Movin' On Up

MRFHL Detroit Red Wings fans have something to cheer about once again. The 2015 season included a GM change mid-season, and saw the Red Wings post a losing record bad enough to finish 28th in the league. The one ray of hope for the Red Wings' fan base was the team's horde of draft picks in the upcoming 2015 draft.

GM Evans was quoted after the season saying "Our main objective this season was too finish last. Not going to lie, we definitely tried tanking. Hell, we even played Bryzgalof in net for 25+ games. What more could we possibly have done? 28th overall was a very disappointing place for us to finish"

The Red Wings entered Monday night's draft lottery with the 3rd (DET), 5th (ARI), 11th (NYR) and 12th (MTL) picks. This gave the Wings a 26/98 chance of winning the lottery. As the draft inched closer an exodus of Red Wings fans, lead by coach Quenneville, packed into Joe Louis Arena to watch the fateful lottery. When the lotto winner was announced as "THE NEW YORK RANGERS!" the crowd went berzerk. One fan interviewed was quoted as saying "WOOOO F*CK YEAH!" before ripping off his shirt and shotgunning a beer. Another said "I will name my first 3 children connor, regardless of gender"

Coach Quenneville was quoted as saying, "I will teach Connor how to grow a beauty moustache, oh and also how to win Stanley Cups"
 

GM Evans was quoted after the draft as saying "Statistically we had the best shot at winning the draft and getting Connor, but I didn't get my hopes up. We looked into acquiring the Devils' 1st rounder to increase our chances but the deal didn't happen. So to actually win the draft is pretty exciting. When I took over as GM the team was looking pretty rough; ruslan fedetenko was our top line right winger. However many of our young players took huge steps forward in their development this year. Connor McDavid, Hampus Linholm, and whoever we are able to acquire with picks 4 and 6 in this upcoming draft will be cornerstone pieces of this franchise moving forward. It will be a slow process turning this team around into a contender but I am confident that in a few years we will be a powerhouse in this league"

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Historical Note:
So how did Detroit end up with this New York Rangers pick?

Well in 2014 the Red Wings sent RW Justin Williams and a 2014 4th round pick to the Rangers. In exchange the Wings picked up the Ranger's 2015 1st round pick, prospect Anthony Duclair, and LW Andrei Kostitsyn