(Discussion) (proposal at a new Draft format)

[Mr.53]

I for one hate the draft format the way it is now. I hate seeing teams tank to get higher picks. People pay good hard earned dollars for those tickets, and to support the Franchise, and it's like spitting in their face; however, not even going to lie, who wouldn't mind a top draft pick. That's exactly what you need to jump start your franchise. Well this is my idea to fix it. Thought it up sitting at work. Lol, I would like to hear some ideas.

Before we begin, this does NOT apply to the 16 teams that make the playoffs. They still get the last 16 picks as always.

Change number 1

My proposal is, to flip the draft lottery.

Right now these are how the odds work. Non playoff teams with the fewest to most points. (30th in the standings to 17 from the remaining teams)

Team 1 (30th): 20.0%

Team 2 (29th): 13.5%

Team 3 (28th): 11.5%

Team 4 (27th): 9.5%

Team 5 (26th): 8.5%

Team 6 (25th): 7.5%

Team 7 (24th): 6.5%

Team 8 (23rd): 6.0%

Team 9 (22nd): 5.0%

Team 10 (21st): 3.5%

Team 11(20th): 3.0%

Team 12 (19th): 2.5%

Team 13 (18th): 2.0%

Team 14 (17th): 1.0%

I say, get bold and flip it. The odds should be flipped. The teams that are 17th, 18th, 19th, etc in the league are the bubble teams. Those are the teams that fought all the way through, and finished hard to come up slightly short of making the playoffs, rather than purposely tank to lose. They should not be punished for that, they should be rewarded.

Oh and team ones chances should be decreased from 20 to 16.

Team 1 (17th): 16.0%

Team 2 (18th): 13.5%

Team 3 (19th): 11.5%

Team 4 (20th): 9.5%

Team 5 (21st): 8.5%

Team 6 (22nd): 7.5%

Team 7 (23rd): 6.5%

Team 8 (24th): 6.0%

Team 9 (25th): 5.0%

Team 10 (26th): 3.5%

Team 11(27th): 3.0%

Team 12 (28th): 2.5%

Team 13 (29th): 2.0%

Team 14 (30th): 1.0%

Change number 2

3 teams should win the lotto in 3 separate rounds. So team 3, 8, and 4 can win and they will be granted the top 3 picks. What this does is essentially give more reason to actually play. Teams that tank, will have a very low chance at getting a top 3 pick. Still at the same time, they get a top 5 pickA respectable team like a Minnisota, or a San Jose has a significant chance at getting lucky at actually winning the lottery with a top pick. Teams will be motivated to keep playing hard because even if they do lose, there is at least a chance that they will get a top 3 pick. Teams like Edmonton and Buffalo will still most likely receive 4th and 5th overall picks, who are still great players that can seriously contribute to a rebuild.

In conclusion. The Outcomes of this

1. STOP THE TANKING. Teams will be motivated to always play hard and push to the very end because even if they don't make the playoffs, they gave their franchise the best chance they have at landing a top 3 overall pick.
2. More exciting games down the stretch for every team, which means they should have more fans coming to the games and more people watching. How exciting would that be. And it would actually be like a lottery.
3. The lottery actually becomes a legitimate draw for the league. Fans from all around will tune in and gather excitement to see if their team won the lotto. The league will be interested to see which 3 teams get the top picks.
4. People's concerns revolve around top teams consistently getting the top picks. Well yeah, that would happen, but not consistently. The top 4 teams that miss have a 50 percent chance together at getting the pick each time. I think that is about right. 1 or 2 of the top 3 picks should go to a bubble team and there are still some solid chances for middle teams. Middle teams like Toronto wouldn't tank, but rather would try to finish hard and still make playoffs, if not, theres a solid chance you get your top 3 anyway.Again, really bad teams still get their top 5-10 picks, just not necessarily the first overall etc.

In a nutshell, that's my proposal. Thoughts?

[Gstank29]

Yea because you would want MCdavid going to the BEST TEAM IN THE NHL RIGHT

[Rocksterh8]

I like it, makes much more sense! Getter done!

[thejazz97]

What about this?

