Easier franchise to fix, Ottawa or Montreal?

[WJCJ]

I don't have much faith in either but Ottawa still has Karlsson to re=sign or to trade and I think that gives the the edge.

 

[Warden of the North]

I don't have much faith in either but Ottawa still has Karlsson to re=sign or to trade and I think that gives the the edge.

On the fip side Montreal has a high first this year and a likely high first next year too. Ottawa due to the disastrous Duchene trade does not have the same.

 

[Korpse]

People are saying “you just have to change the owner” like that is a simple trade people make.

The hard part is convincing Melnyk to sell. There's already potential buyers who are interested in a team in Ottawa and a new Downtown arena. Once reality hits Melnyk it's only a matter of time.

 

[DrJustice]

Montreal will always have a stable support financially and emotionally from the city and fanbase. The team is going to be given the leeway to bounce back by the fans and ownership, who I admitting don't know much about but that in of itself isn't a bad thing.

Ottawa lack stability form the ownership down. I'm not sure how long they will have to turn things around at this rate. I think the best thing for everyone would be for the owner to sell the team but rarely do you see that happen now a days without some scandal involved.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

Both hard ones... but Montreal is an easier fix as Ottawa became one of the biggest messes in NHL history. Last mess I could think of were the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2008-2010. The Edmonton Oilers are another mess that hasn't been truly been fixed since 2007.

The Sens have secretly been a mess for a majority of their franchise history that nobody took notice on. I think around the time Alfredsson arrived in Ottawa it began looking good, as well as Hossa and around the time they had traded Yashin. The reason they got lucky with Hossa is because that's what brought Dany Heatley there. If given the right owner that will keep the team in Ottawa, I think they could turn it right around. But otherwise, Ottawa is going to take a very long time to fix as they're bound to be a bigger mess than the Edmonton Oilers were as of recent years. Can't say how long as I thought the Oilers would be contenders by now.

Montreal will take quite some time, but I think they'll be a decently-good team again within six years.

It sucks it's mostly Canadian teams...

 

[WJCJ]

On the fip side Montreal has a high first this year and a likely high first next year too. Ottawa due to the disastrous Duchene trade does not have the same.

But if they trade Karlsson they will have a pretty good package coming their way. If they trade Hoffman they will have something good coming back. We'll see. I definitely wouldn't say anything is automatic with these teams right now.

One of the biggest setbacks for Montreal could be their GM. He has made some incredibly poor choices and it seems like there is a good chance that he keeps doing just that. Ottawa isn't much better.

Might as well flip a coin.

 

[HarrisonFord]

There are doubts that he even has the money or financing to make Lebreton happen. He’s toned down the talk and seems content with Kanata now.

The opposing Lebreton bid group were/are interested in buying the Sens. They’ll most likely have direct access to it if they get the team.

It’s negotiation tactics. Melnyk wants the government to pay for the environmental issues on the lebreton flats property (multi million dollar clean up cost), and the government wants Melnyk to pay for it

 

[Field of Dreams]

This has to be the hardest poll I've ever seen. I'm going to to defer for know, though I'm feeling Ottawa will be worse off long term

 

[jetsforever]

Ottawa still has the best defenceman in the league, along with some solid forwards
Montreal just has Price and Weber, both of whom are seemingly declining
Ottawa should be easier

 

[Snippit]

Ottawa has some very good prospects in the pipe line.

White, Formenton, Batherson, Brown, Chlapik...

I'll take them in spite of other issues.

 

[Hynh]

Don't rebuild.

They need centers. Get centers.

Don't rebuild? On this site? No. Always rebuild.

 

[Shad]

Don't rebuild? On this site? No. Always rebuild.

17 first overall picks in 6 years for the Oilers. REBUILD!

 

[kerrabria]

They're both impossible and quite easy to fix for different reasons.

Montreal is harder to fix, but there are fewer roadblocks. Ottawa has much better talent to work with, but there are locker room problems, trade value problems, cap, ownership, and arena issues all of which gives them enormous hurdles.

Montreal would be fine if a competent GM took over. They don't need to "rebuild." There's nothing for them to sell-off, they have very good young guys in Drouin, Domi, Mete, and they are already picking 3OA, so if you want them to "rebuild" then you already have your wish. People need to shut up about the Weber contract. He's not particularly overpaid, and he is still a 1D. He plays a game that will age fine, has an excellent leadership résumé, and can gavone minutes in all situations. Those qualities make him an excellent guy to have sheltering a young and developing D corps. If they trade Pacioretty for a 1st at the coming deadline, retain on Gallegher/Shaw and trade them for assets, and have the bad year resulting in a high pick we expect them to, they will be well on their way to a successful rebuild.

