In the summer that Connor McDavid would be drafted, the lottery event saw the Oilers be the big winner,

head of the Sabres who'd been the default team and the worst team, the one that

pretty much everyone was hoping would get McDavid, in particular because he played his junior

hockey right down I-90 in Erie right here in Pennsylvania. It would have been really cool. Didn't

happen. And if he looked at McDavid's face, even though he's denied this since then, at the moment it was announced, he knew, we all knew, how this was all going to go. Good morning to you, good. Tuesday morning, I'm Dan Kovatovich of D.K. Pittsburgh Sports. This is Daily Shot of Penguins. It comes your way

bright and early every weekday. If you're in, too, football and or baseball, I also offer

daily shots of Steelers and Pirates in the same place that you found this. No, I'm not about to turn

this into a talk show about the Oilers or Edmonton or even McDavid's status. He's been in the NHL now for 10 years.

He's made it to the final now twice in a row. He's lost to the Panthers, of course, twice in a row.

And this has all happened despite in his tenure other high picks, really high picks, other number one overall picks,

being selected by Edmonton, despite the Oilers finally getting on good financial terms by

moving into this bombastic huge new arena in the downtown area.

And despite by every accounting,

McDavid having given his very best to that team,

to that city and everything else.

Heck, McDavid even got himself his own Yvgeny Malkin type in Leon Drysidal.

Hasn't mattered. Partly because the Oilers haven't been run very,

very badly for a long time, and partly because even now that they're run a little bit better

by Stan Bowman, they as a collective still can't recognize a playoff level goaltender if they were to watch

a 22-year-old Martan Brodur walking down the street. Also, in relative, from last season to the

current roster that the Oilers have, they have undeniably taken steps backward.

And this, with McDavid entering his final year of his contract.

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