‘Our teams don’t tank’: Bettman
Mediocre rebuild doesn’t work, NHL boss says
It was after they had traded their captain, their No. 1 goaltender and four other players that the Toronto Maple Leafs played a game last month with a lineup that included seven players who had been called up from the minors, including three who were making their NHL debut.
Even before t he puck dropped, it was a roster that seemed destined to lose. And for a last-place team, that was sort of the point.
But what the Leafs have been doing this year is nothing we haven’t seen before. They are following the same blueprint of bottoming out and securing a top draft pick that Edmonton, Buffalo and countless other teams have perfected in the past.
That’s not tanking, said commissioner Gary Bettman. It is simply the most effective way to get better in today’s NHL.
“Our teams don’t tank,” Bettman said in a one-on-one interview with Postmedia News Wednesday after the conclusion of the GM meetings. “If you’re a team that knows it’s not going to make the playoffs and you want to start focusing on the rebuild, you’re going to do certain things unrelated to the draft that are going to give you assets that are going to help you develop for the future.”
The worst thing a team can do, added Bettman, is tread water in the standings. It is where Toronto has spent most of the past decade. And it set the franchise back, while teams like Pittsburgh, Chicago and Los Angeles have bottomed out, drafted high and rebounded with championship teams.
“If you look back over teams, the mediocre rebuild doesn’t work,” said Bettman. “You tend to stay mediocre. Teams that restructure themselves and come back tend to get stronger.”
Of course, there are plenty other examples where teams have made a habit of bottoming out.
The Oilers have had the No. 1 pick in four of the last six drafts, while the Sabres finished last overall in each of the past two seasons. Both teams are currently in the bottom six in the standings with no guarantee that next year will be any different.
In those situations, the safety net of picking No. 1 is almost acting like an enabler.
It is for this reason there was some talk this week of preventing the same team from continually picking first overall. Nothing came of it. But general managers are hopeful that changes to this year’s format, which now features a draft lottery for the top 3 picks, will further discourage teams from remaining stagnant at the bottom.
“The beauty of a weighted lottery is there’s no incentive to doing anything other than win,” said Bettman. “We have a system that we think works.”
“There’s no incentive to lose now,” said Ottawa Senators general manager Bryan Murray. “The odds are no longer in your favour. The Toronto Maple Leafs, if they happen to be that team (that finishes last), have a 20 per cent chance of winning ( the lottery). Any guy that questions it now is wrong.”
It is still an advantage to be at the bottom of the standings, because the odds of winning are better and even if you don’t win you are guaranteed a top- 4 pick. Teams are still going to tank in hopes of landing a franchise player. And that’s OK, said some general managers.
“Does that change how we do business? Probably not,” said Sabres GM Tim Murray. “Does it change the perception of what we’re doing? Maybe it does.”
“You’ve got to be careful, because teams that are bad have to get better somehow,” said Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill. “So they do need to get the top players and stuff.”
For the Leafs, it means a guilt- free road back to respectability. The team has spun its tires for the past decade, but after trading Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf and stockpiling the cupboard with draft picks and prospects, there is a plan in place. That plan involved selecting in the top-5 last year and again this year and possibly again next year.
Eventually, it could lead to something special. “Look at what Toronto’s doing,” said Bettman. “I think they’ve decided that they need to regroup and ... they’re developing the young kids and they’re building for the future. I’m not an expert in putting teams together, but it’s clear that they have a plan and they’re sticking to it. And that’s the most important thing. You’ve got to have a plan and you’ve got to stick to it.”