Stop Rewarding Losing!!

1) As we first opined nearly 5 years ago(see link beow), we Hate, with a capital H to rewarding of losing. Whether it be the 'loser point' or with respect to the NHL entry draft positioning. The former may in fact propel teams into the playoffs and eliminate some. New Jersey for instance in the current format is safely (8 pts) in the playoffs. However if there were no post Over time gimmicks (shootouts) deciding games they'd have a mere 70 pts or tied for 8th with several teams right behind them. For the record we feel there should ONLY be winner points. Two for regulation/OT/So wins. ZERO for ALL losses. Period. Of course the 'loser point' keeps the standings closer than they otherwise would be allowing Gary Bettman/NHL to stay they have good competition (parity). http://newfaux.blogspot.com/2007/03/stop-rewarding-of-losers.html

2) Our real hate for rewarding losing though has to do with draft positioning. Each year we'd see teams clearly out of the playoffs suddenly go into a prolonged tail spin/losing streaks solidifying their positioning into the Bottom 5. Many thought the "lottery" would curtail the situation we saw in 1984 when Pittsburgh and NJ "competed" to be worst and get a chance at drafting Mario Lemieux. Pittsburgh won that "race, and NJ had to settle for Kirk Muller at #2. The current format does not guarantee that teams' will get a particular pick, but it doesn't disincentivize teams from tanking. The bottom finisher still has a 49% chance of winning the lottery while the 2nd worst record has a mere 19% chance.

3) In a perfect world we'd see NO reward for finishing dead last. What should be done, and would make, in our opinion. for good TV is what we saw prior to the 2004 draft(Crosby draft) There was no season (Thank you Mr. Bettman) and no way to position teams so the only way was to have ALL 30 teams in an even lottery for position. By doing so teams would not simply give up and play their best all the way through. We understand this simply won't happen especially in the current political climate where people want things for free from folks who achieve/work for it. Anyway recently we did hear another/new proposal that makes sense to us at Fauxrumors. Its not quite as good as our idea, but in the face of things its a good back plan and does reduce the chance of tanking teams every season.

4) In this plan teams would "win" points towards the top pick by winning games AFTER they have been eliminated from playoff contention. Yes, teams that got eliminated first would probably still get a top choice, but instead of watching the Edmonton Oilers, etc (again) go on a 6-10 game losing streak every March, we'd see the same Oilers putting forth a top effort to attain a better draft spot. It would also prevent teams striving for the post season to get an easy game. Those "bottom feeders" would put out as strong an effort in late March as they did in late October. Its a no brainer to implement this scenario as soon as possible. While it still rewards the lesser teams with better draft position it prevents the obvious annual collapse of the bottom 2-3 teams