Next perennial bottom feeder

[ottawa]

I mean where would they go? Quebec City isn’t happening and no US city at the moment is really close to anything

Québec city is always a possibility, they have an NHL ready arena.

 

[Patty Ice]

Ok, granted the Pens probably still have a couple good years left. But I'll put it in my calendar for, let's say 2023 - tell Cellee on HF "I told you so" about the Pens going into a full-scale long-term rebuild.

If you think a team.will still be good for the next few years but worry about the age of a few players, you may want to rethink your position. Rarely do well run organizations stay stagnate.

 

[Frosty415]

If you asked this question back in the 2014, you'd be getting the same answers. SJ knows how to keep a good team going.

people been saying the sharks were old and would become bottom feeders since 2010.

still hasn’t happened and we got two top D since that era.

and no, Thornton and Marleau are not their core.

 

[ES]

When Crosby and Malkin retire in the next 5 years it's not gonna be pretty.

Knowing Penguins luck they will win the lottery for 1st overall when there is the best prospect of the decade available.

 

[Kaners Bald Spot]

Btw, the Hawks are only going to be bad for a year or two more at most because they already have a young core in the organization and a top 10 farm system. They need a shutdown D to emerge and they'll be right back to contender status.

 

[IceNeophyte]

coyotes, sens, wild, kings

Coyotes are up and coming. You must have added them in there by habit.

 

[MMC]

Surprised at some of the responses here. It's hard for me to see teams like LA and Chicago, who have some blue chip prospects, as being part of the conversation

 

[GeeoffBrown]

I think in these cases your safest bet is teams that are consistently bad, such as Arizona, Edmonton, Florida, Buffalo

 

[Pinkfloyd]

Burns is already on the wrong side of 30, Karlsson will be 30 next year but seems to have regressed a little bit and the long term outlook of his contract does not look great.

Meier is the only one of their forwards under 30 that you could build a team around, the other guys are good players but nothing special.

Karlsson will be fine. He's always been a slow starter for his standards. Hertl and Meier are both guys that they can and are building around. I think it's reasonable to say in any given year that the Sharks may miss the playoffs but it's just wishful thinking to think that they will be a perennial bottom feeder. They will not miss the playoffs for consecutive years even when Burns and Karlsson actually get over the hill. Not until DW is finally gone.

 

[threeVo]

SJS and MIN are the obvious choices. Either have no prospects/picks to replenish from going for it, or 2 terrible contracts that restrict cap space and poor drafting.

SJ atleast has a few good young players like Couture Meier etc, but that Karlsson contract at his age is rough.

Dark Horse candidate Senators because of ownership. Will scare away good coaching candidate, as so far this year albeit early, the Sabres are showing how much coaching matters.

 

[MessierII]

Sharks are in a bad spot. Yeah they made the playoffs and the zebras helped them go deep but this team is in trouble. They gave up the most goals against of any playoff team and had to out score their problems defensively and in net by being the highest scoring team in the west 2nd highest overall. They let their top goal scorer and captain walk. Their top 2 D are both pure offence and struggle defensively and their goaltending is not good. Add to that an aging core of players saddled to big money long term deals and they are in for a world of hurt.

 

[SharksFan1]

Burns is already on the wrong side of 30, Karlsson will be 30 next year but seems to have regressed a little bit and the long term outlook of his contract does not look great.

Meier is the only one of their forwards under 30 that you could build a team around, the other guys are good players but nothing special.

I'd put Hertl above Meier.

 

[SharksFan1]

SJ atleast has a few good young players like Couture Meier etc, but that Karlsson contract at his age is rough.

Karlsson is only 29. He is younger than Couture.

 

[Erik Alfredsson]

Ottawa as usual, don't see them lasting too long in Ottawa either at this pace, unfortunately.

Lol of course you don't.

 

[MasterMatt25]

San Jose and Minnesota

 

[MatchesMalone]

If you think a team.will still be good for the next few years but worry about the age of a few players, you may want to rethink your position. Rarely do well run organizations stay stagnate.

I'm not so sure. Look what Pittsburgh did last time, in the late 90s. Ran with Lemieux-Jagr til it collapsed. Rebuilt from the ground up.

If they still think they have a good chance at winning a Cup two or three years from now, I could see them continuing to trade away first round picks to keep trying to win with Malkin and Crosby. And that's not a criticism - they very well could win at least one more so why the hell not? But it's really wearing on the prospect pool.

 

[Bonzo111]

Coyotes are up and coming. You must have added them in there by habit.

I disagree but who knows for sure

 

[Halla]

Btw, the Hawks are only going to be bad for a year or two more at most because they already have a young core in the organization and a top 10 farm system. They need a shutdown D to emerge and they'll be right back to contender status.

1 dman can turn one of the worst teams in the league to a contender?

I'd argue they are 2-3 top 4 dmen away from being good and personally I think passing on Byram was a mistake, especially with strome looking like a capable top 6 C

 

[Kaners Bald Spot]

1 dman can turn one of the worst teams in the league to a contender?

I'd argue they are 2-3 top 4 dmen away from being good and personally I think passing on Byram was a mistake, especially with strome looking like a capable top 6 C

Boqvist looks really good. They still have Mitchell, Beaudin and Vlasic as well. They've used 5 of their last 6 1st and 2nd round picks on Defensemen. They traded Jokiharju, but they have a lot of options on D.

 

[BMOK33]

Québec city is always a possibility, they have an NHL ready arena.

I think the NHL is still afraid of that fact it’s mostly a French speaking city and players won’t want to play there

 

[Bouboumaster]

Ottawa, now and forever

 

[Big Cactus]

Burns is already on the wrong side of 30, Karlsson will be 30 next year but seems to have regressed a little bit and the long term outlook of his contract does not look great.

Meier is the only one of their forwards under 30 that you could build a team around, the other guys are good players but nothing special.

Defenceman historically age much better than Forwards, there’s actually quite a few Norris winners over the age of 30 if you care to look it up. 6 of the last 11 Norris winners have been older than 30 years old. Check out the list here NHL James Norris Memorial Trophy Winners | Hockey-Reference.com

As for forwards all of Couture, Kane, Hertl, Meier, and Labanc are capable of 60+ points. All of those mentioned are under 30. Hertl and Couture hit 70pts last season, Meier certainly could have if he played all 82 (66pts in 78gp). Kane paced for 62 and Labanc had 56pts in his second full season.

If I had to poke holes in the roster I would be speculating on how well Vlassic’s contract holds up and if Martin Jones can get back to playing like a NHL goaltender.

I really don’t see the doom and gloom regarding San Jose for at least another 3-4 years, but that’s just me.

 

[Kale Hulls]

I'm not sold on the kings rebuild yet but I think the team that have the most seasons pass before they make the playoffs is the coyotes.

 

[OVO16]

Ottawa and Florida

 

[OVO16]

Relocate Ottawa while we're at it