Will Connor McDavid become the Pied Piper who’ll have unrestricted free agents around the NHL lining up to join the Edmonton Oilers now that they’ve won the right to call out McDavid’s name first at the NHL entry draft June 26?
There was no high-end free-agent stampede following Sidney Crosby to Pittsburgh in 2005 after the Penguins won the draft lottery. In part, that was because the Penguins have been paying Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, along with defenceman Kris Letang, so much and they had salary-cap problems.
Oilers captain Andrew Ference is certainly right that players do get a little giddy.