Forgive me for saying two very ugly words in these parts: draft lottery. It comes again Tuesday night in the NHL and, as usual, the Sabres are involved.
There are several Sabres players in particular who should benefit from the experience and expertise that Ruff will bring next season.
The prize is Boston University freshman Macklin Celebrini, who doesn't even turn 18 until June 13. He had 64 points in 38 games, won the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey's top player and is so highly regarded that he's been invited to join Team Canada for the World Championships. He'll play on a team that features Connor Bedard, last year's No. 1 pick, and the Sabres trio of Dylan Cozens, Owen Power and Bowen Byram.
The 16 teams who miss the playoffs are entered but only the top 11 can get the No. 1 pick as recent rule changes show that a team that "wins" the lottery can only move up 10 spots. The Sabres are in the No. 11 spot, with a 3% chance of winning the top pick, and are the last team with a chance at Celebrini.
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Philadelphia (2.5%), Minnesota (2%), Pittsburgh (1.5%), Detroit (0.5%) and St. Louis (0.5%) are teams 12-16 with no chance at No. 1. San Jose, led by GM and old friend Mike Grier, is at 18.5% and has the best odds.
The Sabres will be taking part because of their own interests but will be keeping a keen eye on the results as well. Here's a look at the pros and cons of the lottery from the Buffalo point of view:
1. Go West, young man: Send Celebrini to the other conference so the Sabres only have to deal with him twice a season and pretty much never have to worry about him in the playoffs. Things were so rough in San Jose this year that Grier needs a franchise building block – and wouldn't Don Granato want to get a chance at that coaching job with the No. 1 overall pick in the lineup?
Two decisions that Rochester Americans head coach Seth Appert made as a goalie at Ferris State University resulted in his first coaching job and led him to one of the most important roles in the Buffalo Sabres' plan to return to prominence in the NHL.
Chicago (13.5%) and Anaheim (11.5%) still need more talent after picking 1-2 last year. I've always had the view that there's no shenanigans with the lottery – do you really think the NHL wanted Connor McDavid in Edmonton? – but if the Blackhawks get Bedard and Celebrini in back-to-back years, just wait for all the howling you're going to hear about this process.
Utah is at 7.5% and riding the wave of its sudden move from Arizona and 22,000 season ticket deposits. Imagine what winning the lottery would do for the No Names. Seattle (6%) and Calgary (5%) have small chances but Celebrini would be a huge addition for both.
2. Head to the Metro Division: Columbus (9.5%) needs more help to join Adam Fantilli and Johnny Gaudreau while New Jersey (3.5%) had a really down year and would be golden for many seasons down the road with Celebrini, Jack and Luke Hughes and Nico Hischier. A win in the lottery might make their coaching searches much more intense, too. Would Columbus really stay with Pascal Vincent behind the bench? Would Mike Sullivan opt out of Pittsburgh, for instance, to get a chance in Jersey with the No. 1 overall pick from Day One? It could get interesting.
Ruff's troops need to get into the postseason, take some five-game loss in Round 1 and then we can all get on to the process of aiming toward much longer hockey springs around here. And he'll be a hero.
3. Montreal (8.5%): The biggest desire for the Sabres is if they can't get Celebrini, they don't want anyone in the Atlantic Division to get their hands on him. The Canadiens got the No. 1 pick two years ago when the draft was in Bell Centre and famously snubbed Shane Wright in favor of Juraj Slavkovsky and the Slovak had a nice second season with 20 goals and 50 points while staying injury free and playing all 82 games.
The Habs still seem a long way from being a contender in the division but they have faith in coach Martin St. Louis and need more talent. This would be a quick infusion of it.
4. Ottawa (6.5%): This would be the danger winner in the Sabres' eyes. Buffalo is in direct competition with Ottawa and Detroit to become a next-level team in the Atlantic and finished six points ahead of the Senators this season. Adding another future star to the Ottawa lineup would not be good for anyone in the Atlantic, and it would up the ante in the team's coaching search. Imagine what, say, Craig Berube or Todd McLellan might be able to do with the No. 1 overall pick in the lineup.
Around the playoffs
- This was a mostly dreadful first round. Not a lot of drama. Not much overtime. The Boston-Toronto and Vegas-Dallas matchups have been far ahead of the other series, and not just because both went seven games. Incredible intensity and, in the case of the Stars and Knights, just mind-blowing speed on display. Here's to a better second round.
Mike Harrington: Leafs-Bruins Game 7 will decide series – and impact Atlantic Division going forward
The result of this series is going to leave the loser with some major questions to answer and likely a different look in the Atlantic Division next season.
- Lots of chatter in the last week about the contract status of Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour, who will be a free agent after the season and still doesn't have an extension. There have been rumors a contract offer was pulled and new rumors that a deal is close. Plenty of teams would be interested whenever the Canes' season is over but that could stretch into June. Talk about a major distraction on the eve of a series against the Rangers. They need to get this done and out of the way. Said Brind'Amour on Thursday: "I feel really good that we'll figure it out quickly. Yeah, I'm not concerned."
- Bruins captain Brad Marchand appeared in his 12th career Game 7 against the Leafs, tying Washington's Alex Ovechkin for the most among active players. The all-time record of 14 is shared by former Boston teammates Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara. Marchand entered Saturday night 6-5 in his first 11, including the Stanley Cup-clinching win at Vancouver as a rookie in 2011.
Sabres alumni like former captain Jason Pominville said Lindy Ruff will meet the calls for accountability the current Sabres players talked about during their locker cleanout sessions with reporters.
- Vancouver's six-game victory over Nashville made the Canucks the second team in history to win a series with three different goaltenders earning a victory, joining the 1972 Blackhawks vs. the Penguins. Thatcher Demko, Casey DeSmith and Arturs Silovs earned the wins for the Canucks, with Silovs' Game 6 shutout making him the youngest goalie (23) in Vancouver history to post a playoff shutout.
- The Jets became the first team in NHL history to allow five-plus goals in each of their first five games to begin a postseason. That was all it took for the Avalanche to show them the door. Connor Hellebuyck, the likely Vezina Trophy winner, posted a 5.23 GAA and .870 save percentage in the series and called his inability to stop the puck "heartbreaking."
Hellebuyck became the first goalie in NHL history to play at least 50 games in a season and have a postseason GAA more than double his regular-season figure, which was a glossy 2.39.
Ex-Sabre Casey Mittelstadt had a goal and five assists with a plus-5 rating for the Avs in his first career playoff series.
Bylsma to Seattle?
Former Sabres and Penguins coach Dan Bylsma seems to be a headline candidate to replace the fired Dave Hakstol in Seattle. Bylsma led Seattle's AHL affiliate in Coachella Valley, Calif., to Game 7 of the Calder Cup finals last year and a 103-point season this season
Lots of speculation about what's going on with the Kraken. Hakstol was fired less than 10 months after getting a contract extension and players strongly pushed back on an ESPN report that claimed some told GM Ron Francis they didn't want to come back if Hakstol was the coach.
Hakstol was an uninspired first choice out of the gate for an expansion team but he did get the Kraken to Game 7 of the second round last year and you just extended him. So now you fire him? Strange.
The Kraken have some desperation in their market because there's a lot of Vegas comparisons and sporting dollars are already tight with the NFL, MLB, WNBA and MLS. And if the NBA expands to bring back the SuperSonics, the NHL could drop further down the list.
They need to bounce back with a playoff season next year and management clearly felt a coaching change was needed. Several players, notably reigning Calder Trophy winner Matty Beniers, regressed this season and only some outstanding work in goal by journeyman Joey Daccord kept Seattle afloat into the second half of the season.