Professional Football Researchers Association Forum
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sheajets wrote:Always think of the NHL Penguins when it comes to tanking. Not only did it give them a legendary player, but both times it pretty much saved the franchise.
1984, the Penguins out tank the New Jersey Devils and land Mario Lemieux. The Devils played the year honestly and were richly rewarded with decades of success in the future, the Penguins got an all time legend who led them to back to back Cups and eventually became an owner. In 2003-2004 they tank again in an attempt to snare one of the next all time greats, Sidney Crosby. They finish with the worst record in the league by 1 point. However with the 04-05 season cancelled due to a lockout, the league decides on a lottery for Crosby...Penguins were given the best odds and got him, likely saving the franchise once again.
What the Pens did wasn't nearly as bad as what the Houston Rockets did that same year:
The Eagles 'won' the midseason "OJ Simpson Bowl" against the winless Steelers in 1968, but the Eagles messed up by winning two end-of-year games after starting 0-11, thus giving OJ Simpson to the 1-12-1 Buffalo Bills. The Eagles ended up with Leroy Keyes instead.
They traded an All-Star defenseman (Randy Carlyle) for practically nothing, and they brought a horrible goalie up from the minors late in the season. TSN Canada did a documentary about their tank called Playing to Lose.
Last edited by 7DnBrnc53 on Thu Nov 16, 2017 10:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
They traded an All-Star defenseman (Randy Carlyle) for practically nothing, and they brought a horrible goalie up from the minors late in the season. TSN Canada did a documentary about their tank called Nothing to Lose.
Vincent Tremblay.
They brought up guys who really looked like beer leaguers moonlighting as NHL players. Greg Tebutt, Dean Defazio, Darren Lowe, Rocky Saganiuk. These guys never saw NHL ice again after that year.
