Is There Anything Sadder Than A Draft Lottery Party When You Don't Get The First Pick?

Nail Yakupov is the consensus best player in the 2012 NHL draft, but beyond that? Your guess is as good as Scott Howson's.

This was the year of "Fail for Nail," and fail the Blue Jackets did. Columbus was nine points behind the second-worst team, and came into last night's draft lottery with a 48 percent chance of winning the first overall pick. So Blue Jackets fans descended on a local bar to watch the all-important opening of the envelope. The Blue Jackets logo was not inside, and what followed was most likely a very depressed round of drinking.

The Oilers leapfrogged Columbus to land the first pick, their third consecutive after Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The only other team to have three straight top picks was the 1989-1991 Quebec Nordiques, and they won a Cup five year later (though without the services of any of those lottery selections.) Edmonton, you're on the clock.

[ MartiniHockey.net]