Good afternoon, my dear degenerate reader friends, and you are our friends here at GENY. You probably aren’t even through with my post-NFL draft power rankings that dropped bright and early this morning, and I’m back with an afternoon jawn for your lunchtime or bathroom time reading pleasure. I deviated slightly from my normal beating you all over the head with hockey content to give you an updated NFL Power Rankings one, because I said I would, and two because those clowns in Bristol, Connecticut released one too and had the guys who got pounded in Super Bowl 59 (not to be confused with the QB1 of that team who… anyways) as #1. Well, I’m back to what I do best, hockey!
Tonight at 7 pm will mark the NHL Draft Lottery, and it’s a big deal for two very important reasons. First, on a non-Philly scale, this will be the first draft lottery ever to actually draw the results live, on air, in front of a television camera. I mentioned this awhile back on an episode of the flagship GENY show. It would be must-see, riveting television to run the machine and draw the winners live for the world to see! Now, I’m not taking sole credit for this development, but I am very excited and glad I put that out into the universe.
The second reason to tune into ESPN or Sportsnet (shoutout to my people in the true north strong and free!) is because the Flyers have the 4th best odds of winning one of the two draws. The way the NHL does its lottery is that a team is drawn out of all non-playoff teams for the first pick (or to move up 10 spots if they aren’t in the top 12 of odds), and then the process is repeated for the 2nd pick. The Flyers, thus, can end up with the 1 or 2 with some luck; stay at 4 if it’s chalk; or move down to 5 or 6 if we get the Philly shaft. This draft has roughly 6 talents that are a tier (or two if we jump up) above the rest of the class, so the Broad Street Bullies should be able to add a significant piece to the squad.
Now, I know what you’re thinking, “JJ, can’t we trade up with the other 2 first-round picks we have (Colorado and Edmonton) and get into the top 2?” While I appreciate your optimism and channeling of “what would Howie do?” That’s not typically something you see in the NHL Draft. Anything is possible, but I would imagine the price would also include a guy like Tyson Foerster, and that’s too rich for my blood. I would rather use those two picks along with the 4 second-rounders to make moves for players on other teams that can be had, since we have cap room for once.
This is easily the most important offseason in recent Flyers history and definitely for Danny B as GM. Following g the lottery I’ll have a mock draft of the first round (non-playoff teams only since we don’t know where the other picks will be as of yet) later this week to get everyone significantly hyped for the pick. Stay tuned…
Oh, and before I forget… let’s crack the door to the gambling shack and take a peek at the series bets that I love for the Stanley Cup Playoffs:
-Vegas Golden Knights over the Edmonton Oilers -105
-Toronto Maple Leafs over the Florida Panthers +145
-Carolina Hurricanes over the Washington Capitals -160