Hockey Night in Canada's Scott Morrison delivers his insights into the world of hockey, on and off the ice.
Flyers' bad luck continues with draft lottery
Comments (3)
Tuesday, April 10, 2007 | 03:41 PM ET
By Scott Morrison
Perhaps he had a premonition. Or perhaps it has been that kind of year, so what else would Paul Holmgren expect?
But these are the words the general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers uttered on the eve of Tuesday’s draft lottery:
"It stinks. We’re the worst team, we should get the first pick."
End of conversation.
So what happens? Even though the Flyers had a 48.2 per cent chance of winning the number one pick, the Chicago Blackhawks moved from fifth (based on the standings) to first through a weighted lottery. There was an 8.1 per cent chance of that happening for the Hawks, so perhaps general manager Dale Tallon should purchase a lottery ticket on the way home. It's his day.
It seems quite unfair for the Flyers, who will pick second overall, followed in order by Phoenix, Los Angeles and Washington in the top five, with Edmonton sixth. Indeed, the only change in the order from what the reverse standings would have produced was the Hawks went from fifth to first and everyone else got pushed back a spot.
The way the lottery works, the five teams with the fewest points can move into first overall. No one can go up more than four spots, no one can fall back more than one.
This lottery system was essentially put in place to, if not stop completely, then allow for justice to prevail if a team, or teams, tried to go into the tank to secure the first pick. It's not a perfect system, as the Flyers will attest. There has never been concrete proof, either, or even an admission of a team tanking in the past, though if memory serves folks were suspicious of the Penguins not trying very hard when the carrot was a first pick named Mario Lemieux.
But there is no denying this time around the Flyers appeared to have earned the first pick, or the right to it, the old-fashioned way: by being brutal and they didn't deserve another loss this season.
In another quirk, the Avalanche will draft 14th because they didn't make the playoffs, even though they finished with a better record than the Rangers, Lightning and Islanders. But those three are in, so they fall behind, which makes sense as it pertains to the draft, if not the playoff format.
A change instituted this year is that the final four teams in the playoffs will select in the 27th through 30th slots. Previously, the Stanley Cup champion picked last, but everyone else went according to the standings. There is certainly some logic to the change, but with the East far superior to the East, it could mean that, say, a team such as the Islanders, if they managed to get to the East final, would pick behind six teams from the West, who had far better records in the regular season but didn't make it to the conference final. Not sure that makes sense. So now, essentially, what happens in the playoffs affects what happens in the regular season, if you follow.
In some ways, it all feels over managed.
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About the Author
Scott Morrison, the recipient of the Hockey Hall of Fameís 2006 Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award, has been covering hockey for 25 years. The Toronto native began his career at the Toronto Sun in 1979. After spending more than 11 years as a hockey writer and columnist at the paper, Morrison became Sports Editor in 1991 and led the section to being named one of North America's top-ten sports sections in 1999 - the first sports section in Canada to receive the AP Sports Editors North American Award. Scott, a former two-term president of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, joined Rogers Sportsnet in 2001 as Managing Editor, Hockey, and is currently both a commentator on Hockey Night in Canada and a columnist for CBC.ca.
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Comments (3)
The Bambino
Newfoundland
Now that the lottery rules has backfired on the Flyers, they are whining. What a surprise. Predicted to be in the top 10 teams in the league at seasons start, they ended up being the worst. Deal with it. If the GM hadn't signed slow and slower (Hatcher and Rathje) he wouldn't be worrying about where he's picking.
Suck it up Paul, those are the rules. Call Green Bay, tell them to send you a hunk of cheese to go along with your Whine.
Posted April 11, 2007 11:25 AM
David Hendry
Calgary
This is not about the draft pick, but CBC shaft by League.
I see by the Stanley Cup playoff schedule that Mr Bettman is trying hard to attract the phantom american fan. I have noticed that the most successfull products on American TV are reality shows like American Idol, where the ability to text message and affect the outcome, ignoring talent, is captivating the american mind (or lack therof). I suggest we let the teams go through the motions, and have key points where the fans text in and vote goals and penalties (actually that might be an improvement on refereeing). Call it the Rory Kirkpatrick affect. It would be a huge draw in US markets, a direct appeal to the US market mentality.
Posted April 10, 2007 09:26 PM
Matt
Montreal
The reason for giving the final 4 teams the lowest picks is financial. The teams that advance furthest in the playoffs recieve large financial windfalls from hosting additional playoff games.
As much as it sucks for Philly to lose the first pick, those are the rules, and it's not a surpise. They may be 48% likely to keep the pick, but that means they are 52% likely to lose it.
Posted April 10, 2007 07:19 PM