Do they need to change the Draft Lottery Rules?

[DaBoltsNIsles]

The past two years the Edmonton Oilers have had the 1st pick in the NHL Draft. If the NHL had adopted the same rule the NBA has the New Jersey Devils would have had the 1st pick overall in the 2011 draft moving Edmonton down to the 2nd spot & so forth.

I think the NHL should give the team who wins the Lottery the 1st pick in the draft know matter whether they have the worst record or not.

This year there is a player worthy of tanking for. His name is Nail Yakupov (sp). I didn't see a lot of Oilers games in the past two seasons (thank god):, but if they end up with the 1st pick for the third consecutive season (very likely) it's BULLSHIT!!

What are your thoughts on what the NHL should do to eliminate teams from TANKING?

 

[TiLoBrown]

The past two years the Edmonton Oilers have had the 1st pick in the NHL Draft. If the NHL had adopted the same rule the NBA has the New Jersey Devils would have had the 1st pick overall in the 2011 draft moving Edmonton down to the 2nd spot & so forth.

I think the NHL should give the team who wins the Lottery the 1st pick in the draft know matter whether they have the worst record or not.

This year there is a player worthy of tanking for. His name is Nail Yakupov (sp). I didn't see a lot of Oilers games in the past two seasons (thank god):, but if they end up with the 1st pick for the third consecutive season (very likely) it's BULLSHIT!!

What are your thoughts on what the NHL should do to eliminate teams from TANKING?

we didnt tank!

 

[puckhead]

What are your thoughts on what the NHL should do to eliminate teams from TANKING?

nothing to do but dilute the odds however you'd like to arrange it.
30th place team still has a what.... 60%ish chance of having the #1 pick?
they still win if anyone other than a bottom 5 team wins the lottery (eg. as you pointed out - NJ won, so Edm retained 1st pick)

- include ALL teams at slight odds instead of just non-playoff teams
- as you say... winner is winner, not just move up 4 spots

I'm not sure there would be a push for it from the league, it's in their interest to bring shitty teams back into parity.
plenty of teams have tanked for a few years to load up... Edm, Pitts, Ott, NYI, CHI, Wash

imo, the salary cap will prevent a team from shitting the bed for 5 years running to build a powerhouse. All of those players will hit payday at around the same time, and that will be very tough to retain them all. Chicago saw it (exacerbated by some really stupid contracts), and Edmonton may see it in a few years. You can either be top-heavy or balanced - what would Pits do if they sucked for another year (MAF #1, Malkin #2, Crosby #1, Staal #2) and had a Kane to also fit under the cap? there's a natural limit. As is it, the Pens roster are all-star or AHL... they've kind of hit their star limit.

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

nothing to do but dilute the odds however you'd like to arrange it.
30th place team still has a what.... 60%ish chance of having the #1 pick?
they still win if anyone other than a bottom 5 team wins the lottery (eg. as you pointed out - NJ won, so Edm retained 1st pick)

- include ALL teams at slight odds instead of just non-playoff teams
- as you say... winner is winner, not just move up 4 spots

I'm not sure there would be a push for it from the league, it's in their interest to bring shitty teams back into parity.
plenty of teams have tanked for a few years to load up... Edm, Pitts, Ott, NYI, CHI, Wash

imo, the salary cap will prevent a team from shitting the bed for 5 years running to build a powerhouse. All of those players will hit payday at around the same time, and that will be very tough to retain them all. Chicago saw it (exacerbated by some really stupid contracts), and Edmonton may see it in a few years. You can either be top-heavy or balanced - what would Pits do if they sucked for another year (MAF #1, Malkin #2, Crosby #1, Staal #2) and had a Kane to also fit under the cap? there's a natural limit. As is it, the Pens roster are all-star or AHL... they've kind of hit their star limit.

