Let's fix the NHL's terrible playoff draft order

[Kamiccolo]

I dislike that drafting position is determined by the regular season and not how far the team goes in the playoffs (outside of the finals).

If Montreal finished at 15th and barely makes the playoffs, and goes to the 2nd round, yet Ottawa finishes 5th in the east and gets swept in the first, then Ottawa should draft ahead of Montreal. The order of drafting should be the order of teams eliminated, outside of the champs and the runner ups.

If two teams are eliminated on the same night/game (Like one team has game 4 tuesday and the other loses game 4 wed) THEN you can use the regular season to tie break and give the lower finishing team the better pick.

Anyone else annoyed by how the NHL does this?

Click to read more...

 

[Profet]

<sarcasm>Yes... let's make the regular season count for even less. What a wonderful idea.</sarcasm>

 

[DL44]

Well... the NHL has actually improved upon the original model quite a bit and now has the playoffs determining to a certain degree the draft order...

i.e. the Canucks winning the President's Trophy in '12, losing in the first round and therefore drafting 26th instead of the traditional 30th based on regular season...

so although not purely playoff result based, it's at least an improvement.

Now basically the final 4 in the playoffs get the final 4 draft slots of each draft round. All the losers of the first 2 rounds get reordered with the next group being the left over division winners, and the rest based on standings...

so not quite round by round... but an improvement none-the-less. OP doesn't seem aware that this is the actual draft system in place.

Edit The modified new system in place:
Pick 30 - Stanley Cup winner
Pick 29 - Stanley Cup finals loser
Picks 27-28 :Conference finals losers..
from Pick 26 up - its the division winners that didn't go thru to the conference finals...
And then the rest of the playoff teams that lost in rounds 1 and 2 based on standings.

 

[Kamiccolo]

<sarcasm>Yes... let's make the regular season count for even less. What a wonderful idea.</sarcasm>

Any team in a playoff spot does not care about their draft pick, they care about getting as high as possible to get the best match up.

Infact, doing this encourages tanking in a way, as a team might want to lose their last few games after clinching to get a better draft pick if they don't go all the way.

It would make for more intense end of season hockey as each team starts to try and get their best matchups for the playoffs.

 

[Sanderson]

Any team in a playoff spot does not care about their draft pick, they care about getting as high as possible to get the best match up.

Infact, doing this encourages tanking in a way, as a team might want to lose their last few games after clinching to get a better draft pick if they don't go all the way.

It would make for more intense end of season hockey as each team starts to try and get their best matchups for the playoffs.

Yes, teams will surely throw away the last few games of the season just to get a better draftpick
Seriously, no playoff team would be stupid enough to try and go into the playoffs on a losing-streak. The players couldn't care less about drafting 15th, 18th or 21st, they want to win, and the best way to do that is to finish the regular season as high as possible and going into the playoffs on a hotstreak. Throwing away games on purpose is the best way to drop out in the first round on short notice.

How exactly is the team supposed to know they won't go all the way anyway?

The system is perfectly fine as it is right now. No need to make any changes that hardly make sense at all. There is zero reason to grant the clearly better team (as evidenced by the 82-game regular season) a better draftpick than a worse team just because of a handful of games that can be nothing more than a string of injuries and bad luck.

 

[Avsboy]

They should just reverse the draft order. Give the teams that just missed the playoffs but aren't an embarassment a top pick. Let the Oilers draft outside the first pick already.

 

[Not So Mighty]

Every single year all 30 teams should have an equal shot at every draft position.

 

[The Underboss]

All teams not in the playoffs get 1 ball each. Lowest 5 teams get 2 balls.

or

All non playoff teams get 1 ball, all with an equal chance to get the top pick.

And

No team is to pick 1st back to back.

 

[CanadienShark]

Nope. The current system is better than what you suggested, imo.

 

[Brooklanders*]

I totally disagree with the OP.

I think the draft is perfect.

 

[BanditKeith99]

Nah , it's their fault for choking in the playoffs