Which 5 teams will be the best over the next 5-7 years?

[nowhereman]

I just see them picked as a top 5 team in this league by a lot of people and don't get it. What top 5 team are they comparable to? Their best players are comparable to... who? Is there a way to justify that Petterson/Boeser is in the category of a player like MacKinnon/Draisaitl/Kucherov?

And I get it. They have a good young core and were #1 in the division for quite a while, and ultimately I believe that is the major reason that people are picking them in this thread. And, I point out their starter because Markstrom has obviously been incredible this season (I wish the Oilers could have that), and imo I've seen this script before. A starter gets crazy hot and that can be enough to carry the whole team, and a lot of the time that hot starter cools off.

We're also in a league where teams climb and fall rather quickly, in the long term look of things. And it appears that the Canucks could not sustain losing him. I don't get why you say the Oilers losing our starter would be similar. First off, Koskinen just isn't as good as Markstrom. The Oilers success has not really been because of our goalies, compared to other teams. Second, with Smith in we would suffer a little, but not a lot. They are similar in quality.

And I don't mean to make this into a trash talking issue. If his were a non-rival team I might have the same reaction.

So you're going to pretend that Pettersson, Boeser and Hughes aren't going to get better? Hughes just had one of the best rookie seasons of all time for a defenseman and Pettersson is already a PPG freshman, which is better than MacKinnon, Draisaitl and Kucherov at the same age. Both Hughes and Pettersson will likely end up as top 10-20 players in the NHL for a good portion of their prime.

The problem wasn't that the Canucks couldn't survive without Markstrom but that they couldn't survive the putrid goaltending they received in his relief. Demko and Domingue were awful during the last stretch of games before the hiatus. Not to mention, the Canucks were also missing Boeser and Hughes was playing injured.

 

[Nipsey]

Colorado
Vancouver
Tampa
Edmonton
NYR

 

[P10p]

Minnesota is a real dark horse.

Some very talented young roster pieces and a top talent pool.

The question of no. 1 center still follows them.

 

[TeddyBare]

It's funny how many people in this thread say some obscure prospects as a reason for their team being top 5 team in the league in 5 years.

Every team can do that.

Established 1 and 2 centers under 25 with a good future young d-man is who should be on this list.

Not fricken Boston.

 

[Mr Positive]

I mean if we're looking at the number Edmonton's play is just as unsustainable if not more than Vancouver.

As an Oiler fan I think our team played pretty bad this year. We're talking 5 years from now though. There are certain prospects I like to be able to fill out the roster. But honestly I wouldn't blame an impartial fan for picking someone besides us as a top 5 team in 5-7 years.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Minnesota is a real dark horse.

Some very talented young roster pieces and a top talent pool.

The question of no. 1 center still follows them.

I hope you're joking. Thats the least talented roster in the league when it comes to U25 players or prospects.

 

[Sasso09]

Majority of your ages listed are off

Dahlin, 20 in a couple of weeks
Eichel, 23
Cozens, 19
Reinhart, 24
Olofsson, 24
Jokiharju, 20
UPL, 21
Mittelstadt, 21
+ Another top pick this year

(Hell, Skinner is only like 7 months older than Couturier)

I'd rather have the group with Eichel/Dahlin, not that the rest of the Sabres' young core isn't good either.
Both teams have more young pieces not listed but doesn't change much for me.

Majority aren't off, and i disagree

I think you'd have to be pretty crazy to take the Buffalo group over the Philly group just based on Eichel and Dahlin. The rest of the group is meh and they don't come close to making up the difference. You can add Skinner if you'd like, he's a fraction of the player Couturier is.

 

[Sasso09]

Really? Panarin is a possible Hart finalist and Zibanejad has been playing like a franchise C for the better part of 2 seasons. Nevermind that Shestyorkin has had a ridiculously promising start and Fox is a legit top 4 now closing in on top pairing quality fast. That group of 4 is currently better and should be seen as such until proven otherwise.

You might be right about being better today, it's debatable. The way I see it

Couturier > Zibby
Konecny << Panarin
Provorov >> Fox
Hart >= Shesty

 

[GOALOFSSON]

Majority aren't off, and i disagree

I think you'd have to be pretty crazy to take the Buffalo group over the Philly group just based on Eichel and Dahlin. The rest of the group is meh and they don't come close to making up the difference. You can add Skinner if you'd like, he's a fraction of the player Couturier is.

Buddy quite literally all but 3 of the ages you listed are off, and those three all have birthdays coming up before next season. Funny you couldn't even check lmfao.

