2016 NHL Draft Lottery

[princedpw]

Well, if he winds up like Sakic, I'd be pretty happy.

 

[Zee]

Cool article by Jonas Siegel about the draft procedure. He was in the room during the actual draw and wasn't allowed to have his phone or laptop.

 

[mr grieves]

High-end from what I've heard is a more defensively capable version of Mike Modano.

Low-end is probably Chris Drury.

Madano? Lets hope not. Yes he was a very good player but I never thought of him as elite.  I like this comparison better...

Marc Crawford, Matthews? coach with the Lions, couldn?t have given the young star more praise, lauding his hockey sense and comparing him to two current NHL superstars as well as the Hall of Fame centre who he won the 1996 Stanley Cup with in Colorado.

?He will be a No. 1 centre in the NHL and his game will be one where I think he can dominate with his shot and his abiltiy to make short area plays - dekes and shots and quick passes that spring people,? Crawford told Yahoo Canada Sports.  ?He?s a little like Anze Kopitar and a little like Jamie Benn.  His speed and the way he drives the net is like Anze.  He shoots like Benn and stays on puck for second chances like him.

?The player he reminds me most of is Joe Sakic. Joe didn?t need to play with outstandingly great players, he made people better by converting passes that seemingly weren?t very good, he was good at putting pucks in really good areas.  His release and shot is like Sakic?s, Joe was deceptive with shooting angles, Auston has those same abilities.  He is a great scoring centre.?

I had sort of adjusted my hopes to #2. Winning seemed a bit crazy, but falling one spot was all right. Certainly not greedy to hope for that...

And so I was getting excited for Laine, thinking it'd be great to have what some were calling the best shot in this year's draft in the fold, since Marner and Nylander seem best controlling the puck. And I thought, after trading Kessel, the Leafs needed an elite shooter with that game-changing potential (though perhaps one who didn't rely so much on scoring off the rush). So, Laine sounded worth getting excited about.

But this sounds like Matthews would work really well with either Marner or Nylander. Which is great.

JvR - Kadri - Shoshnikov
Komarov - Nylander - Brown
Hyman - Matthews - Marner
Laich - Gauthier - Michalek

 

[mr grieves]

I swear to god, next person who suggests trading this pick is getting tossed in the lake.

But but but but... What about trading #1 to Winnipeg for #2 and Trouba or Columbus for #3 and Jones? Pick a Finn, sign Stamkos, contend.

JvR - Stamkos - Marner
Soshnikov - Nylander - Laine/Puljujarvi
Komarov - Kadri - Brown
[whatever]

Rielly - Trouba/Jones
Gardiner - Zaitsev
[whatever]

With Laine: Core of #1, 2, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8,
With Pulju: Core of #1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 7

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

Guys, one thing nobody has really mentioned is, should the Leafs consider trading the pick?

I mean maybe to Arizona? Worth considering at least.

 

[Kin]

But but but but... What about trading #1 to Winnipeg for #2 and Trouba or Columbus for #3 and Jones? Pick a Finn, sign Stamkos, contend. 

Have you seen the lake recently?

 

[mr grieves]

But but but but... What about trading #1 to Winnipeg for #2 and Trouba or Columbus for #3 and Jones? Pick a Finn, sign Stamkos, contend. 

Have you seen the lake recently?

I don't think I ever saw it, even when I was living in Toronto.

Sounds like something to do.

 

[Jolly good show chaps]

Guys, one thing nobody has really mentioned is, should the Leafs consider trading the pick?

I mean maybe to Arizona? Worth considering at least.

Sounds like a plan. Why hasn't anyone brought this up before?

 

[Peter D.]

What a monumental moment for the franchise.  This changes things drastically.  Will be so good to have a #1 centre after all those years of not having one since Sundin.

 

[Stronger Than All]

My son was playing video games, so I followed the draft on Twitter.  Just thought I'd mention I had several people I follow displaying each team at each number.  First person to mention the Leafs won the draft on my feed was George Strombo...hahahha...  darn Habs fan!

 

[herman]

http://montrealgazette.com/sports/jack-todd-draft-lottery-leaves-a-bad-smell-hovering-over-nhl

I smell butthurt.

We here at Monday Morning Quarterback Central might not subscribe to the theory that the fix was in on the NHL draft lottery.

Why would the NHL want to arrange the result? Sure, Rogers paid a bazillion dollars for the broadcast rights. Yeah, the ratings for the network?s game telecasts are down there where the submarines roam, so Rogers is taking a bath on its NHL investment.

And yes, the Toronto Maple Leafs are the linchpin of that whole broadcast deal and they?ve been rancid since around 1967. But rig the draft so that the NHL?s pet franchise gets a crack at the top pick? Only a greedy, money-obsessed sports league would even ? oh, never mind.

What is more troublesome than the possibility that the NHL might have rigged the lottery is the process that brought us to this point: Blatant, persistent tanking is fatal to a sports league. Any league. The players on the ice may be trying hard, but when management has already ensured failure by shipping out most of their high-priced players, that?s tanking.

