February 23, 2021

[NYRNYRNYR]

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Ok so there were multiple trades to enter, extra practice, and generally making sure things were correct. All looks ok. To the games! Lots of teams playing (18 total!)

Multiple early ties between SJ and the Leafs and the Ducks and 'Canes. The Panthers beat up the jets and the Redwings shutout(!) the Cancuks. The attempt to injure Ty Dellandrea is rather weak, hurting him for just a few days.

The Predators and Blues tie is not as boring as it looks - Look at that PENALTY summary.

The Blackhawks beat the Stars in a WC dominance battle. Whereas the 'yotes continue their march towards the playoffs against the Flames and the Flyers are battling back in a big win against the Oilers.

[Gritty]

Heatley saves the day!

[DetroitGM]

First 57 games: 13-41-2, winning percentage of .254, goals allowed 189.
Last 5 games: 2-1-2, winning percentage of .600, goals allowed 3.
Changes made: none ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[AvalancheGM]

Points percentage .600, winning percentage .400

[DetroitGM]

Points percentage .600, winning percentage .400

eh, same thing. Nice 10 game losing streak by the way :p

[AvalancheGM]

Holy shit has it been that many? I'll fight you to the death for the first overall pick.

[NYRNYRNYR]

Holy shit has it been that many? I'll fight you to the death for the first overall pick.

The lesser discussed battle-to-the-bottom at this time of year. You love to see it.

[AvalancheGM]

In the 90s it was a blood feud for the Cup. 2021, blood feud for last place.

[NYRNYRNYR]

In the 90s it was a blood feud for the Cup. 2021, blood feud for last place.

I never had a problem with this. The NHL had this ruined in the Sabres/Arizona debacle when Sabes home fans were cheering for ARZ to win bc they wanted McDavid. Oh the cruel fates. Owners/GMs/idiots freaked out over it. If your team isn't good, it's a good business decision to rebuild over a few years, and tanking will make you better.

The Penguins are literally here and the organization they are today because of the Lemieux tank. Get over it people.

[AvalancheGM]

Yeah I agree. Nothing is a magic bullet but a draft and develop rebuild is your best bet. And I'm not aware of any time where actual players dogged it. Their desire to win is still there. Management just makes transactions that make the team worse for the present but better in the future.

[NYRNYRNYR]

Yeah I agree. Nothing is a magic bullet but a draft and develop rebuild is your best bet. And I'm not aware of any time where actual players dogged it. Their desire to win is still there. Management just makes transactions that make the team worse for the present but better in the future.

Teams just suck at messaging it. If I was in a rebuild, I'd do all sorts of stuff to reach a younger audience and build a fan base for when the rebuild is done. Like, yes, dudes in their 40s that love you will be pissed you want to suck a few years. But have like "Bus Night" where your team branded bus picks up college kids and offers them best available seat for $5 or $10 or something. Student rush was huge in pittsburgh during the dark years between Jagr and Crosby

[DetroitGM]

I admit, I'm not as big a fan of the draft system as I used to be. Let's be honest, tanking is stupid, the fact that some GMs actively try to make their teams worse in order to draft better is dumb (well, in real life at least).

But I get why people don't like the current lottery system, it does feel a bit unfair. Perhaps there could be a way of tying the odds to points, so that a last place team with 40pts would get better odds than a last place team with 60pts. I mean, I've seen advocates for other systems (like downgoesbrown who wants teams to accumulate points once they're eliminated? But I'm very skeptical of that one), there's gotta be a way to do it better. Personally I like the idea of a short post-season tournament among non-playoff teams to determine position - winner of the tournament gets 1st overall, loser gets 2nd, the rest can be based on points. So the last place team is guaranteed 3rd, but you actually have to win to get 1st.

[AvalancheGM]

I think it'd be hard to motivate veteran players to win games for draft position though. Most of them don't care.

I think they need to go back to the old rule where you can only move up so many spots. How many times have we seen an almost-playoff team like the Rangers jump up to first overall? The bottom teams almost always get screwed. It's honestly a miracle the Leafs retained first overall in the 2016 lottery, I was positive they wouldn't.

Hold three lotteries and you can't move up more than five spots. This would give the last-place team 49.5% odds since no team below 6 could win first overall. Perhaps even it out a little and say 40% for last place and 23% for second.

[TorontoGM]

Undefeated in three straight games......lets go?

[DetroitGM]

I think it'd be hard to motivate veteran players to win games for draft position though. Most of them don't care.

I think they need to go back to the old rule where you can only move up so many spots. How many times have we seen an almost-playoff team like the Rangers jump up to first overall? The bottom teams almost always get screwed. It's honestly a miracle the Leafs retained first overall in the 2016 lottery, I was positive they wouldn't.

Hold three lotteries and you can't move up more than five spots. This would give the last-place team 49.5% odds since no team below 6 could win first overall. Perhaps even it out a little and say 40% for last place and 23% for second.

Veterans would be motivated to play for their jobs - if they're not trying to lose to get a better pick as is, why would they not try to win for a better pick?

and I actually hate the no more than five spots thing. The team that misses the playoffs on a tie-breaker already has the lowest odds, why should they further be restricted in how far up they can go? How is it fair that a team that actively tries to make the playoffs is punished and a team that actively tries to suck rewarded? And what happens if teams 6 and 7 are separated by a point, how is it fair that 6th place can get to 1st but 7th place can't?

Honestly, if they're not using a tournament format, they really should use points/percentages rather than just 32nd, 31st, 30th, etc.