Making the case for each lottery team to trade their first round pick

Once the ping pong balls had stopped bouncing and Saturday’s draft-lottery announcement was complete, we knew two things: 1) That the hockey gods hate the Colorado Avalanche, and 2) The order for this year’s top 15 picks. The bottom half of the draft is still sorting itself out in the playoffs, but the top half is locked in.

Well, at least for now.

While the order is set in stone, the picks themselves could still change hands via trade. This year’s first round has been unusually stable as far as deals go. Only two picks have changed hands, with the Blues getting Washington’s pick in the Kevin Shattenkirk deal and the Coyotes getting Minnesota’s for Martin Hanzal. (A third pick is still up in the air, as the Stars could still get Anaheim’s first from the Patrick Eaves trade.)

That said, "easy" isn’t necessarily fun, and we like to have some fun around here. In what's expected to be a weaker draft, maybe this is the year that we can talk some GMs into shopping their picks. So today, let's see if we can make a case for each of the lottery teams to trade its first-round pick. This will get tougher as we get closer to the first-overall pick, so we'll start out easy and work our way up to it.

Pick No. 15: New York Islanders

The case for a trade: The Islanders just endured a disappointing season, following up their first playoff series win in 23 years by missing the playoffs and firing their coach. But they only missed the wild card by one point, so it's not like they're a candidate for a full-on reset.

Maybe more importantly, this is a team that has some serious incentive to win now. They're looking for a new arena deal, and those can be easier to come by when you've got some positive momentum to build on. There's also the John Tavares situation; the Islanders' franchise player is eligible to sign an extension on July 1, and he may not be interested in spending what's left of his prime treading water for a middle-of-the-pack team.

Add it all up, and mix in some new ownership that's going to want to see some progress, and waiting around two or three years for another prospect to be ready is going to be a hard sell for Garth Snow.

Does it hold up?: It's a pretty solid case. It's not like Snow is going to be able to land a superstar for a mid-round pick in a weak draft, but using the 15th choice as an asset in a deal would make a lot of sense.

Pick No. 14: Tampa Bay Lightning

The case for a trade: We all figured they were Stanley Cup contenders, and maybe they still are. But after a season where just about everything went wrong, their window seems a lot smaller than most of us thought. Trading their top pick for immediate help would make a lot of sense, especially since anyone they draft from this spot isn't likely to be a difference-maker any time soon.

Does it hold up?: On the surface, sure. But the problem in Tampa is the salary cap, where Steve Yzerman barely has enough room to handle all the guys on his current roster. Adding another veteran would be tricky, so while the Lightning's focus should be on right now, Yzerman may not have any choice but to bank this pick for down the line.

Pick No. 13: Winnipeg Jets

The case for a trade: This year's Jets season played out just like all the others since the team's return — lots of young talent and plenty of potential, but, ultimately, zero playoff wins. Kevin Cheveldayoff has been preaching patience for years now, but at some point you need to start winning.

Fans in Winnipeg are among the most loyal in the league, but they've been looking one or two years down the road for six seasons now. The team needs to take a step forward someday. If not now, when?

Does it hold up?: You'd think so. Dangling the team's top pick – maybe for goaltending help — seems like a reasonable play. But no team in the league has been more reluctant to make big trades than Cheveldayoff and the Jets, so let's file this one under "unlikely."

>> Read the full post at Sportsnet

Five forgotten games that ended up changing the draft lottery results

Saturday night's lottery certainly shook up the draft order, with four of the league's worst teams suffering the dreaded three-spot drop while the Devils, Flyers and Stars all moved up.

We probably should have seen at least part of that coming. Earlier in the week, I predicted that the Devils would win because they had the lottery's most unbeatable good luck charm: Taylor Hall. He was drafted with a lottery-winning choice, he stuck around Edmonton for multiple lottery wins, he was eventually traded for another player taken with a lottery-winning choice, and now he's willed his team to yet another one. By the time it was made official, even Hall himself was having some fun with it.

Officially adding "NHL lottery ball specialist" to my hockey resume.

— Taylor Hall (@hallsy09) April 30, 2017

But were Saturday night's results really inevitable? Maybe not. The beauty of the NHL system is that once you know which spots in the standings held ended up holding the winning combos, you can go back and play "what if?" with certain games during the season. That's how you get Patrik Stefan's empty net miss costing the Oilers the Patrick Kane pick, or how a comical Ryan Getzlaf giveaway ends up costing the Coyotes the services of Patrik Laine.

Now that we know which spots in this year's standings turned out to be the lucky ones – 27^th, 19^th and 24^th if you're keeping track – let's take another run at some alternate history with five games that may have single-handedly changed the lottery results. Warning: This can get painful for certain teams. You've been warned, Canucks fans.