Team 30: 10%

Team 29: 9%

Team 28: 8%

Team 27: 8%

Team 26: 8%

Team 25: 7%

Team 24: 7%

Team 23: 7%

Team 22: 6%

Team 21: 6%

Team 20: 6%

Team 19: 6%

Team 18: 6%

Team 17: 6%

Should equal 100%, and every team has a somewhat fair chance of winning.

[goalie13]

A flaw I see in your idea is that the best non-playoff team has a significant chance at getting the top pick. Won't that encourage teams to try and not make the playoffs? Imagine you are a bubble team, are you going to try and position yourself to squeak into the playoffs and get eliminated in the first round, or just miss the playoffs and have the best chance to land the first overall pick?

Part of the whole reason for having a draft is to give bad teams a chance to get better. By flipping the order, even if only among the non-playoff teams, means it will be that much harder for the worst teams to get out of the basement. As long as we have a draft, there will always be the threat of tanking.

Keep in mind, the way it is now, the worst team has an 80% chance of NOT getting the first overall pick. It's a far better system than before the draft lottery was started. Since 1995 the worst team has only won the lottery 6 times.

If I was to make changes I would keep it basically the same, but scrap the rule that you can only move down one spot. Maybe if it was that you can move down no more than three spots, it would remove the guarantee of a top three pick. Also, I would televise the pick selection. Make it transparent so nobody can claim it's rigged.

btw - In your proposal you took 4% of the chance away from the top team, but didn't allocate it anywhere else. It has to go somewhere.

[thejazz97]

A flaw I see in your idea is that the best non-playoff team has a significant chance at getting the top pick. Won't that encourage teams to try and not make the playoffs? Imagine you are a bubble team, are you going to try and position yourself to squeak into the playoffs and get eliminated in the first round, or just miss the playoffs and have the best chance to land the first overall pick?

Part of the whole reason for having a draft is to give bad teams a chance to get better. By flipping the order, even if only among the non-playoff teams, means it will be that much harder for the worst teams to get out of the basement. As long as we have a draft, there will always be the threat of tanking.

Keep in mind, the way it is now, the worst team has an 80% chance of NOT getting the first overall pick. It's a far better system than before the draft lottery was started. Since 1995 the worst team has only won the lottery 6 times.

If I was to make changes I would keep it basically the same, but scrap the rule that you can only move down one spot. Maybe if it was that you can move down no more than three spots, it would remove the guarantee of a top three pick. Also, I would televise the pick selection. Make it transparent so nobody can claim it's rigged.

btw - In your proposal you took 4% of the chance away from the top team, but didn't allocate it anywhere else. It has to go somewhere.

Next year, the draft lottery will apply to the top 3 spots to discourage tanking. It'll be interesting to see how that works.

[goalie13]

Next year, the draft lottery will apply to the top 3 spots to discourage tanking. It'll be interesting to see how that works.

So they listened to me? Nice!

Seriously though, I missed that update. Obviously, I am in favour of it. It's just too bad that it's scheduled for next year and not this year. It could have prevented some of the nonsense we have witnessed this year.

[Mackcanuck]

It should be determined by the records of the bottom 5 teams in only the games played after the Trade deadline. This is the last 20 games which is 25% of the season

The team with the most wins (of the worst 5 teams) in the games played after the Trade Deadline gets the best chance at the 1st pick

Whichever of these 5 teams has the best record in the remaining games after the trade deadline is awarded a lottery based on winning % over the final 20 games of the regular season.

Best record in last 20 games gets 35%, 2nd would get 30%, 3rd 20%, 4th 10%, 5th 5%, chances of #1 pick overall

The better your record is over the last 20 games, the better your chances at a better pick

The rest of the 5 teams go in order of how they finish the season the remaining 20 games

This makes the worst teams try to win to improve their chances at 1st overall pick

This would make things much more competitive for playoff teams also as the bottom feeders will have to try and win until the end of the season. No more gimmie games at the end of the season for the playoff contenders.

IMHO, This would eliminate tanking completely

[thejazz97]

So they listened to me? Nice!

