenth in the league and second on his team.
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A year after McDavid was dubbed “a generational player”, the term being used for Matthews, Laine and Puljujarvi was “foundational”.
