Quote:
Originally Posted by Sgrath
This is my coupe of crazy ideas - a lot of holes in them I'm sure but here goes nothing
1)
Each conference holds a play off brackeet of sorts
1st round: Conference champs get a bye - other 14 teams drawn at random and play home & home games. Winner advances
2nd round - all 8 remaining teams drawn at random same home & home
keep going till there is a winner
Ranking defines draft order - lose in 1st round gives better draft pick. The kicker here is that the winner of the playoff gets the last Stanley Cup playoff spot if they don't finish in top 8.
Truly bad teams won't make it but the incentive for a sure fire playoff spot will ensure good competion.
2)
Teams that do not make the playoffs have there draft rankings calculated by a statistically valid sampling of the seir seasons results - say 20% of games at random. This way the truly bad teams will be more likely to get the better picks and tanking after missing playoffs will not guarantee a good pick.
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Why would teams who have already secured a playoff spot be required to play in a tournament where the prize is a playoff spot??