This is an interesting arguement, as the truth falls in between the two sides.
I don't think "tanking" is best adjective to describe Pittsburgh's performance. Certainly, I never felt that the team on the ice was trying to win. I think the coaching staff did their best to win games. I think ownership decided that if they were going to lose, they were going to do it as cheaply as possible.
I also agree with Vlad, that this isn't a good thing. In an ideal world, every team should be trying to be as competitive as they can, and if a team does happen to suck, it shouldn't be from a pre-determined decision that it's okay to lose, and if they do come in last, then hey, at least there is a hot prospect in it for them. I actually think the salary floor is one way to ensure that teams will not field such a poor team as Pittsburgh has this last few years.
The other thing is, I don't think tanking is as lucrative as you make it sound. True, a couple of high profile prospects are great building blocks for your team, but, it's not enough to guarantee sucess, or at least enough of it to warrant the damage you'll do to your fan-base in those lean years. To succeed, you need to have strong player development, and a success in drafting players beyond the top 10. Ottawa's a great example. Many people point to our crappy years of high draft picks as the source of our success, but really, it's the drafting of players like Alfredsson, Hossa, Havlat, Fisher, Arvedson, Salo, Dackell, Rachunek, etc. that we built are roster around, all of which were drafted outside of the top 10. Plus, there's enough prospects busts, that "tanking" is quite a risky proposition.
One thing I do agree with you on Vlad, is that it should have been an equal weighted lottery, but I'm not sure if we have the same reasons. In my opinion, in regular years, the fans of a poor performing teams get rewarded with high draft picks, and high profile prospects. It helps alleviate the pain of watching a bad team for a whole year. This past year, the season was gone. Every team's fans had to give up a year of watching their team. The difference was, that Pittsburgh's fan missed a year watching young, unseasoned players would struggle against stronger teams, and, as an Ottawa fan, I missed an opportunity where my team would be a strong contender for the cup. Hardly an equal sacrifice, IMHO. When the dust settled for the draft, teams like Pittsburgh got an increased chance at the top pick, while teams like Ottawa and Tampa, which gave up a year of prime contendership, had a significantly lessened chance at the top prize.
But, honestly, it wasn't that big a deal to me. The other purpose of a draft is a method for weaker teams to become stronger, and the weighted system did allow that. The question comes down to "need" versus "earned", and everyone is going to have different opinions on how those two issues should factor into the process. The one thing that we can take solice in is that it still came down to random chance, and quite honestly, there were worse teams that could have gotten the pick.
) and was crossing my fingers and such. Then they got called and I was ecstatic.
The Pens are a great franchise. Not there fault there's no money in there ****** arena right now, should change in the near future.
And forget about crosby in mtl . Mario lemieux said the same thing when he was draft and he stay in pittsburg and fell in love with the team so ..... lets wait for esposito or kessel maybe 
