mathonwy wrote:Oooooooh.... challengers from the AHL/OHL/WHL?
That would make things VERY interesting.
Utica can challenge the Sabres. If we hold our challenge against Abbotsford we could have two teams in the NHL. Or not....
The lottery system was introduced to take away incentive to tank. I highly doubt NHL players, on mass, would tank. I can see individuals giving up, losing motivation, taking time off to heal injuries they would normally play through, that sort of thing. But I just can't see a deliberate tank of a season to try and get a better draft pick.
Of course if you want to make it clean then do the Crosby type of lottery. Every team has equal shot of picking first, or last. Make the standings irrelevant from the point of view of draft order. Of course we could make it really equal and abolish the draft all together and just make everyone a FA. Teams are limited now by the number of contracts they can have and by the cap.
We saw with some good college FA they don't always or necessarily choose the top teams, they choose where they think they will get a chance to play and be an integral part of the team, sooner rather than later. Not a lot of top centres, for example would choose Pittsburg or Chicago if they felt it may take too long for them to be in the top six, some would but I think most would choose the Shultz to Edmonton route.
Do away with RFA too while we are at it. In exchange for total FA the players can give in on contract terms, max 4 years. If everybody is FA prices will come down, supply and demand.