That?s what the Toronto Maple Leafs did this year: they tanked. That Brendan Shanahan is being praised for tanking is so mind-bending, we won?t even go there. Somehow, even with the lottery percentages altered to give the league?s worst team only a 20 per cent shot at the top pick, the Leafs still beat 5-to-1 odds to waltz away with the chance to draft Auston Matthews.

 

[Kin]

I really do love the mentality that thinks the League would rig a draft to favour the Leafs but, you know, not last year's.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

The team with the best odds to pick first picked first? Something's fishy.

 

[louisstamos]

http://montrealgazette.com/sports/jack-todd-draft-lottery-leaves-a-bad-smell-hovering-over-nhl

I smell butthurt.

We here at Monday Morning Quarterback Central might not subscribe to the theory that the fix was in on the NHL draft lottery.

Why would the NHL want to arrange the result? Sure, Rogers paid a bazillion dollars for the broadcast rights. Yeah, the ratings for the network?s game telecasts are down there where the submarines roam, so Rogers is taking a bath on its NHL investment.

And yes, the Toronto Maple Leafs are the linchpin of that whole broadcast deal and they?ve been rancid since around 1967. But rig the draft so that the NHL?s pet franchise gets a crack at the top pick? Only a greedy, money-obsessed sports league would even ? oh, never mind.

What is more troublesome than the possibility that the NHL might have rigged the lottery is the process that brought us to this point: Blatant, persistent tanking is fatal to a sports league. Any league. The players on the ice may be trying hard, but when management has already ensured failure by shipping out most of their high-priced players, that?s tanking.

That?s what the Toronto Maple Leafs did this year: they tanked. That Brendan Shanahan is being praised for tanking is so mind-bending, we won?t even go there. Somehow, even with the lottery percentages altered to give the league?s worst team only a 20 per cent shot at the top pick, the Leafs still beat 5-to-1 odds to waltz away with the chance to draft Auston Matthews.

This is like one of those Onion satire articles, right?  ...Right?

The fixing the lottery part was already bad.  The fact that the Leafs would need to trade the first AND more (or Edmonton the 4th and more) for PK Subban is downright delusional.

 

[Deebo]

They would also either have to fool an EY auditor or have them in on the fix, both seem unlikely.

 

[Kin]

That said, he's right that incentivizing failure is awful for a league and he's further right that it's not something that should be praised exactly but that has nothing to do with the Leafs winning the pick this year.

 

[bustaheims]

http://montrealgazette.com/sports/jack-todd-draft-lottery-leaves-a-bad-smell-hovering-over-nhl

I smell butthurt.

That?s what the Toronto Maple Leafs did this year: they tanked. That Brendan Shanahan is being praised for tanking is so mind-bending, we won?t even go there. Somehow, even with the lottery percentages altered to give the league?s worst team only a 20 per cent shot at the top pick, the Leafs still beat 5-to-1 odds to waltz away with the chance to draft Auston Matthews.

This may a little in the nitpicking realm of things, but, the odds were 4-to-1, not 5-to-1. Yes, the Leafs beat the odds, but, any team that could have won any of the three lottery would have had to beat the odds to do so.

 

[dappleganger]

http://montrealgazette.com/sports/jack-todd-draft-lottery-leaves-a-bad-smell-hovering-over-nhl

I smell butthurt.

That?s what the Toronto Maple Leafs did this year: they tanked. That Brendan Shanahan is being praised for tanking is so mind-bending, we won?t even go there. Somehow, even with the lottery percentages altered to give the league?s worst team only a 20 per cent shot at the top pick, the Leafs still beat 5-to-1 odds to waltz away with the chance to draft Auston Matthews.

This may a little in the nitpicking realm of things, but, the odds were 4-to-1, not 5-to-1. Yes, the Leafs beat the odds, but, any team that could have won any of the three lottery would have had to beat the odds to do so.

LOL. You are correct.

 

[Bill_Berg]

That said, he's right that incentivizing failure is awful for a league and he's further right that it's not something that should be praised exactly but that has nothing to do with the Leafs winning the pick this year.

Hopefully they make it even odds next year so that if the Leafs miss the playoffs by 1 point, there's still a chance they'll get the first overall pick. And if they were to get that pick in such a way, the rants out of Montreal will be sweet, sweet music.

 

[KGB]

Please stop it with the "tank" crap.  Not once did the Leafs show up at the rink this year trying to lose.  There were lots of considerations that went into the various roster moves of the last 12 months, some of them fiduciary, some of them personal, and all of them geared toward engendering consistent success in the (hopefully near-term) future.  What the Leafs did -- and the Sabres did last year -- is an example of how most smart people run their business.  Short term pain for long term gain.  There's nothing untoward about it.  Yes, Jack Todd, the Leafs are trying to win.  They're just not doing it the way you'd like, which, I'm guessing, happens to involve a bit more losing.