Dater: Losing Draft Lottery in 2017, getting Cale Makar as consolation prize was maybe best thing to ever happen to Avalanche

Remember how unbelievably frustrated everybody was when the 48-point Avalanche somehow got the worst pick they could possibly get in the 2017 NHL draft – fourth overall? “The hockey gods hate us. This is all payback for getting a Stanley Cup champion team dropped on our laps in 1995, at the expense of the good people of Quebec City.”

The hockey gods are a strange bunch. The Avalanche, it turns out, lost the lottery and won the world in getting Cale Makar with that pick. Hey, Michael Jordan went third in the NBA draft. We’re all going to be saying the same thing, in amazement, about Makar going fourth in that draft, where the top three were: Nico Hischier, Nolan Patrick and Miro Heiskanen.