Quite a nice present from the league considering all a team has to do is be completely inept for a year. 

Never mind the teams that try to be fiscally responsible and put a good competitive product on the ice each season.  Those teams usually finish around the middle of the pack.    They then end up  getting a decent but not great draft pick that will allow them to improve enough to finish, well middle of the pack. 

Since 1990, Quebec which became Colorado had two first overall picks.  In 1996 and 2001, Colorado won Stanley Cups.  Tampa Bay had two first overall picks.  Roman Hamrlik in 92 and Vincent Lecavalier in 98.  In 2004 Tampa Bay won the Stanley Cup.  The Ottawa Senators had the first pick in 93, 95 and 96.  In 2007 the Ottawa Senators were three games away from winning their first Cup.  The list goes on and on…

However no team on the planet has taken advantage of being a loser more than the Pittsburgh Penguins.  The Penguins were crap in the 1980's and managed to be rewarded with Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr.  In 91 and 92 the Penguins won Stanley Cups.  The Penguins then proved how inept they were by going in the tank again for a number of years in the 2000's.  Their reward??  Marc Andre Fleury first overall in 2003, Evgeni Malkin 2nd overall in 2004  and Sidney Crosby first overall in 2005.   The Penguins are now a legitimate Cup contender.

Teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins who tend to always be middle of the pack, will always remain there should the current system remain intact.  Congratulations to the Chicago Black Hawks for finding the magic formula by finishing near the bottom of the league and being up for the first pick in 2007.

I say we go back to the old system where every team is entered into a lottery with an equal chance of getting the first pick.  That way, no more teams will sandbag the end of the season to get the first pick. 

Agree or disagree, I’m off the goalpost.

www.offthegoalpost.com