Ottawa is a mess because even if they were able to retain all of Karlsson, Hoffman, Duchene and Stone, that is not a Cup winning core. In the pipeline, Brown has struggled, White hasn't been impressive, and while Chabot looks great, they lack real talent coming up. Hypothetically they could trade Hoffman, Karlsson and Duchene (next year) for a haul of picks, prospects, and stop gap veterans to go through a speedy and well done rebuild a la Tornoto and (currently) NYR. Problem is that Karlsson and Hoffman's trade values have surely plummeted. And it's not like Melnyk has any plans to help the team out in any way. Throw on top of that they are a small market team with an older arena in a terrible location and have a furious fanbase...even going through a hypothetically successful rebuild might doom the team financially and make it all for not.

 

[greasysnapper]

Team Drama and Idiot owner vs. Stupid Cultural Restrictions and Bad GM


It's honestly a tough call. I keep going back and forth. Interesting question.

 

[M88K]

Ottawa needs a new owner, that would fix almost their entire problem.

Montreal needs, well, a lot to fix what is broken

 

[Isaac Nootin]

They don't need to "rebuild". There's nothing for them to sell-off, they have very good young guys in Drouin, Domi, Mete, and they are already picking 3OA, so if you want them to "rebuild" then you already have your wish. People need to shut up about the Weber contract.

Ummmm, what? That's a good rebuild, for an AHL team.

 

[93LEAFS]

Montreal. They at least can spend money to bring in the best possible people once they oust Bergevin. No one wants to work for Melnyk, and Melnyk doesn't want to pay the premium to bring top people in.

 

[bert]

Not to be too harsh, but MTL is just a dreadful team. It will take 7 years to properly rebuild and the key word is properly, whether or not MB is able to do that remains to be seen. However they're only bad.

While Ott has far more assets that could speed up the rebuild and good young players ready to come in their issue is they will never win with that owner, and now that their culture is a nightmare no one is going to want to be a part of that and there is no estimate for how long that will take to fix. Thus I think Ott is in the worse spot.

Both are just awful teams with the main issue stemming from incompetence at the top which is really unfortunate for the fans.

Accurate post on this situation in my opinion.

 

[Byron Bitz]

Ottawa has better talent in their system, however, I still think MTL has a better chance of fixing their mess due to their endless supply of money and ability to attract free agents. As incompetent as Bergevin is MTL still have way better non player personnel as Ottawa has fewer employees than any other team in the league.

 

[General Disarray]

Montreal is "broken" more. Ottawa still has a lot of assets and prospects and less bad contracts.

However its far more likely that Montreal changes management than Ottawa getting a new owner, so I vote Motreal.

 

[Romkey]

To me Ottawa is easier to fix but won't until the get a new owner. After that you deal EK for multiple 1sts and prospects, deal Hoffman and get whatever you can, sign a goalie to either take over #1 role or pushes Anderson to be better. Then you just need to stay the course and draft/develop like we've seen with all the top teams in the past 10 years.

MTL is harder because you have an idiot GM and an owner who supports him no matter what. Mix in the language barrier, and you have a lot smaller pool of GMs and coaches to pick from. Adding on top of that, it seems that MB doesn't know what an equal value trade is. Plus with the Price contract anchor, you have a lot less wiggle room to work with. MTL has higher skill than OTT will after the Karlsson trade, but they also have a nightmare front office/ownership.

 

[Hockeyholic]

If Ottawa gets a new owner, I think things could improve.

A new owner and Christ himself won't help the Habs. Woof

 

[topshelf15]

To me Ottawa is easier to fix but won't until the get a new owner. After that you deal EK for multiple 1sts and prospects, deal Hoffman and get whatever you can, sign a goalie to either take over #1 role or pushes Anderson to be better. Then you just need to stay the course and draft/develop like we've seen with all the top teams in the past 10 years.

MTL is harder because you have an idiot GM and an owner who supports him no matter what. Mix in the language barrier, and you have a lot smaller pool of GMs and coaches to pick from. Adding on top of that, it seems that MB doesn't know what an equal value trade is. Plus with the Price contract anchor, you have a lot less wiggle room to work with. MTL has higher skill than OTT will after the Karlsson trade, but they also have a nightmare front office/ownership.

The trade for Brassard was a decent one for us,it netted a pretty good goaltending prospect in Gustafsson...We have some serious issues,but we still have some quality on the team and in the pipe...Adding another in the 4OA should give us a very solid prospect pool ....PD does take alot of flak,but he hasnt left the team out to dry

 

[bobholly39]

Montreal EASILY.

So much drama with Ottawa. The owner. The scandals. Karlsson/Hoffman and everything else. There's no easy way to fix that.

There's none of that going on in Montreal. We just had a horrible hockey season, but not much drama (outside of fans having lost faith in Bergevin) per se.

 

[Romkey]

The trade for Brassard was a decent one for us,it netted a pretty good goaltending prospect in Gustafsson...We have some serious issues,but we still have some quality on the team and in the pipe...Adding another in the 4OA should give us a very solid prospect pool ....PD does take alot of flak,but he hasnt left the team out to dry

Exactly, that's why I feel they are easier to fix. They also have some decent prospects in the system (Brown, White, Chabot if you still consider him a prospect, Drake Batherson), lots of reason for optimism.