The Islanders lost more man games to injury than any team in the league last year. In fact they lost Streit for the season before it even started & Okposo missed more than half the season. They played SIX goalies last season. Yet they still managed to finish ahead of 3 teams in the league. The one thing I can count on from my team is EFFORT. I bet if we were able to ask all the teams in the league the last thing they would say about the Islanders is that they QUIT.

I wouldn't mind if all 30 teams had a shot. Although like you said I don't think the league would go for it.

 

[puckhead]

I didn't say those teams tanked recently....
Caps was in late 70s -7 top 5 picks in a row, including Bobby Carpenter, Ryan Walter, Mike Gartner, Scott Stevens.
Isles window was mid 90's, imo. #2 pick in 95 (Redden), #3 in 96 (JP Dumont), #4 (Luongo) and #5 (Brewer) in 97.

Geez, now that I look at it, Isles sure liked to take their rebuild shots in a hurry. Four 1st rounders in 1999, and two more top-5 picks in 2000.
- for your sanity's sake, I'd urge you not to look up those names

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

I didn't say those teams tanked recently....
Caps was in late 70s -7 top 5 picks in a row, including Bobby Carpenter, Ryan Walter, Mike Gartner, Scott Stevens.
Isles window was mid 90's, imo. #2 pick in 95 (Redden), #3 in 96 (JP Dumont), #4 (Luongo) and #5 (Brewer) in 97.

Geez, now that I look at it, Isles sure liked to take their rebuild shots in a hurry. Four 1st rounders in 1999, and two more top-5 picks in 2000.
- for your sanity's sake, I'd urge you not to look up those names

During that span of time the team was sold to Spano who sold a bill of goods to the league & they bought it. The Islanders were then sold to Howard Milstein who actually had the team flying Comercial to games because he was so cheap. The Islanders had a payroll of around 18 million. Milpuke was told to trade away every player who was making any money & get whatever you can. All trades actually had to be approved by the league. They truly were the laughingstock of professional sports at that time.

At 18 years old Tim Connolly made his debut as an Islander. Butch Goring said early on in the season he isn't ready, but there's nothing I can do. I'm happy for Connolly that he's had the career he has. Many a player hasn't made it due to not being developed properly.

 

[flyersfan4706]

Fuck you all.
Fuck Chicago.
Fuck Game 6 Cup Overtime.
Fuck you, Kane was our's.

 

[ritari330]

Tank Colorado tank!

 

[DChero]

Well, if your team needs a star, you know what to do. If these teams could all suffer a last place season and still keep ticket sales up, then I'm sure that we'd see it more.

 

[Eddie_Shack]

I don't think they should change it too much. If I had to make a change, I would institute a rule that if you get the first overall pick, you are automatically bumped out of the top five next year.

Edit: Remember, a lotto pick doesn't guarantee anything. Some fall on their faces, like Daigle, and some are just role players, like Brad Stuart. But it doesn't necessarily mean you pull a guy like Crosby.

 

[elocomotive]

I didn't say those teams tanked recently....
Caps was in late 70s -7 top 5 picks in a row

That's because they were terrible, not because they were tanking games. I took a quick look at the end of a few seasons. They went 3-1-0 to end the 1978 season and move past Detroit to not be last in the division and 2-2-2 in the 1979 to end the year, both much better than their overall performance those seasons. The fact is the expansion drafts don't offer expansion teams much in the way of quality players and it takes a while to get the team off the ground. Look at the most recent expansion teams - Minnesota, Columbus, and Atlanta - only one has even won a playoff series. Atlanta and Columbus have each only PLAYED in a single series.

I don't think "tanking" is a problem. I don't see evidence of it very often, if at all. And I don't think any teams master plan is to suck for 3-4 years so they can one day be good. At the end of the day, players and coaches want to go out and try to win.

