Game Thread: Edmonton Oilers at Buffalo Sabres - McEichel Bowl I

Connor McDavid was the player selected first overall by the Edmonton Oilers and Jack Eichel was the consolation prize received by the Buffalo Sabres when the lost the draft lottery. Whether it means anything or not, and it doesn't, these two players, simply because they were drafted first and second overall, will now be tied together for the rest of their careers. Don't believe me? We're nearing six seasons of hockey played by Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin and those two can't play against each other without it being mentioned, and in that case there was actually some debate as to who the Oilers should take first overall.

Admittedly, there are probably better things to talk about heading into tonights game. Or maybe there aren't, this is a Tuesday night matchup between the Oilers and the Sabres, two teams that are once against in the NHL's bottom five and have been effectively eliminated from playoff contention for about two months now. Sure, if you really wanted another story line you could focus on a player like Adam Cracknell who will be making his Oilers debut tonight, or you could start thinking of "What a maroon" jokes to make when Patrick Maroon gets here, or you could focus on those high draft picks, the players that are hopefully the key to their respective team's futures. An since we got the better of the two, that doesn't seem like the worst thing to do.

Jokes aside though, both players have had very good rookie campaigns and will likely have long, and very productive careers in the NHL. When it comes to comparing the two we're probably a little bit biased here on this site, but if you read Zach's Three Questions with our sister site Die By The Blade you can immediately tell that Sabres fans are just as excited about having Eichel in their lineup as we are to have McDavid in ours. And good for them, this will be their fifth year missing the playoffs and it can be hard to find the game fun after multiple years of losing. I've been to Buffalo and the people there seemed nice, I've certainly got no reason to hope that their rebuild turns into a real life version of Penrose stairs like ours has.

So I'll sit back tonight watching two future stars play each other for the first time. And I'll hope for multiple point nights for both. With McDavid getting one more point, of course.