Montreal Canadiens: Ranking the 3 worst scenarios of the NHL Draft Lottery

3) The Edmonton Oilers

This is not to say the Montreal Canadiens are the pinnacle of building a team. However, the Oilers have not done a good job building off of their draft lottery success over the years. If they were to come up with the golden ticket, it would be their fifth lottery win in the last decade.

It started with Taylor Hall in 2010, moving on to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Nail Yakupov in 2011 and 2012. The Oilers took a break and allowed other teams in the league to taste some of the wealth as Nathan MacKinnon went to the Colorado Avalanche in 2013 while Aaron Ekblad went south to the Florida Panthers in 2014. But 2015 was an Edmonton year once again.

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Connor McDavid was the generational talent up for grabs, and the Oilers did just that, they grabbed him. Despite all of this, the team has only made the playoffs once losing in the second round to the San Jose Sharks.

Seeing the Edmonton Oilers win would be frustrating for everyone. First overall pick after first overall pick and nothing to show for it. That said, Lafreniere with McDavid and Leon Draisaitl would instantly be the NHL’s best line at 5v5, and it wouldn’t even be close.

2) The Toronto Maple Leafs

The rivalry hasn’t developed in a playoff-like environment, but the rivalry is still there nonetheless. Seeing Lafreniere go to the Leafs would be way too close to home considering the legitimate geographical distance and the fact that would mean he’d be playing the Montreal Canadiens four times a year. And who knows what kind of impact he would have competition on NHL ice at the Bell Centre.

There’s also the Edmonton factor though it is nowhere near as strong.

The Leafs thought they were done with draft lotteries after winning 2016’s to select Auston Matthews. However, the Matthews era hasn’t gone as expected, losing multiple Game 7s and being eliminated by the Columbus Blue Jackets in a series where many had them as the favourite.

Lafreniere wouldn’t help their defensive issues, but star talent on an entry-level contract could be the beginning of the answer for the Leafs. Seeing that would be a tough pill to swallow for the Montreal Canadiens.