The Connor McDavid sweepstakes

[2001mark]

LOL Bettman. Time for this clown to go away now, this league's become an even bigger joke than it was yesterday.

Dude, if Bettman was gonna rig it, we'd being seeing Connor McDavid the Coyote next season.

Exactly. This result is pretty much Bettman's worst nightmare. The heir apparent to Sidney Crosby is going to a small market, Canadian team that plays in the western conference.

Also - Alberta's going to the polls in a couple weeks, the price of oil has sunk, & the dollar isn't climbing any time soon.

Gary's gonna quit. So maybe this is the hockey gods way of saving hockey after all.

[oddball]

If and that's a big "IF", Edmonton plays their cards right, aka trade in a package deal two of Nugent-Hopking, Hall, and Eberle and get in return a top notch defenseman and goaltender, then this isn't a bad thing. If they just sit on it, and pick whomever they pick at #1, then it's horrible because Edmonton has for whatever reason forgot that to win a Cup you need defense and goaltending, and just worry about forwards. Grant you, there's no Doughty or Weber at the top of the draft, but I'm sure a package of Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle can get you a nice return for a top-notch goalie and defenseman. Though even if they did that, they'd probably screw that up to. *shrug*

[2001mark]

If and that's a big "IF", Edmonton plays their cards right, aka trade in a package deal two of Nugent-Hopking, Hall, and Eberle and get in return a top notch defenseman and goaltender, then this isn't a bad thing. If they just sit on it, and pick whomever they pick at #1, then it's horrible because Edmonton has for whatever reason forgot that to win a Cup you need defense and goaltending, and just worry about forwards. Grant you, there's no Doughty or Weber at the top of the draft, but I'm sure a package of Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle can get you a nice return for a top-notch goalie and defenseman. Though even if they did that, they'd probably screw that up to. *shrug*

Phaneuf-Kessel-Bernier & money for Eberle & Yakupov. That will never ever happen so I'm just putting it out there. The Leafs btw would easily offer to keep paying those first 2 jabronis for a trade. There's no salary left on the roster after them to worry about, what do they care about caps under a nuclear winter rebuild. Besides, they have to hit the salary cap floor.

[Unocal]

I hope Edmonton trades that pick.

I am tired of seeing such great players basically going to the hockey equivalent of Matt Millen-era Detroit.

It's funny how Colorado has also picked very high, yet Duchesne/Landekog/Mackinnon never had it Edmonton bad. Hell, THEY made it work to the tune of playoffs more recently than EDM.

OTOH, Edmonton doesn't exactly have a Varlamov or Craig Anderson.

[BigBubba]

arrrrrrrrgh

WHAT THE F--KING HELL?!! THE SAME GODDAMN TEAM PICKS FIRST FOUR TIMES IN SIX YEARS like seriously c'mon that's not even fair but actually WHY DIDN'T GE GO TO THE LEAFS??? he WANTED to come here he was DESTINED to come here urrghhg it made SO MUCH SENSE FOR THE LEAGUE TO RIG IT IN OUR FAVOUR why oh WHY CAN'T THINGS GO OUR WAY FOR JUST ONCE yeah sure hanifin or strome or marner will be nice but we need a legitimate superstar NOT ANOTHER F--KING EDMONTON PICK YOU GUYS HAD GRETZKY THAT'S ALL YOUR FRANCHISE WILL EVER NEED i mean ok at leats he's not in arizona or carolina or boston so that's a plus BUT come one when they announced the canes were picking 5th I just knew we were gonna win it but nooooooooooooooooooo things never go our way

(I know I'm gonna sound biased here, but I think his disappointment was not because he loved Edmonton less, but because he loved Toronto more)

AND THEN THER'S THIS

https://twitter.com/reporterchris/status/589608246861660160

LIKE GODDAMNIT WE WERE SO SO SOOOOOOO close come on he wouldve been on legends row and hadhis number honoured and even retired and honest to God i legitimately would have considered buying a mcdavid authentic jersey this year but no no no no no no no it just haaaaaaaad to fall the other way now didnt it.

Here's to 2016.

