Jeremy Laura: Could the season get a little worse?

I've already mentally prepared myself for the most likely scenario of picking fourth.

But if they lower the odds even further, or make it possible for the Wings to pick outside the top four, after the team had already clinched last place through 82 games ...

I would not be happy.

We felt your pain for awhile in Pittsburgh. Before Crosby, the Pens "lost" multiple draft lotteries, including the Ovechkin lottery (getting Malkin #2 there may have been just almost as large a gift as Crosby). The timing of Crosby to Pittsburgh was coincidental, but it was not as if Pittsburgh missed out on the playoffs by a mere point and then "won" the lottery...They were bad, very bad. Maybe after missing out on draft lotteries the ball will bounce DET way this time, or maybe Gary will push the ball your direction...lol.
In my opinion, the league isnt the same when 4 of the 6 original 6 are missing the playoffs (could be 5 if Toronto dropped), so hoping you guys get back to relevance soon

Hmmmmm…..hard to believe than anyone from Pittsburgh would even talk about "losing" in the draft. From 2002 - 2006, you picked in the top five each year, with 2 number 1 selections, 2 number 2's, and a number 5. I always thought Gary helped Mario save the franchise there.

What?

What about the teams who made the playoffs and might have 0 chance of winning a cup when they are in the playoff position?

The goal is to win a cup and if there is no cup to be rewarded this year good teams will be rewarded with lottery balls.

It sucks to be Detroit.

What?

What about the teams who made the playoffs and might have 0 chance of winning a cup when they are in the playoff position?

The goal is to win a cup and if there is no cup to be rewarded this year good teams will be rewarded with lottery balls.

It sucks to be Detroit.
- Santo_44

It sucks to be everybody.

I see your point -- if there are no playoffs this year then by definition all teams are non-playoff teams, which means there's a reasonable argument to give lottery balls to everybody.

Still, it's not quite like 2005 when the league had lost an entire season and had no standings at all to rely on for an order. The 85% of games that were completed should mean something, right?

And do we still only pick three lottery balls and then do reverse-standings order, or lottery the whole way like 2005?

If it's the latter, wouldn't you be pissed if your team was arguably the worst NHL squad in 25-30 years and there was a chance you might not even pick top five?

Ugh. I mean, I get it. Nobody wins. No way to please everyone. No way to make it fair for everyone. It's just frustrating.

The draft is designed to help keep the league somewhat even and allow for the lesser teams to draft higher - changing that after loosing the last dozen games of the year does not make sense to me. just use winning percentage or something equivalent and be done with it. Let Det. Ott. LA. Anh improve - and not give the spoils to already good teams - its not its designed intention.

A gifted compliance buy-out would get rid of 1 bad contract......Abby
Then taking on another bad contract say Wennberg ($4.9M for 3 more years) and a 2nd for a 7th at the draft. Wennburg can handle 3rd line duties and Franz down to the 4th.
If gifted the 1st overall pick, and getting Lafreinere, Stevie could pick up a discarded vet from a compliance buy-out, like a Jeff Skinner or Yani Gorde, or the older Kyle Turris,(preferably a 20-something) or the like on a 2-4 yr deal to accelerate the rebuild. (I know I am dreaming, but you get the idea)
Then it would not get worse.....
I real don't wanna think about the worse situation because this whole season has already been the worst in Wings history. I hope to focus on the positive.