Agree I dont think "tanking" happens as much as people think. Usually teams who are in these positions have lots of turnover the next year anyways. Guys who are not clear cut roster players will have to bust their ass to stay. That and these guys are professionals, they want to win. Many have never accepted losing on any level.
It all depends on the perspective. Players will not tank. They may not go at a playoff level if they're on the 28th overall team in late March, but they're not quitting. Coaches, in all likelihood, won't actively tank. They would have to be very secure in their job to do that. GM's have a longer scope of things, especially if they're secure in their job. They have a bigger picture in mind, so if they set a team up from the start of a season to probably not be good, that's a franchise building strategy, which you hope pays off. It's like taking out a big student loan. As long as the draft exists, outside of a league wide lottery where every team has the same odds at every 1st round pick, a couple GM's are going to take that route every year.
The tanking most people talk about, no, that doesn't happen in any meaningful percentage. Has it happened? Probably. Trading a soon to be UFA if you're out of the race isn't tanking though. Having a guy get surgery that ends his season with 20 games left if you're well out of the race isn't tanking. There is going to be a next season, no matter how much fans hate hearing that, and GM's have to take that into account.
I wish there was an incentive for fans of spoiling teams to actually cheer for their teams to win. Having ALL teams in February and March going all out to win games is what's best for the league. If teams want to tank in October through January, then so be it. However, in February and March every team should be going all in to win games.
Why would Oct-Jan be good?
You can't force the 27th overall team to play all out in March. Give every player on bad teams an extra $500k for every win they get in Feb/Mar, and then maybe they would do what you want. But the ideas like a team's winning % after they get eliminated determines their draft position isn't going to make the players play any harder late in the season. If players were locked into one franchise for their entire career, then maybe. Why would players go harder if there's nothing in it for them personally though? They don't care about the next great 18 year old. They could easily be traded from the team a few months later, and never benefit from the next great teenager. GM's might care. Fans certainly do, because fans are stuck with their favorite team, year after year, decade after decade, and none of us get paid for that.
Fans can want their team to win or lose any particular game at any particular time of the season, neither one makes you a better or worse fan, but fans have to accept what the players ultimately do on the ice. Can't blame players if they win when they should lose for the greater good of the organization.