Teams in Best Shape for the Future

[Vic Rattlehead*]

In front of the net, Theodore and Garon will be the best duo in the league...

Wait until Toivonen can get some more years under his belt, and Raycroft-Toivonen will be just as good as Theodore-Garon!

 

[eSabre]

Buffalo's only been mentioned once.

Of all the teams with bright futures, the Sabres might hit theirs the quickest:

All of the following played for the Sabres this season. All players 27 and under are listed, with age included:

Forwards:
Afinogenov, 24
Bartovic, 23
Briere, 26
Connolly, 23
Drury, 27
Dumont, 26
Hecht, 27
Kotalik, 25
Mair, 25
Pominville, 21
Pyatt, 22
Roy, 21

Defense:
Campbell, 25
Janik, 24
Jillson, 23
Kalinin, 23
McKee, 26
Tallinder, 25

Goalies:
Biron, 26
Noronen, 25
Miller, 23

All of those players will be hitting their prime in the next 2-4 years. If they aren't part of the team, they'll be dealt for needed parts.

Not only that, the Sabres have a deep prospect pool up front, including Roy and Pominville, along with Miller in goal:

Forwards:
Thomas Vanek, 20
Dan Paille, 20
Clarke MacArthur, 19
Branislav Fabry, 19
Artem Kriukov, 22
Michael Ryan, 24
Jiri Novotny, 20
Paul Gaustad, 22

Defense:
Denis Ezhov, 19
John Adams, 21
Denis Denisov, 22
Nathan Paetsch, 21

Of course, Vanek and Paille should make impacts in the organization next season, with the rest to fill the holes around the depth chart. Plus, the upcoming draft will deepen this even more.

 

[sharkyz15]

1. Ottawa
2. San Jose
Same thing for these 2
-Both are top noch teams at the moment with all their best players still young
Both are also good drafting teams. Built their teams with smart trades and good development

3.Tampa
4.Atlanta
5. Florida
6. Montreal
7. Columbus
8. Detroit
9. Colorado
10. Nasville

 

[goalienut]

1 Washington

They have Klepis, Semin, Eminger, Johansson, Fleischman, Ouellet, Fehr, Cutta, Morrison, 1st Overall (Ovetchkin), 3 more 1st rounders.

2 Edmonton

Deslaurier, Rita, Salmelienen, Lynch, Woywitka, Chimaera, Hemsky, Pouliot, Niinimaki
Greene, Mihknov, Brodziak, Gilbert, + draft picks

 

[KL*]

Skladany is awful.

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/teams/0004492004.html

1 point behind Ryan Whitney. Leading scorer amongst forwards on his team. Defensive player of the week in HockeyEast a couple times. He's at BU on an ACADEMIC SCHOLARSHIP.

You were obviously thinking of someone else.

 

[shadoz19]

The Avs are in great shape for the future.

Tanguay, Hejduk, Liles, Aebischer, Sauve, a bunch of role players. Prospects like Boychuk, Skladany, Svatos, etc.

Plus, they have a rich owner and a great GM, which are the two most valuable things that an NHL team can have.

Are you sure about that?

Hockey's Future:

30. Colorado Avalanche
Strengths: Simply put, the Colorado Avalanche, in terms of prospect depth, have no strengths whatsoever. If they have any strength at all, one would have to point to the abundance of potential role/character players within the organization. Johnny Boychuk and Tomas Slovak could be depth defensemen in the future.
Weaknesses: The Colorado Avalanche, more so than any other club in the National Hockey League, lack anything that closely resembles a top six forward in their system. Atrocious would be the best word to describe the current state of the Colorado Avalanche prospect core. As a whole, the organization lacks natural raw ability and any potential star material.
Top Prospects: (D) Tomas Slovak, (D) Johnny Boychuk, (F) Marek Svatos

 

[rt]

CMB, FLA, ATL, obviously. Buffalo, for sure. What about Phoenix? No one has said anuthing about them. Doan, Langkow, Comrie, M. Johnson, Nagy, Sjostrom, Taffe, Kolanos, Rupp, Morris, Mara, Tanabe, Spiller, Boucher, and B. Johnson, are all young roster players with alot of upside. Ballard, LeNevue, Kories, Jones, Redenbach, Gelech, Callahan, McLoed, Knyazev, and Podlesak are the top prospects. Plus the #5 pick. Not too bad.

 

[Vlad The Impaler]

new name for this thread:

"tell everyone about how your team is in great shape for the future" :lol

Exactly! :lol

 

[Til the End of Time]

I'm a Pens fans, so I will try to be objective when I say Ottawa, TB, and the Devils are all positioned pretty well for the future. There are other teams with bright futures ahead, but these were the ones that really jumped out.

Ottawa, obviously already has very bright young talent contributing. I don't think people realize how young this team is sometimes. While they might not be able to get over the hump and win the cup, they should be in the thick of the East for awhile.

