Edmonton Oilers Win Draft Lottery, Avalanche Will Pick 10th

And the winner of the Connor McDavid sweepstakes is...

The Edmonton Oilers. Disgusting

Now that the dust has settled on the 2015 NHL Entry Draft Lottery, we now know the future locations for Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel.  McDavid will begin his NHL career this fall with the Oilers while Jack Eichel will work towards being the best second fiddle in draft history while playing for the Buffalo Sabres.

The Colorado Avalanche held a slim 3.5% chance at winning the 1st overall pick, and while they clearly boasted the best lottery intangibles in the NHL, math won out in the end.  Thanks a lot Corsi-nerds.  Since the victory came from a team behind the Avalanche in the standings, the Avs will retain the 10th overall pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.

Many scouts have ranked 9 players (McDavid, Eichel, Strome, Hanifin, Marner, Crouse, Rantanen, Provorov, Werenksi) as being "a cut above" the rest of the first round, so while the 10th overall pick doesn't guarantee the Avalanche one of those players, it does give them good odds.  Chances are good that one team picking before the Avalanche could go "off the board" and pick a player like Pavel Zacha, Matthew Barzal, Timo Meier or Kyle Connor in the draft's top nine.  There's still some CHL playoff hockey to be played and there's still some room for movement, especially towards the middle of the first round.

McDavid will join former first overall picks Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Nail Yakupov as well as #3 overall pick Leon Draisaitl and #7 overall pick Darnell Nurse.  An embarrassment of riches for a franchise that doesn't deserve one lick of it.  The Western Conference just got even tougher Avalanche fans, because with McDavid in their future the Oilers will surely rise back to contender status.