How to Eliminate Tanking

[ChiefWiggum]

What if the team that wins the draft lottery didnt get the 1st pick for this draft, but for next year's draft. So, the Leafs (who won in 2016) would be drafting first overall this season.

I think this would work because teams would have no incentive to tank because draft rankings fluctuate so much.

For example, if the Leafs wanted to draft first overall in 2016, they would have to win the lottery in 2015 and would therefore have to begin the tanking process in 2014. But it would be absurd to tank in 2014 to get the 2016 pick because there is no way to tell from that pint who will go first or even if it will be worth tanking in the case of a weak draft.

In the above example, the Leafs may begin tanking in 2014 to get the exceptional Sean Day. But he became a late round pick which goes to show how badly draft rankings can fluctuate

Click to read more...

 

[Hockeygod66]

What? The lottery system is fine. This is nonsense.

 

[Territory]

So Buffalo would have tanked s year early to get McDavid. Everyone saw him coming for years.

 

[weastern bias]

Tanking is fine, pro sports is a business entirely devoid of any vague notion of morality or honor that fans tend to attribute to it

Eliminate the lottery entirely, the worst team deserves the best draft pick

 

[Chief Nine]

Slightly off topic here, but John Scott came right out and said in an interview I heard yesterday on NHL radio that when he was in Buffalo they said in camp that they were aiming for either Mc David or Eichel. He said they pretty much came out and said they didn't want to win.

 

[Help]

If they eliminated the draft entirely (and along with it, those dumb ELC and RFA rules) you wouldn't have a tanking issue. The best prospects would go to the team with the capspace and the guile to use it. And our wonderful young players, the stars of our league wouldn't be forced to earn far less than they're worth during the prime of their careers

 

[Volica]

I think they kind of fixed tanking with this lotto system. Considering spots 1-2-3 all dropped to 4-5-6

Be terrible, doesn't mean you're getting help any sooner. Teams should be encouraged to continue building because the draft might not get them their star.

 

[Morgs]

Best way to eliminate tanking is by counting after elimination points as the order for the draft lottery. Means that a team needs to put their best foot forward either way.

So if a team has been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs at game 60, they have 22 games to get as many points as possible, the team that gets eliminated at game 70 has 12 games, and the team that gets eliminated at game 82 gets no games.

Whoever gets the most points of the 14 (now 15) eliminated teams after being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs gets the highest % chance in the lottery.

1st Tie-breaker: Less points overall
2nd Tie-Breaker: More GP
3rd Tie-Breaker: More Wins
4th Tie-Breaker: More Regulation wins
etc.

 

[Whale Mingo]

Tanking is just not the big issue some would believe it to be. If you really want to solve the preceived problem you could easily predetermine the order of the draft prior to the season starting still based on finishing order. Seal the list, hire an accounting firm to keep it "secret" until the season is over. There would still be an advantage to finish in the bottom 5 or 7 or 10 or whatever but you wouldn't know where you want to finish so you simply play it out.

Example, order of finish is the first column, order of draft is the second column (second column is a secret or even drawn at random after the season).

30 3
29 5
28 4
27 1
26 2
25 7
24 6
23 8
22 9
21 10


The only stipulation is finishing absolute last guarantees you don't get the #1 pick. This means there is no weighted advantage to finishing in any given position as the odds don't change because it's random. There is an advantage to not finishing last as finishing last guarantees the best you can do is pick 2nd.


Again, there are countless ways to solve the "problem", but is it really a problem?

 

[NewSNESJersey]

Want to eliminate tanking? There's one simple solution but everyone hates the idea for some reason.

You miss the playoffs. You get one lottery ball.

That's it.

 

[Aceboogie]

Slightly off topic here, but John Scott came right out and said in an interview I heard yesterday on NHL radio that when he was in Buffalo they said in camp that they were aiming for either Mc David or Eichel. He said they pretty much came out and said they didn't want to win.

Good. That was smart. They got a franchise center for next 10-15 years

 

[Sansbacon]

Slightly off topic here, but John Scott came right out and said in an interview I heard yesterday on NHL radio that when he was in Buffalo they said in camp that they were aiming for either Mc David or Eichel. He said they pretty much came out and said they didn't want to win.

