Detroit has blue chip prospects at every position, and they did so without scorching their entire core. Edvinsson, Seider, Raymond, Cossa are great building blocks, and the “b-level” prospects such as Wallinder, Sebrango, Berggren are great too. Pretty crazy to believe they amassed all these assets without trading away the likes of Larkin, Bertuzzi, Vrana/Mantha. It’s still early days for them, and I expect them to add more blue chip prospects and with the guidance from Yzerman be able to insulate them and put the pieces together to contend.
New Jersey really reminds me of basement dwelling NYR before they became competitive out of nowhere. They have a set of established players that are elite, and a great set of high end forwards. I really do think they will turn it around the fastest if they do it the right way. The pieces are there, and they have the advantage of not being in the Atlantic.
Hughes/Hischier is a great 1/2, Mercer is awesome, and that’s adding to Hamilton, Bratt, etc.
Ottawa basically are at the point where our core is essentially built. It’s going to be a prove it or move it phase soon. Pinto, Sanderson, Greig, Soogard, Sokolov, etc are reinforcements that are coming as soon as next year. And the emergence of Kastelic, Kelly on the fourth line are great. I really do think we have a good chance with turnover to really be a bubble team.
Buffalo, there really isn’t much to say here. Blue chip prospects everywhere and running Dahlin/Power on the backend for the next decade with Cozens/Thompson/Krebs down the middle is pretty scary to be completely honest. Still hate them for taking Peterka when that should’ve been the slam dunk pick for Senators though.
In terms of quickness:
1. Devils
Established pros, the most polished team, advantage of not being in the Atlantic and it’s hard to go against Hughes/Hischier down the middle
2. Senators
We’re going to be adding a lot of players into the mix next year, and our players are going to take the next step next year. A full year of Stützle at his current play is franchise changing.
3. Buffalo
Too many prospects and high end talent, especially from the back end to not succeed. Unfortunately they just don’t have the pro personnel that the other teams have to bolster them.
4. Red Wings
It feels absolutely criminal to have them last, they have my favourite crop of prospects. I think them being behind in terms of length of rebuild hurts them here. Seider/Stützle are probably going to be the most effective players out of the teams.
