The NHL Needs to Embrace the Gold Plan

[FlamesAddiction]

Who the heck is Adam Gold?

This idea goes back way further than 2012.

It doesn't need to be complicated. Just make the draft lottery a true lottery for all non-playoff teams. No weighting... just randomize the bottom 14, then add the rest in order that they finished.

There will be no reason to cheer losses and you won't get bad teams acquiring rentals just to improve their draft position once they are eliminated.

[Toonage]

Actually I am interested in the Columbus game tonight because "hey, the lottery". Columbus' next two games actually do mean something for the draft so far as the Flames are concerned.

In the Gold Plan system these two teams could be playing for 13th & 14th. The plan doesn't do anything to change the system for teams that are inherently bad and won't be changing any time soon. They could ice the best team possible with players within their system and still come up short. If you can't win games during the season how are teams going to flip a switch and suddenly become best in class amongst their equally poor peers?

Also, if you're going to lift a topic of discussion from yesterday's Down Goes Brown article on Sportsnet.ca, may as well give it proper credit.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/s...lottery-draft/

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by Toonage

Actually I am interested in the Columbus game tonight because "hey, the lottery". Columbus' next two games actually do mean something for the draft so far as the Flames are concerned.

In the Gold Plan system these two teams could be playing for 13th & 14th. The plan doesn't do anything to change the system for teams that are inherently bad and won't be changing any time soon. They could ice the best team possible with players within their system and still come up short. If you can't win games during the season how are teams going to flip a switch and suddenly become best in class amongst their equally poor peers?

Also, if you're going to lift a topic of discussion from yesterday's Down Goes Brown article on Sportsnet.ca, may as well give it proper credit.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/s...lottery-draft/

I haven't actually read that article yet. But, I have been keeping up with his Gold Plan standings updates.

[Hot_Flatus]

I really don't see the need to change anything now that the lottery system has been adjusted. Give this a year or two to take shape and see where the competitiveness is down the stretch again.

Flat out blocking a team from drafting first overall in back to back seasons would be better than switching to a system that has too many inconsistencies to be fair i.e. schedule difficulty and injuries.

[Jason14h]

So a bad team in a good conference can be eliminated before a terrible team in a bad conference?

What if the top 8 teams are all really good so teams get eliminated from 1 conference way earlier then the other conference.

The point of the draft is to help to worst teams. Whether a team is the worst or 2nd worst and tanking isn't as big of a deal then if we start giving decent teams the top talent and bad teams have no way to improve.

And I don't actually believe in "Tanking" amongst teams in 99% of the time. Bad teams are just bad.

[Toonage]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

I haven't actually read that article yet. But, I have been keeping up with his Gold Plan standings updates.

You should read the article. It shares some of your thoughts

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by Toonage

You should read the article. It shares some of your thoughts. Word for word in some cases.

What are you insinuating here?

[Toonage]

My apologies. That was uncalled for. I will edit my comments.

[CaptainCrunch]

Make it simple.

If you have the number 1 pick one year, the highest you can draft the next year is 6th

If you draft bottom 6 5 years in a row then the next year you draft 30th

[The Yen Man]

I don't know why it has to be so complicated. Just keep the current lottery odds as is (top 3 picks are still up for grabs), and stipulate a team can only draft 1st overall once every 5 years. Boom, fixed.

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

So a bad team in a good conference can be eliminated before a terrible team in a bad conference?

What if the top 8 teams are all really good so teams get eliminated from 1 conference way earlier then the other conference.

The point of the draft is to help to worst teams. Whether a team is the worst or 2nd worst and tanking isn't as big of a deal then if we start giving decent teams the top talent and bad teams have no way to improve.

And I don't actually believe in "Tanking" amongst teams in 99% of the time. Bad teams are just bad.

Right now, even if you're the very worst team in the league by 20 points - hypothetically speaking - you face the same odds of picking 4th overall as a team who finishes last on a tiebreaker. That means missing out on Matthews and the Finns.

Also, if you're a bad team in a terrible division, there's your chance to move forward! You're already at an advantage.

[mikephoen]

Originally Posted by Alberta_Beef

There is more tanking than ever in recent years, ever since drafting and development became more important under the cap system. It most certainly is broken.

I disagree that there is more tanking than ever. There are certainly a lot more fans cheering for their team to lose, and more focus on the draft by fans every year though. These days, every time a vet sits out because of an injury or a back up goalie plays a game, people call it tanking.

Some times bad hockey teams just lose. Vancouver and Edmonton didn't make any tanking moves this season, they're just terrible hockey teams.

I think we saw legitimate tanking last season when Buffalo and Arizona were actively trading away any goalie who was a threat to win a game. But it's well documented that Pittsburgh was not just tanking, but actively trying to throw games, to get Mario back in the 80s. Shenanigans like this have been going on for as long as there has been a draft, I think people are just hyper-attuned to it now. Especially because of all the attention that draft picks and the draft process get now.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Make it simple.

If you have the number 1 pick one year, the highest you can draft the next year is 6th

If you draft bottom 6 5 years in a row then the next year you draft 30th

I think this is by far the best way to go. All this lottery and adjusting for the Oilers just complicates things.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by Alberta_Beef

I think this is an absolutely stupid idea. All it will do is have teams throwing in the towel at Christmas rather than the deadline just so they have more time to accumulate points.

Not that I'm agreeing or disagreeing with the plan, but is it even possible to be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs by Christmas? You can go 0-41 and not be mathematically eliminated.

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by MattyC

I think this is by far the best way to go. All this lottery and adjusting for the Oilers just complicates things.

The 'you can't draft first x # of times over x # of years' can be a stipulation of the Gold Plan.

[Yoho]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Make it simple.

If you have the number 1 pick one year, the highest you can draft the next year is 6th

If you draft bottom 6 5 years in a row then the next year you draft 30th

It's funny how every different suggestion for reform could be called "The Oilers rule"

[Cecil Terwilliger]

I used to love these wild draft proposals and now i hate pretty much all of them. The wheel, the gold method, the Oilers project. They all suck.

What we have now will work. There is little incentive to continue to fail except to increase your odds by a few percent. All I think is needed is to even the odds a bit for all non-playoff teams. Once teams realize that there is little incentive to finish last vs 5th last, I think we'll see the obvious tanks settle down a bit.

Plus what is tanking really? Did the leafs tank? Sure they traded everyone away and iced an AHL roster for the last 2.5 months of the season but who cares? They have at best a 1/5 shot of winning the lottery. What other option did they have? Keep all their players? Why? WHy not give the young guys some playing time?

[afc wimbledon]

Why does anyone care what teams do once they're eliminated from the playoffs anyway?

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

Why does anyone care what teams do once they're eliminated from the playoffs anyway?

Well I think people don't want to see an NBA style race to the bottom. No one wants to see teams embarrass the league and their franchise.

[CaptainCrunch]

I think that you leave the draft system the same, but you add a spin the wheel make a deal provision. Where every non playoff team is on the wheel, and its spun just before the draft, and the losing team is moved to Edmonton so that poor city can have an NHL team.