Debate: Who really won the NHL draft lottery?

10:14 PM ET

The NHL draft lottery was won by the Toronto Maple Leafs. But who really won? Scott Burnside and Pierre LeBrun weigh in.

Burnside: Well, my friend, I have to admit there was nervous anticipation even among the media group watching the draft lottery Saturday night, so I can’t imagine the nerves for the representatives of the three final teams, the Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets and Columbus Blue Jackets. And in the end the Leafs were rewarded — if that’s the right term for being the NHL’s worst team this season — with the first overall draft pick in June’s draft. That will give them the opportunity to draft Arizona-born Auston Matthews, a player many have compared favorably with Jack Eichel and Connor McDavid, the two super prospects who made last year’s draft lottery such compelling theater.

LeBrun: For Leafs fans, it makes up a bit for last year’s lottery when, at one point during the actual drawing that night, it was revealed Toronto had the best odds left of any team to win the top pick but it still ended up going to the Edmonton Oilers — such is the randomness of course of which ball gets picked despite said odds. And while McDavid stands in a class by himself, Toronto gets a whale of a prize a year later in a franchise No. 1 center, if indeed they pick Matthews — which you have to assume they will. The rebuild in Toronto has a pretty good look to it when you consider what we’ve seen from William Nylander already, what Mitch Marner is doing in the OHL playoffs and, of course, the potential of Matthews now. What’s interesting to me is the chatter of late that Finnish …

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