That brings me to the one change that I'd consider. I would be willing to entertain the idea of NHL Coins a team that wins the lottery one year would not be eligible for the first overall pick the following year. Over the last few years, we've seen major-impact players at No. 1 -- and this trend looks like it's going to continue. The player pool is simply getting better across the board. More often, teams who pick No. 1 overall are getting a significant piece for their foundation. I wouldn't mind seeing that spread around a bit more so that the Edmonton scenario doesn't happen again.

It's painfully na?ve and it fails to address why bad hockey teams are in the draft lottery to begin with, which is that they're bad hockey teams. Bad teams aren't suddenly going to become competent teams just because the top pick is at stake. If they could, they wouldn't be in the lottery. So you end up penalizing teams that need the help the most, which is sorta the whole point of the draft.