My friends, the day of all days is finally here. It’s NHL Draft Lottery day. Our Stairway to Heaven. The day when Edmonton fans can feel like winners, and after the season we just had, I feel like we could all use another dose of lottery fun.

Don’t get me wrong, when the Edmonton crew walked up to the podium to select McMiracle back in June of 2015, I never would have expected to be in this spot in three of the next four seasons. I was fully expecting that having McDaddy in the mix would start of a run of playoff appearances that this city hasn’t seen since the OBC days, and the fact that we haven’t gotten there in three of four seasons makes me feel like we fans deserve to have some fun. To me, winning another draft lottery to pick up another top prospect and watching the hockey world implode on itself out of anger is exactly what we need right now.

1. Obviously, as fans of this team, we want the team to have the chance of drafting the best player available and winning any of the three lotteries would give us the chance to do exactly that. At this point, I don’t even care which of the three lotteries they win, all that matters is that we get our greasy little hands on one of them, and if they can pull this off then we’ll be getting a shiny new toy in the toolbox.

2. With an expansion draft coming up for Seattle next summer, Edmonton needs skilled players on their depth chart that we don’t have to worry about losing.  If they don’t win any of the three lotteries, there’s a chance that Kretzky (or whoever) will look at trading the pick for a player that can help now, which would put us in a spot of having to protect another player. At this point, that’s a decision for another day, but it does add another layer to the onion.

3. I really want to sit back, enjoy a beer, and watch the world burn. Is that too much to ask? I don’t think so, not after the year we’ve just been through.

4. If you’re going to fail and miss the playoffs, the only thing to cheer for is a draft lottery win. What else do you expect me to do? Cheer for Calgary? Pfft. Kick rocks.

5. Seriously, though, have you spent any time thinking about how hilarious it would be if we won? Toronto Twitter would explode, the comments section on the website would be a mess, and the entire hockey world would probably collapse upon itself. I need it to happen. I need to salt my caesar with the tears of angry fans from the other 30 teams in the NHL.

For the uninitiated, the draft lottery is basically bingo for the 15 teams that missed the playoffs, or teams like Colorado that ended up with a first rounder from a garbage team like Ottawa. Can you imagine what it’ll be like for the Avs if Ottawa’s numbers get drawn first? Thanks, Matt Duchene. Anyway… Every team is assigned a series of numbered combos that, if drawn, would land them the first, second, or third overall pick depending on which lottery they win.

Lotto balls are drawn at random to form a four-number combination that gets matched up to a master list to determine who will get the chance to draft Jack Hughes. The process is then repeated two more times to figure out which team will pick in the two and three slots. The remaining teams will then receive picks 4-15 based on inverse order of the standings when the regular season finished. Any of the 15 teams included in the draw can win the lottery, but no team can move back more than three spots.

When Edmonton won the McLottery back in 2015, they an 11.5% chance of winning the first overall pick but managed to draw the combination of 5-14-6-1 which ultimately landed us the best player on the planet. This year, we don’t know what combos that we have assigned to tus yet but we’ll need some lottery luck yet again if we’re going to pull this thing off.

Colorado Avalanche (from OTT): 18.5 percent
Los Angeles: 13.5 percent
New Jersey: 11.5 percent
Detroit: 9.5 percent
Buffalo: 8.5 percent
New York: 7.5 percent
Edmonton: 6.5 percent
Anaheim: 6.0 percent
Vancouver: 5.0 percent
Philadelphia: 3.5 percent
Minnesota: 3.0 percent
Chicago: 2.5 percent
Florida: 2.0 percent
Arizona: 1.5 percent
Montreal: 1.0 percent

Now that you know the rules and are well versed with the layout of tonight’s festivities, I need you to spend some time thinking back to where you were in April of 2015. I need you to remember where were you when the Lottery Gords blessed us with Connor McDavid. As soon as those memories come back to you, I need you to go back to that spot/drink the same thing/eat the same meal. I don’t care if you need to call up your in-laws and spend the night in a tent in their backyard, we need to focus the law of attraction on pulling the bingo balls in our favour.

I mean, it goes without saying that none of us expected Edmonton to pull out a McWin with only an 11.5% chance, and we’ll need to work extra hard to make this thing happen with our seventh-ranked 6.5% odds. At the end of the day, no one wants us to win this thing because we already landed the ultimate prize just over four years ago, but I can’t shake how hilarious it would be to have our boys step up and do it again. So grab your lucky socks, your lucky tie, your favourite drink, or whatever gives us the best odds to pull this thing off. Then again, maybe I just want to watch the world burn.

If you’re looking for a place to watch the draft lottery with a bunch of Edmonton fans, I’d suggest you join us at the Northside Canadian Brewhouse where we’ll be posting up, playing some Cooom’s trivia, and enjoying the moment when the team finishes the night with their fifth first overall pick since 2010.