The 2015 NHL draft will be the most significant one since 2005, where Sidney Crosby was drafted because it is the one when a fortunate NHL team gets to draft the player many fans, scouts, and NHL owners, coaches, and management consider to be Crosby’s heir, Connor McDavid. McDavid is currently playing junior hockey for the OHL’s Erie Otters.
McDavid is being touted as Sidney Crosby’s successor, the best Canadian player of his generation, the next link on Canada’s Golden Hockey Chain that stretches back unbroken to the days of Maurice Richard, a list of athletes who rank even above the other NHL greats.
For those who are not familiar with this chain, it is composed of Maurice Richard – Gordie Howe – Bobby Hull – Bobby Orr – Guy Lafleur – Wayne Gretzky – Mario Lemieux – Sidney Crosby. Though there are overlaps, it seems that each member succeeds the other like a hereditary monarchy to dominate the NHL and rewrite its record book.
The Ideal Landing Spot for Connor McDavid
McDavid is already piling up legendary stories. He was so good before he entered junior hockey that Hockey Canada and the OHL granted him Exceptional Player status which allowed him to be drafted at the age of 15, one year earlier than normal.
He has already established several Otter records and had an exceptionally outstanding IHF under-18 tournament where, as Canada’s youngest player, he led the team to victory.
How important is getting someone like McDavid? Every player in Canada’s Golden Hockey Chain has won at least one Stanley Cup. So getting the best player of his generation almost guarantees a victory.
Two examples will suffice. In 1970, Buffalo and Vancouver entered the NHL and tossed to see who would draft first. Buffalo won and was able to draft Gilbert Perreault, an exceptional junior player who was head and shoulders above anyone else in the draft. Within five years Buffalo was in the Stanley Cup Final (they lost to Philadelphia) and was a perennial contender for a decade while Vancouver floundered in the doldrums.
When the WHA merged with the NHL in 1980, the Edmonton Oilers were allowed to retain Wayne Gretzky. They made the playoffs that year and by the end of the decade had four Stanley Cups to their credit.
A player like McDavid can also have an impact far beyond the hockey rink, especially if he is dratted by a team where attendance is declining or has never been good and the game needs to be sold.
Someone like McDavid would overcome the indifference and hostility in these markets and fill the seats. And local American boys, growing up with a sports hero in their midst might now decide to play hockey instead of basketball, baseball, or football.
In these circumstances the NHL has its own preference about where they would like McDavid to play. At the end of two months NHL play, here are the current possibilities.
THE LEADING CANDIDATES:
Edmonton, Buffalo, Carolina, Columbus
LESSER POSSIBILITIES:
Colorado, Arizona, Philadelphia, New Jersey
From this list, it is not too hard to pick the teams that the NHL would like Connor McDavid play for.
The envelope please.
The likely winner among the leading candidates for the right to employ Connor McDavid according to the preferences of the NHL is the COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS! And if some lucky longshot manages to vault to the number one position, the NHL would likely want that team to be the ARIZONA COYOTES.
It is not hard to see why. Columbus is located in hockey’s “Death Valley” of Ohio-Indiana, an area strewn with dead NHL-WHA franchises in Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis. Not even the presence of rookies Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier could save the Indianapolis Racers. And during its existence Columbus itself has had many times of speculation that it too would be moved.
As for the Arizona Coyotes… bankruptcy, Jim Balsillie, ownership by the NHL says it all without having to go into the details of what has gone on in the last five years. The story has been told many times.
McDavid would be seen by the NHL as a “savior” by these teams, a way of putting things on a firm foundation, a way of selling hockey in areas of indifference or outright hostility. (God knows what would happen if even McDavid were not enough. Then there truly is no hope.)
So Edmonton, Buffalo, and Carolina, Commissioner Bettman may smile and congratulate you if you get the magic ball that says you are drafting number one, but rest assured, that’s not really where he wanted McDavid to go.
And where would the author of this article like to see McDavid go?*
*The author invites readers of this article to leave comments about which team they would like Connor McDavid play for.
Much as the author would like McDavid to play for a Canadian team, the sheer waste and rotting of top talent in Edmonton for over half a decade is sickening. McDavid should be spared that fate.
And the author finds putting McDavid on a team where he is expected to save a franchise from mass indifference distasteful. If they don’t like hockey then move the franchise. There are plenty of good North American cities who love hockey that would jump at the chance of getting an NHL team. Ask poor Hamilton. Not even the Great One could do much about playing hockey in the desert. Why should McDavid be given an added burden when he is just a teenager?
The author believes that a city that has supported its team and has management that has shown some competence in rebuilding deserves McDavid. Of the leading candidates, McDavid would be a welcomed addition to Buffalo or Carolina.
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