I say we "Dive for a Top 5"!!!!!

[irish]

Originally Posted by IrMitchell

Wrong. The Pittsburgh Penguins 100% gave up for Lemieux. It's a very known thing in the hockey world that crappy teams get reminded about every year.

The ironic part is that Lemieux was a generational hockey talent, well some argue a better talent than Wayne Gretzky prior to when he suffered cancer.. Is Andrew Luck a generational quarterback talent?

I lived in Pgh at this time and the team was so bad it was difficult to tell how much they were "giving up". The organization knew they had to get ML to keep the franchise alive in Pgh (the rumor was they were going to Hamilton ON) and while it never seemed like they overtly tanked games there was definitely a sense of understanding that losing was more beneficial than winning.

I find it hard to believe that pros could be talked into tanking games for the sake of the team getting a higher draft pick. These pros are much more concerned with keeping thier bonafides intact so when the time comes they can catch on with another team.