Coyotes' Tippett refutes tanking speculation: 'Coaches and players don't play for draft picks'

The Arizona Coyotes have the second-worst record in the NHL, but head coach Dave Tippett said the team isn't tanking to secure a chance at selecting Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel with one of the top two draft picks in June.

"That's your guys' hype, not our hype," he told Craig Morgan of FOX Sports Arizona.

"I think they've talked about it a lot more in Buffalo than we have here in Arizona. For us, we have a lot of players that are playing for jobs; they're not playing for draft picks. Coaches and players don't play for draft picks. I think players are just focused on playing well and coaches are worried about coaching well."

The Coyotes are 22-44-8 with eight games remaining. Their total of 52 points is greater than only that of the Buffalo Sabres, who hold the highest odds of winning the first overall pick at the moment.

"Losing sucks," Tippett said. "You're in this business to win. When you don't win, it sucks."

Arizona snapped an eight-game losing streak with a 5-4 overtime win over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday.

Tippett insisted that players and coaches only have one goal, regardless of the circumstances.

"You go into a game thinking 'how am I going to play well enough to win?'" he said. "You don't go into a game thinking, 'how am I going to play badly so we lose?'" 

The Coyotes play the Sabres two more times before the regular season concludes, but they also face the San Jose Sharks twice, as well as the Anaheim Ducks, Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames and Pittsburgh Penguins.

- With h/t to Yahoo Sports