TB is a similar situation as Ottawa, already winning with youth.

And the Devils, with Lou behind it all, should be able to slowly bring in guys like Parise, Martin, and Hale to the winning atmosphere. Only question I have is can they replace a defensive stalwart like Stevens?

There are teams like the Caps, Pens, Chicago, etc, who have great prospects but so far haven't been able to really show that they can develop quality players. Some of these teams rank high in HF's organizational rankings, but it is up to them to bring the players along properly, and ultimately get them in the habit of winning, which may or may not happen.

I am not sure about the Jackets and Panthers. They have Nash and Luongo, respectively, as well a ton of young talent, but until they each get a system going and have some other players come through, they won't be making the playoffs. Especially the Panthers, every year they are poised to break through and always come up short, and Keenan isn't the answer.

 

[Vlad The Impaler]

Especially the Panthers, every year they are poised to break through and always come up short, and Keenan isn't the answer.

Kicking Dudley to the curb is a good start.

Keenan is better than he is given credit for as well. I think the new coaching and management is a step in the right direction.

 

[Russian_fanatic]

Detroit is in pretty good shape ! Lidstrom and Shannahan these two young studs will be great !

 

[Pekka Lampinen]

new name for this thread:

"tell everyone about how your team is in great shape for the future" :lol

The funny thing is, people just keep going even after they're informed of this little state of affairs that will glue a virtual dunce cap on their head.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

The Pens are looking pretty g...

oh wait, :lol .

 

[KL*]

Are you sure about that?

Hockey's Future:

30. Colorado Avalanche
Strengths: Simply put, the Colorado Avalanche, in terms of prospect depth, have no strengths whatsoever. If they have any strength at all, one would have to point to the abundance of potential role/character players within the organization. Johnny Boychuk and Tomas Slovak could be depth defensemen in the future.
Weaknesses: The Colorado Avalanche, more so than any other club in the National Hockey League, lack anything that closely resembles a top six forward in their system. Atrocious would be the best word to describe the current state of the Colorado Avalanche prospect core. As a whole, the organization lacks natural raw ability and any potential star material.
Top Prospects: (D) Tomas Slovak, (D) Johnny Boychuk, (F) Marek Svatos

...and who does the HF rankings? Are they paid professionals? Do they work for NHL teams? Do they even work for the media?

No, no and no.

Let's be honest here, I love HF just as much as anyone else. However, to use the opinion of a handful of 17 year old hockey fans from Toronto, Miami and Calgary as the sole basis of your argument, well, that isn't wise.

 

[kmad]

I gotta give the nod to Atlanta and Ottawa.

Ottawa is a group of young players reaching their prime, plus a surge of notable prospects underneath and a nice touch of veteran talent.

Atlanta is a ton of talent maturing to an NHL level. They have three potential superstar players in Heatley, Kovalchuk, and Lehtonen.

 

[shadoz19]

...and who does the HF rankings? Are they paid professionals? Do they work for NHL teams? Do they even work for the media?

No, no and no.

Let's be honest here, I love HF just as much as anyone else. However, to use the opinion of a handful of 17 year old hockey fans from Toronto, Miami and Calgary as the sole basis of your argument, well, that isn't wise.

Keep kiddin yourself man.

 

[triggrman]

Nashville has to be atleast top 5 with the young group they have now, Legwand, Hartnell, Hall, Vokoun, Hamhuis, Erat, Tootoo, Zidlicky then add Upshall and Shishkanov as top forward prospects, defensively with Suter, Weber, Klien, Stehlik and Sulzer we're set for the future.

 

[Potted Plant]

I hope that when this thread is reborn in two years, I will be able to say, "The New York Rangers!"

 

[Holly Gunning]

...and who does the HF rankings? Are they paid professionals? Do they work for NHL teams? Do they even work for the media?

No, no and no.

Actually some do work in media professionally.

Let's be honest here, I love HF just as much as anyone else. However, to use the opinion of a handful of 17 year old hockey fans from Toronto, Miami and Calgary as the sole basis of your argument, well, that isn't wise.

No one under 18 writes for Hockey's Future. It might have been true in the past in some cases, but no longer, we're continually raising the bar, as you hopefully tell by the improvements in the site. All writers must be over 18, and frankly, I only allow people under 20 in special circumstances. Our average age is 27.5.

 

[SmokeyClause]

Nashville has to be atleast top 5 with the young group they have now, Legwand, Hartnell, Hall, Vokoun, Hamhuis, Erat, Tootoo, Zidlicky then add Upshall and Shishkanov as top forward prospects, defensively with Suter, Weber, Klien, Stehlik and Sulzer we're set for the future.