Who is "they" in this conversation? I'd find it really hard to believe that anyone besides the players were discussing that.

 

[Sansbacon]

Tanking is fine, pro sports is a business entirely devoid of any vague notion of morality or honor that fans tend to attribute to it

Eliminate the lottery entirely, the worst team deserves the best draft pick

And honestly, this. Worst team picks first. The end.

But if the current lottery system is to remain, I don't actually think the OP's idea is that ridiculous. It's at least interesting to entertain the idea.

 

[Shockmaster]

The solution to tanking:

Quit whining about it.

 

[Rick74*]

I'm fine with tanking so long as it's not consecutive years...

So if you picked top 3 one year you can't the following year regardless of where you finished.

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

Haven't seen one of these threads for a while.

And I feel similar to this:

The solution to tanking:

Quit whining about it.

It's not a problem. Somebody's going to have to finish last. And it's not like picking top 5 is a guarantee to finish at the top of the league.

 

[Aerchon]

Tanking is gone.

The Avs did not plan to be that bad this year. Almost record setting bad. They are drafting 4th.

It's unlikely teams tanking will get franchise players now.

Rebuilding is legit and required for every major sports organization. Having a terrible team with no means of getting better is... bad.

 

[TaLoN]

There is and never was a tanking problem... the lottery is stupid and they should get rid of it.

 

[Aladyyn]

So Buffalo would have tanked s year early to get McDavid. Everyone saw him coming for years.

I mean Buffalo did tank in 2014 anyways lol

 

[Price is Wright]

I say we reward tanking. Make the first overall pick a lottery but everyone still keeps their official picks based on rank. So the winner gets two high first rounders instead of just one.

 

[Dogewow]

Slightly off topic here, but John Scott came right out and said in an interview I heard yesterday on NHL radio that when he was in Buffalo they said in camp that they were aiming for either Mc David or Eichel. He said they pretty much came out and said they didn't want to win.

Either you're straight up lying, or John Scott is full of crap.

The NHL takes stuff like that seriously, and if there were any discussions similar to what you stated, the NHL would investigate. If these things or anything else turned out to be true, them Buffalo would likely forfeit their first round pick and receive other punishment.

 

[Jeremy2020]

eliminating "Tanking" has always been a solution in search of a problem. The oilers weren't terrible for years by design

 

[Dimensha]

More like how to

 

[Bear of Bad News]

Slightly off topic here, but John Scott came right out and said in an interview I heard yesterday on NHL radio that when he was in Buffalo they said in camp that they were aiming for either Mc David or Eichel. He said they pretty much came out and said they didn't want to win.

Weird, on a story this important you think that'd be able to provide a link to a reputable source.

Also weird that the people purportedly responsible for the tanking strategy would let John Scott in on it.

Also weird that in an interview on the eve of the Stanley Cup Finals, with the draft lottery weeks in the past and the draft weeks in the future, he'd talk about tanking.

 

[LeafsNation75]

Weird, on a story this important you think that'd be able to provide a link to a reputable source.

Also weird that the people purportedly responsible for the tanking strategy would let John Scott in on it.

Also weird that in an interview on the eve of the Stanley Cup Finals, with the draft lottery weeks in the past and the draft weeks in the future, he'd talk about tanking.

Link or not I think everyone can agree that it was clearly obvious the Sabres were taking for McDavid and worst case Eichel.

It's also why Tim Murray was not in favour of changing the draft lottery before McDavid was eligible when you look at these comments he said.

https://www.thescore.com/news/473706

Any changes to the draft format, however, would appear to be a ways off according to Buffalo Sabres general manager Tim Murray, who would know. "We’ve all heard that talk of the five-team, five-year rotation, things like that, but there’s been really no appetite to do that," Murray told the Buffalo News this weekend.*

They don’t think there’s any appetite right now to change it. I believe if there is an appetite to change it, if they’re going to make a drastic change, it has to be something like three to five years out so it doesn’t affect somebody that’s in that position now.

From what I understand, they’re not worried about tanking for McDavid and Eichel.