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Fond memories. Some a bit blurry, but fond.
April 18th, 2015: The Oilers are finishing another underwhelming season that saw them finish third worst in the league. To add insult to injury, the Oilers appeared to be well out of the running for either of the projected top two prospects.
Edmonton almost certainly looked like they were going to draft third in the draft. With a meagre 11% chance at winning the NHL Draft Lottery, it looked all but certain that Dylan Strome was going to be wearing Oiler colours. Hanifin was no slouch, but he certainly didn’t carry the name recognition of say, a Jack Eichel or a Connor McDavid.
The Oilers were up against some fierce competition. Both Arizona and Buffalo were icing less than NHL teams by the time this season went underway in hopes of landing the number one overall pick, or at least a second prize of Jack Eichel.
Enough of all that. How did it all end?
It ended beautifully.
The OIlers will draft first overall. Connor McDavid is ours. 11%? Who cares. You can’t count the Oilers out of a lottery.
Fans in Buffalo didn’t take it as well.
The Oilers have the greatest player in the world on their roster. The Sabres didn’t do too bad with Jack Eichel. The Coyotes selected Dylan Strome at third.
How did your draft lottery day go down? Mine was a little hazy. I called my better half, who was absolutely as excited as I was.
my better half was on a wine tour and i totally called her after it all went down. CONNOR MCDAVID, i blurted into the phone.
— Jeff Chapman (@NewWaveOil) April 18, 2020
what?
IT'S CONNOR MCDAVIIID, issa GENRATIONUL TALUNT!
what?
MCDAAAAAAAAAAVID
*click*
Everything is right in the world. At least, it was on that day.