I'm just throwing this out there ... and not sure if I'm re-hashing an old discussion. I understand that teams are rebuilding, and I also understand that the league has a lottery in place. However, there are quite a few teams leaving their better players ... including their starting goaltenders ... on the bench for the majority of the season.
I get it ... I've been there managing a non-playoff team. But this not only impacts the teams at the bottom of the standings, it also impacts the integrity of the entire league. For example, a few weeks ago ... my Pens had a god-awful week. We only scored 51 points, yet we were "lucky" enough to play 3 teams that were tanking, so still went 3-1 for the week. That's the difference between my Pens currently being in 2nd place in the Metro as opposed to fighting it out for a Wild Card spot.
I'm not suggesting flogging as punishment for tanking.
But if someone goes into a full season with their entire goal to set their lineup to finish with the worst record in the league, I'd propose some sort of "lottery penalty".
And I know this wouldn't be easy to enforce, and owners screw up daily moves all the time ... even the better teams. So I'm not suggesting that if someone forgets to start a player for a few games, that their be a penalty for that. But if someone buries their #1 goalie on the bench for a month ... for example ... that just doesn't sit well with me.
Anyway, just a thought.
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Halloween