Seriously though, I missed that update. Obviously, I am in favour of it. It's just too bad that it's scheduled for next year and not this year. It could have prevented some of the nonsense we have witnessed this year.

Oh well. Made for a fun trade deadline, anyhow

[Dekey Pete]

A flaw I see in your idea is that the best non-playoff team has a significant chance at getting the top pick. Won't that encourage teams to try and not make the playoffs? Imagine you are a bubble team, are you going to try and position yourself to squeak into the playoffs and get eliminated in the first round, or just miss the playoffs and have the best chance to land the first overall pick?

Part of the whole reason for having a draft is to give bad teams a chance to get better. By flipping the order, even if only among the non-playoff teams, means it will be that much harder for the worst teams to get out of the basement. As long as we have a draft, there will always be the threat of tanking.

Keep in mind, the way it is now, the worst team has an 80% chance of NOT getting the first overall pick. It's a far better system than before the draft lottery was started. Since 1995 the worst team has only won the lottery 6 times.

If I was to make changes I would keep it basically the same, but scrap the rule that you can only move down one spot. Maybe if it was that you can move down no more than three spots, it would remove the guarantee of a top three pick. Also, I would televise the pick selection. Make it transparent so nobody can claim it's rigged.

btw - In your proposal you took 4% of the chance away from the top team, but didn't allocate it anywhere else. It has to go somewhere.

Easy fix, give every team that doesn't make the playoffs an equal chance to get a top 3 to 5 pick. I'm also sick and tired of watching teams race to the bottom of the standings and having these great players get wasted on teams like Edmonton.

There is still huge incentive to make the playoffs, especially from a business perspective. You miss them and you have just over 5% chance at each of the top 3 picks, not much. You make the playoffs and the owner cashes in big time on extra revenue. Discourages tanking by not REWARDING missing the playoffs or coming in last place, but still helps out teams that are struggling.

[goalie13]

Easy fix, give every team that doesn't make the playoffs an equal chance to get a top 3 to 5 pick. I'm also sick and tired of watching teams race to the bottom of the standings and having these great players get wasted on teams like Edmonton.

There is still huge incentive to make the playoffs, especially from a business perspective. You miss them and you have just over 5% chance at each of the top 3 picks, not much. You make the playoffs and the owner cashes in big time on extra revenue. Discourages tanking by not REWARDING missing the playoffs or coming in last place, but still helps out teams that are struggling.

That wasn't what the OP was proposing though. The OP was proposing to flip the odds so that the best non-playoff team had the best odds of the top pick.

[Dekey Pete]

Easy fix, give every team that doesn't make the playoffs an equal chance to get a top 3 to 5 pick. I'm also sick and tired of watching teams race to the bottom of the standings and having these great players get wasted on teams like Edmonton.

There is still huge incentive to make the playoffs, especially from a business perspective. You miss them and you have just over 5% chance at each of the top 3 picks, not much. You make the playoffs and the owner cashes in big time on extra revenue. Discourages tanking by not REWARDING missing the playoffs or coming in last place, but still helps out teams that are struggling.

That wasn't what the OP was proposing though. The OP was proposing to flip the odds so that the best non-playoff team had the best odds of the top pick.

I get that, this is my proposal

[Piggy Bank]

Bottom 4 should be as follows: (Make up 62% of odds.)

Last: 23%

29: 16%

28: 13%

27: 10%

Next 6 should be as follows: (Make up 30% of odds.)

26: 7%

25: 6%

24: 5%

23: 5%

22: 4%

21: 3%

Best 4 non-playoff teams should have a slim chance. (Make up 8% of odds.)

20: 2%

19: 2%

18: 2%

17: 2%

[thejazz97]

Bottom 4 should be as follows: (Make up 62% of odds.)

Last: 23%

29: 16%

28: 13%

27: 10%

Next 6 should be as follows: (Make up 30% of odds.)

26: 7%

25: 6%

24: 5%

23: 5%

22: 4%

21: 3%

Best 4 non-playoff teams should have a slim chance. (Make up 8% of odds.)

20: 2%

19: 2%

18: 2%

17: 2%

Wouldn't that encourage tanking for the bottom 5?

