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Montreal Canadiens: The Rangers winning wasn’t the worst, but it stings

By Omar L

MONTREAL, QC - FEBRUARY 27: Ben Chiarot #8 of the Montreal Canadiens and Chris Kreider #20 of the New York Rangers battle for position as the puck passes goaltender Carey Price #31 during the third period at the Bell Centre on February 27, 2020 in Montreal, Canada. The New York Rangers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-2. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - FEBRUARY 27: Ben Chiarot #8 of the Montreal Canadiens and Chris Kreider #20 of the New York Rangers battle for position as the puck passes goaltender Carey Price #31 during the third period at the Bell Centre on February 27, 2020 in Montreal, Canada. The New York Rangers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-2. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
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The Montreal Canadiens avoided the worst-case scenarios with the draft lottery and Alexis Lafreniere, but the New York Rangers is a bitter pill to swallow.

Things are kind of back to normal within the NHL. Games are still only taking place at either Scotiabank Arena and Rogers Centre, but the Stanley Cup Playoffs are set to begin, and we know the draft order of the first 15 picks of the 2020 Draft as well as who is getting the right to select Alexis Lafreniere. If you’re a Montreal Canadiens fan, you may have legitimately not cared for who won as the team qualified for the playoffs, but there had to be a part your psyche that was impacted by the result.

It was the first time fans saw the entire process. Gary Bettman was on stage, and we watched each ball assigned to a specific team placed into the machine. And when the time came, the New York Rangers’ were the winners.

Ahead of the event, I wrote of three worst-case scenarios for the draft lottery from the Montreal Canadiens perspective.

The Edmonton Oilers have been spitting out the first-overall pick for the last 10 years with nothing to show for it. The Toronto Maple Leafs are a divisional and historical rival who have also won a lottery in recent memory. And the Pittsburgh Penguins not only have superstar talent already, but it would be extremely difficult to shake the “it could’ve been us” feeling if the ball had the arctic bird on it.

The Rangers aren’t those three teams, but it’s still a little stinging for Alexis Lafreniere to go there. The Habs are going to see him three-to-four times a year, and it wouldn’t be surprising for the schedule to work out, such as the majority of them take place at the Bell Centre. There’s also the history between the two teams as we all.

The closest the Montreal Canadiens got to the Stanley Cup was in 2014, making the Eastern Conference Final against the New York Rangers. Unfortunately, the injury to Carey Price at the hands of Chris Kreider was too much to overcome. Both Marc Bergevin and Brendan Gallagher have spoken of their optimum for the team had Price not gotten hurt, and it’s hard to forget being that close.

Knowing Lafreniere will now call Kreider, and the rest of the Rangers teammates after the fit within the Habs organization felt so right is a bitter taste for sure. But, it could’ve been a lot worse.

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