Advanced Reasonings - The NHL #1 Pick idea

So there was a bit of controversy over the idea of the Stanley Cup winner being awarded the #1 draft pick instead of the #1 Loser. Opinions ranged from 'worst hockey blog ever' to 'this guy is a fucking idiot'.

In days past, I might have been hurt to be so judged by people I don't know whose contribution to the dialogue of the future of the NHL is along the lines of 'the refereeing sucks' or 'I'm a Leafs fan' but those days are long gone.

Let me explore this idea a bit further.

Say your name is I don't know... Connor McConnor. Your parents have pushed you your whole life to become a hockey player. They've signed you up for hockey camps and dryland training. You've probably played some type of hockey for 50 weeks of any given year. You've put in the time and have earned the rewards as your star and talents rise. You are now estimated to be the top pick of the NHL draft. It's a day you've dreamed of, ever since you started watching the NHL. You were born about 18 years ago so you probably dreamed of playing for the Detroit Red Wings or alongside Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins but perennial Stanley Cup contenders when you were 10 years old.

Shouldn't you at least have the chance to play for them? Instead all your talents are going to be put into a team and a failed system that is going to need you to start producing immediately. They (and their fans) don't have time to wait for you to develop. Instead of playing and learning alongside your role models of Datsyuk and Crosby, it's going to be names like Tyler Ennis and Teddy Purcell. Not exactly awe-inspiring company for you to take your game to the highest level.

 But in Bizzarro World, you are a complimentary prize to the victors of the Holy Grail, the Stanley Cup. You are put into a system that wins. You are surrounded by talent much like yourself. Crosby had Lemieux, Datsyuk had Yzerman. At the very least, you could go to the losers of the Finals, a nice conciliatory prize for that bunch of overachievers who nearly beat the odds.

plus, you might be able to play hockey against a real-life Bruin. 

'But that just stacks an already-stacked team!' yelled one guy, although it was over the Internet and I had the volume turned down.

In our blessed era of Salary caps, it's near impossible to stack teams. Injuries, lucky streaks, a well-timed slap shot to the jaw can shatter your teeth and a team's playoff hopes.

And consider that all players can sign maximum entry level contracts for 3 years at a peak of $11 million (with bonuses) in total of those 3 years then it's a free-for-all. Market, salary cap, no-trade clauses dictate where you can decide to go. Chicago? Pretty hard with the large, long-term contracts of Toews, Kane, Hossa, Keith. Toronto may offer you double. Florida, triple. Does Detroit even want you?

Maybe he could work in the off-season as a delivery driver for this guy.

 But this won't happen. I get it. The NHL #1 pick is coveted by teams with no hope of winning actual games anymore, instead relying on the 'future' talents of a kid who can't buy himself an alcoholic drink anywhere he plays pro. Instead we have TSN and it's Lottery Watch. A side-show of opinions and talking heads putting odds on which loser team will choose you, as if you are some piece of cattle at an auction or more accurately, a raffle. They will give lip service to the idea of deliberately losing. Looking at you Nonis/Toronto and your 'interim head coach'. Put the guy out of his misery already....

It's not fair to that kid who worked his ass off to have to play on a team that finished dead last (but then again, $11 million isn't too shabby) and it's not fair to the concept of winning. Winners create winners and in order to change the status quo, relying on the talents of 19 year olds has proved to be a strategy that doesn't work in the short term, as evidenced in my previous list.