The Edmonton Oilers have won the NHL Draft lottery for the fourth time in six years despite having an 11.5 percent chance. This makes them likely to draft the heavily hyped 17-year-old Connor McDavid.
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McDavid is being called the biggest prospect since Sidney Crosby, who has led the Pittsburgh Penguins to a Stanley Cup championship in 2009 while being a perennial NHL All-Star.
The Oilers did not have the worst record in the NHL as they finished with 62 points, which is more than the Arizona Coyotes and Buffalo Sabres scored.
The Sabres finished with a league-worst 54 points while the Coyotes were barely better with 56.
Twitter immediately blew up following the lottery results, and McDavid was almost always the subject of this news as retirement jokes arose.
Right now Connor McDavid is calling Jarret Stoll to find out how to get arrested to avoid coming to the worst franchise in the last 10 years
— Mel The Canadian (@AngeredCanadian) April 19, 2015
Poor Connor McDavid. #NHL #NHLDraftLottery
— DP Jacobs (@dpjacobstweets) April 19, 2015
The Edmonton Oilers – where number 1 picks go to die. RIP Connor McDavid. — Ken L (@ThisisKenL) April 19, 2015
#BREAKING: Oilers select Connor McDavid 1st overall in 2015 #NHLDraft. Shortly after, McDavid announces retirement. @BonksMullet — Jordan Thoms (@JTi2P) April 19, 2015
Breaking News: Connor McDavid to retire after seeing lottery positions
— Alex Ciechanowski (@AlexCiech) April 19, 2015
When he found out Edmonton won the draft lottery #ConnorMcDavid #DraftLottery #oilers pic.twitter.com/QCnvxtM51S
— Tony Lam (@tonyylamlam) April 19, 2015
McDavid was often compared to Eric Lindros, who infamously requested a trade and was granted it after refusing to play for the Quebec Nordiques. He was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers and won a Hart Memorial Trophy in the 1994-95 season.
Connor McDavid should pull a Lindros and refuse to sign. Then the Flyers can trade Peter Forsberg for him. — Ryan Lawrence (@ryanlawrence21) April 19, 2015
It may be in McDavid’s best interest to be traded to another team, and this sort of stunt has been pulled in the NFL as well, most notably with quarterbacks John Elway and Eli Manning.
They each went on to respectively lead the Denver Broncos and New York Giants to two Super Bowl victories.
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