For the last three years, the worst team in the NHL has won the draft lottery and retained their privilege of drafting first overall. In 2008, the Tampa Bay Lightning took Steven Stamkos; in 2009, the NY Islanders took John Tavares; and in 2010, the Edmonton Oilers will probably take either Tyler Hall or Tyler Seguin.
However, in 2007, the Philadelphia Flyers finished last in the NHL standings, but lost the first overall pick to the Chicago Blackhawks, who won the lottery that year. The ‘Hawks selected Patrick Kane first, and the Flyers took James Van Riemsdyk second. Now, Van Riemsdyk had a decent rookie season in 2009-10, and may turn out to be a great player for the Flyers, but he’s no Patrick Kane.
So, looking back now, you have to wonder if the ‘Hawks would be such heavy favourites to defeat the Flyers in the 2010 Stanley Cup finals if Kane (who has scored 7 goals and 13 assists this post-season) was in a Flyers uniform and Van Riemsdyk (2 goals and 2 assists) was playing for Chicago? Maybe it would be a more even contest. You can bet that the pundits would be hyping a Kane versus Jonathan Toews showdown, rather ...
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Article written by Matthew Rutledge-Taylor
What If the Flyers Had Drafted Kane?
May 30th, 2010 by Matthew Rutledge-Taylor Leave a reply »
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