March 19, 2017 – Hurricanes at Flyers

The Flyers and Hurricanes both went into this late-season matchup desperately needing a win. Tied at 72 points, both teams were seven back of the Maple Leafs for the final playoff spot and needed to all but run the table to have a shot at the postseason.

It turned out to be a good game, with the Flyers taking a 2-0 lead early in the second before the Hurricanes pushed back to tie it. It stayed that way until a Jordan Staal goal midway through the third gave Carolina a 3-2 lead, and a shot a crucial road win.

But with the goalie pulled in the final minute, the Flyers tied it up on a fluke. Travis Konecny's attempt at a centering pass got caught in the feet of Hurricanes' defenseman Brett Pesce, who accidentally kicked it into this own net. That sent the game to overtime, where Brayden Schenn won it for Philadelphia less than 40 seconds in.

At the time, the loss seemed like one more blow to the Hurricanes fading playoff hopes. But it ended up being something more. If Carolina avoids Pesce's accidental own goal and holds on for a regulation win, they finish the year with 88 points, passing the Flyers for 19^th spot. That would have made it a Hurricanes logo that Bill Daly flipped over for the second overall pick, the first lottery win in Carolina franchise history.

>> Read the full post at The Hockey News

50 years without a Cup: Are the Leafs really the NHL's most miserable team?

Today is an important anniversary for Toronto Maple Leafs fans.

You’ll notice I didn’t say “happy anniversary,” since this isn’t exactly a day that Leafs fans will want to celebrate. Oh, it marks the anniversary of a happy moment in franchise history; it was 50 years ago tonight that George Armstrong’s iconic empty-net goal sealed a 3–1 win over the Canadiens, securing the franchise’s 13th Stanley Cup.

The not-so-happy part is what’s happened in the 50 years since. Or, more accurately, what hasn’t happened. A full five decades later, the Maple Leafs are still stuck on 13 Cups, as the team’s championship drought has officially reached the half-century mark.

We’ve known this milestone was coming for a while now; it’s been clear for just about the entire salary-cap era that the Maple Leafs weren’t going to win a Cup any time soon. But there’s hope in Toronto these days, as the best collection of young talent the team has had in a generation seems to be on its way towards contending again, maybe as early as the next year or two. For the first time in ages, there’s some genuine optimism that the drought could end someday soon.

Still... 50 years. Man, that's a long time. I wasn't alive back then. You probably weren't either. We knew this day was coming, but it still feels like a big number. From Harold Ballard to Kerry Fraser to JFJ to 4–1, it's been a rough stretch for long-suffering Leafs fans.

But all that said, have the Maple Leafs really been the NHL's most miserable team over the last half-century? After all, it's not like they're the only team that hasn't won a Cup since 1967. That list is actually a reasonably long one, meaning even if we rule out one-off teams like the Rangers and Flames, we're still left with a dozen Cup-less candidates.

So today, as we celebrate Toronto's dubious anniversary, let's compare them to the other teams that haven't won a championship since 1967, and try to figure out how they stack up against the Maple Leafs track record of misery.

St. Louis Blues

The history: Of all the teams who haven’t won a Cup in the post-1967 era, the Blues join the Leafs as the only one that actually existed back in 1967. And only barely; they took the ice for the first time as an expansion team that fall. That's led to an ongoing argument over whether the Blues and Leafs are tied for the NHL's longest Cup drought or whether the Leafs technically own the claim outright, which has to be just about the saddest sports debate there can be.

Closest call: The Blues went to the Stanley Cup Final in each of their first three seasons, which sounds impressive until you remember that the NHL stuck all its terrible expansion teams in the same division, guaranteeing one of them a spot in the final. The Blues were the best of the worst all three years, but got swept each time and haven't been back since.

Low point: The 1999–2000 Blues won 51 games and the Presidents' Trophy, heading into the playoffs as Cup favourites. Seven games later, they were out in the first round, thanks largely to this long-distance goal:

They might be even worse than the Leafs at: Drafting. Like Toronto, the Blues have been better lately (the Vladimir Tarasenko pick was genius). But this is still the team that took Erik Johnson over Jonathan Toews in 2006, which not only set them back but also helped a division rival build a dynasty. And as bad as the Leafs have been, at least they never no-showed a draft entirely.

But at least: From 1980 through 2004, the Blues made the playoffs in 25 straight seasons. These days, the Leafs are hoping to just get there in back-to-back years.

Are they worse?: This one is closer than you think, especially since the Blues' three trips to the final don't really count. But their general consistency and lack of truly rock-bottom moments leaves them a notch behind Toronto on the misery scale.

Washington Capitals

The history: While they give the Leafs a decent head start by not existing until 1974, the Capitals gain that ground back quickly by immediately posting the worst season in modern NHL history. The 1974–75 Caps team managed just 21 points, and the team didn't make the playoffs until 1983. And then things got bad.

Closest call: The Caps at least made it to the 1998 Cup final, although they didn't win any games once they were there.

