Is the draft lottery working?

[Rangers79]

A team who was in the bottom 3 of the standings is picking 1st overall. This really is just Avs fans upset they didn't get a 1st overall pick and people hating on the Blackhawks.

Like ive said before, no one was hating on the Canes when they moved from 11 to 3 last year .
I get it, I hated the Rangers moved from 7 to 9 last year but that was just the luck of the draw. This year it worked for them. That's how a lottery works.

 

[who_me?]

It just makes 0 sense that a team finishing dead last has a greater chance of picking 4th than picking in the top 3.

don't tank, don't suck, fire the GM/coach instead of trying to win the lottery like welfare recipients do.

this entitlement mentality in our modern culture is disgusting.

 

[Freudian]

I'm an Avs fan. Avs have dropped from 1st to 4th twice in the lottery in the last three years. I'm fine with it.

You are never going to find a system everyone loves. Either it rewards being bad too much or it might reward being average too much.

NHL probably over-corrected after Buffalo did everything in their power to end up last in 2014-15 but that's to be expected since it's such a bad look for the NHL.

 

[El Travo]

A single lottery for the 1st pick was fine. This new multi-lottery is ridiculous. They went way too far with trying to avoid an Edmonton situation that they've started a new one with New Jersey.

 

[Wallet Inspector]

don't tank, don't suck, fire the GM/coach instead of trying to win the lottery like welfare recipients do.

this entitlement mentality in our modern culture is disgusting.

There's no viable way to truly improve a bad team outside of drafting well.

High end UFAs aren't available too often, and when they are, they usually go to playoff contenders, not bottom feeders.
Trading for elite players won't work since A. Bad teams won't have enough assets and B. Others teams rarely trade their elite players anyways.

 

[The Madrigal]

It's stupid. The NFL simply drafts by record and there hasn't been any trouble or concern of people ''tanking.'' The entire argument that draft lotteries are necessary to discourage tanking and keep integrity within the game is extremely flawed. There is so much integrity now that you have a team moving up from 5 and 3 to 1 in two out of three years. The Flyers, Canes, and Hawks moving up from 14, 11, and 12 into the top 3 over the last three years is just silly as well. These are teams that barely missed the playoffs getting rewarded with top 3 picks. I don't consider that integrity either. Typical NHL though turning their own product into a mickey mouse production.

 

[Kyndig]

I'm an Avs fan. Avs have dropped from 1st to 4th twice in the lottery in the last three years. I'm fine with it.

You are never going to find a system everyone loves. Either it rewards being bad too much or it might reward being average too much.

NHL probably over-corrected after Buffalo did everything in their power to end up last in 2014-15 but that's to be expected since it's such a bad look for the NHL.

Interesting how the Sabres tanked yet the Avalanche's 16-17 season was the worst since 1998. They made the playoffs the following two years...interesting. Sounds to me more like one team tanking and the other team just being bad. Selective memory at its finest.

 

[UsernameWasTaken]

The draft lottery is working great. It's a heavily loaded opportunity...not a get out jail free card.

No changes are necessary.

 

[Freudian]

Interesting how the Sabres tanked yet the Avalanche's 16-17 season was the worst since 1998. They made the playoffs the following two years...interesting. Sounds to me more like one team tanking and the other team just being bad. Selective memory at its finest.

There is a difference between having a bad season and deliberately tanking. Plenty of teams have been bad through history, through poor decisions, bad coaching and lots of injuries and so on.

There have been a few teams deliberately trying to lose to get a player. Penguins in 1984 for Lemieux. Sentators in 1993 for Daigle (ultimately leading to the NHL introducing the draft lottery in the first place) and Buffalo in 2015 for McDavid (leading to changed lottery rules).

It was plain as day that Sabres were trying to end up in the last place in 2015. Tim Murray didn't even try to hide that this was his ambition. He even protested when GMs wanted to change the lottery rules after what Sabres did.

“Greedily, I’m upset, because I think we have more of a chance of next season being one of the lower teams. Which I don’t like, but I think it’s just reality."

If you as a Sabres fan are embarrassed by this part of Sabres history, that's fine. Doesn't change what happened.

As for Avs being bad in 2016-17, the worst players on the team were players they bought in to go for it (Iginla, Stuart, Beachemin). It was just a badly built team where the veteran leadership showed none. Its no wonder Avs bounced back when they purged the team of all the toxic veterans. Besides, it's not like any team would deliberately throw a season for Nolan Patrick. Come on now.

 

[Kyndig]

There is a difference between having a bad season and deliberately tanking. Plenty of teams have been bad through history, through poor decisions, bad coaching and lots of injuries and so on.

There have been a few teams deliberately trying to lose to get a player. Penguins in 1984 for Lemieux. Sentators in 1993 for Daigle (ultimately leading to the NHL introducing the draft lottery in the first place) and Buffalo in 2015 for McDavid (leading to changed lottery rules).

It was plain as day that Sabres were trying to end up in the last place in 2015. Tim Murray didn't even try to hide that this was his ambition. He even protested when GMs wanted to change the lottery rules after what Sabres did.

“Greedily, I’m upset, because I think we have more of a chance of next season being one of the lower teams. Which I don’t like, but I think it’s just reality."

If you as a Sabres fan are embarrassed by this part of Sabres history, that's fine. Doesn't change what happened.

Sabres started their rebuild in like 2012 when they pretty much traded away everyone. Their top line center was Girgensons in 2014. Any team that was competing with the Sabres for last place were the teams tanking.

