Reading the Peter Dorion interview over on The 6th Sens this morning in which the depth of the upcoming draft class is mentioned, and it got me to thinking: is there any other season in which I’d rather see the Senators tank for a high pick?

I mean, why the hell not? My interest in hockey has never really been lower. (My girlfriend noted the other day how I suddenly spend my evenings reading books, learning another language, staying fit, and she wondered what had happened. I realized it’s that I’m not spending every other night watching four hours of television in a bar and slowly drinking myself to death.) When the season finally gets rolling it’ll be yet another tainted “season with an asterisk” next to it. Even in the best case scenario, this gong-show of a league has alienated the hell out of all of us.

It’s true that maybe Ottawa’s veterans, the Alifies and Gonchars of the world, can benefit from the shortened season. Maybe the stars will align and our injury prone players, the Regins and Latendresses, can stay out of the field hospital. And I’ll take a strong showing with an asterisk over nothing. But then again, if there’s a season when I’d like to see Ottawa get another top five pick, it’s this one. After all, we’ll only need to put in a half-season’s worth of sucking to get there.

In which case, let’s find those expiring contracts a new home and get ourselves some picks! Gonchar would look great playing terribly for the Capitals or Penguins.