Sarah McLellan

azcentral sports

Only four games – less than a week’s worth of work – separate the Coyotes from the offseason, an expiration date that was confirmed last week when the team was officially eliminated from postseason contention.

That leaves not much at stake during this season-ending road trip that begins Monday in St. Louis against the Blues except for pride, individual accomplishments and the opportunity to audition for future jobs.

But captain Shane Doan has an idea that could enhance the significance of remaining games for non-playoff teams.

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And his plan would probably wipe out the perception of tanking that occasionally floats around the NHL.

“The day you’re mathematically eliminated, you start accumulating points,” Doan said. “When you get to the end of the year, whoever’s accumulated the most points gets the first overall pick.”

This concept was born during a conversation Doan had with a friend amid the league’s most-recent lockout that nixed the first half of the 2012-13 season.

It resonated even more with Doan a year ago when the Coyotes tumbled down the standings to a 29th overall finish – the franchise’s worst performance since it relocated from Winnipeg to Arizona in 1996.

“My son (Josh) is literally the biggest Coyotes fan that you’ll ever meet,” Doan said. “He lives, breathes – he, until very recently, would be physically upset when we lost, and it’d break your heart. And I remember him cheering after games, being mad, but being happy we lost – like cheering against us. And it was awful, and I hated it and I thought it was the stupidest thing in the world because here’s a guy who’s the most passionate Coyotes fan cheering against us.”

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There was an incentive for losing last season, the ability to draft generational talent Connor McDavid, and Coyotes fans weren’t the only ones who recognized that opportunity. Arizona was openly cheered in Buffalo in a late-March game as some Sabres fans clamored for the chance to land McDavid, who eventually went to the Oilers.

“The second you start convincing someone to cheer against you, you’re one step closer to losing them as a fan,” Doan said.

All draft picks for non-playoff teams would be awarded from most to fewest points, and the same point system currently used would apply; so would the tiebreaking procedures.

“It’s been mentioned to a few people at the league,” Doan said. “The amazing part is everyone’s response is, ‘Oh, that’s a great idea,’ but it never goes anywhere.”

The NHL has used a draft lottery since 1995, but this year’s event on April 30 is changing so that a lottery decides the top three picks instead of only the No.1 selection.

Doan would rather start counting points once a team’s eliminated instead of beginning at a fixed number like with 10 or 12 games remaining to ensure the worst teams still have an advantage.

“It’s important the weaker teams do get the opportunity to get better,” he explained. “That’s the reason why you have a draft, so the weaker teams can get better.”

Some parameters still need to be fine-tuned, like what happens when a team that’s been eliminated has already traded away its first-round pick.

Perhaps that pick becomes protected, or Doan suggests a team that doesn’t own a first-rounder has to land in the top-five to have a chance to also pick in the top-five the following season – motivation to still win despite not having a pick.

Doan doesn’t anticipate teams trying to lose to become eliminated so they can start earning points because the playoffs are the No.1 objective. But if they do bow out early, they’ll still have to win games to avoid being surpassed by another team.

“It’s going to hold you accountable to the fact that you’re going to have to find ways to keep winning,” he said.

With all of the Canadian clubs eliminated for the first time in 46 years, Doan figures the format would have been “unbelievable” for this season.

“You can’t tell me that people in Edmonton wouldn’t be watching what the people in Toronto are doing,” he said. “And the people in Toronto would be cheering like everything against the people in Edmonton.”

Front offices and coaching staffs might not have a problem embracing this idea since the future matters to them, but it’s fair to ask what’s in it for players – especially those on expiring contracts.

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Doan has an answer for that, too.

“It’s going to give you an opportunity to showcase what you can do,” he said. “ … If a coach is playing you in a situation where they need to win and they’re playing you, that goes huge in the summer and for other teams.”

Player performances become more credible, the value of first-round picks could soar and the integrity of the sport is upheld while making the action count for everyone, including fans, from Game 1 to 82.

And that’s what really matters to Doan.

“You should always be cheering for your team or have something to look forward to in your team, and so I’ve been a big proponent of this system and trying to give your team something to play for because it’s something every fan could be behind you,” he said. “These next (four) games would be huge for us, huge for us, because you’d have the ability to dictate where you’re going to be. Your coaches would be coaching to win. Your management would be managing to win, and there’d be immense pressure to keep winning and it’d help you.”

Reach the reporter at sarah.mclellan@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8276. Follow her at twitter.com/azc_mclellan.

Monday's game

Coyotes at Blues

When: 5 p.m.

Where: Scottrade Center, St. Louis.

TV/radio: FSAZ Plus/KTAR-AM (620).

Coyotes update: Center Martin Hanzal, who’s day-to-day with an upper-body injury, didn’t travel with the team to St. Louis.

Blues update: With a second-place spot in the Central Division, the Blues are headed to the postseason for a fifth consecutive season. They were in Colorado Sunday to take on the Avalanche and are 7-4 in the second game of a back-to-back this season. Last Tuesday, the Blues’ shutout streak ended at 258 minutes and 29 seconds – a franchise record – in a 3-1 win over the Avalanche. In their following game, the Blues surrendered six to the Bruins in a loss. Entering Sunday’s game, winger Vladimir Tarasenko led the team with 36 goals and 67 points. Center Paul Stastny carried a four-game point streak into that game, a span in which he tallied seven points.