from Rosie DiManno of the Toronto Star,

The stars did not align — and neither did the balls — for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

This was to be expected, given that the Leafs, for all their wretchedness, were not quite awful enough this season to “merit” more than a 9.5 per cent chance at snatching the biggest prize to come down the draft chute in a generation. The odds were steep.

But still. Just once — just once — the sports gods might have smiled down on this benighted ’burg. For a change.

Connor McDavid, for his sins, will be an Edmonton Oiler, come the 2015-2016 NHL campaign. Presumably. Unless sad-sack Edmonton does something stupid on draft day, which is not entirely outside the realm of possibility.

That puts the supernova teen some 3,470 kilometres down the highway from the centre of the universe.

EDMONTON, for the love of God. Four No. 1 picks in six years, an embarrassment of riches. And yet the Oilers remain . . . embarrassing.

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