When Losing Becomes Winning

When does losing in sports, professional sports specifically, start to become better for the franchise than winning does?  Is such a thing really even possible?  Fans get upset, ticket sales decrease, overall interest wanes ... but at some point does losing become beneficial?

At the beginning of the Avalanche's epic collapse I was upset with each loss the team suffered.  At the time it started they were right in the thick of the playoff race.  Two months later the Avalanche had managed just one win in those nearly 60 days falling from playoff possibility to 2nd last in the entire league.  They have won their last two games now, both in shootouts, pulling to 28th in the league rather than 29th, but the season is nearly over and the playoffs have long been out of the picture.

Near the end of this extended slump I began looking at the players available at this year's draft.  There are plenty of great players, and it is always a crap shoot in the draft, especially the NHL draft where you draft for the future not the now, but generally the very cream of the crop is a pretty safe bet to be pretty good at the next level.  In looking at those available it appears that this year, much like the year that the Avs managed to get Duchene, there is a top 3 in the draft, then a bunch of players a tier below them, and then the tiers drop off as they normally would.  Thus during the end of this slump seeing the Avalanche loose and seeing the other teams at the bottom of the ladder winning didn't really hurt.  I didn't root for them to lose and never would, it just didn't upset me to see them losing like it would normally.

Now it is entirely possible the Avalanche continue to slump and end up drafting one of these top 3 players who will add to the future of the team, but it is also entirely possible that they win some games in the last couple of weeks and end up drafting in the tier below the "big 3".  So while I will never root against them winning and I always want to see the team do well, is it better for the future of the franchise if the team while playing well and being competitive doesn't win "too much" and stays in that bottom three?  Is this a case where losing is actually winning in sports ... perhaps not for the team this year but for the team in future years?

I fully believe that with better health next season (the Avalanche had a ton of injuries in key positions all year), and a couple of added pieces especially in goal and perhaps with a Pitkinan type to replace Foote should he retire the Avalanche will be a good team next season.  However this season they aren't going to be playing beyond the regular season so is getting one of the top tier prospects better for the team going forward than winning a few more games this year and getting a prospect from what scouts consider "the next tier down"?  I myself am torn because I want the team to win but I also want them to get the best players available going forward as well...