Sports

No tanks: Lottery must be revised to make teams try

It was obscured by Keith Tkachuk’s victory lap at the conclusion of the Blues’ victory at home Friday night over the Ducks, but Anaheim general manager Bob Murray’s barely disguised skullduggery in leaving a handful of veterans home in order to improve his team’s chances of getting a higher draft pick should focus attention on the need to revise the lottery.

Regardless of how the Ducks officially explain the decision to allow, among others, Scott Niedermayer, Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu to go to Disneyland while their teammates were losing a 6-3 game in St. Louis, it is pure Fantasyland to believe that Murray was not motivated to a large degree by the proposition that falling behind the Blues in the standings would be more constructive than passing them.

Which is exactly what happened. Losing the game ensured the Ducks of finishing behind St. Louis and gave Anaheim the chance to select anywhere from 11th to 14th, rather than 15th. No, it’s not exactly Pittsburgh dumping in order to select Mario Lemieux, but the maneuver highlights the inequities in the current lottery system. It ultimately punishes downtrodden teams that play it straight, while rewarding clubs that are keeping their eyes on the greater prize of the highest draft selection within reach.

It is preposterous that the Islanders, who were never more than on the outer fringe of the playoff race, have cost themselves a shot at one of the top three selections by going on a 5-1 run before Thursday’s defeat in Pittsburgh, while the Lightning, contenders all season, have dropped into favorable top-three position by collapsing the last three weeks.

The cap, the three-point game and an epidemic of injuries have, with few exceptions, served to erase distinctions between teams. There is little difference between the bottom five teams that will have a lottery shot at first overall and the other nine that fail to make the playoffs.

There should be one standard and one standard alone for inclusion in the lottery for first overall, and that’s failure to make the playoffs. The 14 non-qualifiers should have an equal chance for the first selection in a sweepstakes that would remove the incentive for teams to lose down the stretch to fall as low in the standings as possible.

We spoke to four general managers this week, two from teams in the playoffs and two from teams that are out. Three of the four endorsed an unweighted 14-team lottery, though none would go on the record. One of the assenting general manager’s said there have been times he’s wanted to “strangle” his coach after wins. He was being facetious, of course.

But it is patently unfair to force general managers to face the conundrum between doing what’s right in the short-term by trying to win and doing what’s best for the long-term by wanting to lose. It is wrong to create an environment in which bottoming out, either intentionally or otherwise, presents the quickest route to the top.

The NHL has it in its power to unilaterally change the Entry Draft lottery. Here’s hoping the issue is placed on the agenda of the next board meeting. Maybe one of those general manager’s who did not wish to be quoted in this piece will even speak up.

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It would be relatively simple to make the case that Henrik Lundqvist is deserving of the Hart Trophy, and similarly so for Ryan Miller. But goaltenders have their own award, the Vezina, much as pitchers have their own award in the Cy Young. So unless a netminder is having a season of historic proportions, I tend to lean toward a position player as MVP.

This year, I just don’t see that anyone has a better case than Vancouver’s Henrik Sedin, who is battling royalty in Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby for both the Art Ross and the Hart.

The Elder Identical Twin (by six minutes) has led one of the league’s best teams from Day 1, and he’s done so without the support that Ovechkin and Crosby both receive. Roberto Luongo has been oddly inconsistent, the defense has been decimated by injuries, Baby Brother went down for a few weeks, but Henrik Sedin, brilliantly creative and tough as they come, has been steadfast from Day 1.

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Most Surprising Teams: 1. Phoenix; 2. Colorado; 3. New Jersey.

Most Disappointing Teams: 1. NHL Hockey Operations; 2. Calgary; 3. Philadelphia.

Worst Trade: Toronto’s Brian Burke sending a 2010 lottery pick plus a 2011 first-rounder that might be a lottery pick plus a second-round pick this year to Boston for Phil Kessel.

Sorry, that wasn’t ingenious. That was a move worthy of a dunce cap, regardless of how Burke’s enablers might want to spin it.

Best Free-Agent Signing: Rangers’ signing of Vinny Prospal to a one-year, $1.15 million contract.

Biggest Breath of Fresh Air: The Capitals, young, brash, cocky, aggressive and not afraid to tell you so. They are a team of entertainers in a hurry to get wherever it is they’re going. Why does that seem to infuriate so many people?

Worst Contracts: 1. Vincent Lecavalier; 2. Chris Pronger; 3. Tim Thomas.

Fooled you, didn’t I?

larry.brooks@nypost.com