from Michael Traikos of the National Post,

On behalf of the entire hockey world: Phew!

Crisis averted. A bullet — if not a ping-pong ball — has been dodged.

The New York Rangers have won the NHL draft lottery. And while it’s still a bit unusual that a team that was competing in the post-season just a few days ago has now won the No. 1 overall pick, at least Alexis Lafreniere is not going to Pittsburgh, Edmonton or Toronto.

Now that would have been embarrassing. That would have gone against the so-called “spirit of the draft.”

That was always the fear when the NHL went to Part 2 of a convoluted draft lottery system after a “placeholder” somewhat unexpectedly won Part 1 of the lottery back in June. That meant that the eight teams that lost in the Stanley Cup qualifiers — Edmonton, Florida, Minnesota, Nashville, NY Rangers, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Winnipeg — all had an equal 12.5% chance of winning the No. 1 overall pick.

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