Just Because

And we continue to wait for the other shoe to drop.

Craig MacTavish had his season-ending press conference today, but didn’t answer key questions, refusing to comment on his future or that of Dustin Penner. The Oilers have the tenth worst record in the NHL this season, but we have to wait for the lottery to see where they end up exactly. The rumours of a massive shakeup in the front office are everywhere, and Robin Brownlee has as good a take as anybody on them in the post below this one.

There’s a sense that the changes this summer will define the Oilers for the coming years, either for good or for bad, but there’s still no concrete idea what those changes will be, so we wait. This seemed like a safe video for the interim, given that neither Coffey or McSorley is in contention for the Oilers’ head coaching job, so we can safely enjoy their connection to the glory years without the distaste many feel for the occasional nepotism of the current club. Dave Hodge also has a cameo.

On a completely different note, with the draft coming up I’ve been thinking about the way picks are made. I realize that having the worst teams pick first helps ensure parity and prevent laughing stocks in the league, and also that the lottery is supposed to discourage tanking for the number one overall spot. But my question would be why the NHL doesn’t do a zig-zag style draft.

If, as expected, the Islanders win the lottery, they’ll get the rights not only to the first pick of the first round, but also of the second round, third round, and so on. Wouldn’t it be fairer to good teams as a whole if the second round were conducted in reverse order of the first round? Bad teams would still get their superstars to build around, but it wouldn’t be so difficult for good teams to restock on the run, and would minimize the advantages of holding a firesale and tanking the season. Just something to keep in mind while we wait,