Last night at 8PM eastern time, Versus aired the NHL Draft Lottery. For those of you who missed it, you are welcome; I watched it for you. Despite being the most painful half an hour of my entire life, I watched the entire thing, hoping the entire time for a glimmer of excitement. Let me tell you, it did not come. There was a panel made up of representatives for lottery hopefuls ranging anywhere from Dave Andreychuk from Tampa Bay and Luc Robitaille from the Kings, to three or four people that even I can’t name.

I know that most readers are probably overly excited and just can't wait to hear who got the first pick in the draft this year. Wait no longer, it will be Tampa Bay. After hearing the announcement of his team’s great fortune, Mr. Andreychuk’s expression was one of absolute disinterest. He barely even flinched.

From a league desperate to increase the excitement of their game to the average person, this show was seven steps in the wrong direction. The first ten minutes wasted away introducing the people sitting on the panel and allowing those men to explain why they want the first pick. The fact that the first pick generally lands your team the best player available in the draft apparently was something that does not warrant explanation.

Then the basics of the lottery were explained, showing that only the 14 teams who did not make the playoffs are part of the lottery. Then a graphic flashed up stating that the Lightning would have 48.2% shot at retaining the number one pick. None of the percentages were round numbers, all of them being obscure, hard to fathom, down to the tenth of a percent numbers, again with no explanation as to why. The host then explained that the graphic only showed the five teams with the best chance to land the first pick, because a team can only be allowed to move up four places. There was no explanation given for why they allow the teams to move up only four places.

Moving on to the heart of the special, the sealed envelopes were presented, and a pause given to build the dramatics. Then an awkward silence as the man opening the envelopes paused for too long before announcing the fifth pick would go to the Islanders. At this point, on an ESPN aired NFL draft, the broadcast would have gone into a breakdown of who may be available at the fifth spot and how they would help the Islanders become a better team. There was no such pause tonight. The show simply flashed to the Islanders representative, who showed as much as excitement about the fifth pick as Mr. Andreychuk did about the first pick.

The show then moved quickly through the other picks, awkwardly stumbling back and forth from the man opening the envelopes to the representatives for the team chosen for that pick. When they announced the number three pick, they boosted the drama even further by informing us they would jump ahead to announcing the number one pick before the number two pick. Anyone could guess the show would do just that, but the host attempted to make it sound as though it was a surprise.

After announcing that the first pick went to the Lighting, and allowing us to bask in the excitement of the Lightning organization, the host did a cursory interview with this year’s Sidney Crosby, a kid name Steven Stamkos. While Stamkos is a certified talent, the attempt to make his draft seem like an organization saving move was a stretch at best, patronizing to the common fan at worst. TSN and Versus even went so far as to bill it as the “Steven Stamkos Sweepstakes,” a play on the Sidney Crosby sweepstakes back in 2005, which just happens to be the last time the lottery was televised.

The special did cover who will be the top ten prospects going into the draft, but it did a terrible job of explaining why they were so special, how they would help their future NHL clubs, or when they may actually be seen in the NHL. TSN, Versus, and the NHL should be ashamed of this half-hearted attempt to drum up excitement. The whole sorry presentation was excruciatingly boring. The attempt to make it into a sweepstakes such as that for Crosby was insulting to the intelligence of people who know hockey, and confusing to the casual fan.

The NHL can hope that Stamkos comes to the league and lights the lamp like Crosby and Ovechkin. Otherwise, the charade they put on last night could come back to haunt them with all 12 of us who actually watched it.