from Stephen Harris of the Boston Herald,

These six clubs qualified as winners:

•    Buffalo: It’s been a painful few years for the passionate Sabres fans, with the team in disarray and out of the playoffs the last four years. But good times are coming for the Sabres, the most improved team in the Eastern Conference if not the league.

The Sabres, of course, got the “consolation prize” of the NHL draft, in BU star Jack Eichel of North Chelmsford — and then swung one of the biggest trades in getting 24-year-old center Ryan O’Reilly from Colorado....

•    Edmonton: Not many around the NHL were pleased when the Oilers beat the odds to win the draft lottery. What a year for it: With center Connor McDavid, maybe the best prospect since Sidney Crosby, the prize.

McDavid joins a corps of talented young forwards, including Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle and Nail Yakupov....

•    Bruins: The B’s were widely panned — ridiculed would be more like it — after Day 1 of the draft, as they lost Dougie Hamilton, Milan Lucic and Carl Soderberg and had nothing to show for it except a backup goalie and a handful of picks. One GM predicted the B’s would be in the bottom five of the league standings next season....

more on each of the above teams plus Calgary, Detroit and San Jose are included....