Disagree with this method 110% and the reason why should be obviously clear for the Coyote fans:
We had to face more teams in the top 8 than anyone else post trade deadline. This is a fact. All 5 of the times that we played Edmonton occurred before Dec. 23rd, as an example. Unless the NHL could guarantee that games after elimination were equally balanced, certain teams would be slighted. Likewise, what happens if a team is eliminated on the second to last day (game) of the season. That team then wins their last game, basically meaning that they have a 100% winning percentage after being eliminated. Would they get additional ping pong balls as a result?
Best suggestion:
Take the points percentage of all non-playoff teams faced and weight at 75%. Team with the lowest score clearly did their worst against "like" teams that were not making the playoffs and therefore should have the most to gain in the draft lottery.
The remaining 25% weight should count for wins against final point totals of opponents (i.e. if your remaining wins came against teams with 94 points more often than teams with 105 points, that would lead me to believe that the team was not trying as hard against the "big boys" and may be more likely to tank). Or something where you look at the stats going through the year. As an example, the Coyotes had a higher percentage of wins when leading after 2 periods than the Sabres. So once, the team got the lead, they were less likely to blow it in the sense of tanking. Therefore, you get rewarded for that.
A lot of what-ifs, but ultimately the thing that bugs me is people using this idea that the Coyotes tanked their way into the 29th spot for the draft. We had a top 10 power play, a face-off percentage within the top 10, and a higher percentage of wins after trailing/leading after the first period or leading after the second period than a lot of our counterparts. Those don't speak to tanking.