I'll say this, Nashville was the only team that made the playoffs that hasn't even remotely tapped their potential. Incredible D prospects and very good forwards. I know the prospects don't look as good to some, but when you consider that Erat, Tootoo, Hall, Hartnell, Legwand are all up on the big squad and don't count as prospects, it becomes even more impressive. Our goalie situation is stable with a few potential starters on the horizon. I didn't want to pump up Nashville, but since we are getting less respect than Colorado, I figured why not.

 

[gretzky1545]

way to go

its always nice to see arguments go away from the information at hand to attacking the credibility of the sources, especially when its not as if they ambiguous in their description of the Avs prospect group. Its fairly easy to see how HF could come to this conclusion on the Avs prospect group. The Avs arent the worst team in terms of their future b/c they have decent people who recently graduated on HF, and they obviously have the payroll and talent on the team now to make trades to cement their status now and in the future, but don't go ignoring the facts and attacking the credibility of the HF staff in a way that not only makes you seem ignorant and slanderous, but also defeats your argument b/c you've ignored the facts that actually matter.

 

[KL*]

its always nice to see arguments go away from the information at hand to attacking the credibility of the sources, especially when its not as if they ambiguous in their description of the Avs prospect group. Its fairly easy to see how HF could come to this conclusion on the Avs prospect group. The Avs arent the worst team in terms of their future b/c they have decent people who recently graduated on HF, and they obviously have the payroll and talent on the team now to make trades to cement their status now and in the future, but don't go ignoring the facts and attacking the credibility of the HF staff in a way that not only makes you seem ignorant and slanderous, but also defeats your argument b/c you've ignored the facts that actually matter.

There are no "facts" to "ignore." The perception of a prospect's worth, or worth relative to the rest of the prospect pool is not a "fact." Methinks you need to go to webster.com and look up the word "fact."

What we have are a bunch of fanboys who think that only prospects drafted in the top 30 are worthy of the term "prospect." History shows, especially with teams like the Avs and Wings, that to try to rank teams in terms of prospects is a waste of time in and of itself.

For example, for the last few years, everyone has been hyping the Rangers for their prospect base. Brendl, Lundmark, etc. were all supposed to be world beaters. At the same time, the Avalanche were being criticized for their lack of prospects. Look at the "facts" of that situation... Lundmark, Brendl, Tyutin, Novak, Malhotra have done nothing in the NHL despite being relatively high picks and being considered "blue chips."

Meanwhile, Colorado graduated Aebischer, Vrbata, Liles, etc.

It's not about having a bunch of players who were chosen high in the draft, it's about having a scouting staff with enough sense to pick the RIGHT players. To criticize the Avalanche for a lack of top draft picks is silly, since their track record shows that they are one of the best teams in the NHL at making their late round picks useful.

HF is raising the bar, that is true. However, HF is still not a credible media source. And even if it were, a flawed and useless "organizational ranking" list is NOT a valid argument against Skladany's performance as a prospect, and it does NOTHING to combat the fact that the Avalanche have been one of the best teams in the NHL at drafting and have graduated a vast number of players who were not considered "prospects" like guys like Lundmark, Brendl, Rita, Saprykin, Yakubov, Mezei, Beech, Kraft, etc etc etc were.

 

[gretzky1545]

ok

ok, but you attacked HF as if they were the only ones saying that, as if they didn't know what they were talking about. I'm fairly sure they are making a fairly eduacted guess on the topic, and from the general consensus of both this boards and the few other things i have read, they do not really differ. If you are saying that the analysis of prospects in general is faulty, then I'd have to agree since a good system will produce better players even with less raw material than a bad system with great talent, but don't go off on HF for making reasonable claims.

P.S. You know what i mean't by facts, dont go into semantics. I mean't that based on their draft status and current projections, the Avs do not have a good farm system. That is the general basis for all estimations of future success, so I think it is pretty reasonable to say that the Avs future is questionable if just for the lack of high end prospects. Sure they may do very well and develop the players they have now into stars, but as it looks right now, they don't measure up to most other teams.

 

[Patty Ice]

...and who does the HF rankings? Are they paid professionals? Do they work for NHL teams? Do they even work for the media?

No, no and no.

Let's be honest here, I love HF just as much as anyone else. However, to use the opinion of a handful of 17 year old hockey fans from Toronto, Miami and Calgary as the sole basis of your argument, well, that isn't wise.

The age requirement to be a writer here is at least 18 years of age...even those guys are few and far between. Most of the writers are college-aged and college-educated fellas n gals who have been following hockey for awhile. They follow whats goin on in the league and are the reason the site is as popular as it is. Are they the most credible source? Not likely, but what young professional hasn't had to earn his stripes (besides a younger George W. but he's hardly professional ). What attracted you to Hockey's Future? Don't knock them cuz the truth hurts.

 

[Dave is a killer]

This thread has officially turned into the thread