 

[DChero]

That's because they were terrible, not because they were tanking games. I took a quick look at the end of a few seasons. They went 3-1-0 to end the 1978 season and move past Detroit to not be last in the division and 2-2-2 in the 1979 to end the year, both much better than their overall performance those seasons. The fact is the expansion drafts don't offer expansion teams much in the way of quality players and it takes a while to get the team off the ground. Look at the most recent expansion teams - Minnesota, Columbus, and Atlanta - only one has even won a playoff series. Atlanta and Columbus have each only PLAYED in a single series.

I don't think "tanking" is a problem. I don't see evidence of it very often, if at all. And I don't think any teams master plan is to suck for 3-4 years so they can one day be good. At the end of the day, players and coaches want to go out and try to win.

We say it all the time. At the end of the day, it's a business (ask Richards and Carter). Tanking for a couple of years would kill their profits.

 

[elocomotive]

We say it all the time. At the end of the day, it's a business (ask Richards and Carter). Tanking for a couple of years would kill their profits.

Yeah, I don't think anyone wants to "tank." Obviously teams go through re-building at times and I think if you communicate that to the fans, they are understanding and responsive. I know Ted Leonsis did this just after the lockout in a letter to fans that helped everyone understand the direction the team was taking. It was very effective, it explained the teams recent actions, it tempered expectations and created interest at the same time, and is one of a number of factors that made Ted one of the most popular owners in the area. If you are doing PR in a rebuilding period, Ted wrote the book on it (seriously, it's a freakin' book ). Here are some excerpts...

Leonsis Letter to Fans - August 2005

It’s been two weeks since the NHL’s new collective bargaining agreement was ratified and there has been a whirlwind of activity at the Capitals as well as throughout the NHL since. I thought I would make this the first of an ongoing series of communiqués with our fan base. I think you will find these missives to be straight forward and as open as one can be while recognizing that there are some confidential issues that I cannot address until a later date. With that said, I hope this explains and outlines the Capitals’ thinking and rationale on several matters.

...As far as free agency is concerned, I will admit that we made offers to several players who would have helped our team in the short term. We were competitive as it related to salary, but we lost out because of the term of the contract. We are prepared to sign the right players, but we have to factor in their age, salary and length of the contract. We didn’t want to be saddled with longer term contracts to older players. We have to allow our young players an opportunity to play and progress. For some that opportunity will be this year. For others, it will be next year or the year after.

I know this is counter to what many of you think is the right thing to do. The majority of my emails are screaming for us to add older players without regard for the eventual ramifications of a long-term deal. Many of you who have come to know me during the past six years realize that I really want you to love the Capitals and that I want you to like me as an owner. Admittedly, in the past I did some things as a result of listening to our fans, and out of that desire to be popular, it really would be easy right now to sign some of those big-name free agents to get you off my back. But I’m now more experienced, and I believe the new system creates a real opportunity for our team to build the right way. I’m willing to take short-term pain for the long-term gain. I’m willing – and comfortable – to make decisions that you deem unpopular because I have the overall best interests of this franchise at heart.

...We want to keep you apprised as to our plans both on and off the ice. Our goal is to ice a young, hungry and competitive team this season, a team that plays hard every shift and that will grow, improve and mature together and offer hope for a Stanley Cup run in the not-too-distant future. We started this process in 2003-04 after coming to the harsh realization that other methods had failed us.

Our 2005-06 training camp promises to be one of the most interesting in the team’s history. Our young players have an unprecedented opportunity to prove themselves as NHL players and the competition for roster spots promises to be especially fierce. Those who don’t make the Washington roster will be right up the road in Hershey where you will be able to see them play without having to purchase airfare.

In addition to veteran forwards Jeff Halpern and Dainius Zubrus, we have a bevy of young and talented forward prospects in our system. This group is led by Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin but also includes Eric Fehr, Brian Sutherby, Boyd Gordon, Jared Aulin, Jakub Klepis and several others.

