The NHL is making changes to the draft lottery again. Reports emerged today that several tweaks to the process are being put forward to the league’s board of governors for a vote, with some coming into effect for 2021 and some for 2022. But is it changes the league needs, or to do away with the lottery entirely?
Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic wrote a piece on the potential changes last month and noted how frequently over the last few seasons teams have moved up a considerable number of picks. He notes that the “final straw” for some was Detroit failing to receive even a top-three pick after finishing dead last in the NHL with a historically-bad record. 17-49-5 was good for the fourth selection, a brutal punishment for a team that is really just starting a true rebuild. The idea that the Red Wings “aren’t tanking” may rub people the wrong way, since it’s obvious their management wasn’t trying to make the playoffs last season, but many believe there’s no way the team should have been pushed that far down.
While the proposed changes would help somewhat—holding the lottery for only two picks instead of three means the Red Wings would have been guaranteed a top-three selection—the question still remains: should the league do away with the lottery entirely?
Should the worst team in the league be rewarded with the top pick every year? Should there be simple restrictions like no first-overall two years in a row? What other ideas are there for how to tweak the lottery to make it better? Cast a vote below but then make sure to share your thoughts in the comments.
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Like the Draft Lottery? Nope – see previous article. We can now rename it to the Daft Lottery.
Boy will they be pissed when the Rangers get the #1 draft pick
Why would “they” be mad when “they” are the ones who keep rigging the lottery for the Rangers?
So many angles here.
What if you are Ottawa and that trade with SJ nets you the #1? Does that count as yours or a traded for pick? What if Ottawa won the lottery the next year? Or even that year? You can’t win it two years in a row?
I’ve always felt that it should be that every club has a chance for #1,but you cannot fall more than 2 spots out of the top four and 3 spots out of the rest of the non playoff clubs. (Finish 4th,you could fall to 6th).
Also all entry level contracts are structured to keep the pay scale similar. An entry level contract SHOULD NOT COUNT AGAINST THE CAP. They are all equal. Negotiate for the bonus,again,not against the cap.
If you buy 2 players out-you are ineligible for the lottery-you hold your draft spot.
A player who is bought out or retires or is on LTIR and will never play during the contract SHOULD NOT COUNT AGAINST THE CAP. It’s keeping non entry level players for making more money.
If a club signs a bad contract,that’s on them.
Just to answer one question…the pick would likely count as the original teams. So, Ottawa could get the #1 picks on their one year and still get the top pick if SJ were to win the draft the next when they own the pick.
The Pens picked MAF #1 overall in 2003 after trading up from #3, but during the Crosby draft that pick was considered the Panthers for purposes of determining how many balls each team got (teams that picked #1 in the previous few years lost a ball, example Caps from the Ovie year.)
Red Wings fans: Nope.
The NHL seems to have created a good bit of parity (on account of 3-point games, hard cap, salary floor, revenue sharing, etc.) so I don’t see the need for a draft lottery if the impetus is to discourage tanking.
Now baseball, on the other hand, would be well served with a lottery. Plenty of MLB teams are happy to strip everything down and rebuild for 3, 4, 5 years while their owners profit on a shoestring budget.
That’s a competitive problem that doesn’t really exist in the NHL. Bad teams in the NHL are usually bad for extended stretches because of front office incompetence, not because they have an owner who’s decided to run player payroll down to 20% of what the top teams spend.
I believe the worst team in the NHL deserves to pick 1st overall, and it doesn’t need to be more complicated than that.
Just have it be based on worst record like nfl.
I’ll say it again…I’m a fan of the team that both invented and perfected tanking AND that team is going to rebuild soon SO…if you want to get rid of the lottery and help build the third Pittsburgh Penguin dynasty, so be it, I guess.
BUT…as a fan of the sport and as an observer capable of impartiality, there is no reason on Earth to reward a tanking team. It hurts the sport overall. It hurts the fans of that team. It hurts the fans that have to watch them play their team.
Boo hoo, Yzerman can’t lose his way to his next Hedmans or Stamkos.
Ideal Lotto:
Top 3 picks available. Only 10 worst teams eligible for top pick. No #1 picks in consecutive years. Only two lottery wins in 5 years. Only 3 top 5 picks in a 5 year span.
This would balance rebuilding bad teams with discouraging intentional tanking.
In a cap league with a fair amount of free agent movement, there is no reason NHL teams have to bottom out for 3-5 years like baseball teams. Or 30 years if you count the Pirates.
Not with where the league has taken it. There is too much movement in the top 3 every season. It’s shocking if the worst team holds the top pick. Bettman wants to punish the worst teams and it’s clear. They really put the Pens and Oilers in it last season despite having the 5th best record in their conference.
much ado about nothing tbh. might as well just give teams equal allotments each year for eligible amateur players and let em at it.
If the lottery is kept then it should only include the last place finishers in each division. This way no team would fall more than 3 spots based On having 4 divisions. Rest of the teams would fall in order based on where they finished.
Buffalo is so bad this year, even if they finish last, they should be required to draft last as punishment.
i heard this proposal on local sports radio on draft order (now this was for mlb and the “tanking “). you take all the teams that missed postseason and order them by who had the best record/points. this system rewards teams that are trying to complete and hurts teams that are just “cashing checks”. i know this isn’t a perfect system but i think it’s a better system then what is place no especially the lotto system draft order set by chance is ludicrous.
Why so sensitive about the Red Wings tanking, they were dominant for years how about Ottawa who’ve mostly been awful since coming in the league and haven’t won squat, or the Canucks who moved back in the draft lottery 5 years in a row or something like that.