More Bad Teams Should Be Tanking

When the NHL trade deadline arrives, there are buyers and sellers. If you're unlucky enough to root for a seller, all you want is to see players that have no future with the organization traded for draft picks and younger players that do have a future. In essence, people are accepting the fact that for a team to get better down the road, it has to get worse now. Yet, for some reason, people are passionately against tanking, which is playing for the future in its purest, most righteous form.

Consider what, at its core, tanking is: It's coming to the realization that a group of players is nowhere near good enough and even downright terrible, and the only way to improve is by getting worse. It's like Jack Donaghy's advice to Liz Lemon during the fourth season of 30 Rock:

"Lemon, let me tell you a little story. It was 1994, and I was ice climbing when I fell into a crevasse and hurt my leg. There was only one way out, so fighting every natural instinct I have, I did the thing I hated the most. I climbed down into the darkness. And when I came back to camp, I went to the person who cut my line and said, 'Connie Chung, you saved my life.'"

Only the truly brave teams climb down into the darkness, and they should be heralded, not shamed. They have the guts to do what is necessary while other teams continue to give their fan bases false hope with playoff pushes that conclude eight points short of the postseason every year.

What is selling assets at the trade deadline but a mild form of tanking? If that team knew at the beginning of the season where it would be at the trade deadline, instead of giving up with six weeks to go, the prudent, responsible thing to do would be to tank right out of the gate with six months to go.

You know who agrees with those who demonize the beautiful art of tanking? The NHL, that's who.

The NHL tweaked its draft lottery for the 2012-13 season, probably not coincidentally after the Oilers had the first pick in the previous three seasons and owned the worst record twice and finished 29th the year they won the lottery. The NHL adjusted again before last season and it did nothing to prevent tanking—at least not by the smart teams—as the Buffalo Sabres, Arizona Coyotes and arguably the Toronto Maple Leafs spent most of the 2014-15 campaign sticking their fingers down their throats and vomiting on their sweaters in an effort to land Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel.

Not only was there mass puking that rivaled the pie-eating scene from Stand By Me, it all happened despite the NHL changing its lottery odds so the worst team in the league had its chance of picking first reduced from 25 to 20 percent. Credit to Tim Murray and Don Maloney, as they realized if a 20 percent chance is the best chance at the top pick, it's, well, the best chance.

It should be every NHL team's right to tank harder than Rachel Phelps in 1989 with the Cleveland Indians. The NHL is a business with millions of dollars at stake, yet the league tells its multi-millionaires and billionaires they are not allowed to run their businesses as they see fit. Sorry, rich guys, but if you feel climbing down into the darkness is the best strategy for your team, we are going to alter the playing field to help those that aren't smart enough to do the same.

Not that we should be looking to the NFL for guidance on most things, but it's the most profitable sports league in the world. Then consider that it has literally zero care if the Jacksonville Jaguars finish in dead last every year. Pick first all you want, guys. If you feel like that's the best course of action for competing with teams that have more talent, you do you.

Is tanking right for every non-playoff team? Of course not. Nearly one third of the league is within three points of 30th place and those 20 percent odds, but the Columbus Blue Jackets and Calgary Flames already have their young cores in place and it's more important for them to learn how to win than endure a season of grueling losses and the bad habits that can piggyback on those.

But the Leafs, who are in the first year of their rebuild? Or the Carolina Hurricanes, who have a few young pieces in place but won't officially start fresh until Eric Staal and Cam Ward are expunged from the roster? As the season progresses, more teams will join the tank party, as long as they are assessing themselves honestly.

Is it worth it, though, with the NHL again implementing new lottery rules for 2016, to tank? With the top three picks now subject to the drawing of lottery balls, thus no longer guaranteeing the worst team a top-two pick, is it still worth it for some teams to fight for that 20 percent?

Yes, haven't you been reading? If a 20 percent chance at Auston Matthews is the best chance there is, and it's nearly twice as good as the 11.5 percent odds you'd get for finishing 28th, then you should strongly consider investing in a tank.

Embrace the tank. Love the tank. Become one with the tank.

If you think fans won't come along and ride the tank with you, remember that that Sabres fans were loudly cheering for Coyotes goals during a home game in late March last season and jumped out of their seats when the Coyotes won it in overtime. While the Sabres may never admit it, their roster on opening night was a white flag on a season that was destined to go nowhere. Fans saw it, welcomed it with opened arms and have been rewarded with Eichel and a little thing that made the 2014-15 season's daily kick in the stomach worth it—hope.

That's what the lottery lovers and tanking detractors are trying to take from fans of destitute teams.

No one cared when Marc-Andre Fleury, Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal were picked first in 2004 and 2005 and second in 2003 and 2006 by the Pittsburgh Penguins. No one cared that the Chicago Blackhawks chose Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane third and first, respectively, in 2006 and 2007.

But now the Oilers stink again like a rotting corpse in a poorly ventilated apartment during an August heat wave and people are complaining about No. 1 picks and the process that awards them.

Ban the lottery. Make like Pierce Brosnan in GoldenEye and drive that tank over everything that stands in your way.

Climb down into the darkness. If you're a general manager, become the Connie Chung to your fans. They'll thank you for it.