We now have seven defensemen who were chosen in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft: Brendan Witt, Shaone Morrisonn, Steve Eminger, Jeff Schultz, Mike Green, Sasha Pokulok and Joe Finley. We will give some of these players and others like Nolan Yonkman, Jakub Cutta and Josef Boumedienne an opportunity to play in the NHL this year. Those who prove they can handle the job and the minutes will become part of our team’s core going forward.

...We have a plan and we believe our plan will enable us to ice a competitive and exciting team that can compete for the Stanley Cup during the life of the current CBA. We will build our team on the foundations of speed, grit, character and work ethic. We will be patient in staying the course, and we ask for your patience, too. With patience, comes reward. The fans of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Calgary Flames have seen this first-hand.

We are excited about the future of our Capitals and hockey in Washington. Our team is young, our team is hungry and our team is talented. With time and experience they will grow, and we will have and maintain the flexibility needed to keep them together and add any necessary pieces. The ride is about to start. We hope you will be there for every mile. See you at MCI Center.

Sincerely,

Ted Leonsis

I thought it was a pretty awesome letter and clearly the "plan" has worked, though the ultimate prize still eludes us.

 

[dash]

I don't think "tanking" is a problem. I don't see evidence of it very often, if at all. And I don't think any teams master plan is to suck for 3-4 years so they can one day be good. At the end of the day, players and coaches want to go out and try to win.

In all honesty, I think the Oilers have really tanked only one year out of the last four, they just have been that awful. They are acquiring some good young forwards (via lottery picks), but have done little to improve the defence corps and goaltending. I don't know if they'll be the worst team in the league again this season, but I think they have a decent shot at being in the bottom five again.

 

[elocomotive]

In all honesty, I think the Oilers have really tanked only one year out of the last four, they just have been that awful. They are acquiring some good young forwards (via lottery picks), but have done little to improve the defence corps and goaltending. I don't know if they'll be the worst team in the league again this season, but I think they have a decent shot at being in the bottom five again.

"So you're telling me there's a chance..." Wait, am I getting my threads confused?

And let's be honest, when you're on an awful team and you know the playoffs are out of reach, it's harder to get motivated to play some nights.

It sounds like many of us agree that sucking is far more common than tanking.

 

[sabresfaninthesouth]

"So you're telling me there's a chance..." Wait, am I getting my threads confused?

And let's be honest, when you're on an awful team and you know the playoffs are out of reach, it's harder to get motivated to play some nights.

It sounds like many of us agree that sucking is far more common than tanking.

I've seen teams suck before, but they were the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked.

 

[DChero]

I thought it was a pretty awesome letter and clearly the "plan" has worked, though the ultimate prize still eludes us.

I agree. That's the best way of handling a rebuilding that I've ever heard of. The NBA's Knick's pretty much telling their fans that they're going to suck this year to try and bring in LeBron James, not the best.

 

[dash]

I've seen teams suck before, but they were the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked.

lol...Nice one Homey.

/rep

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

In all honesty, I think the Oilers have really tanked only one year out of the last four, they just have been that awful. They are acquiring some good young forwards (via lottery picks), but have done little to improve the defence corps and goaltending. I don't know if they'll be the worst team in the league again this season, but I think they have a decent shot at being in the bottom five again.

I fully expect the Oilers to be at best in the bottom 3 this season. Their goaltending is a big question. Their defense is could be even worse than the goaltending. When an organization considers Barker & Sutton upgrades I'd be a bit concerned. Don't get me wrong I like how Sutton plays the game. It's just that he wants to hit everything in sight & ends up in the pressbox more often than he's on the ice.

If the Oilers are dead last come January 1st I expect the tanking to begin.

 

[davnlaguna]

"So you're telling me there's a chance..." Wait, am I getting my threads confused?

And let's be honest, when you're on an awful team and you know the playoffs are out of reach, it's harder to get motivated to play some nights.

It sounds like many of us agree that sucking is far more common than tanking.

I keep telling my wife that