I think you'd have to be crazy not to take the two by far best players of the group (Couturier is the only one close and he is about 4 years older than Eichel, Dahlin again is only 19! for a bit longer, the rest of the philly players don't come close to making up the difference) even if you want to heavily underrate the rest.

Hint: Cozens/Olofsson/Reinhart/~7OA are all far from meh.

If this were the case your entire list sans Couturier/Provorov/Hart is pretty meh.


Jokiharju/UPL/Mitts could all be good too.

You can compare Skinner to Couturier all you want, that's where our franchise C and D come in. I only mentioned them together because they're close in age and decently older than most of the others. Only difference is Couturier is the best and most important piece on one list whereas Skinner is like the 7th or 8th.

Keep sleeping on the Sabres with the rest of them, it only makes it that much better.

 

[P10p]

I hope you're joking. Thats the least talented roster in the league when it comes to U25 players or prospects.

You shouldn't take such rigid stances when you're so clearly uninformed. You normally end up looking bad in these situations. Just a heads up.

Your forum name is Pavel Buchnevich, so i'm not really trusting your talent analysis regardless.

 

[Imnotagoodposter]

Ottawa

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

You shouldn't take such rigid stances when you're so clearly uninformed. You normally end up looking bad in these situations. Just a heads up.

Your forum name is Pavel Buchnevich, so i'm not really trusting your talent analysis regardless.

I have to congratulate you for one of the weaker attempts at criticizing me I've seen on this website.

Minnesota has one of the older rosters in the league. Year after year in recent seasons they've been a mediocre team that is just good enough to not get one of the highest picks in the draft and not good enough to seriously compete for the Stanley Cup. They've brought in other teams retreads like Staal, Zuccarello, Fiala, Galchenyuk because they can't produce their own young players to develop into big roles. They definitely don't have a top 25 U25 player in the league on their roster, and likely not top 50 either. Their prospect pool has improved in the last year or two, but it's nothing out of the ordinary. You won't find any reputable ranking that ranks them as one of the best prospect pools in the league.

Commentators around the league have long talked about this state of mediocrity with their roster. It's been said for years that the reason they don't completely tear down and rebuild is that the owners don't want to lose revenue in ticket sales that would come with a rebuild. It has been mentioned many times that the reason why they didn't hire Ron Hextall as their GM is that he went into his interview, and told the owners that they need to rebuild, which they didn't like.

I'm sorry that your team is in such a state. If it was my team that was stuck in mediocrity, I wouldn't like it either, but you don't need to lash out on others who say it. You should instead be mad at your team's owners for running the team so selfishly in caring only about ticket sales and not about winning.

 

[SingnBluesOnBroadway]

How does Montreal become so good?

Every HF proposal comes to fruition.

 

[BrettM]

In no particular order.

Vancouver
Colorado
Ottawa
New York Rangers
Edmonton

 

[SingnBluesOnBroadway]

Rangers prove trading helps build a team

What does this mean?

 

[CraigsList]

 

[MNRube]

I hope you're joking. Thats the least talented roster in the league when it comes to U25 players or prospects.

Fiala, Kaprizov, Kunin, Greenway, Eriksson Ek, Khovanov, Beckman, Boldy, Dumba, Brodin, Addison. Plus two first this year.

Try to form your own original thoughts my friend

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Fiala, Kaprizov, Kunin, Greenway, Eriksson Ek, Khovanov, Beckman, Boldy, Dumba, Brodin, Addison. Plus two first this year.

Try to form your own original thoughts my friend

What's not original about what I said? I don't parrot authority.

And besides, you refuted nothing I said. You didn't even try to address it.

 

[LakeLivin]

This post gets a like from me for taking the time to use team logos instead of just typing the names. More efficient (and fun) in processing the poster's choices.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

In no order







Colorado seems obvious.

St. Louis and Tampa might not have as much obvious upside in youth (currently. Both teams draft well so that likely changes) but their current cores are excellent and should probably be okay over the next 4-5 years.

New York has a lot of the upside that should come to fruition over that time frame.

And while the postseason results haven’t come yet, I still really like Toronto’s overall make up.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

Buffalo and Toronto are two teams I didn’t include on my list, but should be strong squads long term.

I think I like Buffalo a touch more because of the Dahlin factor, but the Leafs will be really good if they can develop some defenceman.

 

[MNRube]

What's not original about what I said? I don't parrot authority.

And besides, you refuted nothing I said. You didn't even try to address it.

A year ago the Wild were absolutely in a bad place but much like the Rangers they have had everything go right for prospects lately and it makes for a very quick turnaround. Watch for them to be a Top 5/10 prospect pool this fall when lists come out. Mark my words.

