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The drive to win a Stanley Cup is what fuels every NHL team. Whether it's in the immediate present or distant future, any GM, owner, player, or coach associated with an NHL club dreams of the day they can hoist the greatest trophy in the history of sports.

However, that Cup drive can also create a race to the bottom - especially in years when generational talent is available. One doesn't have to look beyond what happened in 2014-15, when several teams 'competed' for 30th place just in the hopes of getting better odds to land Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel.

As such, and to prevent same in the future, it's now time to eliminate the practice of "tanking" from the National Hockey League.

Before I continue, here's one abundant point I'd like to make clear: players, and most often coaches, would never intentionally throw or tank a game. You don't get to the NHL by ever considering that as an option. I don't believe there's a player in the league that truly wants to lose games just to get a higher draft spot.

And the sentiment of the tank comes in part from fan bases eager to land prized commodities such as McDavid or Eichel, or the next Sidney Crosby, Wayne Gretzky, or Mario Lemieux. These types of players have the potential to fundamentally shift the direction of their team.

General Managers can't be faulted for rebuilding. In a rebuild, a subpar record can be more of a byproduct of the long-term goal of building a sustainable winning franchise. However, the culture of wanting to lose for the sake of winning a high pick is at issue, and should be addressed this offseason.

Not one to criticize something without having an alternative in hand, I believe there is a system that can eliminate tanking, reward teams for remaining competitive, and also give teams who have slightly better seasons than the bottom clubs a chance at a high pick as well.

The idea is to make the draft order more competition based, but in a limited sense.

From the trade deadline to the end of the season, the team with the best record by winning percentage (with points percentage, ROW, and head-to-head serving as tiebreakers) out of the bottom seven would earn the #1 overall pick.

Winning percentage would have to be used in lieu of points since teams would not play the same amount of games post-trade deadline.

Then, the team with the best winning percentage in the same timeframe out of the bottom 8th through 14th ranked teams would earn the #2 overall pick. This promotes a competition through the end of the season instead of a race to the bottom - and even if teams were selling off assets up to the trade deadline, you're only competing against seven of the closest teams to you in the standings.

Plus, a team that 'tanked' would only be hurting their chances at a top two pick. So even if a team tried to maneuver from the 8-14 spots into the bottom 7 after the deadline, they would be highly unlikely to secure that selection.

The rest of the 12 non-playoff teams would be ranked in reverse order by regular season points, with a similar lottery to what will go into effect this year determining their selection order. Meaning, the 3rd, 4th, and 5th overall picks would be determined by weighted lottery, with picks #6 through #14 going to the remaining nine non-playoff clubs.

This way, the Top 5 picks are largely based on how they played from the trade deadline to the end of the regular season.

If we were to apply this to the current standings, using a team's last ten games as an example (teams would usually have 16-20 games from the deadline to the end of the season), the Columbus Blue Jackets would have the #1 overall pick, and the New Jersey Devils would have pick #2.

Ten games is obviously a smaller sample size than what would be used at season's end. However, it illustrates the effect of this system. Right now, Toronto and Buffalo are 30th and 29th, respectively, in the standings. Under these new procedures, the Leafs and Sabres would be in a lottery for picks 3-14.

There are various methods to use for the lottery of teams 3-14. There's also the possible inclusion of a lottery-type system for picks 15-30 as well. Anything should be open to discussion as it relates to the status quo.

When we look at the current draft order system, it's designed to encourage parity and reward teams who are behind in development from the perennial powers. It's an old, outdated system that was created in an era when the best teams could spend to their heart's content in order to build a dynasty.

In a salary cap world where parity reigns, this draft selection system needs to be updated. The further into revenue sharing and the further the cap continues to rule how teams are built and managed, the more likely it is that there will be teams trying to get to the bottom to get their hands on top talent. At least in a system like the one explained above, a modicum of competition can determine who goes where.

Let's put it back on the ice. Let's give players and fans something positive to play and cheer towards. The sentiment of negativity among fans when a team wins is an awful sight - above all, winning should always be promoted over losing.


Thomas Gidlow covers the Carolina Hurricanes here on HockeyBuzz.

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