It is universally agreed that the 2015 NHL draft’s Connor McDavid has franchise-player potential, and he’s probably the most important draft prospect since Sidney Crosby in 2005.
It is further agreed that NHL teams have a nasty habit of sabotaging themselves when the chance to land that kind of player becomes available.
The league was worried enough about the trend that, in late August, it announced significant reforms to the draft lottery process, all designed to prevent its member clubs from tanking to land an especially attractive draft prospect.
Those changes may well be important later in the year as teams find themselves well outside playoff contention, but the ironic thing this summer is that there isn’t much evidence that clubs are setting themselves up to fail.
A quick survey of the NHL’s worst teams from 2013-14 shows a series of clubs pushing hard to better themselves.
In Buffalo, where the Sabres are still early in a rebuilding process, general manager Tim Murray has not been idle.
Up front, pricey veterans like Matt Moulson and Brian Gion ...
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Article written by Jonathan Willis
Should More NHL Teams Be Setting Up to Tank for Connor McDavid?
September 1st, 2014 by Jonathan Willis Leave a reply »
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