Less than three weeks. 18 days.
Like 440 hours. A shade over 26,000 minutes. About 1.6 million seconds.
That’s all that separates us from what is basically one of the biggest days in the history of the Ottawa Senators.
There’s the day they were awarded the franchise. The night they got their first win. Steve Duchesne’s goal. Igor Kravchuk into the empty net. Chris Phillips in Game 6. Alfie against the Sabres. Winning a Stanley Cup Final game on home ice.
All memorable. All significant. But June 26th is a day that has the potential to set the course of this franchise for the next decade. Maybe more.
The NHL Draft Lottery has been circled on the calendar of Sens fans for weeks now. Honestly, it’s the only thing on there right now. With the actual draft date still up in the air and the general uncertainty surrounding the 2020/2021 season, June 26th is it. It’s all we got.
At this point, we’ve considered every possible outcome.
From a best case scenario of 1st and 2nd overall to the “disastrous” 5th and 6th option. They have the best chance at first overall at 25% but a 75% we don’t get it. They have a 62.4% chance at a Top 3 pick but there’s a 37.6% we don’t get one.
No matter what happens, we’ll be ready. We’ll react calmly and rationally regardless of what those lottery balls say and we’ll recognize that we’re going to come away two high-end prospects.
Or something like that.
Thinking back to previous lotteries, it’s safe to say I’m going to be a mess. Last year, when the pick we didn’t even own fell to 4th overall, I remember being shocked at how happy I was. Made a sound like I was celebrating an Ottawa goal. And when they slid the year prior, it was like a direct kick in the groin. Of course that one worked out in the end.
Making tables helps me manage the stress.
No matter what I say, and no matter how much I look at and understand the numbers, I’ll still be a wreck when June 26th rolls around. We need this. Damn it, we deserve this. After a few years of bad luck, of sadness and of misfortune, the Ottawa Senators deserve a break.
I’m ready. I’m clearly not ready.
18 days to go.
-As Ian Mendes suggested in his initial tweets last week, there are some layers to this dispute between the Ottawa Senators and their own Foundation. And it seems like they are about to play out in a very public way. Yesterday, we learned a bit more about the organization’s side of the story in the form of a series of quotes from Anthony LeBlanc, who apparently does exist. You can read that here. And today, Rick Gibbons has added some additional context and it’s not a great look for Eugene Melnyk. Especially considering their spin of wanting to make sure more money gets invested in the community. Unfortunately, we clearly haven’t heard the last of this embarrassing story.
