Two other Canadian teams had their fortunes spoiled, meanwhile, with the Edmonton Oilers falling two spots into the No. 4 selection and the Vancouver Canucks tumbling into the fifth.
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No Canadian team other than the Edmonton Oilers has drafted No. 1 overall in the last two decades, since the Ottawa Senators selected Chris Phillips first in 1996. After all, the team finished in the league basement, which until this year would have guaranteed that they could be no worse than second after the lottery. Who knows? If their favourite team grabs one of those spots it could lift the spirits of somebody who only tuned in for the ceremony before calling it a night, to actually stick around for the game.
The Maple Leafs, Jets and Blue Jackets all were winners in Saturday night’s NHL Draft lottery.
What it means is that the Maple Leafs will be considerably more fun to watch next year.
“I think a win would be staying at No. 3”, Linden said. “But I still go back to, regardless of what happens, we’re going to get a very good player”.
“We earned this the hard way”. “It wasn’t a whole lot of fun this year”. “Our guys, our coaching staff did some really good things here in Toronto”.
Matthews or Laine will join a prospect pool that includes William Nylander and Mitch Marner – a triumvirate of potentially elite talents, two of which play center if the presumptive pick is Matthews, and all are National Hockey League ready next season. Marr went on to describe Matthews as “the clear choice” among the eligible draft prospects.
“But some teams maybe that are set up the middle, maybe they like the wingers better as the No. 1 pick”. But the 6-foot-2 centre, whom scouts have compared to Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel, is a player that the Leafs can build around. It’s highlighted by three big forwards – Auston Matthews, Patrik Laine, Jesse Puljujärvi – all of whom played in Europe this past season. The comparisons have some strong points, but they are both a bit of stretch, especially the Matthews-Malkin comparison.
After that, there is a group of players ranked fourth to 11th all of whom have attractive qualities.
The NHL revised the lottery this year by watering down the chances of the last-place team landing the top pick, and for the first time allowing all non-playoff teams a chance to land one of the top-three selections.
Still, Toronto’s president made it known that whomever the club chooses at No. 1 will be just one player among many.
The remaining 16 picks of the draft will be determined at the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Hurricanes also will have the Los Angeles Kings’ first-round pick, No. 21 overall.
As it stands now, the Canucks are slated to pick third in this year’s draft and have a 11.5% chance of securing the first overall pick, but could also fall down to sixth place.
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The 2016 NHL Entry Draft will be held June 24-25, and while Matthews will likely be playing in Toronto, there’s a little poetic justice for Coyotes fans in the fact that an Arizona born player is coveted by the epicenter of the NHL.
