Pro Women's League with 2 new huge operational rules

[Yukon Joe]

I love the "first overall picks their opponent" rule. I mean it's a little bit gimmicky, but in a fun way. Great locker board material for whomever gets picked. I don't think it works nearly so well in a 32 team league as it does in a 6 team league, but for PWHL it should work great.

For the draft - I've been a proponent of the "draft wheel" for a long time. Eliminate the connection between team performance and draft position. Every team gets 1st overall once every 32 years. You know well in advance what number pick you're getting in a given year. Could a team theoretically win the Stanley Cup and then get the #1 draft pick in the same year? Sure! But wouldn't that actually be kind of interesting? And since every single team gets exactly equal draft picks over time, it eliminates any chance of tanking, and also eliminates the risk of being in the dreaded middle - where you're too good to get a top draft pick, but not good enough to do anything in the playoffs.

That being said - I suspect the scouting for women's players is nowhere near as strong for women as it is in men, plus a 6 round draft has completely different dynamics than a 32 round draft, so I doubt that makes as much difference for the PWHL.

 

[NYRfan85]

Personally, I don't like the first rule. The highest seed should always play the lowest seed. It reminds me of the early days of NHL playoffs, where it was 1v3 and 2v4. Doesn't make sense to me.

The second rule about the draft, though, its brilliant! It should discourage tanking, and actively give the eliminated teams something to work for, making the late-season games mean something.

 

[thewookie1]

1st Rule is too gimmicky for my taste.

2nd rule is even worse and the fact anyone likes it is concerning. Some teams are genuinely just outright bad.
1. Trades will happen even less often as "no" team will have a general reason to weaken their team during the season.
2. Its actually more likely the middle teams would end up with the top picks. The horrendously bad won't magically start playing great. (The likelihood of a team being eliminated 10 games out is likely to beat a team that had even 25 games; the odds are far better that the team near the playoffs are going to out pace the bad teams with serious pace. If the Blackhawks and Sharks were eliminated in a couple weeks; the teams like Ottawa or Buffalo would likely be the favorite to take the top pick.
3. Schedules become even more of a deciding factor.

 

[milehigh11]

I really like their rule that is you allow a short-handed goal on the power play you lose your power play after the shg

 

[BigEezyE22]

Had to find a way to overcomplicate things...

 

[YippieKaey]

What's stopping the 16th place team saying "we have no chance against the Bruins in the playoffs, let's just throw our last game of the season and get the #1 pick"

The gate revenue from playoff games. Unshortened profit for the owners unlike the regular season.

 

[Brodeur]

The second rule about the draft, though, its brilliant! It should discourage tanking, and actively give the eliminated teams something to work for, making the late-season games mean something.

I still have my doubts. Somebody posted a nicer table a few pages back, but most teams have fewer than 10 games remaining when they're mathematically eliminated. The results would end up being random.

Anaheim (March 19): 0-10-2 (2 points)
Columbus (March 17): 4-8-2 (10 points)
Chicago (March 18): 2-10-1 (5 points)
San Jose (March 14): 3-8-3 (9 points)
Montreal (March 28): 1-6-0 (2 points)
Arizona (March 24): 1-6-2 (3 points)
Philadelphia (April 1): 2-5-0 (4 points)
Washington (April 4): 1-3-1 (3 points)
Detroit (April 6): 0-3-0 (0 points)
St. Louis (April 2): 2-3-0 (4 points)
Vancouver (April 2): 4-2-0 (8 points)
Ottawa (April 6): 2-0-1 (5 points)
Buffalo (April 11): 2-0-0 (4 points)
Pittsburgh (April 11): 0-0-1 (1 point)
Nashville (April 11): 1-1-0 (2 points)
Calgary (April 10): 1-0-0 (2 points)

And I think you overestimate how much loyalty a depth player has to a certain team. Does Adam Henrique rush back from an injury last year to help Anaheim "earn" Connor Bedard? How much overlap/benefit would Henrique have?

Or a case like John Klingberg. Does Anaheim trade him for a mid-round pick and a long shot prospect or do they keep him to earn points? Would Klingberg rather have a chance in the playoffs or stay to help Anaheim even though he won't be around after the season?

When the Devils were eliminated in March 2019, there were only three guys playing who were still on the opening night roster in October 2021 (and only one by 2023). I don't think most of the 2019 guys would have that much extra motivation to get a higher pick in 2019 when they wouldn't be around.

In Ottawa's case, they had already traded away their pick. Would they play worse in order to yield a non-premium pick?

 

[HighLifeManIsHigh]

I like that higher placed teams select their opponents going into the playoffs. It would make the 82 game season REALLY matter.

How? Essentially there’s no seeding. If you’re in 8th place with three games to go, there’s zero reason to try and win those remaining games to potentially move up in the standings and play a lower seed. Fvcking gimmick

 

[Brodeur]

I always feel like some proponents of the Gold Plan don't actually go through the exercise of what the outcome looks like and just decide that it sounds awesome conceptually.

Here are the "results" of this year's hypothetical Gold Plan:

1. Chicago (eliminated March 10): 6-10-1 [13 points]

2. Arizona (March 27): 6-4-0 [12 points]

3. Anaheim (March 18): 4-8-2 [10 points]

4. Calgary (April 5): 4-3-0 [8 points]
5. Columbus (March 24): 4-7-0 [8 points]
6. San Jose (March 12): 3-12-2 [8 points]

7. Ottawa (April 7): 3-2-0 [6 points]

8. Seattle (April 3): 3-4-0 [6 points]
9. Montreal (April 5): 1-2-4 [6 points]

10. Buffalo (April 10): 2-1-0 [4 points]
11. Minnesota (April 10): 2-2-0 [4 points]

12. St. Louis (April 12): 1-0-1 [3 points]

13. New Jersey (April 10): 1-2-0 [2 points]

14. Philadelphia (April 16): 0 points
15. Pittsburgh (April 16): 0 points
16. Detroit (April 16): 0 points

I don't know if this is any really any better especially after watching five minutes of the Sharks game tonight. Minnesota was eliminated on the same night as Buffalo and New Jersey, but the Wild happened to have an extra game on the schedule.

Does Jack Hughes put off shoulder surgery for another week in the hopes of helping the Devils jump a spot or two? Does Arizona beg Nick Bjugstad to play through an injury that cost him the final five games of the season? Does San Jose keep Tomas Hertl to help at the end instead of trading him at the deadline?