Reading List: Oilers win McDavid sweepstakes, draw resentment from around NHL

For the fourth time in six years, the Edmonton Oilers will select first overall at the NHL Draft.

But this year is different. While the likes of Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Nail Yakupov were selected in hopes of building a winning core, the Oilers are now presented with the opportunity to add a true game changer, a likely generational talent in Connor McDavid.

Related: Oilers finally have a player worthy of a No. 1 selection

After deputy NHL commissioner Bill Daly flashed Edmonton's logo, signalling a move from third to first on draft day, reaction from around the hockey world ranged from "Edmonton again?" to "What will general manager Craig MacTavish do now?" 

Here's a look at a few worth reading.

Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun argues McDavid isn't just a piece of the puzzle, but rather the conerstone:

A ninth straight season out of the playoffs and 28th overall by the Oilers suddenly is the greatest thing to happen to this franchise since that skinny kid from Brantford arrived. McDavid, the most anticipated arrival to the NHL since Sidney Crosby, is an Oiler.

By winning the No. 1 pick in the draft as the Oilers previously did the years they chose Hall, Nugent-Hopkins and Yakupov, this is not only a home run but a grand slam home run. McDavid gets to drive them all home.

As MacTavish said "some general manager is going to become a lot smarter."

That just became him.

Pierre LeBrun of ESPN reveals very few outside of Edmonton were pleased with the outcome:

And that's the rub, isn't it, that the Oilers can be this bad, this dysfunctional for nine seasons and still get this incredible prize?

No matter whom you spoke to on this night, very few people around the league were thrilled that the Oilers won the lottery given their decade of misery.

"Maybe they'll take (Noah) Hanifin instead," quipped, via text message, one team executive not too thrilled that the Oilers won the lottery.

Mark Spector of Sportsnet argues the announcement must kick start a return to winning form for the Oilers:

It will either be a juggernaut one day that will return the Stanley Cup to Northern Alberta, or the Edmonton Oilers will go down in National Hockey League history as the team that did the least with the most.

McDavid will almost certainly play for the Oilers in the 2015-16 season. Even though management has sworn that the days of rushing prospects in Edmonton is over, that mindset likely does not apply to generational players.
 
With the team moving from Rexall Place into their swank new downtown arena the following season, and with McDavid as a drawing card, perhaps MacTavish can finally collect the goaltending and defensive additions he requires to build a playoff contender in Edmonton, after nine consecutive seasons out of the postseason.

In Buffalo, there was a measure of visible disappointment, despite the fact Jack Eichel is no small consolation prize. 

From Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News:

(GM Tim) Murray wanted Connor McDavid. That was his obsession, the player about whom he told the New York Times last month, "I think too much about him. I wish I could help myself."

Murray couldn't help himself after his season-long dream drifted away. The Edmonton Oilers won the lottery from the No. 3 slot and will almost certainly take McDavid.

Even though the Sabres will get their generational player in Eichel, it was still hard for Murray to mask his disappointment.

In the end, McDavid's own expression summed up the general reaction to Edmonton winning the lottery once again: