Draft lottery rigged?

[PSGJ]

I started a thread on a different topic and it derailed into a discussion on the NHL rigging the lottery. I was surprised to see several people suggest that it was rigged for Crosby and that it will be rigged for McDavid.

I don't really buy it, but I can't say it's impossible.

I doubt that they are as happy about helping the Oilers as they seem to be if the lottery is indeed rigged.

I think that maybe, just maybe they would rig it if they knew with 100% certainty that they could get away with it, but they can't know that for sure so I don't think it's happening.

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[Six Assets]

I wouldn't be surprised honestly

 

[Actual Thought*]

I don't doubt the Crosby draft was rigged at all. I would put it at a 98% certainty. Anything can be corrupted. Even the World Series. This league is about money. They don't care about fans, competition, fairness, right or wrong. They care about money. Saving the Pens was a high priority for the league. Low and behold a miracle happened and they got Crosby, Malkin, and Fleury and the franchise was saved.

 

[Dr Quincy]

Not worth it to rig it. If it gets out you kill your league. The problem with conspiracy theories is that in the real world people can't keep their mouths shut. Tell someone at the water cooler a "secret" and see how long it takes to go through the whole office.

 

[radapex]

Personally, I don't think it's rigged. It was very poorly constructed. Though I'm not sure it's any better now with the last place team only having about a 20% chance of picking 1st overall.

 

[Gnashville]

I started a thread on a different topic and it derailed into a discussion on the NHL rigging the lottery. I was surprised to see several people suggest that it was rigged for Crosby and that it will be rigged for McDavid.

I don't really buy it, but I can't say it's impossible.

I doubt that they are as happy about helping the Oilers as they seem to be if the lottery is indeed rigged.

I think that maybe, just maybe they would rig it if they knew with 100% certainty that they could get away with it, but they can't know that for sure so I don't think it's happening.

This all started when the NBA supposedly rigged a lottery for the New York Knicks. The lottery is now monitored by accounting firms that would lose their license if they participated in a rigged lottery. Add to that McDavid could be a franchise changing player like Crosby, why would ownership of the lottery losing franchises allow him to go to a competitor? The real issue is teams tanking to improve their lottery odds. That issue needs to be addressed.

 

[SmellOfVictory]

I'm curious as to why people think the league would care so much about saving a team that they'd rig the draft lottery and risk losing credibility with its customers. Pittsburgh was legitimately terrible and was one of exactly four teams with three balls in the lottery.

 

[wildthing202]

I'm curious as to why people think the league would care so much about saving a team that they'd rig the draft lottery and risk losing credibility with its customers. Pittsburgh was legitimately terrible and was one of exactly four teams with three balls in the lottery.

Because it's Pittsburgh and bad teams couldn't possibly end up with high draft picks....you know like the Oilers.

 

[gordie]

I don't doubt the Crosby draft was rigged at all. I would put it at a 98% certainty. Anything can be corrupted. Even the World Series. This league is about money. They don't care about fans, competition, fairness, right or wrong. They care about money. Saving the Pens was a high priority for the league. Low and behold a miracle happened and they got Crosby, Malkin, and Fleury and the franchise was saved.

If they didn't rig it, they could have saved the Detroit Red Wings the humiliation of another team skating around the Joe Louis Arena with the cup.

 

[Gnashville]

Someone show me how this is rigged?

http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=243891

 

[Fenway]

This all started when the NBA supposedly rigged a lottery for the New York Knicks. The lottery is now monitored by accounting firms that would lose their license if they participated in a rigged lottery. Add to that McDavid could be a franchise changing player like Crosby, why would ownership of the lottery losing franchises allow him to go to a competitor? The real issue is teams tanking to improve their lottery odds. That issue needs to be addressed.

My problem is they don't show us the part when the ping pong balls are picked. What is the big secret?



Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel could both go #1. Eichel looked excellent last night in the BU/BC game.

 

[Captain Hook]

I don't doubt the Crosby draft was rigged at all. I would put it at a 98% certainty. Anything can be corrupted. Even the World Series. This league is about money. They don't care about fans, competition, fairness, right or wrong. They care about money. Saving the Pens was a high priority for the league. Low and behold a miracle happened and they got Crosby, Malkin, and Fleury and the franchise was saved.

Pens had to trade up for Fleury. They got Malkin by losing the Ovechkin sweepstakes despite the fact the Pens had the league's worst record that year. They weren't just winning the draft lottery every year. Actually out of those 4 years of drafting Fleury, Malkin, Crosby and Staal the Pens only won one of those 4 lotteries.

I also don't think Pittsburgh is some big cash cow market that they would be willing to rig the draft just to keep around. It's a good but replaceable US market. It would have benefited the league far more to rig the lottery to send Crosby somewhere like New York.

 

[Dirty Old Man]

In a perfect world, the Coyotes just miss the playoffs this year, but win the lottery, and this place explodes.

*That* would be entertainment.

 

[Fenway]

I also don't think Pittsburgh is some big cash cow market that they would be willing to rig the draft just to keep around. It's a good but replaceable US market. It would have benefited the league far more to rig the lottery to send Crosby somewhere like New York.

National Hockey League 2003-04 Attendance Graph

The Penguins finished dead last in attendance in 2003-4 and the future of the franchise was in serious doubt as talks for a new arena were going nowhere.

 

[Moon Knight]

Pens had to trade up for Fleury. They got Malkin by losing the Ovechkin sweepstakes despite the fact the Pens had the league's worst record that year. They weren't just winning the draft lottery every year. Actually out of those 4 years of drafting Fleury, Malkin, Crosby and Staal the Pens only won one of those 4 lotteries.

I also don't think Pittsburgh is some big cash cow market that they would be willing to rig the draft just to keep around. It's a good but replaceable US market. It would have benefited the league far more to rig the lottery to send Crosby somewhere like New York.

Yeah, but then you can take into account Bettman's obsession with preserving the smaller-market American teams.

Pittsburgh already showed that they can be a very nice market for hockey when they had Lemieux, so what better way to reinvigorate a franchise by pretty much handing them one of the most highly touted prospects.

 

[colchar]

Not worth it to rig it. If it gets out you kill your league. The problem with conspiracy theories is that in the real world people can't keep their mouths shut. Tell someone at the water cooler a "secret" and see how long it takes to go through the whole office.

There are a couple of NBA drafts widely considered to have been rigged and the suspicions haven't killed their league.

 

[Wolf Without a Howl]

I don't doubt the Crosby draft was rigged at all. I would put it at a 98% certainty. Anything can be corrupted. Even the World Series. This league is about money. They don't care about fans, competition, fairness, right or wrong. They care about money. Saving the Pens was a high priority for the league. Low and behold a miracle happened and they got Crosby, Malkin, and Fleury and the franchise was saved.

I would like to point out that out of the three players you mentioned, they only won the draft lottery for one, granted it was the best of the three. They traded up to get the #1 pick for Fleury (the jury's still out on whether or not that paid off), and Malkin was drafted second after Ovechkin, who at the time was obviously rated to be a higher prospect than Geno.

 

[Urbanskog]

There are a couple of NBA drafts widely considered to have been rigged and the suspicions haven't killed their league.

At least the NBA's popularity is declining.

 

[Fugu]

This all started when the NBA supposedly rigged a lottery for the New York Knicks. The lottery is now monitored by accounting firms that would lose their license if they participated in a rigged lottery. Add to that McDavid could be a franchise changing player like Crosby, why would ownership of the lottery losing franchises allow him to go to a competitor? The real issue is teams tanking to improve their lottery odds. That issue needs to be addressed.

I think this is the case. The league commissioners would have to risk alienating a good portion of his bosses to save one team--- and why would they support it?

However, the more you engineer something mathematically to increase certain odds, the more teams can use that to actually manipulate their results. I firmly believe some teams do indeed tank, and these newer approaches where they tilt the field even further towards low performers offers too much incentive for them to do it!

The league needs to go back to why they have these mechanisms in place, especially in a world where a hard cap and parity are now in place. You cannot just keep punishing successful management. Random chance is realistically the only way to rid the league of these poor performers. If great teams end up with too many top picks, there's no way they can keep most of them with a cap system, especially the tougher one now with term limits and penalties for cap circumvention.

 

[Buck Aki Berg]

National Hockey League 2003-04 Attendance Graph

The Penguins finished dead last in attendance in 2003-4 and the future of the franchise was in serious doubt as talks for a new arena were going nowhere.

The Penguins also finished dead last in points in 2003-4. Why is the crappiest team getting the top pick so controversial?

 

[Fugu]

The Penguins also finished dead last in points in 2003-4. Why is the crappiest team getting the top pick so controversial?

Due to accusations that some teams purposely lose and put out subpar products if the incentive is good enough.

 

[MarkhamNHL]

The Penguins also finished dead last in points in 2003-4. Why is the crappiest team getting the top pick so controversial?

because the Crosby draft was a more even chance for every team in the league to win. It was not a regular weighted draft

 

[Ogopogo*]

I started a thread on a different topic and it derailed into a discussion on the NHL rigging the lottery. I was surprised to see several people suggest that it was rigged for Crosby and that it will be rigged for McDavid.

I don't really buy it, but I can't say it's impossible.

I doubt that they are as happy about helping the Oilers as they seem to be if the lottery is indeed rigged.

I think that maybe, just maybe they would rig it if they knew with 100% certainty that they could get away with it, but they can't know that for sure so I don't think it's happening.

As KPMG is the supervising auditor, would that not be the death knell for them? Ask KPMG if the lottery is rigged.

At least the NBA's popularity is declining.

Based on the modern NHL game with the boring defensive play, the NBA is gaining popularity with me. You actually get to see the talented players display their talent, currently the NHL is structured to stifle talent.

 

[Fugu]

Based on the modern NHL game with the boring defensive play, the NBA is gaining popularity with me. You actually get to see the talented players display their talent, currently the NHL is structured to stifle talent.

Some say it's the result of parity, while others say it's coaching and reliance on systems vs allowing player creativity. I think the latter has a lot more to do with it, and maybe talent dilution is at hand as well?

That said, you may be in the minority here with a preference for NBA basketball.

The poster also may have been referring to ratings and attendance figures at NBA games, which aren't necessarily better than the NHL's, each having some markets where they're superior to the other league.

 

[aqib]

The audit firm witnessing the lottery would unravel if it ever came out that they signed off on a rigged lottery. Look at Arthur Andersen. A 100 year old firm was gone in mere months, no one is going to take that risk.