It’s here. Draft lottery day.
Even under normal circumstances, this would have been a fairly excruciating wait. But when you add in the extra two months that were unexpectedly tacked on, it has felt like an eternity.
Some of us have been waiting for this day for weeks. Some of us, months. For the Sens fans that have longed for a true scorched-earth rebuild in Ottawa, this is a day years in the making.
Tonight- in a location unknown to me at this time which is good because if I did know I would probably head down there to keep an eye on things- the NHL will hold the Draft Lottery.
8:00 PM. Tonight. Like, later in the current day. Soon. It’s happening.
It’s the first legitimate hockey-related event since the final horn sounded way back on March 11th and it just so happens to be one of the biggest nights in the history of the Ottawa Senators.
Not exactly easing our way back into things.
The strange thing about tonight is, even the worst-case scenario results in a damn good outcome the Ottawa Senators. Having 5th and 6th overall in one of the deepest drafts in, well ever, is an opportunity every single one of us would have jumped at before the season started.
See, it’s not surprising that the Senators are a lottery team but the timely demise of the San Jose Sharks is something few of us predicted. Even as it was unfolding over the course of the 2019/2020 regular season, it was sort of hard to believe. The Sharks started the year 0-3 and I remember thinking…imagine. Well it happened.
Miraculously, in the last couple weeks leading up to the pause, all the pieces fell into place for Ottawa. All the right teams got hot and the bottom fell out for the Senators and the Sharks.
And then, the standings just froze. The night the NHL was forced to hit the pause button, the stars had finally aligned for the first time in months.
30th- Ottawa Senators
29th- San Jose Sharks
Perfect. But tonight…the tricky part.
Now we need a break.
If we don’t get it, and the odds are stacked against us, we’ll be fine. Pierre Dorion and his scouts will continue to select the right players and when draft day rolls around, they’ll put this rebuild over the top. Regardless of tonight’s outcome, we are going to add as many as seven first and second round picks to what is already one of the best prospect pools in hockey.
Ottawa is rising whether people are ready for it or not.
But with a little luck…with a lucky bounce at the right time….the future of the Ottawa Senators could be changed for years to come.
Earlier this week, I was trying to explain to Mrs. Chirp why this is such a significant moment and why it was unreasonable to expect me to be a functioning human being on June 26th. I was sort of at a loss for words.
It’s not as simple as, win a lottery and get a high pick.
Tonight is about all the dark moments since that stupid shot fluttered in more than three years ago. It’s about all the jabs Sens fans have had to endure in the last few years and knowing that maybe, for one night, we could have the last laugh. It’s about those nights we spent watching our delightfully terrible team, not sure how to react when they accidentally did a good thing.
It’s a Game 7, only it lasts about 30 minutes and the outcome determines the next decade of Senators hockey. It’s the difference between a rebuild on the right track and a league powerhouse born in an instant. It’s about every heartbreaking moment we’ve endured as fans, not just in the last three years but since 1992, and the hope that just one time, things could go our way. Hell, it could be about the future of the Senators in this city.
When Bill Daly turns over those cards later tonight, we can’t lose.
We. Can’t. Lose.
No matter what the lottery balls say, the Ottawa Senators are still going to have two top six picks in the deepest draft in years. Not one but two of the top prospects we’ve been talking about for months will be Senators. Nothing can change that. We’ll have another first rounder and four second rounders to play with too.
We can’t lose tonight.
But with a bit of good fortune, we certainly can win.
Have a lucky charm? Get it. A game day routine that never fails during the playoffs? Do it. Maybe a higher power that you turn to in desperate times? Probably a good time to check in.
This is one of the biggest nights in the history of the franchise and we need all the luck we can get.
Now, let’s go win this fuckin thing.
