NHL teams
Pierre LeBrun, ESPN Senior Writer 8y

Here's an intriguing idea: Give teams like the Canucks and Leafs an incentive to win, not tank

NHL, Vancouver Canucks, Toronto Maple Leafs

Are Vancouver Canucks fans happy -- or angry -- that their team beat the visiting Los Angeles Kings on Monday?

Will Toronto Maple Leafs fans really want their team to challenge the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday night?

There's been plenty of tanking talk among fans again this season, with the prize of projected No. 1 draft pick Auston Matthews dangling in the offing for the team that wins the draft lottery on April 30.

All of which isn't natural, or healthy, for the league. It's not quite as bad as a year ago, when Buffalo Sabres fans cheered an OT winner by the Arizona Coyotes in Buffalo late in the year during a true "Tank Bowl" leading up to the Connor McDavid/Jack Eichel sweepstakes.

Still, many fans are again openly cheering for their respective teams to lose out this week and secure the best possible odds in the lottery.

Again, it's not good for the game. Former NHL center Ray Ferraro suggested a solution Monday at Air Canada Centre. It made me blink at first, but upon further examination, I found it intriguing.

The TSN game analyst suggests providing the teams at the bottom of the standings with an incentive to win. His idea (which is sort of a riff on that of Adam Gold): During the final 20 games of the season, improve the draft lottery odds for those bottom-dwelling teams that win games rather than lose games during that stretch. In other words, the more points you pick up in the standings during that final stretch, the better your odds in the lottery. It's almost like reversing the standings for the final quarter of the schedule.

"This would create excitement and make each game matter,'' said Ferraro.

His thought is that if, when the last-place Blue Jackets visit bottom-dwelling Toronto on Wednesday night, something is actually on the line, then the crowd at Air Canada Centre would truly be invested in a win.

A simpler solution would be to make all 14 non-playoff teams share the exact same odds in the lottery. But, I must admit, Ferraro's solution could make some of the games between the bottom-feeders late in the year feel more like playoff games. Food for thought.

Elsewhere:

  • The Kings and Milan Lucic's camp have been in contract talks for more than a month but have not yet agreed to an extension. I can't imagine that discussion would continue into the playoffs, so they have about a week to get this done or further deliberation will be shelved until after the playoffs. That still leaves plenty of time until July 1, when Lucic becomes an unrestricted free agent, but it's worth pointing out that despite proposals and counterproposals between both sides, it appears there's still a sizeable gap. That's not surprising, perhaps, given that the cap-challenged Kings must be concerned with every dime spent at this point. Lucic loves it in L.A. -- and the Kings' organization loves the fit with him in the lineup -- so there is hope they can get something done during the next week or so or after the season.

  • Injuries have piled up during the past few weeks for nearly every team headed to the playoffs, which makes me wonder if the advent of the NFL-style bye weeks in the second half of the season next year will help players avoid at least some wear and tear. As I reported earlier this season, as part of the NHL Players' Association agreement to sign off on the three-on-three All-Star format used in Nashville earlier this season, the union got to cash in an interesting chip: its desire to add a five-day "bye week" for each NHL club sometime in the second half next season.

    The league signed off on it, so at some point between Jan. 1 and Feb. 28 next season players on each of the 30 clubs will get a clear five-day break. No games, no practices. Five days off, period. (I believe that practice will be allowed on the afternoon of the fifth day if there's a game the next day.)

    The idea, from the NHLPA's point of view, is that the season is such a grind for its players that the breather during the second half of the season, combined with the All-Star break in L.A. (which will be a separate hiatus), will help players heal and rest. In Olympic years, the players who don't play in the Games greatly enjoy the benefit of the two-week break and feel fresher come playoff time. Some injuries are just bad luck and will continue to happen regardless, but perhaps the grinding-type injuries might be alleviated by the new break next season. We shall see.

  • Colorado Avalanche coach Patrick Roy's postgame tirade Sunday night, and his ripping of star center Matt Duchene, certainly gives one food for thought for this offseason. You might remember that I wrote about the Duchene trade talk rumblings back in the fall, although those seemed to stem from other teams calling about him and not the Avs shopping Duchene. Still, it created a bit of a stir. Now with Roy not only throwing Duchene under the bus but also questioning some of the leadership on his team, one wonders where GM Joe Sakic goes from here. We might get a hint or two from Sakic's end-of-season media availability next week should the Avs not rally and make the playoffs this week.

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