Quote:
Originally Posted by nfotiu
Do you really need a draft with a salary cap? What if you just let the teams bid on players. Put in a rule that forces the player to go to the highest bidder, so they can't just pick the best team, but seems like a good way to let the bad teams with lots of cap room get competitive quickly.
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I think it still serves a purpose, but not nearly the same purpose.
You're right that the cap ear has created parity and a level playing field that the draft was never able to achieve and with a level playing field, it seems silly to give any team advantages elsewhere.
However, I think it is still a good way to keep fans of bad teams hopeful and interested while they wait from April until October (especially good in non-traditional markets where fan support is tedious). From a business point of view, I think the draft makes sense. The draft is a consolation prize. The thought of it bringing some kind of equality it obsolete.
With the way the standings are and with loser points though, I don't believe that there are big differences in the standings. Is the 28th worse team really in such worse shape from the 25th worse team that their draft position warrants an automatic chance to draft a higher tier prospect? Not in my opinion.
I would prefer to see a tiered lottery system, somewhat based on the typical draft (top 3 prospects are usually the top tier, then the next few a little lower, and so on...):
- The bottom 3 teams have a lottery to determine draft positions 1 through 3 with each team getting and equal chance.
- The teams from 4 through 7 have a lottery for positions 4 to 7 with equal odds.
- The teams 8 to 14... same thing as above.
- Then the remaining 15 teams have a lottery for positions with equal odds.
- The Stanley Cup champ picks last.