If Not the Blackhawks, the People have Spoken (Connor Bedard)

A few days ago I posted a poll with, what I believe is, an interesting question:

IF the Blackhawks don't receive the #1 pick and select Connor Bedard, whom would you be "OK" with getting him? I listed these as the options: Vancouver (home town team, also his favorite team), Montreal (has 2 chances currently), Arizona (Bettman's project with upcoming new arena), and then a grouped option of Anaheim, Columbus, Philadelphia, and San Jose.

After nearly 900 votes there emerged a clear winner: The Arizona Coyotes. With 42% of the vote, Arizona appears to be the preferred team by Blackhawk fans for Connor Bedard to help out (if not the Hawks of course). I tend to agree with this. I'd also like to point out that the last 2 true generational talents magically ended up in Canada (McDavid and Matthews). So for me, a non-Canadian team would be my preference to help grow American hockey as well.

There is no denying that Arizona, under Armstrong, is righting the ship from a roster standpoint. It seems they have a direction again and with 1 lucky bounce they could catapult themselves into their new Tempe arena in grand fashion. I for one would be excited to see Bedard / Cooley highlights.

On the flip side, it appears that most would be upset if Vancouver somehow received Connor Bedard. They will likely not finish in the bottom 5 teams as Chicago, Columbus, Arizona, San Jose, and Anaheim are already proving that they are the teams going to stay at the bottom. This would mean that they would recieve their home grown savior with low odds. This likely wouldn't sit well with most.

Now of course we all want Bedard to don our beautiful jersey, however if we still have the best odds... it will not be in our favor. There is still a 3/4 chance that Connor Bedard will land in another city depsite having the best odds (25.5%). If we don't have the best odds then we have a chance of not being in the top 3 picks as well. It's all a gamble, however I'm with the people in saying if Connor Bedard becomes (stays) a Canuck that I may raise an eyebrow on that day.