NHL mailbag: Hockey Hall of Fame leftovers, Stanley Cup Playoffs, draft

How would you fix the draft lottery? It’s clearly not working. Also, would you make any changes to the draft?

I couldn’t agree more with you. The lottery is designed to help the worst teams get better, yet that’s not what’s happening. I’d implement the Gold Drafting method. For those who aren’t familiar with it, it gives the teams who have the most points after being eliminated from the playoffs the highest draft picks.

This works for several reasons. First of all, the worst teams have the best chance to get the highest picks. Secondly, it discourages tanking. Thirdly, the lottery is stupid anyway, and the Gold Drafting method gets rid of it. The lone issue I have with it is there’s no drama involved and we all know the NHL loves drama. But that’s a relatively minor issue considering it fixes everything wrong with the draft lottery.

As far as the draft, I’d abolish it. There, I said it. The very idea of a draft is silly. Could you imagine studying at school for four years, getting your hopes up to work for a Fortune 500 company, and then being told you must work for an incompetent company that has no clue what they’re doing?

Now, abolishing the draft sounds crazy because it would create a massive free-agent market that the big market teams could exploit. We’ve seen what happens when the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, and New York Rangers are allowed to throw their money around.

So I’d set some guidelines. Make every player who would be eligible for the draft a free agent. Give each team a set amount of money they can spend on players. Personally, I’d give the worst teams a larger allowance because they need an advantage. Set maximum rookie contracts. Let players go where they want to go.

Abolishing the draft would be a bold decision, but if done correctly, it would be a good thing for everybody.