Adrian Wyld
Perhaps it is Cory Clouston's legacy. Perhaps his revenge. Or perhaps it is exactly what it is supposed to be: luck of the draw.
The Ottawa Senators "fell" to sixth Tuesday night when the NHL held its annual entry draft lottery live on TSN. They had been fifth, meaning they would have picked fifth overall in June had there been no lottery - an NHL invention invented entirely because of the Senators' behaviour back in 1992-93 when they made no secret of their desires to pick first and take the consensus No. 1 of the day, Alexandre Daigle.
That controversy - involving a formal league inquiry into what was done and said, and a $100,000 fine over what might have been said - initiated the annual ball drop that has the power to create a franchise (should No. 1 happen to be a Sidney Crosby-level 18-year-old) or hurt a franchise should the falling balls bounce a lower-level team one pick back from future glory.
No one can know, of course - rookie-of-the-year-in-waiting Jeff Skinner of the Carolina Hurricanes was the seventh pick last year - but, generally speaking, better to be first than second, second than third and, it follows, fifth than sixth.
The Ottawa Senators came up with a master plan back in January when it became clear they were going nowhere. A corporate decision was taken to cull as many of the veterans as could be moved and, where possible, pick up draft picks and prospects. Focus groups had confirmed to them that the city would embrace a full re-building program. It was also said, internally, that coach Cory Clouston would finish out the year and be let go and that veteran general manager Bryan Murray would likely be moved to a senior adviser's role, allowing for a fresh GM to come in and be able to choose his own coach.
For the most part, the plan was followed exactly. They shipped off the likes of Mike Fisher (Nashville), Chris Kelly (Boston), Alexei Kovalev (Pittsburgh), Chris Campoli (Chicago), Jarkko Ruutu (Anaheim) and, in return, picked up a mittful of draft picks, giving them a total five picks in the first two rounds this year alone.
For this work, and for fleecing Colorado Avalanche of goaltender Craig Anderson for Ottawa goaltender Brian Elliott, Murray was rewarded with his own job and a three-year contract by unpredictable owner Eugene Melnyk.
In other words, he was being appointed his own saviour.
Anderson, however, proved to be almost too good, and Clouston's insistence on playing him as much as possible - perhaps thinking that he, too, could still rise from the ashes - lifted the team out of 30th place into 25th.
That master plan had also included drafted as close to the bottom as they could, with the hope of landing either top prospect Ryan Nugent-Hopkins of the Red Deer Rebels or Sweden's Adam Larsson.
No one ever thought they'd be picking sixth.
While lower picks can sometimes excel, the Ottawa Senators are about to enter a season-ticket sales drive in which they have precious little to offer as inducement. There is no coach, though all anticipate a familiar NHL name will be the choice in order to perk interest. There is no new general manager, though Murray's detractors lessened as he rather deftly dealt away players for picks - including ridding the team of his own disastrous signing of Kovalev.
One of the top three June picks would have been a natural.
So, what does it all mean now that the Senators go sixth?
It may mean that they won't go sixth.
Murray is acutely aware of the need to put a fresh face on matters. The faces of the future include captain-in-waiting Jason Spezza and young defenceman Erik Karlsson. The hope was that there would be a trio - the third one of the young draft picks people are talking about.
He could, then, try and put together his No. 6 pick with the first-round pick the Senators get from Nashville in the Fisher trade, perhaps add in a second rounder and try to do what the bouncing balls denied him Tuesday night.
Move up in the draft.
Roy MacGregor