 

[StreetHawk]

It's stupid. The NFL simply drafts by record and there hasn't been any trouble or concern of people ''tanking.'' The entire argument that draft lotteries are necessary to discourage tanking and keep integrity within the game is extremely flawed. There is so much integrity now that you have a team moving up from 5 and 3 to 1 in two out of three years. The Flyers, Canes, and Hawks moving up from 14, 11, and 12 into the top 3 over the last three years is just silly as well. These are teams that barely missed the playoffs getting rewarded with top 3 picks. I don't consider that integrity either. Typical NHL though turning their own product into a mickey mouse production.

NFL teams turn over the entire front office most of the time if they end up last. Players don’t tank because their careers are so short. They couldn’t care about the team, they want to play well to get another contract.

I have also said that the new odds are way too even. The change from the 2014 odds to what they are today are totally out of line.

NHL did not have to go to the measures it did.

1) the removed the limit on the number of draft slots you could move up
2) the draw for the top 3 picks
3) they adjusted he percentages. Worst team used to have 25% now down to 18.5%. And it goes down with the second worst team having 18.8% drop down to 13.5%.

You don’t need to change the odds when you already want to do 1 & 2. That’s more than enough to discourage tanking.

 

[Emperoreddy]

If you wanted to win the lotto, you should have traded for Taylor Hall

 

[Ola]

I don't think a team should be able to win the lottery twice within a 5 year period. I'm not just saying that because NJ won, just my honest opinion.

Yeah, this is an issue I have too.

 

[deaderhead28]

The draft rules are not working.The talent should be helping the top 5 teams to get better and making the league better.NHL top 5 worse teams need to be the only eligible teams picking in the lottery.Seeing a 12th place team move to a top three pick is proof the system needs to be fixed.Need live transparency as well for the lottery draw.

 

[LamorielloAndSon]

No

Edit, go back to the old rules, 48% chance to retain first pick/25% chance to win draft lottery

 

[Kyndig]

Where's all the counter measures to top teams/big cities getting all the best free agents and coaches? We should have a free agent lottery! Fair is fair right? We want a chance at players like Tavares and Panarin!

 

[BaileyMacTavish]

Bottom feeders not getting the high picks they think they're entitled to is nice.

 

[Bcap88]

Lol "rewards" Chicago for signing terrible contracts and having an aging core? Yeah I would hope they are "competing" for a playoff spot with 2 $10+ m players in the later stages of their prime. Here lets give them a stimulus package for no reason even tho other teams actually need it. Bowman couldnt even keep the smirk off his face the whole time. He knew what happened was complete BS... except for Chicago fans.

But it would be ok for the Kings to get “rewarded” with there “terrible contracts” “aging core” “10 million dollar man” “players in the later stages of their career” to get this “stimulus” package.

 

[Bank Shot]

I’m mean literally the worst case scenario happened last night to the kings. Straight bull****

Boo hoo.

They already tanked their way to two Cups the last decade.

 

[Johnnybegood13]

Crappy teams should have a better chance at the draft, my idea is the "soon to be" 16 teams that don't make the playoffs be broken up into 4 groups with each having a 25% chance to the #1-#5-#9-#13 overall picks.

 

[Leafidelity]

Easy for you to say. Our top 3 drought is almost as long as your cup drought.

Not to worry, you'll be back at the lottery draft table a few more years still.

I remember when the Leafs were 1 ball away from winning the McDavid lottery.

 

[bobholly39]

I don't think a team should be able to win the lottery twice within a 5 year period. I'm not just saying that because NJ won, just my honest opinion.

I disagree. I could be ok to some form of penalty but i find this way too extreme.

Maybe cant win 3x in 5 years.

Or - maybe if you win one year by default your odds go down for a few years (ex - next year regardless of NJ slot they are -5% odds up to a minimun of 1%). But i think disqualifying being able to win altogether is too much.

Just look at Chicago. Played hard all year and came up short for playoffs and got lucky at the draft lottery. But now imagine mcdavid was in next years draft. They would be penalized from a chance at mcdavid which doesn't seem fair if they miss playoffs again next year

 

[bobholly39]

Crappy teams should have a better chance at the draft, my idea is the "soon to be" 16 teams that don't make the playoffs be broken up into 4 groups with each having a 25% chance to the #1-#5-#9-#13 overall picks.

This is the worst possible idea in terms of anti tanking.

Just imagine mcdavid is up for draft this year. Your team is 7th worst from the league. There are 15 games to go in the season. What do you do? The answer is - tank like its never been tanked before to finish bottom 4.

If you want to change the system just do a lottery all the way thru round 1. But give everyone a shot at top picks

 

[Emperoreddy]

There isn’t a need to kick teams out of the lotto. Teams simply aren’t likely to win it so many times in a short period of time in the current system to break it.

Plus Edmonton should have taught people that winning the lotto multiple times is not a guarantee of success. Even if you win McDavid of all guys.

You have to be able to pick well in later rounds and make smart roster choices.

Not like you can’t find star players at picks 4, 5, or 6 either.

 

[1865]

don't tank, don't suck, fire the GM/coach instead of trying to win the lottery like welfare recipients do.

this entitlement mentality in our modern culture is disgusting.

Entitlement is the entire point of the drafting system!

Finishing bottom should guarantee a top 3 pick. I understand why you don't necessarily get #1, but #3 should be a guarantee.