The NHL World Draft - the Warnsy System

 We held our annual Team 1200 hockey pool last night. As always, I am deeply in love with the team I chose and excited for the season ahead. It got me thinking how cool it would be if the NHL tried it. Like Seinfeld says, with all the player movement now, we aren't really cheering for players anymore. It's more about the jersey now. So basically we're cheering for their laundry.

So, I give you - the NHL World Draft!

Think of it. The 30 general managers sit down at a giant table and do a 23 round draft. Pitchers of beer with plates of fish and chips (what I had last night) are optional. Trash talk is encouraged. “Nice pick, Burkie! That player's older and fatter than you!”

Think how compelling that broadcast would be, watching your team completely overhauled in one night. These are the rules.

The Draft Board for the Warnsy Draft - Stating the Obvious

I'll let each GM protect 3 players of their choosing. Then every hockey player in the world, 18 or older, is made available in the NHL World draft. Golf has its Stableford System. We'll call this something random like, I don't know...let's say, the Warnsy System.

The Warnsy System has its own salary structure. Each player gets a one year deal. You must pay the player entirely based upon the round he was chosen.

1. Your 3 protected core players each get 6 million dollars for the coming season. In total, there would be 90 protected core players in the NHL – the true superstars, the ones we pay to see, all playing at the top of their game right now.
2. A team's first 3 picks in the draft get 3 million each. That leaves the top 180 players on the planet extremely well paid. Now we're into the pool of guys no one is truly very excited about.
3. The next 10 guys drafted get 1 million each.
4. The bottom 10 get $500k.

No cap. No floor. A 42 million dollar payroll investment for everyone. No more long term contracts for stiffs like Scott Gomez that continue to haunt teams. Play well and you move up in the draft the following year. Play poorly and you plummet accordingly. The NHL World Draft is followed up with a second draft for your farm clubs and then you're done.

Admittedly, you'll have to lock the players out for at least two years to accomplish this. It's also tough on families of players who aren't core players. But they're paid well for their trouble and the roots they put down in an NHL city are never very strong anyway. Any idea how many Senators are left from the '07 Cup final?  Four.  (corrected)

Shuffle the deck! Freshen it up! Keep costs down. It's so crazy it might just work. Hey, they laughed at Columbus (just like we do in the NHL) when he said the world was round.

Or maybe these are just the ideas that pop into your head when you're a fan of a team with no scoring and now entering phase one of what appears to be a long rebuilding process. Sigh.