The Dive for Top Five and Ruffled Feathers

There are two options in professional sports. Win or go home. There are, according to Vince Lombardi, no moral victories. Feeling good about your performance is not good enough. It's not how you played the game, it's whether you win or lose. It's harsh, it's cruel, it is bitter, but it is also 100% fact. That said, pro sports also offer a wonderfully bittersweet point in time when a team is eliminated from the post season, but there are still games to play.

What is the right thing to do here? Win? Lose? Lose with grace? Let's discuss.

Win Baby, Win

The camp of those wanting the Wild to win are well represented. The team, the staff, the players, the coaches, and some pretty die hard fans are all in this camp. Here are the arguments I have seen thus far:

Lose Baby, Lose

Does a Lower Finish Result in a Better Pick?

Here are the top ten picks from 2000-2009. We didn't include 2010 or 2011, because who knows who is any good at this point?

Who is better than whom on these lists can be left open to debate. Some years, the top five pick seems like a sure bet. Other years, HWSRN walks in and draft Pouliot. Is Koivu is better than the players taken above him? At least one, to be sure.

Each side will claim victories off of this list, but look at it not as a hit or miss situation. Think of it as "how do I best increase my odds?" Everything in life is hit or miss. The best you can do is hope the odds are on your side and you make the right choice. A higher pick has more options attached to it. It ensures the guy you want is the guy you get. After all, the draft is full of d-men, but the top forwards will go in the top five.

If they want a forward, they need a top five pick. Otherwise, it comes down to the crap shoot on which d-man is going to develop best. Certainly, they all look good now, so which one do you take? A top five pick gives you the pick of the litter.

A top five pick is valuable. Think of the trade possibilities. Trade down and add extra picks. Trade for a player with real impact. Use it as part of a package for a franchise player already in the league. A top ten pick also has value, but not as much as a top five. Top five is platinum level, top ten is gold. Both are good, one is better.

The End Result

The end all, be all of this is that no matter which side you are on, you are arguing for the same thing. The health of the franchise. No one is right, no one is wrong. Two paths to (hopefully) the same result. You just have to ask yourself which is more important, a couple extra wins in a season that is over, or slightly better odds at a franchise draft pick.

The choice is yours, and no one is going to tell you that choice is wrong.*

*offer not available anywhere there are trolls