Archives for May 1, 2016

‘The Maple Leafs won the NHL Draft Lottery on Saturday night, giving them the right to select Auston Matthews with the No. 1 pick in June. The Arizona native has already been favorably compared to the Sabres’ Jack Eichel, and the centers would have at least four face-to-face meetings every year to see who should be the next face of U.S. hockey.’

‘The will be the fourth straight year they have a pick in the top 10. They last selected No. 8 in 2013, when they drafted defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen.’

‘The Sabres stayed put with the 8th overall pick. Buffalo had a 6% change of obtaining the top spot, while Toronto owned the best odds going into the lottery. The Oilers, who had the second-best odds, slipped to 4th overall while the Canucks landed in the five spot.’

‘The Sabres had a six percent chance at winning the top pick after finishing 23rd in the league standings this season.’

‘”It’s still the draft and there’s a lot of things that have to happen after the draft where you’ve got to put a player in a good position and give him every opportunity to succeed. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves and put the cart ahead of the horse here,” Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan said. “We knew we were going to get a good player 1 through 4. Having the ability to pick first, obviously, we’re going to pick whoever we think is the best.”‘

‘Marquette, Mich. has been named Kraft HockeyvilleTM USA 2016, the most passionate hockey community in America.’