Leafs were one bounce away from McDavid
Franchise-altering draft was just single number away from becoming reality
It was a Saturday night in Toronto, and the fate of the world’s next great hockey player, a handful of franchises and maybe even the growth of the league hung in the balance.
Connor McDavid was decked out in a blue sports coat and a blue-andwhite checked shirt — he would later say he meant nothing by it — as he sat with Erie Otters teammates Dylan Strome and Boston College defencemen Noah Hanifin. Boston University centre Jack Eichel was at a family function in the United States but was on the phone listening in.
The four top prospects were together for a media event as the NHL tried to pretend it was about more than just McDavid. Nice try. Ping pong balls numbered 1 to 14 were in a black briefcase, to be loaded into a mini bingo cage in a room not open to the public. League officials and representatives of teams involved in the NHL draft lottery — including Leafs president Brendan Shanahan — were inside, as was a single journalist acting as a pool reporter, Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun, the Toronto chapter chairman of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.
It was a weighted lottery: The Sa- bres, as the last-place team, had a 20 per cent chance of winning. The Leafs, the fourth-last team, had a 9.5 per cent chance. For the teams not going to the Stanley Cup playoffs, this would be their biggest moment of the season.
Ared button to vacuum up the balls was pressed at 10-second intervals. Neither the timekeeper nor the button presser looked at the machine. FIVE: That was the first ping pong ball drawn. At that point, the Leafs had 25 chances to win McDavid. The Oilers had 39 chances. Remarkably, Arizona had 30 chances, already dropping behind Edmonton. Buffalo had 52, still in the lead. So it was all on the up and up. Of course, that didn’t stop the conspiracy theorists who, for a change, found a reason to see why the league — if it could — would rig it in favour of the Maple Leafs.
First, there was the relationships between Shanahan and commissioner Gary Bettman. Maybe a Leaf win in the draft lottery would be some sort of thank you to Shanahan for his years in a thankless job, doling out suspensions to players.
Then there was the Leafs themselves. As a losing team — really, a terrible team — they were a drag on hockey-related revenue and the salary cap. With the Canadian dollar tanking, merchandise revenue from the Leafs — especially Leaf jerseys with No. 97 on the back — would go a lot further to lining the league’s pockets.
And McDavid on the Leafs would speed up the team’s rebuilding mode, which would be good for TV ratings. In Rogers’ first year of being the NHL’s national broadcaster, ratings dipped largely because the Leafs had a terrible second half. McDavid would change that. FOURTEEN: The second ball out left the Leafs, Oilers and Coyotes down to seven chances. The Sabres had 12 possibilities at the top spot remaining.
Buffalo sports fans are used to disappointment. Wide right. Skate in the crease. Their list of grievances are longer than their championship parades. They’re used to getting the short end of the stick.
The Buffalo media, sensing it would be too good to be true that the Sabres would ultimately land McDavid, had written at length about how good Eichel was as much as Canadian media had written about McDavid.
In about 20 seconds, they’d be able to start their “I like Eichel” campaigns. SIX: For the first time, the Leafs led. They had four chances to win with the 5-14-6 combination. If 2, 7, 8 or 13 pop up, Leafs win. Buffalo had three chances (3,11,12); Edmonton had two (1,10); Arizona was eliminated. There was two dark horses: Carolina needed 4; Columbus needed 9.
The other big conspiracy theory had the league rigging it for the Coyotes. Despite its annual financial, ownership and attendance crises, Bettman remains committed to hockey in the desert. What better way to ensure its continued existence than to hand the franchise the next great star. But no. And you have to feel sorry for the Coyotes. They thought they were at least getting Eichel. When they dropped to third they may as well have dropped off a cliff. From one of two generational players to a pick ’em spot. Dylan Strome will be a fine hockey player, but he’s not in the same area code as McDavid or Eichel. ONE: If you look closely at the video of the bouncing balls, No. 2 — a Leaf number — is right there on the cusp of getting drawn. But it’s there a fraction of a second too soon. By the time the button is pressed to vacuum up the final ball, No. 1 has pushed No. 2 out of the way.
Oilers win. Remarkable. They’d pick first overall for the fourth time in six seasons. Ryan Nugent Hopkins. Taylor Hall. Nail Yakupov. Now McDavid. The lottery gods have been good to them.
“They’ve got some luck,” Shanahan said that night. “Obviously everybody came here today hoping to get the gold ticket. The odds were stacked against most teams.”