Quote:
Originally Posted by Poster
Is there a way to fix the bigger issue of people continuing to claim that teams are tanking? Some teams are just bad, someone has to finish last! BUF, ARZ, TOR, EDM, CRL etc.. Are not tanking! They are just not as good as the other teams in the league.
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Of course players don't lose intentionally. But I do believe management makes decisions to keep the team in the bottom of the standings at a certain point. That can mean inaction as much as action.
For example... It was obvious to most people that Eakins needed to be fired before the season even started. But it was painfully obvious to EVERYONE that he needed to be fired by the the 3rd week of the season. Oiler management kept him there knowing things were only getting worse every day for the oilers with absolutely no sign of things turning around. They kept the status quo because they were done... Finished before even November started... with no chance of making the playoffs. Firing him or making a trade could have possibly sparked the team enough to only hurt their draft position. They kept him around for almost another 2 months and didn't make a trade till around the same time... Once they were all but guaranteed a bottom 3 finish. They left nothing to chance.
You could call it poor management - which it is - but it is also tanking. If there was incentive to make your team win games despite no chance of making the playoffs, management/ownership would make necessary moves to make their team better every chance they get.