Arizona Coyotes Nightmare NHL Draft Lottery Scenarios
The Arizona Coyotes have fallen out of the playoff race and find themselves with the seven lowest point total in the NHL with 13 games remaining. They now turn their attention towards the NHL Draft.
With the Arizona Coyotes out of the playoff picture, talk has begun to simmer regarding the team and the possibility of drafting Scottsdale native Auston Matthews.
The talk of Matthews is familiar for Coyotes fans.
Heading into the season, the Yotes were expected to battle it out for the tag of “worst in the league” and be a shoo-in for the top spot in the NHL Draft lottery.
Six months later and things didn’t play out quite how fans or pundits predicted.
The Arizona Coyotes hung in the playoff picture into February before a dry scoring spell and their goaltending injuries caught up with them.
The surprise play of the team through the first two-thirds of the season leaves them with the 7th fewest points in the NHL instead of worst in the league, as was predicted.
With thirteen games remaining, it seems unlikely that the Coyotes will end up any lower than 25th in the final standings. If that is the case, who might lay claim to Auston Matthews and put an NHL sweater on the Coyotes’ hometown kid?
More importantly, whose sweater would Coyotes fans least want to see Matthews wearing next season?
Next: The Edmonton Oilers Select...
The Edmonton Oilers
Would anything be worse than the Edmonton Oilers claiming their fifth number one overall pick in the past seven seasons?
It’s hard to imagine, right?
The Oilers currently have the second highest percentage chance to win the lottery (13.5%) as with 72 games played and just 61 points earned.
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They drafted Connor McDavid with the number one overall pick in 2015. You may have heard of him. He’s pretty good at hockey.
Unfortunately for the Oilers, Mr. McDavid was injured after just 13 games and the Oilers’ season fell completely apart. This despite Edmonton also having Taylor Hall, Nail Yakupov, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the roster.
All of those names are recent number one overall draft picks.
The reasons why Arizona Coyotes fans should fear seeing Matthews on the back of an Oilers jersey are many, but we can summarize:
- Edmonton is in the Pacific Division and I don’t foresee Coyotes fans or the organization being thrilled to stare down the barrel of the Connor McDavid/Auston Matthews one-two punch for the next decade plus.
- Edmonton is where number one overall draft picks go to waste and wither away. So far, several of these Oilers picks have gotten their points and put up some decent numbers, but the winning has certainly not followed. Would that change with Matthews? Who knows, honestly.
There is another Canadian option which would also be…hard to stomach.
Next: The Toronto Maple Leafs Select...
The Toronto Maple Leafs
Can you imagine the yuks and preening the entire NHL – not just Coyotes fans – would have to suffer through if the Toronto Maple Leafs won the lottery?
They would have a 20% chance of that happening if the season ended today.
It’d be like that co-worker that always mismanages his subordinates and talks about “how we used to do it at my old job” as an excuse for failing…and then that guy suddenly gets promoted to head of the department while you and your peers bury your faces in your palms.
It would be insufferable.
The lone redeeming quality of the Leafs acquiring Auston Matthews over the Oilers is the fact that Toronto seems to have stabilized it’s management and implemented a sound rebuilding process.
Matthews may be the building block that the Toronto Maple Leafs use to acquire their first Stanley Cup since 1966-67.
That sounds cool for Auston but it’s not something I want to see as an Arizona Coyotes fan.
What about that other Canadian team with the kid named Johnny and the other guy? Boring Sean Monahan?
Next: The Calgary Flames Select...
The Calgary Flames
The Calgary Flames are probably salivating at the merest glimmer of a chance (11.5% – third best odds) that they could pair Auston Matthews with Johnny Gaudreau.
The Flames have their own cadre of talented youth and Matthews would certainly accelerate their plan, but so far the pieces haven’t quite fit well enough to create a competitive hockey team.
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Calgary is in the Pacific Division so Matthews would come back to haunt the Yotes on a regular basis which would sap all the fun out of seeing him take the ice in the show.
The thought of Mr. Matthews and Mr. Gaudreau on the ice at the same time is enticing as a fan of the NHL, but ultimately unfulfilling. If you’re a hockey fan with no team affiliation and you want to see Matthews paired with young, top end talent, there are better options.
Not the least of those options would be with the Arizona Coyotes in the desert he grew up in.
With the Flames out of the way, that leaves one more option and boy is it ironic…
Next: The Winnipeg Jets Select...
The Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets select Auston Matthews. The schadenfreude would be epic.
The Arizona Coyotes moved from Winnipeg to Phoenix in 1996. The Jets fans lost their franchise and their history to the desert. Auston Matthews was born in 1997 and has supported the hometown team all of his life.
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As was originally suggested by Jeff Marek on the Marek vs. Wyshynski podcast, the Jets receiving the ultimate manifestation of losing their franchise – a hometown, homegrown desert hockey product the likes of which many thought we’d never see – back in Winnipeg in the form of franchise savior would be almost poetic.
At the least it would have to be considered some kind of karmic revenge.
Their bitter feelings about Shane Doan, the Phoenix/Arizona area’s worthiness of having an NHL franchise, and plenty more would likely bubble to the front in a full-on explosion of glee and grandstanding that would make Blackhawks fans blush.
Next: Which Outcome Is The Worst?
The Nightmare Scenario
If Arizona Coyotes fans don’t get to see the hometown kid shore up the center position along with Dylan Strome for the next decade plus, there’s two teams which by drafting Auston Matthews would become the nightmare scenario for the franchise.
The nightmare scenario on-ice is Edmonton and for obvious reasons. On the off-chance that the franchise gets it’s act together, no one in the Pacific wants to face McDavid and Matthews down the middle for years to come.
Provided Peter Chiarelli finally parts with one or two of his other highly talented forwards to procure some defense, Edmonton could get scary in a hurry.
The scenario that gives me pause personally, however, is Matthews to Winnipeg.
Not only would it be highly ironic, it also feels like the very kind of thing the hockey gods would allow to happen for the amusement of NHL fans.
Next: Coyotes Continue Disappointing Final Stretch
No one outside of the Central Division would begrudge the Jets for landing Matthews. Most would probably even be happy for the organization.
Meanwhile in Arizona, I can’t think of anything more disconcerting.