[FGM13]

arrrrrrrrgh

WHAT THE F--KING HELL?!! THE SAME GODDAMN TEAM PICKS FIRST FOUR TIMES IN SIX YEARS like seriously c'mon that's not even fair but actually WHY DIDN'T GE GO TO THE LEAFS??? he WANTED to come here he was DESTINED to come here urrghhg it made SO MUCH SENSE FOR THE LEAGUE TO RIG IT IN OUR FAVOUR why oh WHY CAN'T THINGS GO OUR WAY FOR JUST ONCE yeah sure hanifin or strome or marner will be nice but we need a legitimate superstar NOT ANOTHER F--KING EDMONTON PICK YOU GUYS HAD GRETZKY THAT'S ALL YOUR FRANCHISE WILL EVER NEED i mean ok at leats he's not in arizona or carolina or boston so that's a plus BUT come one when they announced the canes were picking 5th I just knew we were gonna win it but nooooooooooooooooooo things never go our way

(I know I'm gonna sound biased here, but I think his disappointment was not because he loved Edmonton less, but because he loved Toronto more)

AND THEN THER'S THIS

https://twitter.com/reporterchris/status/589608246861660160

LIKE GODDAMNIT WE WERE SO SO SOOOOOOO close come on he wouldve been on legends row and hadhis number honoured and even retired and honest to God i legitimately would have considered buying a mcdavid authentic jersey this year but no no no no no no no it just haaaaaaaad to fall the other way now didnt it.

Here's to 2016.

Sorry again.

[HedleyLamarr]

That's what you get for tanking, Buffalo! Glad the Sabres didn't win the lottery. Deliberately trying to not win games in multiple seasons is shameful business.

They still got Eichel.

The Sabres twitter feed is ridiculous. What team cries in sadness and defeat to have Jack Eichel on their roster?

This is so absurd it's hilarious.

That's what you get for tanking, Buffalo! Glad the Sabres didn't win the lottery. Deliberately trying to not win games in multiple seasons is shameful business.

Yeah. Now they'll have to settle for Eichel. Settling for the second best player in a generation. That'll teach them

These weren't "The Jack Eichel Sweepstakes".

Didn't see Eichel being interviewed about his thoughts on who might be taking him tonight on national TV.

Didn't see Eichel at all on television tonight.

Haven't seen Eichel being called his sport's next once-in-a-generation player.

Haven't seen Eichel being compared to LeBron or Crosby or Lemeiux.

Didn't see Buffalo fans cheering clinching 30th place in hopes of drafting Eichel.

Eichel may very well be a very good player, but he's not McDavid. Buffalo wasn't tanking games and seasons for Eichel. They're settling for Eichel, which means they didn't get the prize they were really wanting.

[Cosmic]

That's what you get for tanking, Buffalo! Glad the Sabres didn't win the lottery. Deliberately trying to not win games in multiple seasons is shameful business.

They still got Eichel.

The Sabres twitter feed is ridiculous. What team cries in sadness and defeat to have Jack Eichel on their roster?

This is so absurd it's hilarious.

That's what you get for tanking, Buffalo! Glad the Sabres didn't win the lottery. Deliberately trying to not win games in multiple seasons is shameful business.

Yeah. Now they'll have to settle for Eichel. Settling for the second best player in a generation. That'll teach them

These weren't "The Jack Eichel Sweepstakes".

Didn't see Eichel being interviewed about his thoughts on who might be taking him tonight on national TV.

Didn't see Eichel at all on television tonight.

Haven't seen Eichel being called his sport's next once-in-a-generation player.

Haven't seen Eichel being compared to LeBron or Crosby or Lemeiux.

Didn't see Buffalo fans cheering clinching 30th place in hopes of drafting Eichel.

Eichel may very well be a very good player, but he's not McDavid. Buffalo wasn't tanking games and seasons for Eichel. They're settling for Eichel, which means they didn't get the prize they were really wanting.

They would have done the exact same thing this year if Connor McDavid never existed. It just had a catchy name and people paid more attention to it this year because there was a big prize at the top. Exhibit A: the 2013-14 season. There was no generational talent at the top of the draft, but they tanked pretty hard. Of course they wanted McDavid this year, but tanking is about picking as high as you can. It doesn't matter how strong the draft class is, you'd rather be picking 2nd or 3rd than 9th.

Maybe you didn't see it, but I did because I was there. Eichel played in a USA Hockey prospects game in Buffalo back in October (Edit: September). This wasn't a rug pulled out from underneath us, some secret deal worked out in a smoky boardroom... we knew back then that the best case scenario was 80% Eichel, and he got great cheers because of it. Everyone (or almost-- I'm sure there's a contrarian somewhere) agrees that McDavid is better, but those same people say that Eichel is good enough to be #1 overall in a normal year. I've said before that finishing 30th was about getting a guarantee of a very nice suite at a hotel with the possibility of an upgrade to concierge-level McDavid. It's like saying someone "lost" by getting a $2M prize just because there was a $3M prize on the table.