[Mr.53]

Easy fix, give every team that doesn't make the playoffs an equal chance to get a top 3 to 5 pick. I'm also sick and tired of watching teams race to the bottom of the standings and having these great players get wasted on teams like Edmonton.

There is still huge incentive to make the playoffs, especially from a business perspective. You miss them and you have just over 5% chance at each of the top 3 picks, not much. You make the playoffs and the owner cashes in big time on extra revenue. Discourages tanking by not REWARDING missing the playoffs or coming in last place, but still helps out teams that are struggling.

That's actually not a bad idea. Tanking needs to be eliminated. It ruins the sport. Even teams in playoff races, could be determined by luckily drawing a tanking team, maybe in your division. How about this. Slight tweak. Make it tears.

Team 1 (17th): 10.0%

Team 2 (18th): 10.0%

Team 3 (19th): 9.0%

Team 4 (20th): 9.0%

Team 5 (21st): 8%

Team 6 (22nd): 8%

Team 7 (23rd): 7%

Team 8 (24th): 7%

Team 9 (25th): 6%

Team 10 (26th): 6%

Team 11(27th): 5%

Team 12 (28th): 5%

Team 13 (29th): 5%

Team 14 (30th): 5%

If that doesn't work, then same percentages should.

I also like the idea of having the bottom teams still have tactually use draft skills instead of taking the obvious 1st, 2nd, and 3rd pick.

[thejazz97]

Question. What about having the draft lottery for 3rd place? So if the bottom team wins the lottery, they move back two spots? You could keep the odds the same as what it is currently, and let tanking run it's course. It would also get fairly competitive near the end of the season, because no one would want the best odds to get third place in the draft.

So how it would be now with the standings from today:

1. Buffalo - 20.0% chance of getting 3rd place

2. Edmonton - 13.5% chance

3. Arizona - 11.5% chance

4. Carolina - 9.5% chance

If Buffalo won, the order would go like this:

1. Edmonton

2. Arizona

3. Buffalo

4. Carolina

And so on. Teams that barely miss the playoffs get a chance at something good, but not McDavid or Eichel (this year). And Buffalo and Edmonton would try to win games near the end of the season so they don't have the best odds to draft 3rd.

Thoughts?

[KansasCanuck]

Lottery every pick outside of the playoffs. Bowl with 14 balls - one for each team that misses playoffs. Equal chance for being miserable or just barely missing the playoffs and getting number 1.

I personally despise the idea of a draft. Let the teams have to make a pitch for mcdavid and let him decide where he goes. There will be people who take the justin shultz route and go to a garbage team for a chance to play now.

[Baer.]

Why not just give every team that misses the playoffs an equal chance of getting the 1st. It would remove tanking because it doesn't matter where you are, as long as you miss the playoffs you have an equal chance as everybody else. Doesn't matter if you have 45 points or 90.

[Sean Monahan]

I don't like the idea of equal chance for all teams that miss the playoffs. I absolutely despise tanking, and it infuriates me that Toronto may get rewarded with McDavid after they totally f*cked themselves with bad contracts and trades. Buffalo, while tanking now, more or less came to be this bad as part of the natural cycle. They were good not that long ago, and now they've been rebuilding. Toronto entered the season with a "contending" roster, only to find that they're really nowhere near that. I'd hate to see them let off the hook of their own problems by landing McDavid.

But that being said, teams at the bottom of the standings definitely deserve more help than teams in that 10-14 area. I just wish the league would implement some set of rules to try and stop tanking, even if nobody will actually admit to it, so that the teams getting help truly deserve it. If a team is by as a result of the natural cycle, then so be it. But please God, for the sake of all things good, do not let the Leafs land Mcdavid.

Question. What about having the draft lottery for 3rd place?

I find this an interesting concept. Obviously it would need some ironing out but if you can keep all 30 teams trying to play competitively for 82 games each, whatever their motivations may be, then IMO the league is bound to achieve better levels of parity and competitiveness.

[Kaner]

I like, I really do! Only thing I don't like about it is that teams who are usually contenders could easily have a bad year and end up with the top pick.

Otherwise, I really like it!