Draft Lottery might make rich even richer

Oilers and Penguins hardly need to add Lafrenière to ros ter but it co uld happen

If I were the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers, I’d probably put Alexis Lafrenière on a line with Leon Draisaitl.

At least to start.

See how they can create together. See whether it’s a fit, if there is any chemistry.

I know the temptation will be to send Lafreniere out with Connor Mcdavid and just sit back and watch the highlight show unfold. But I’ve liked how Ryan Nugent- Hopkins has given McDavid’s line more of a defensive presence in this post-season. And with the undersized Kailer Yamamoto having found a full- time role on Draisaitl’s right side, the left side could use someone with Lafreniere’s size and grit.

Then again, maybe you do what the Pittsburgh Penguins did when they won back- to- back Stanley Cup wins with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel on separate lines and split up the Big 3. Putting Lafreniere on a third line with Riley Sheahan would give Edmonton more forward depth than it has ever had.

Honestly, the possibilities are endless. They are also a bit nauseating.

This is not what Oilers fans want to be thinking about as they head into a must- win Game 4 against the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday. They don’t want to be thinking of Lafreniere and what line he might fit best on. They don’t want to be considering another No. 1 overall pick, another season of missing the actual playoffs, another year of failure.

All of that is quickly becoming the reality after Edmonton blew a one- goal lead and lost Game 3 to Chicago on Wednesday. They now trail the Blackhawks 2-1 in a bestof-five qualification round series.

If they lose, the Oilers would join the New York Rangers and six other ( as yet to be named) teams in Phase 2 of the NHL Draft Lottery, which is scheduled for Monday.

For the host team of the Stanley Cup final, a team that had the second- best record in the Pacific Division when the regular season was halted on March 12, failing to advance past the qualification round would be a bit of a nightmare. But for the rest of the league, it has the potential to be even worse.

We all knew that once a “placeholder” won Phase 1 of the Draft Lottery in June that any of the eight losing teams in the qualification round would have an equal chance of landing the most coveted forward prospect since McDavid and Auston Matthews. But we also thought that team would be located in Florida or Nashville or Montreal.

We thought it would be a team that needed him.

Not Edmonton. Not Pittsburgh, which trails 2-1 in its best- of- five series to Montreal.

Not some team that was actually good. But this was part of the deal that the NHL made with the devil when it decided it would resume the season. Having the Oilers or Penguins win the No. 1 overall pick was always considered a long shot. Then again, Brian Burke probably thought the same when the former Toronto Maple Leafs GM gave up an unprotected first- round pick to the Boston Bruins in exchange for Phil Kessel back in 2009.

The Leafs ended up losing out on a chance to draft Tyler Seguin that year. This time around, the stakes are considerably higher.

If the worst were to happen — if Lafreniere ends ups joining

Mcdavid and Draisaitl in Edmonton or Crosby and Malkin in Pittsburgh — can you imagine the outcry from Detroit GM Steve Yzerman? The Red Wings won a league- worst 17 games this year. They are picking fourth in the draft after failing to win one of the top three spots in the lottery.

The Oilers and Penguins had the fifth- best record in their respective conferences. They are now one loss away from having a 12.5 per cent chancing of winning the No. 1 overall pick, mostly because of hot and cold goaltending and the unpredictability of a bestof- five series that comes on the heels of a four-month layoff.

The sky might not be falling. But with Edmonton and Pittsburgh both on the ropes, the stars could be.

With the New York Rangers out of the playoffs, the NHL is already without its largest TV market in the United States. But now it is also in danger of losing Mcdavid and Draisaitl, as well as Crosby and Malkin. The only thing worse would be if Toronto’s trio of young stars were to join them.

Then again, there are some fans in Montreal who actually believe that defeating Pittsburgh would be the worst thing to happen because it would rob a rebuilding team that has no business of being in the playoffs of a chance to draft a hometown star in Lafreniere. It’s a complicated argument. On one hand, another round of the playoffs would give young players, such as Nick Suzuki and Jesperi Kotkaniemi, even more valuable experience for next year. On the other, if the Canadiens aren’t going to win the Stanley Cup, then what’s the point of playing another round if the end result is a lesser draft pick?

Regardless of what happens, chances are no one is going to be happy with who ends up with the No. 1 pick. Even more so if it’s Edmonton or Pittsburgh.