On this day 10 years ago, the fate of the Edmonton Oilers changed forever.
On April 18, 2015, the right ping pong ball fell, along with the jaws of many from around the hockey world, as the Oilers won the NHL Draft Lottery.
Edmonton entered the lottery with the third-best odds, leap-frogging the Arizona Coyotes and the incredible tank-job that was the Buffalo Sabres.
With that, the door swung open for the City of Champions to welcome the young man who would become not only the face of a franchise, but the face of the sport as we knew it. With the first overall pick that summer, Edmonton went on to select Erie Otters captain Connor McDavid.
While Oilers fans rejoiced, many outside of northern Alberta were left angry. It can be easy to forget that Edmonton had recevied so many opportunties to draft excellent prospects. Starting in 2010, the team won the lottery three years in a row, selecting Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and (infamously) Nail Yakupov with the first-overall pick.
So, a fourth No. 1 pick in six years going to a team that had been the doormat of the Western Conference raised a lot of eyebrows. However, then-Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli and the easiest job of his life – simply announce the name of a player who had been projected to be the next big thing in the game of hockey.
McDavid’s impact on the Oilers franchise cannot be overstated. He became the youngest captain in NHL history when he was handed the ‘C’ in 2016, and helped put the team back on the map by driving Edmonton to end its 11-year playoff drought in just his second season, winning his first of three Hart Trophies in 2016-17.
While there were some bumps in the road early on, the native of Richmond Hill, Ontario became one of the game’s must-see stars with his blinding speed and dazzling talent.
He was the first of a wave of players to show that 100 points can be a normal figure in the NHL. McDavid has hit that mark in eight of his first 10 seasons in the league, including a career-high 153 points during the 2022-23 season.
McDavid has led the Oilers to seven playoff appearances, two Western Conference Finals and making it all the way to Game 7 of last year’s Stanley Cup Final, the team’s first appearance in the final in 18 years. Though Edmonton came up short against the Florida Panthers, McDavid was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
In 712 NHL games, McDavid has scored 361 goals and 721 assists for 1,082 points. He has won the Art Ross Trophy five times, taking home the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy in 2022-23. He was also granted the Ted Lindsay Award four times.
