The most desolate franchise

[Merrrlin]

San Jose - Contracts...
Buffalo - Poor development and not a priority UFA destination in any way...

These two stand out for me. San Jose fans at least had a decade of fun. Props to Buffalo fans for staying loyal, it's been a grim stretch lately and there isn't a ton of help on the horizon.

 

[ViD]

Columbus prospect pool ranked last in the league, we are depleted of picks this year, so not looking too great here in Ohio

 

[ViD]

Habs AINEC.

With idiots like Bergevin, Timmins, and Molson at the helm, there is absolutely no hope. No plan, no direction, always stuck in mediocrity (no man's land) and TERRIBLE drafting.

Montreal prospect pool ranked second in the entire NHL.

You have arguably the best defenseman prospect in the league and the highest scoring NCAA forward.

 

[A Loyal Dog]

Montreal prospect pool ranked second in the entire NHL.

You have arguably the best defenseman prospect in the league and the highest scoring NCAA forward.

Montreal is great at ruining prospects. Just wait and see.

 

[M88K]

How is this not Detroit in a landslide?
Bunch of bad contracts, some strong prospects yes, but a lot of mediocrity, [MOD]

 

[BruinDust]

Well the Panthers have made the playoffs twice in the last 20ish years, haven't won a playoff series since 96, and are currently in the late stages of another failed rebuild. So probably them.

Florida's lack of success since 1996, their overall attendance, their ownership (4th majority ownership group since inception), make them an easy pick for the most desolate franchise. Let's see them make the playoffs and win a round before we start proclaiming any other franchise as the most desolate.

 

[ItWasJustified]

Montreal.... they are in no mans lands.

Not good enough to be a cup contender, unable to get the guys to make them a cup contender, but also can't rebuild with Price/Weber on the books.

If Bergevin wouldn't had offered Kovalchuk a contract Montreal could've been bad enough to get the first overall pick this year. Price have certainly played bad enough for it.

 

[Cotton]

Would be Florida or Arizona I think. Both clubs at the top for losing money and suffering from poor attendance. Neither have done well with their on ice-product or have particularly great prospect pools.

The irony is they're both competitive this season. But they both kinda deserve the title too.

 

[Panteras]

As a Panthers fan, I vote for Florida. It’s a real struggle

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Buffalo would have been fine, but management and fans are too impatient.

Trading away Kane and RoR were mistakes.
Signing Skinner to that boat-anchor contract was a mistake.

Dahlin will be a perennial Norris contender in 2-3 years.

YOU CAN NOT RUSH THIS.

Absolutely nothing you do will speed up this timeline.
When Dahlin/Eichel becomes a dominant force in this league, so will the Sabres.

Just stop doing stupid **** out of impatience.



signed,

- Every Oiler fan circa 2007-2019

Here's the problem with what you wrote.

Eichel is already dominant it hasn't mattered.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Ottawa, Detroit, the California teams...all of them are tanking/rebuilding in hopes of landing even 1 player of the talent of Eichel/Dahlin, let alone 2 of them.

Buffalo already has them. They're in a better spot. Just because they've failed and struggled to properly build a successful team around them yet, doesn't mean it can't be done, or that it's harder to do than for teams who don't have such talented pieces.

If I'm an expansion team acquiring a team with the ability to replace coach/gm and make changes as I see fit to core via trades etc - Buffalo is definitely not the last team I pick. A year ago people would have been saying the same thing about Edmonton - and I would have said the same thing myself, that no- a team with McDavid (let alone Drai too) is in a much better place than many other teams without him.

It's much easier to successfully rebuild with such talented players, then without them.

It should be but Buffalo can't do it.

 

[Voight]

If Bergevin wouldn't had offered Kovalchuk a contract Montreal could've been bad enough to get the first overall pick this year. Price have certainly played bad enough for it.

Price hasn't been great but he still makes them a lot better than NJ, OTT, DET etc

 

[Pens x]

Detroit

 

[Bologna 1]

Buffalo is the only appropriate answer here.

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

Yeah I agree with most here. I bet it sucks to be a Sharks fan right now, but there's still reason to believe that there's a successful rebuild happening and thus a future. It can't be possible to have that faith if you're Ottawa or Buffalo right now, in particular the former. I don't know how you deal with a situation like that as a fan. Our incompetent years were bad enough, and we didn't have the ownership issues.

I’m not sure that I agree with the bolded. Sharks management has made it clear that they won’t be re-building.

 

[weinsink]

Minnesota. No Goalie, several untradeable contracts, not much as far as prospects go..

Reminds me about the leafs now that you said that

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Pick my team! pick my team!

 

[Perfect_Drug]

Here's the problem with what you wrote.

Eichel is already dominant it hasn't mattered.

One player can't move the needle very much.
2 definitely can.

Heck, the Oilers are in a playoff spot now off of 2 players.
They'd have been contenders if they kept Hall, Petry, Dubnyk, Barzal, Strome/Eberle, Gustafsson, and didn't sign Lucic.


Sometimes you just gotta wait my man. I know it sucks, but I'd much rather have the roster we could've had over the roster we currently have.

 

[teemussalami]

As a Detroit fan, its Detroit right now but could change come off season/draft. Ownership and management is good but other than that the franchise is looking bleak. Need a coaching change, need some goalies, need some defense, need some better forwards, need some bad contracts to fall off the books etc. They have a good core of young guys who look promising but no elite talent at all.

 

[snipes]

Montreal prospect pool ranked second in the entire NHL.

You have arguably the best defenseman prospect in the league and the highest scoring NCAA forward.

Jack Dugan is a Golden Knights prospect.

 

[bert]

I don’t think it gets much worst than the Sens. Not even talking player/prospect wise. You can draft high level players, you can fire GM’s and coaches, but you can’t fire a ****ty cheap owner.

This is the real problem. From a rebuild standpoint they are in great shape but with this ownership there is no hope.

OP the sens have lots in the pipeline. They just got ranked 7th best prospect pool thats very deep (Norris, Batherson, Formenton, Balcers, Abramov, Brown, Thomson, Bernard-Docker and Brannstrom with some promising young goalies).

They likely have 2 lottery picks this year and 9 total picks in the first two rounds of the next two drafts. With young staples like Tkachuk and Chabot with only one inflated contract in Bobby Ryan that expires in 2 seasons the team is actually in amazing shape from a rebuild stand point. But it means nothing with Melnyk at the helm. Thats the sad part.

As a sens fan if the team is sold and the rink is built downtown its likely ready when the team becomes competitive. Which would be very exciting. Need something to hold on to.

 

[guzzy]

Arizona, Edmonton, Buffalo, Florida

These teams have been garbage for over a decade. Looks like the Oilers might finally be turning it around though. They look good this year.

 

[LudwigVonKarlsson]

It was Ottawa but it‘s probably going to be Buffalo, Florida, Arizona and San Jose from now on.

 

[tony d]

Buffalo. A team with Eichel and Dahlin should be comfortably in the playoffs right now not 13 points out.

 

[Crabapple]

There's something wrong with the water in Edmonton