[HedleyLamarr]

Would you rather have McDavid or Eichel?

[Cosmic]

I blame admiral. He wanted the American player in the American market (that's not a thing we care about), and the good Canadian boy in a good Canadian market. Your monkey paw granted your wish, but the turkey was a little dry.

[Cosmic]

Would you rather have McDavid or Eichel?

I want a good player.

I'm pretty sure I said "of course" the Sabres wanted McDavid and that "[almost] everyone agrees McDavid is better". But you keep saying they did it for McDavid... it's simply not true. Everybody knew since the summer that finishing 30th was about guaranteeing one of the top two, and specifically that fairly certain odds were that the last place team would get Eichel. They would have tanked had there been no McDavid OR Eichel level of player... they still would have gotten one of the two best players available this year.

[Sport]

Most Sabres fans seemed to be banking on getting Eichel all year through the tank and that McD would be an unlikely bonus.

I don't think anyone felt like the tank was specifically for McDavid. Except that idiot that made a McDavid Sabres jersey.

[HedleyLamarr]

Would you rather have McDavid or Eichel?

I want a good player.

I'm pretty sure I said "of course" the Sabres wanted McDavid and that "[almost] everyone agrees McDavid is better". But you keep saying they did it for McDavid... it's simply not true. Everybody knew since the summer that finishing 30th was about guaranteeing one of the top two, and specifically that fairly certain odds were that the last place team would get Eichel. They would have tanked had there been no McDavid OR Eichel level of player... they still would have gotten one of the two best players available this year.

When the Sabres GM is apologizing to his team's fans, that tells me two things:

1. They were in this for McDavid or bust. Now Eichel very well may be a nice consolation prize, but it's obvious that the organization was targeting McDavid.

2. No way in hell were they tanking if McDavid or any other prospect of this high a value isn't there.

The GM took the gamble, he put the Sabres through two hellish seasons in order to try and get the big shiny diamond, and they didn't collect. They did the league and their fans a disservice by not trying their best to field a quality product on the ice. There's no honor in purposely doing your best to not win games. It's justice that they don't get rewarded the way they hoped to be.

[ninersdd]

Wrong thread

[Cosmic]

Would you rather have McDavid or Eichel?

I want a good player.

I'm pretty sure I said "of course" the Sabres wanted McDavid and that "[almost] everyone agrees McDavid is better". But you keep saying they did it for McDavid... it's simply not true. Everybody knew since the summer that finishing 30th was about guaranteeing one of the top two, and specifically that fairly certain odds were that the last place team would get Eichel. They would have tanked had there been no McDavid OR Eichel level of player... they still would have gotten one of the two best players available this year.

When the Sabres GM is apologizing to his team's fans, that tells me two things:

1. They were in this for McDavid or bust. Now Eichel very well may be a nice consolation prize, but it's obvious that the organization was targeting McDavid.

The GM took the gamble, he put the Sabres through two hellish seasons in order to try and get the big shiny diamond, and they didn't collect. They did the league and their fans a disservice by not trying their best to field a quality product on the ice. There's no honor in purposely doing your best to not win games. It's justice that they don't get rewarded the way they hoped to be.

2. No way in hell were they tanking if McDavid or any other prospect of this high a value isn't there.

They. Did. It. Last. Year. And they unloaded much more talent from their roster last year to do it.

The tone of what he says is almost exactly what I've been saying here (I didn't read any of it until you said he "apologized" to the fans):

GM Tim Murray of the Buffalo Sabres knows there’s a silver lining to the NHL Draft Lottery.

He knows that the Edmonton Oilers’ winning the right to draft Connor McDavid – moving up to the No. 1 pick, from their third-worst record and third-best odds – leaves them with a chance to select Jack Eichel, a Boston University center and a franchise player in his own right.

“We're disappointed not to get 1st, but we're happy with 2nd. Two franchise-changing guys in this draft,” Murray said, via the Sabres.

But still … Saturday night was the end of a two-year journey for Murray and the Sabres. The prize at the end was McDavid. The consolation prize, as rewarding as it is, was Eichel.

"If you could have one or two, you would naturally want one,” he said, via Mike Zeisberger of the Toronto Sun.

He added, "I'm disappointed for our fans."

As he should be. They were all in this together -- the Sabres deciding to dive down the standings with an eye on McDavid, the fans joining the effort to the point where they were actively rooting against their team at home games to help pile up the losses.

