freelancer

Edmonton • Canada • 25 Years Old • Male

Happy Draft Lottery Eve

Tomorrow is Draft Lottery Day! That wonderful day when the fans of 14 teams gather in bars and in front of their televisions and watch as Bill Daley announces that the Oilers have won the draft lottery.

After that, we will go through the next three months of having to hear about articles from Toronto media sources about how the Leafs were entitled to the 1st overall pick and how the Oilers are a joke, etc, etc, etc.

Honestly I'm more excited about the riots that will ensue than the idea of actually having Auston Matthews in an Oiler jersey... at least all of that is what I want to say as an Oiler fan. As a hockey fan.

I hope the someone else picks first.

Here's the thing: it's good for the game of hockey to have more superstars on different teams.

This has been a frustrating year to watch hockey. Scoring is once again down. The league average goals this year was 222, down from 224 in the 2014-2015 season. The Coach's Challenge, which I once was looking forward to seeing, has become an infuriating thing to see where goals are being overturned because a player who had nothing to do with the play was offside by a few centimetres.

As much as I would hate to see the Leafs get Matthews I'm sure there are thousands of young Toronto fans that would be smiling ear to ear with the thought of getting to sit in Air Canada Centre and watch Matthews score (probably some older fans too).

The draft should be about bringing in the next generation of talent throughout the NHL, with all teams finding at least one player that will become an NHL talent. Sadly that's not always the case.

Bottom line, Edmonton fans, cheer all you want on Saturday if the Oilers win. Just don't groan too much if Toronto does. Yes, we will have to listen to them brag insufferably, but come next season we will get to watch McDavid dance circles around Matthews.

And that can only be good for the game.

This and That

- Great to see some new blood performing well in the playoffs. It's nice to see teams like St. Louis, Nashville, and San Jose moving on instead of LA and Chicago (Anaheim losing broke my bracket though...)
- Even if Edmonton drops in the draft there is still an abundance of talent to choose from. Laine or Puljujarvi which should go 2 and 3 respectively are both big, skilled wingers. If Edmonton trades Eberle this off-season either could turn into a fine replacement.
-At 4 or 5 there would also be great options. Tkachuk and Dubois are also big skilled wingers (nice that the options aren't 165lb wingers). They may not be as NHL ready as the top 3 but would still be very fine talents.
- I would stay away from defensive prospects Chychurn and Sergachev. Both are left shots and on top of that probably need at least a year or two of AHL time.

If you are looking for more ways to satisfy your hockey fix, be sure to check me out @SMaloughney on Twitter or our podcast @Downtown_Hockey.

Thanks for reading!

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