Oilers want playoff run, not No. 1 pick

So, five years after the Edmonton Oilers were gifted the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft by winning the lottery and got Connor Mcdavid, they have another shot at it this year.

If they lose their play-in series to the Chicago Blackhawks.

The losers of the eight playoff tournament qualification series get their shot at Alexis Lafreniere, the winger from Rimouski who is the best draft prospect available. So, that’s eight losers, each with a 12.5-per-cent chance at winning the second phase of the draft lottery.

“You wait over three months for hockey to come back and you get this shocking news,” said Oilers GM Ken Holland after the play-in losers somehow leap-frogged over the teams not in the Return to Play tournament with the biggest loser Detroit, dropping all the way to fourth in the draft with Los Angeles getting No. 2 pick and Ottawa Senators No. 3.

The second phase lottery will come after the play-in round, which Holland wants to win.

Lafreniee is very good but he’s not Mcdavid, plus he’s a winger. Not a centre.

“Anytime you’re playing hockey, you’re playing to win ... we want the Edmonton Oilers to be the last team standing and if not, we want the playoff experience as far as we go,” said Holland, who wants to knock off the Hawks in the bestof-five qualification round, then get into the 16-team best-of-seven tournament.

“End of the day, only one play-in loser gets the No. 1 pick, the others are picking later.”

“I look at this tournament as being relatively wide-open. Regular-season ended about four months ago if we start in August. If a play-in team wins the Stanley Cup, they will have to have won five series, even more difficult than usual but everybody’s dream is to have your name on the Stanley Cup,” said Holland.

“I want our team to make some noise, go on a playoff run.”