Low point: At the rate things are going, check back in a few days.

They might be even worse than the Leafs at: Protecting series leads. The Capitals have a stunning history of repeatedly blowing two-game leads in the playoffs; it's kind of their thing. Granted, it's not like Leaf fans can get all high and mighty about protecting playoff leads, but the Caps have dedicated decades to their craft.

But at least: The Capitals have won three Presidents' Trophies in the last eight years; the Maple Leafs have only topped 100 points once in their history.

Are they worse?: This one may be too close to call. The Caps have had lower lows, both in the regular season and playoffs. But they've also had higher highs, including that one trip to the final. Let's see just how heart-breakingly this season ends before we make any final decisions.

>> Read the full post at Sportsnet

Podcast: Draft lottery edition

In this week's episode of Biscuits, the Vice Sports hockey podcast:
- People are mad about the draft lottery, which I argue is the most NHL reaction possible
- Dave and I are very sorry about spoiling the results ahead of time
- I have a minor conspiracy theory about the Vegas Golden Knights that I manage to convince Dave of
- We look at the first round so far
- We do not talk about the Crosby hit because we recorded yesterday
- Reader questions
- And lots more...

>> Stream it now on Vice Sports

>> Or, subscribe on iTunes.

Weekend wrap: Four out of five ain't bad

OK, so we had to let the Americans win one game. It was the polite Canadian thing to do.

Last night’s Ducks win in Edmonton spoiled what had been a perfect second round for the two remaining Canadian teams. That was a little uncool, especially after Oiler fans went and salvaged the American anthem.

Still, four out of five isn't bad. The Oilers hold a 2–1 series lead over the Ducks, and now get an extra day to stew over last night's 6–3 loss before Game 4 goes on Wednesday. It was an odd game, one that saw the Ducks score three straight early on, the Oilers rally to tie it up, and the Ducks score three more to pull away.

But every team hits a few bumps along the road in the playoffs, even if that team is (briefly) the Stanley Cup favourite. If the Oilers could shake off a 7–0 loss to the Sharks in round one, you figure they've got a decent shot at doing the same here, especially if Cam Talbot can bounce back and Connor McDavid keeps doing ridiculous stuff like this:

Meanwhile, the Senators have pulled off a pair of comebacks to take a 2–0 lead over the Rangers. Saturday's dramatic overtime win was Ottawa's eighth straight one-goal game of the playoffs, and sends them to New York with a chance to all but wrap up the series in tomorrow's Game 3. That's not bad for a team that was widely considered an underdog against both the Bruins and Rangers, despite holding home-ice advantage heading into each series.

The country's 24-year Stanley Cup drought has been well-documented, and we're still 10 wins away from either the Oilers are Senators ending it. But they're getting close to breaking another streak that's lasted almost as long; two Canadian teams haven't made it to the conference final in the same season since the Maple Leafs and Canucks faced each other in 1994. And it would be the first time that a Canadian team was playing in each conference final since the Leafs and Canadiens in 1993.

Almost as importantly, having both the Oilers and Senators advance would avoid the dreaded "one Canadian franchise left" scenario, which inevitably results in a) every media outlet trotting out the same clichéd "Canada's team" stories, and b) every neutral hockey fan in the country immediately turning on that team because we all secretly don't want anyone else to win a Cup before our team does. The longer we can hold off on all of that, the better.

But that's getting a little ahead of ourselves. On to this week's power rankings...

Top Five

Celebrating the players, teams, storylines and themes that have had the best week.

5. The Hurricanes' goaltending: They may have finally solved their longstanding goaltending problems, thanks to a weekend trade that saw them acquire Scott Darling from the Blackhawks for a third-round pick.

With only 64 career starts under his belt, Darling's not a sure thing. And he'll be an unrestricted free agent on July 1, so in theory Carolina could lose him for nothing if they can't get him signed. But given how glaring a need the position had become, the deal is worth the risk. You'd have to imagine that the Hurricanes get an extension done quickly and hand over the starting duties to Darling, who should be a major upgrade over the Cam Ward/Eddie Lack combo that struggled through the last two seasons.

4. The Predators' blue line: Nashville took a 2–1 series lead over the Blues with yesterday's 3–1 win. The game featured goals from Ryan Ellis and Roman Josi, tying them for the team lead with Filip Forsberg. Ellis has been especially hot, riding a six-game point streak. Mix in P.K. Subban's tour de force in Game 1, and Nashville's blue line looks scary good right now. And it might get them to the conference final.

In related news, the Predators apparently have Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott on the bandwagon now, presumably because he's not used to watching a team's defence get the job done in the post-season.

The Predators Game was Lit! Congrats to The Preds on a big game 3 win! But it's Still Dallas Stars All Day! #Dallas4Life #TeamDallas #NHL

— Dak Prescott (@dak) April 30, 2017

>> Read the full post at Sportsnet