There has been a lot of talk about tanking in both the NBA and the NHL this year - a lot more than usual. The Philadelphia 76ers started it all in the basketball world with a brazen and unapologetic devotion to losing as many games as possible to build for their future. Phil Jackson's current and former teams aren't being as calculated, but the Knicks and Lakers have been more than a little effective at losing. The Timberwolves aren't crying when they lose, either. In the NHL this year's draft has potentially two transformational players atop the draft - Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel. Buffalo has been every bit as committed to getting one of those two as the Sixers have been to losing, and Arizona, Edmonton and Toronto haven't been looking to win with any real conviction for quite a while now, either.

When teams are tanking a lot of people have emotional reactions to it - like the teams aren't acting ethically or playing fairly or something. A lot of public bettors who have that reaction will also assume that teams with bad records are automatically tanking. In both the NBA and NHL, though, there are teams that have struggled but are still playing fairly strong down the stretch. Being able to differentiate from the true tankers and the teams that are playing better than their records can be a great way for bettors to find some late-season value. Here are two teams from each league that may look like tankers but really aren't:

Columbus Blue Jackets: This is perhaps the most extreme example you could find. The Blue Jackets came into the season with reasonably high expectations. They were hit impossibly hard by injuries, though - to key players and pretty much everyone else on two skates - and their season was lost months ago. They could easily have given up at that point - squads like New Jersey and Toronto used adversity as an excuse to play really bad hockey. Instead, they are all but unbeatable with 12 wins in their last 13. Sergei Bobrovsky is the leading cause of the success. The goalie had been one of the many injured players, but he has been a wall lately. When he is this good then the team responds and plays with added confidence. Guys like Scott Hartnell and Nick Foligno are playing great hockey in front of him, too. This team is hurting their draft lottery position, but they don't care. They know they are a much better team than this record suggests, and they are looking towards their bright future - and not relying on a hot 18 year old to get them to where they want to be. This team has four games left, and you can be sure that they would love nothing more than to finish off on a 13-0 run.

Carolina Hurricanes: It's a lost season for the Hurricanes yet again. A lost decade, really. There are a few things to like about this team but not enough to get excited about. Despite their plentiful issues they are playing decent hockey. Not great, but decent - and just a few breaks away from being quite good. They have just four wins in their last 11 games, but they also have three overtime losses in that stretch. That means that they have secured points in seven of 11. Pretty respectable. Part of the driving force has been the return to form of captain Eric Staal. He is not having a great year, but with eight points in his last seven games he is playing his best hockey of the year and leading the way for his squad.

Detroit Pistons: The Pistons are a very streaky team. This year they won nine of 10 at one time, and they also have losing streaks of 10 and 13 games to their credit. Despite never really being relevant this season, they are looking to close out their season on one of the hotter stretches. They have won six of their last nine games, including surprising victories over playoff teams like Atlanta, Toronto, and the Bulls. Andre Drummond is playing well to lead the way lately with 15 rebounds and 18 points per game over those nine games. Reggie Jackson has also really enjoyed his change of scenery since leaving Oklahoma City and was strong through March and into April. This is far from a good team as of yet, and Stan Van Gundy still has a whole lot of changes to make before he has a contender on his hands, but they are at least finishing with solid play.

Utah Jazz: I was very skeptical of the choice of Quin Snyder as head coach before this season. To his credit, while I am still not on his bandwagon, and likely will never be, I am no longer convinced he is a hopeless disaster in this role. On Feb. 6 this team lost to drop to 17-33. Since then they have gone 17-9 and have won three of their last four games. That has happened despite being a seller at the trade deadline, too. They still have plenty of issues - Dante Exum is offensively incompetent, Trey Burke is in a seemingly endless shooting slump, and so on. Rudy Gobert has been excellent now that Enes Kanter is out of town, though, and the team is still playing hard despite a playoff hunt that ended about as soon as it started.

Read more articles by Trevor Whenham