Stano’s Daily: Panthers Go Up 3-0 & Draft Lottery Day

The "Toronto Maple Leafs can't escape the first round" meme finally died this year. Toronto broke that curse and it seemed like maybe, just maybe, this was finally their year.

Instead, they quickly went down 3-0 to the Florida Panthers and face elimination on Wednesday. Rival fans will have a new stick to beat Maple Leaf's fans with. And questions surrounding Kyle Dubas and Sheldon Keefe's future will emerge. 

Of course, the Leafs could pull a 2014 Los Angeles Kings and reverse sweep the Panthers, but I wouldn't be holding my breath.

Is this the summer that the Leafs finally shake things up? Move some of their core pieces and change some hockey operation staff? 

Draft Lottery Night:

Monday night the Connor Bedard sweepstakes will be decided. Teams will find out if tanking their season was worth it if they've secured the next generational talent.

It wasn't too long ago that Kings fans were heavily invested in the Draft lottery, hoping to see their team shoot up the draft board in hopes of drafting their future star. Lose for Hughes anyone?

Unfortunately for the Kings, they never did move up to the number one spot. And after losing for Hughes pretty hard in 2019, they dropped from the number two spot to number five, Taking Alex Turcotte in that spot. 

A career filled with injury and zero points in 12 NHL games, that pick still stings. There's still some hope for Turcotte, if he can finally put together a healthy season he can be a contributor in the NHL. But it's unlikely he lives up to expectations.

The Kings were given some retribution a year later. Moving up from the four spot to number two. Where they selected Quinton Byfield as their future number-one center. 

For various reasons that hasn't materialized yet. But Byfield showed a lot of growth last season and flashes of second-overall potential. But time is running out for him to prove he was worth that selection. 

National Hockey Now:

New Sites Galore: National Hockey Now is expanding! In the last week, BuffaloHockeyNow, ChicagoHockeyNow and NashvilleHockeyNow have all been added.

MontrealHockeyNow: Back-to-back lottery wins for Montreal? If it does happen I wouldn't expect another surprise pick at the number one spot this year. 

ColoradoHockeyNow: Was the deadline a success or failure for the Colorado Avalanche? ColoradoHockeyNow has that answer.

DetroitHockeyNow: Sticking with the aforementioned 2019 draft. DetroitHockeyNow has a nice review of the pick after Turcotte, Moritz Seider.