John Davidson on cries to change Draft Lottery after Rangers won, “It’s just noise”

John Davidson was on the Cam and Strick Podcast recently, and the topic of the NHL Draft Lottery came up. Andy Strickland, who covered the Blues while JD was there asked what JD thought about all the complaining from GM’s. “It’s just noise,” he responded.

“There’s a lot of noise out there with the media, the world of Twitter,” JD expanded. “Noise is noise. If it’s bad enough you gotta listen to it, but it’s just noise.” Some of that “noise” revolved around the lottery being rigged.

General Managers complain about NHL Draft Lottery

At the last GM Meeting, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly heard plenty of complaints, especially from the Detroit Red Wings who were furious they dropped to fourth thanks to the lottery. Apparently there was “some” acknowledgement to the uniqueness of this past lottery due to the pandemic induced pause, but it wasn’t enough. The league left it off with GM’s to bring solutions next time with their complaints.

John Davidson Rangers draft lottery
The lottery ball of destiny for the Rangers (NHLI/TSN)

You have to wonder if the Rangers didn’t win the lottery if there would be so many upset teams? Would there be this campaign to change if let’s say Winnipeg won it? It doesn’t sound like JD cares too much about what others think.

John Davidson discusses Alexis Lafreniere

When asked about the #1 pick in the draft, JD had glowing remarks for Alexis Lafreniere. “This kid is mature for his age, he carries himself like he’s been around the pro ranks for 5 or 6 years,” he gushed.

The Rangers President then also discussed Alexis’ game. “He’s close to 200 pounds already. He likes to carry the puck through the neutral zone like a Panarin does where you drive the play,” JD explained. He then went into how Lafreniere performed for Canada and simply put, the kid delivered.

Listen to the entire interview here.

Anthony Scultore has been covering the New York Rangers and the NHL since 2014. His work also appears at ... More about Anthony Scultore
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