Draft lottery power rankings: Who needs it, who deserves it, who might trade it?

It’s now been ten years since I wrote a column that lives in infamy.

Back then, while working for a site called Grantland, I decided it would be fun to write a power rankings-style column about the upcoming NHL draft lottery. There was a kid named Connor McDavid available that year, so the lottery had huge ramifications for the teams involved. So I wrote the piece, one that built towards the main punchline that any result would be fine as long as the Oilers didn’t win. And everyone had a good laugh.

Then the lottery happened, and nobody was laughing anymore.

It all worked out for the best, he said, in case any Oiler fans were reading, and the lottery power rankings went on to become a tradition. A decade later, it’s time to dig into our annual lists of who needs it, who deserves it, and who Gary Bettman is going to rig it for.

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