DetDannyWilliams
04-06-2014, 09:42 AM
Not surprisingly, the pomp and circumstance of the NHL Draft Lottery fails to appeal to a no-nonsense guy like Tim Murray.
“I’ll go up and sit in the room, they’ll pull cards, they’ll tell us who picks No. 1 and so forth,” said the Sabres’ general manager. “I just want to be told where we’re picking and get ready for that. That’s all. I could care less about the lottery.”
Buffalo’s fans have little else to look forward to, so the April 15 event will garner significant attention. The Sabres will finish last this season, which means they’ll get the best chance at winning the lottery and drafting first overall June 27 in Philadelphia.
Before we move on to the rumored changes to future lotteries, here’s a refresher on the present format:
• All 14 teams that miss the playoffs are entered into a weighted lottery to determine the first pick.
• The 30th-place team has a 25 percent chance of winning, while the 29th-place team has an 18.8 percent chance. The odds dwindle to 0.5 percent for the team that finishes 17th.
• The rest of the first round is conducted in reverse order of finish, so no team can move down more than one spot.
“Whatever happens in the lottery happens,” Murray said. “We’re going to be picking first or second, so we’ve got to be prepared for that, and we will be.”
What Murray isn’t preparing for is a change to the lottery system.
The 2015 draft will be top heavy with franchise forwards Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel, and rumors recently flew that the NHL would take significant steps to discourage tanking next season. Reports suggested the league might use a lottery process for the first five picks, or it would base the lottery odds on teams’ performances over the last three to five seasons.
Since the Sabres are expected to be near the bottom again next year, fans didn’t take kindly to the proposed changes. Murray doesn’t expect any changes, based on his talks around the league.
“We’ve all heard that talk of the five-team, five-year rotation, things like that, but there’s been really no appetite to do that,” Murray said. “They don’t think there’s any appetite right now to change it. I believe if there is an appetite to change it, if they’re going to make a drastic change, it has to be something like three to five years out so it doesn’t affect somebody that’s in that position now.
“From what I understand, they’re not worried about tanking for McDavid and Eichel.”
As for this year’s draft, Murray said there are four players in the conversation to be drafted at the top. The GM will meet with the scouting department in May to determine who should head the Sabres’ list.
http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/inside-the-nhl/inside-the-nhl-murray-sees-no-change-coming-in-lottery-20140405
“I’ll go up and sit in the room, they’ll pull cards, they’ll tell us who picks No. 1 and so forth,” said the Sabres’ general manager. “I just want to be told where we’re picking and get ready for that. That’s all. I could care less about the lottery.”
Buffalo’s fans have little else to look forward to, so the April 15 event will garner significant attention. The Sabres will finish last this season, which means they’ll get the best chance at winning the lottery and drafting first overall June 27 in Philadelphia.
Before we move on to the rumored changes to future lotteries, here’s a refresher on the present format:
• All 14 teams that miss the playoffs are entered into a weighted lottery to determine the first pick.
• The 30th-place team has a 25 percent chance of winning, while the 29th-place team has an 18.8 percent chance. The odds dwindle to 0.5 percent for the team that finishes 17th.
• The rest of the first round is conducted in reverse order of finish, so no team can move down more than one spot.
“Whatever happens in the lottery happens,” Murray said. “We’re going to be picking first or second, so we’ve got to be prepared for that, and we will be.”
What Murray isn’t preparing for is a change to the lottery system.
The 2015 draft will be top heavy with franchise forwards Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel, and rumors recently flew that the NHL would take significant steps to discourage tanking next season. Reports suggested the league might use a lottery process for the first five picks, or it would base the lottery odds on teams’ performances over the last three to five seasons.
Since the Sabres are expected to be near the bottom again next year, fans didn’t take kindly to the proposed changes. Murray doesn’t expect any changes, based on his talks around the league.
“We’ve all heard that talk of the five-team, five-year rotation, things like that, but there’s been really no appetite to do that,” Murray said. “They don’t think there’s any appetite right now to change it. I believe if there is an appetite to change it, if they’re going to make a drastic change, it has to be something like three to five years out so it doesn’t affect somebody that’s in that position now.
“From what I understand, they’re not worried about tanking for McDavid and Eichel.”
As for this year’s draft, Murray said there are four players in the conversation to be drafted at the top. The GM will meet with the scouting department in May to determine who should head the Sabres’ list.
http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/inside-the-nhl/inside-the-nhl-murray-sees-no-change-coming-in-lottery-20140405