Four NHL Teams That Could Tank to Draft Connor McDavid

Conor McDavid is the favorite to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft as long as he stays healthy, but is he good enough to justify blowing an entire season to get him?

Of course, nobody’s insinuating that an NHL team would play out a year hoping for a lousy record and a great shot at the first overall pick. No, there’s no finger-pointing here as all NHL teams pride themselves on winning every game – even if it’s at the detriment of its long-term success (wink, wink).

That said, if a team was willing to junk a season to pick McDavid, would it be worth it?

Sports Interaction’s NHL team over/under point totals

Well, it depends on the team’s situation obviously, but it looks as though he’s going to be the kind of player who doesn’t come around very often. The 17-year-old scored 99 points in his second OHL season with the Erie Otters and is already 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds with speed to burn. His puck skills are off the charts and his vision and anticipation has scouts drooling.

“If he played in the NHL this season, I believe he’d get 70 points,” Otters GM Sherry Bassin told the Toronto Sun. “Whoever gets him, they’re getting something special, someone special. I don’t advocate tanking, especially with the new rules, but (if I was an NHL team), I’d want to do everything I could to get this kid.”

Again, not to condone tanking, but if you’re one of the worst teams in the NHL already and building for the future, there would be worse things in the world than landing the No. 1 pick.

Sports Interaction just released NHL season win total over/unders and four teams stick out at near the bottom. These are teams that desperately need a superstar to boost both on and off-ice success.

The Buffalo Sabres finished with an NHL-worst 52 points last year and their over/under is worst again this season at 65.5. The Sabres won’t be very good this year either, but it’s hard to imagine them being any worse than last year. They basically stripped their roster of any significant talent and brought in a couple of veterans to help the team transition in the rebuilding process. In other words, a perfect situation for McDavid.

The Calgary Flames are another candidate. Their points total is at 73.5 and they’ll have a very young roster in a very deep conference this season. They could easily be just as bad as they were last season – if not worse. The only issue with the Flames is they may be slightly more talented this season and are known as a fast and nasty team to play against. It’s hard to see them rolling over.

Don’t sleep on the Winnipeg Jets either. They had all the talent to be a middling team but just went through a bizarre offseason that saw them do next to nothing apart from lose a couple of strong producers to free agency. Sports Interaction has their points total is at 80.5 and has no business being nearly that high.

And finally, the Carolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes’ point total is at 81.5 but this team could fall out of contention early and start stripping their roster all together. Eric Staal has been subject to a pile of trade rumors and this could be the time Carolina starts rebuilding.

Among these four teams, none have realistic playoff expectations and all could use a true young superstar to build around. So, if any of these teams bottomed out this year could you really blame them?