NHL AVOIDS ITS WORST LOTTERY NIGHTMARE
Consider Rangers an acceptable winner in entry draft’s Lafreniere sweepstakes
On behalf of the entire hockey world: Phew!
Crisis averted. A bullet — if not a ping-pong ball — has been dodged.
The New York Rangers have won the NHL’S draft lottery. And while it’s still a bit unusual that a team that was competing in the post-season just a few days ago has now won the No. 1 overall pick, at least Alexis Lafreniere is not going to Pittsburgh, Edmonton or Toronto.
Now that would have been embarrassing. That would have gone against the so-called “spirit of the draft.”
That was always the fear when the NHL went to Part 2 of a convoluted draft lottery system after a “placeholder” team somewhat unexpectedly won Part 1 of the lottery back in June. That meant that the eight teams that lost in the Stanley Cup qualifiers — Edmonton, Florida, Minnesota, Nashville, the Rangers, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Winnipeg — all had an equal 12.5 per cent chance of winning the No. 1 overall pick.
It also meant that a good team was going to be unnecessarily rewarded for no reason at all.
Sure, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was quick to remind everyone again on Monday that the losing teams were technically not playoff teams. But let’s get real. Whether you want to call it the qualifiers or the post-season, these were all playoff teams.
Some of them were even considered Stanley Cup contenders.
Pittsburgh, which lost to Montreal in the qualification round, had the seventh-best record when the regular season was halted and was on pace for 102 points. Edmonton and Toronto were ranked 12th and 13th overall, respectively.
Can you imagine the outrage if any of them had won the No. 1 overall pick? None of them deserved Lafreniere. None of them even needed him. Certainly not when Los Angeles and Ottawa were picking second and third, respectively, and Detroit, which finished with 23 less points than any other team, ended up with the fourth overall pick.
The Rangers, we can live with. So can Lafreniere, who said future teammate Artemi Panarin was his favourite player to watch this season.
“It was just an unreal year he had and really dominant,” Lafreniere said of the Hart Trophy finalist, who might be his linemate when the 2020-21 season begins sometime in December. “New York is probably one of the best spots in the league. It’s really fun, really good news. I’m really excited right now.”
Even with Panarin, the Rangers are a rebuilding team. A year ago, New York moved up four spots and selected Kaapo Kakko with the second overall pick. This time, the 18th-place team moved up 13 spots.
It’s a helluva jump. But they deserved it.
“A few days ago, we were the first team out of the bubble and we feel terrible. And we’re still trying to get over that and ask questions why and try to move forward,” said GM Jeff Gorton. “But obviously, you don’t get the first pick very often. This is a special year and it’s exciting. We’re really excited. You never expect this.
“We knew we needed luck, and luck was on our side tonight.”
The Rangers, who were the first team out of the bubble after getting swept by the Hurricanes in the qualification round last week, had the second-worst record in the Metropolitan Division this year. Had the regular season continued, they probably wouldn’t have made the playoffs.
With Lafreniere joining a roster that includes Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and the emerging Kakko, expect that to change in a hurry.
“If you look at some of the best players in the league, some of the star players, it’s not a huge secret where the teams are getting them,” said Gorton. “It’s lottery picks. It’s at the very high-end parts of the draft … the opportunity for us to do that is huge.”
Indeed, it’s not every year that a prospect like Lafreniere is available. The 18-year-old might not be on the same level as Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin or Connor Mcdavid and Auston
Matthews, but scouts believe the Quebec-born winger has qualities that could make him a star in the NHL.
Only Crosby had as many goals in the past 16 years as Lafreniere did as a Quebec league rookie. This season, the Rimouski Oceanic forward led the QMJHL with 112 points in 52 games. But it was his play at the world juniors, where he was named tournament MVP after leading Canada to gold with four goals and 10 points in five games, where he separated himself from the pack.
“Lafreniere showed why people have him No. 1,” said North American Central Scouting ’s Mark Seidel. “He handled the pressure and was impactful against players who are a year and a half older than him. There’s no way you can evaluate that tournament and not see superstar written all over him.”
No question, Edmonton would have loved to add Lafreniere to a line with Mcdavid. The same goes for Pittsburgh and Toronto. Instead, the Oilers will pick 14th overall and the Penguins will get the 15th pick.
For the Leafs, the lottery loss hits particularly hard. The team’s first-round selection, which had been lottery protected, will now go to the Carolina Hurricanes as part of the Patrick Marleau salary dump.
So, it’s no Stanley Cup Playoffs. No Lafreniere. And no firstround pick.
And yet, considering the alternatives, it’s still the best thing that could have happened to the league as a whole.