ERIE, PA. - Finally, thankfully, mercifully, the time has come for Connor McDavid to find out where his new hockey home will be.
When the sure-to-be ecstatic winner of the 2015 NHL draft lottery is determined shortly after 8 p.m. Eastern on Saturday. it will leave behind:
a) months, even years, of speculation of where the gifted centre might end up.
b) countless accusations of tanking against teams like the Buffalo Sabres and Arizona Coyotes who spent the final months of the regular season jockeying for that suddenly-coveted 30th-place position in the overall standings.
c) an endless assembly line of finger nails chewed down to the nubs by the respective fanbases of the league’s lower echelon teams, loyal supporters who have been drooling over the prospect of landing a so-called generational franchise player like a McDavid or a Jack Eichel.