The NHL staged its Lottery of Losers on Tuesday, an entire sub-division of the league hoping to actually win something after months of losing games and credibility. There they were, teams that could not find the wherewithal to qualify for the playoffs, hoping that balls bounced their way following a winter in which pucks did not.
If you tuned into the annual drawing to determine the first- overall pick in the Entry Draft, you might have thought you’d slipped into a time warp, or were watching a rebroadcast from last year, or the year before that, or the few years before that.
Because though the triple cap adopted in 2005 that was expanded into a quintuple cap in 2013 was meant to ensure no team would be left behind, the fact is a permanent underclass of ne’er-do-well franchises subsists benefiting from the largesse of a system that rewards the worst operations with the brightest young players in the world, one year after another.
Take a bow, Kevin Lowe. You too, Messrs. Wang and Snow. Don’t forget to step into that spotlight, Mr. Karmanos. No one is forgetting you, Ken King of the Flames.
It’s time to revamp the Entry Draft. Time to end the league-sponsored charity that rewards perennial failures. Two or three straight years in the top seven should be enough to lay the groundwork for making the playoffs. Four or five straight years out of the playoffs should be enough to incur a penalty.
Take a gander at the franchises that finished with the NHL’s seven worst records. The 30th Sabres have missed the playoffs three straight times, five of the last seven years, and haven’t won a playoff series since 2007. The 29th Panthers have qualified for the playoffs once since 2000 (2012) and have not won a series since 1996. The 28th-overall Oilers have missed the tournament eight straight seasons, finishing 24th or lower six times.
The 27th Islanders have missed six of the last seven years, have held a top-five position in the draft six out of the last seven years, and have not won a playoff round since 1993. The 26th Flames have been out five straight years and have not advanced past the first round since 2004, the only year in which they’ve been able to win a series since 1989.
The 25th-overall Hurricanes have missed five straight times and seven of eight years since winning the Cup in 2006. The 24th-overall Jets/Thrashers have missed seven straight, qualifying once in the 14 years of their miserable existence in Atlanta and Winnipeg, that in 2007 when they were swept in the first round.
Sabres. Panthers. Oilers. Islanders. Flames, Canes. Jets. The Welfare Class of an NHL whose administration promised the cap would mean anyone could win. Well not quite, no more so than the introduction of the cap meant ticket prices would become more affordable.
By the way, these teams are living proof bottoming out is not its own reward.
It’s time to revamp the system and get these perennial losers off the dole. In my perfect world, the draft would be eliminated altogether, with each team receiving a designated allowance for signing players to entry-level deals. Or, each player could be drafted by, say, five teams, and choose among them. But there’s less chance of the league adopting those suggestions than of Mike Gillis and John Tortorella sharing a meal.
So, I would suggest modifications to the draft of the following nature: Any team that drafts in the top seven for three straight years should not be eligible to select higher than eighth for the following three years. Any team that drafts in the top 10 for five straight years should not be eligible to select higher than 11th for the following five years.
I also would recommend two additional annual drawings, one for all playoff teams and one for all non-qualifiers, with the winner of the former replacing the “winner” of the latter in the Grand Losers’ Lottery for the chance to select first overall.
The ne’er-do-wells are a drain on the league. For the most part they are bad gate attractions on the road who receive annual revenue sharing funding. And they get first dibs on the best teenage hockey players in the world who might do more good for everyone — including themselves — in more attractive markets.
If the best teams never can be in position to select the best draft-eligible player (that presumes of course Mike Milbury never will again be a general manager, thus able to trade the first-overall pick), then maybe the best teams shouldn’t be eligible to sign free agents, either.
Maybe only the non-playoff teams, maybe only the bottom seven teams should be allowed to sign free agents. That will level the playing surface.
Oh, good grief.
I’ve just given Sixth Avenue its next take-back for the Lockout of 2020.