The 2023 NHL draft lottery is scheduled for May 8. That's when we'll find out which team has earned the right, perhaps through self-immolation or blind luck, to draft Connor Bedard, the 17-year-old Regina Pats center who is expected to be no less than a franchise savior.
Which is, admittedly, a pretty high bar to clear for a rookie.
I had a conversation not too long ago with the venerable Bob McKenzie of TSN about that perception of Bedard's potential.
"I was just thinking to myself, and I didn't say it publicly, that we should just pump the brakes a little bit," he said, laughing.