The lucky plan is in place.

If the Edmonton Oilers want to infuriate the hockey world even more than before, they’re going to need to double down on the luck they put in place to win Connor McDavid with the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft lottery last year.

Saturday night they’ll need a super duper lucky representative at the lottery with a Santa Claus-size bag full of horseshoes.

“We’re going to win!” said Chief Executive Officer and Vice-Chairman of the Oilers Entertainment Group Bob Nicholson.

The league changed the rules on the Oilers this year, putting in an extra two stages to the process. But there is one way it could backfire on the other 29 teams work out in the Oilers favour beyond belief.

By finishing 29th, the Oilers odds of winning the first pick again are 13.5%, actually better than last year’s 11.5 after finishing 28th.

Should they win the No. 1 selection again for the rights to select Auston Matthews, don’t turn off your TV set and run out the door shouting.

Another round will follow to select the team that picks second.

Oilers fans should be cheering for the Arizona Coyotes if the unbelievable happens and the Oilers win the first overall selection in the draft (Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nail Yakupov, McDavid) for the fifth time.

Think about it.

Matthews is from Arizona.

How many hockey superstars is Arizona likely to produce over the sands of time? One.

What would the 24th place Coyotes give up to trade places with the Oilers to pick Matthews?

How about defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, next year’s Arizona first pick and a goaltender to be named later?

You’d need a powerful amount of luck to pull that off.

With just a few sleeps to go before the annual highlight of Edmonton’s hockey season happens, your correspondent decided to check in with Nicholson to check on the status on the Oilers tradition of making sure the luck will be on their side once again.

Last year Nicholson took over and brought his luck to the Oilers.

The “lucky” socks Nicholson gave assistant general manager Lucky Bill Scott to take to the NHL Draft Lottery proceedings in Toronto were actually called ‘Good Luck Socks’ with the words and Canadian flags on them.

The sister “lucky loonie” to the one Nicholson and Wayne Gretzky convinced Edmonton (and now longtime NHL) ice maker Dan Craig to imbed in the ice at Salt Lake 2002 where Canada won Olympic Gold in hockey for the first time since the Edmonton Mercurys won in 1952.

Going into last year's draft, in an exclusive interview with your correspondent, Nicholson indicated that he selected Scott and would arm him with powerful items to bring fortune and replace the lucky tie former general manager Steve Tambellini took to the NHL Draft Lottery to produce the No. 1 picks the Oilers used to select Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Nail Yakupov. Tambellini’s tie was not available.

The Oilers decided not to tamper with tradition and thus this lucky exclusive interview launches proceedings.

“We’re going to win it!” began Nicholson.

“We’re certainly going to put things in place,” he said.

“It’s a tradition that I always had and it worked last year with the lucky socks. And as you know, I can’t outline what it is, because then it’s not lucky. But we’ll have our things in place for Saturday.”

Last year he sent Lucky Bill Scott, but Nicholson fears he used all of Scott’s luck up in getting McDavid.

Has he decided who he intends to send instead?

“It will be Peter Chiarelli, if you know him,” he said of the general manager who was hired after NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly produced the Oilers logo on the gold plated card last year.

“It’s Peter’s turn to win. We have something lucky that he’ll be given. If we win, we’ll unveil it. If we don’t, we won’t.

“It’s a good challenge for Peter. We only have a 13% chance but that’s a pretty good chance compared to others. I know there are a lot of people out there who don’t think it’s right that we even have a chance to win but our goal is to go in there and win it and then see what happens.”

Like Arizona finishing second, trading picks, getting Ekman-Larsson, Arizona's first pick next year and a goaltender to be named later?

“Now you’re acting like Peter Chiarelli,” said Nicholson.

NHL DRAFT LOTTERY ODDS

1. Toronto Maple Leafs - 20 per cent

2. Edmonton Oilers - 13.5 per cent

3. Vancouver Canucks - 11.5 per cent

4. Columbus Blue Jackets - 9.5 per cent

5. Calgary Flames - 8.5 per cent

6. Winnipeg Jets - 7.5 per cent

7. Arizona Coyotes - 6.5 per cent

8. Buffalo Sabres - 6 per cent

9. Montreal Canadiens - 5.5 per cent

10. Colorado Avalanche - 3.5 per cent

11. New Jersey Devils - 3 per cent

12. Ottawa Senators - 2.5 per cent

13. Carolina Hurricanes - 2 per cent

14. Boston Bruins - 1 per cent