Bettman says NHL teams are 'too professional' to tank

Even with the NHL looking to make changes to its draft lottery system, commissioner Gary Bettman still doesn't believe that tanking occurs in the National Hockey League. It seems unlikely to him that teams have intentionally played poorly to obtain better picks.

"There are some clubs who recently think it's important that the teams that are struggling the most get the most help. There are other teams ... that think there is nothing wrong with the present system at all," Bettman said to media via Zoom Thursday. "I don't believe there's tanking in the game. I think our players, and our organizations, our coaches, are too professional."

Although this may be true, it seems intriguing that the league would have to change their lottery rules to make sure one team does not get too many high picks. The league's board of directors recently proposed some changes that would include limiting teams to no more than two lottery wins in a five-year span, not allowing clubs to jump more than 10 spots, and reducing picks in the lottery from three to two.

It seems likely that the NHL Draft will be held in July, even though most of the league's general managers were in favor of postponing this year's draft. The last time the league adjusted the lottery's rules was in 2016, when the top three picks were available to non-playoff teams instead of just the first overall selection.

Although more changes are coming to the lottery system, Bettman thinks only minor changes are needed for the current system: "Yes there's been an anomaly or two here and there, but the system wasn't necessarily crying out for major change," Bettman said. "I think these adjustments are more in the form of tweaks than anything else."

Source: The Score

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