Quote:
Originally Posted by Flashpoint
It sure would be nice if the NHL rewarded trying to win but failing, rather than trying to lose.
For example - you are incentivised to be the worst team in the league. On the last day of the season, you'd rather be 30th, than 17th.
Wouldn't it be nice if (and you can keep the lottery to add uncertainty) the team that JUST missed the playoffs had the #1 spot, and the last placed had the #14 pick (then followed by the playoff teams in the current order)?
So the teams outside the playoffs are always striving to beat their opponents, rather than pack it in as quickly as possible.
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The parity in the NHL ensure that all but the worst couple of teams try make the playoffs for 95% of the year. Preventing the worst teams in the league from getting the best picks would simply prevent them from ever becoming competitive. If they fail to become competitive after drafting high a few years, they end up losing these players via free agency to teams that are competitive. As such, I think your looking for a solution to a problem that doesn't really exist outside of the 4 or 5 worst teams in the NHL in any given year, and those teams would likely have the same problem regardless of the resulting draft pick order. The players don't play for draft picks after all, they play to win the Stanley Cup. As such, the order of the resulting draft picks won't change the effort of a team that's out of the playoff hunt one bit.