Getting McDavid would have immediately made it all worth the pain. Eichel still might, but not instantly.

Many were stunned by the result, but Murray knew the numbers. There was a 20 percent chance the Sabres could win the lottery. “Knowing you have an 80 percent chance going in not to win, this is what you expect,” he said, while adding, “"We came up here with an expectation we'd probably be picking No. 2 and we're going to deal with it."

If anything, Murray just wished the NHL would have saved him the trip and told him the Sabres were picking No. 2.

"It would be fine with me if they phoned me and told me you didn't win. But this is what they do. Thankfully it's a short drive from Buffalo. I'd hate like hell to be flying across the country to take part in it,” he said, via Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News.

[rams80]

I don't think he's happy right now.

He's not going to Lindros it or call attention to it, but I don't think he likes it.

On Twitter, I see tweets hoping he pulls a Lindros.

That just shows you how hockey fans outside Edmonton feel about the Oilers

What did we ever do wrong?

Suck worse than the Rams at developing talent.

[rams80]

I've never seen so much Oiler hate from non-Flames fans. I'm happy with McDavid, but I don't see this ending well for Edmonton. While Kevin Lowe and Co. are still around, they're never going to do anything, generational player or not.

It's not hate. It's the frustration at watching all that squandered talent.

[IceCap]

This is so absurd it's hilarious.

That's what you get for tanking, Buffalo! Glad the Sabres didn't win the lottery. Deliberately trying to not win games in multiple seasons is shameful business.

Yeah. Now they'll have to settle for Eichel. Settling for the second best player in a generation. That'll teach them

Also, this should be another factoid in that Bettman doesn't hate Canada.

We've still got pulling rules out of his a** to stop a local ownership group from buying the original Jets to keep them in town. Or basically giving every market a shot at a NHL team before Quebec City. Also holding a grudge against a guy who wanted to move a team to Hamilton.

And threatening to relocate the Jets 2.0 before they even played a single game.

Sarah McLellanVerified account ‏@azc_mclellan

LeBlanc said #Coyotes missed winning the draft by one number in the four-number sequence.

Suck it, Coyotes!

See, stuff like this makes me think it was rigged in the Coyotes' favour. It's just that the league is so incompetently run that they even manage to botch this

Anyway I agree with Lights Out to a point. It DOES look bad when the next generational talent looks visibly pained at the prospect of playing for the dumpster fire of a team that won the draft lotto. That's not on Bettman though.

That happens with every single league that has a draft though.

To a degree. The lotto, and the Oilers' history, take this to a whole new level. This wasn't the Oilers getting the first overall pick because they were the worst team in the league. This was them winning the first overall pick after squandering three other first overall picks in a lotto that included teams people would have rather seen McDavid go to. And seeing the next big generational talent look so dejected, given that history the Oilers have? Yeah, it's not a good look for the NHL.

I don't blame Bettman though. It's just a really y draw. Nothing anyone can do about it.

I shouldn't have to tell the two of you that. You're both Chargers fans.

Surely you're not calling Eli a generational talent

These weren't "The Jack Eichel Sweepstakes".

Most Sabres fans seemed well aware that finishing 30th meant a 20% chance at McDavid as well as a guaranteed #2 overall pick. Which was why they were pulling for a 30th place finish. Not to because they were banking everything on McDavid, but because they were guaranteed Eichel at the very least. And when your consolation prize is Jack Eichel? You're in a pretty good spot.

You claim it's justice that the Sabres didn't get McDavid, but they still got a player who some consider a generational talent in his own right. So not really a great cautionary tale.

Look, I'm not really a fan of tanking either, but this hatred you seem to have for it just seems a bit extreme. Most times the paying customer is well aware of what's going on, and in many cases (like this one) they're actively rooting for failure. Besides, the experience of going to a game live is more then just the final score.

All in all? Tanking is a necessary evil. Necessary because every single idea I've heard about how to "fix" the draft system to discourage it has been idiotic. "Hey guys, how about a tournament where all the teams that didn't make the playoffs play for the number one pick?" No.

[Cosmic]

The Sabres had a 100% chance at getting McDavid or Eichel.

The Coyotes had a 33.5% chance at getting McDavid or Eichel.

[Coast2CoastAM2006]

With the Oilers gaining the number one pick, one has to think that some point with the way they have collected top picks that they would have to start winning games just on pure principle. You can't collect that much top end talent and continue to be a doormat every year.