NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said he wants the draft lottery system to “be pure and have integrity, which it does, but when you see the result last night, there’s no incentive in our game to lose to get a better pick.” Appearing on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Bettman noted the fifth team moved up to the first slot, and the ninth team ranked in terms of reverse order of the standings from the regular season “moved up to the second slot.” Bettman: “If you lose more, it doesn’t necessarily assure of anything.” He added it “may increase your odds a little, but not enough that’s anybody’s perceived to have an incentive to lose.” He thinks that is the “most important thing both for the draft and leading up to it at the end of the regular season.” In talking about going back to the playoff format of 1 to 8 seed, Bettman said they have “worked really well in terms of the series that develop, in terms of how the playoffs play out, in terms of the races to get into the playoffs with the wild card, our regular season goes down to the wire for virtually all of our clubs.” Bettman: “From our standpoint, mine at least, I think it’s working well and I don’t see the need for a change but we always talk about everything, because if there are things we can do to tweak what we have and make it better, we’re not adverse to at least considering it” (“The Pat McAfee Show,” 5/6).