Fiala - first line winger. Was a superstar in 2020 before cancellation, literally only a handful of players outscored him and they all had more support. The talent is off the charts, we are just witnessing him put it all together.

Kaprizov- best player not in NHL. Even Panarin can’t match his KHL and international resume.

Eriksson Ek - defensive stalwart and great workhorse. Solid 3C and a guy who helps you win in big games.

Boldy - dominates NCAA after moves back to the wing. Hard to not see him as a Top 6 F. Tons of upside still for him, still feels more like an athlete than a hockey player.

Khovanov- former phenom fell in draft due to medical concerns and Russian factor. Dominated Q, looks like should’ve been Top 10 pick. Hard not to see a Top 6 C based off his resume and comparables.

Beckman - annihilated the WHL. Leading scorer and still growing into his body. Hard not to be excited about him

Greenway - Huge body with some skill. He should become a 40-50 point winger who is good in both ends.

Kunin - Gritty C/RW who safely projects as a 20-20 guy

Addison - Canada’s best D at WJC and a good bet to be at least a serviceable NHL 3/4.

Then you have guys like Donato, Dumba, Brodin, Spurgeon who are still going to be solid.

 

[canuckking1]

A year ago the Wild were absolutely in a bad place but much like the Rangers they have had everything go right for prospects lately and it makes for a very quick turnaround. Watch for them to be a Top 5/10 prospect pool this fall when lists come out. Mark my words.

Fiala - first line winger. Was a superstar in 2020 before cancellation, literally only a handful of players outscored him and they all had more support. The talent is off the charts, we are just witnessing him put it all together.

Kaprizov- best player not in NHL. Even Panarin can’t match his KHL and international resume.

Eriksson Ek - defensive stalwart and great workhorse. Solid 3C and a guy who helps you win in big games.

Boldy - dominates NCAA after moves back to the wing. Hard to not see him as a Top 6 F. Tons of upside still for him, still feels more like an athlete than a hockey player.

Khovanov- former phenom fell in draft due to medical concerns and Russian factor. Dominated Q, looks like should’ve been Top 10 pick. Hard not to see a Top 6 C based off his resume and comparables.

Beckman - annihilated the WHL. Leading scorer and still growing into his body. Hard not to be excited about him

Greenway - Huge body with some skill. He should become a 40-50 point winger who is good in both ends.

Kunin - Gritty C/RW who safely projects as a 20-20 guy

Addison - Canada’s best D at WJC and a good bet to be at least a serviceable NHL 3/4.

Then you have guys like Donato, Dumba, Brodin, Spurgeon who are still going to be solid.

Seems like a lot of optimistic projections for a bunch of guys who haven't even played in the NHL outside of Fiala, Kunin, Eriksson Ek and Greenway who all need to prove themselves as well.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

A year ago the Wild were absolutely in a bad place but much like the Rangers they have had everything go right for prospects lately and it makes for a very quick turnaround. Watch for them to be a Top 5/10 prospect pool this fall when lists come out. Mark my words.

Fiala - first line winger. Was a superstar in 2020 before cancellation, literally only a handful of players outscored him and they all had more support. The talent is off the charts, we are just witnessing him put it all together.

Kaprizov- best player not in NHL. Even Panarin can’t match his KHL and international resume.

Eriksson Ek - defensive stalwart and great workhorse. Solid 3C and a guy who helps you win in big games.

Boldy - dominates NCAA after moves back to the wing. Hard to not see him as a Top 6 F. Tons of upside still for him, still feels more like an athlete than a hockey player.

Khovanov- former phenom fell in draft due to medical concerns and Russian factor. Dominated Q, looks like should’ve been Top 10 pick. Hard not to see a Top 6 C based off his resume and comparables.

Beckman - annihilated the WHL. Leading scorer and still growing into his body. Hard not to be excited about him

Greenway - Huge body with some skill. He should become a 40-50 point winger who is good in both ends.

Kunin - Gritty C/RW who safely projects as a 20-20 guy

Addison - Canada’s best D at WJC and a good bet to be at least a serviceable NHL 3/4.

Then you have guys like Donato, Dumba, Brodin, Spurgeon who are still going to be solid.

I still see major holes for the Wild moving forward.

No number one C anywhere and their defence still needs work. Suter has amazingly remained a very solid player through his mid-30’s, but once he falls off, they’ll need another Top-4 D.

They have a lot on the wings, but centre ice and defence still needs work.

 

[ColbyChaos]

Buffalo will still probably be in the basement