Which of these organizations was the worst run during their time period?

[Critical13]

4 options to choose from, although I know there are many more. These were the 4 I was specifically curious about, though.

Imagine a division with just these 4 organizations, and they only played each other. Which of these awful management groups would figure out a way to accumulate the fewest wins over a 5 year period?

Think contracts, drafting/scouting, trades, systems, coach selection, etc.

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[Jimmy Firecracker]

On the ice, Buffalo.

Off the ice, Arizona.

 

[Love]

Oilers but Buffalo is really close

 

[MattMartin]

Islanders should be a top 5 option.

 

[jetsforever]

Oilers and Sabres were the worst, might give an edge to Edmonton

 

[McDNicks17]

Probably the Oilers, but the Sabres are closing the gap pretty quickly.

 

[Steven Toast]

Depends how you weigh on ice vs off ice. Arizona is producing a better on ice product than the other three. But the off ice stuff is so egregious it puts them over the top in my mind. Not even making a profit among many other things.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

It's the Sabres over the Oilers and all you have to do to prove that is look at both teams worst trades.

Edmonton traded Hall for Adam Larsson

Buffalo trades Ryan O Rielly for Berglund Sobotka a 1st a 2nd and Tage Tompson.

Neither trade is good but Edmonton at least gets a top 4 D man.

Buffalo gets 2 bottom 6 forwards, one of which quit the sport, 2 late draft picks and a bust.

Buffalo hasn't made a shered of progress in 10 years in fact they are getting worse

 

[Golden_Jet]

4 options to choose from, although I know there are many more. These were the 4 I was specifically curious about, though.

Imagine a division with just these 4 organizations, and they only played each other. Which of these awful management groups would figure out a way to accumulate the fewest wins over a 5 year period?

Think contracts, drafting/scouting, trades, systems, coach selection, etc.

Well not Dorian, he was a goal away from going to SCF in 2017, in game 7 double OT.

Weird he was included in range, guess that’s why he has zero votes.

 

[Critical13]

Well not Dorian, he was a goal away from going to SCF in 2017, in game 7 double OT.

Weird he was included in range, guess that’s why he has zero votes.

There was a very, very rough patch of about 2 years where the Sens were a complete clown show.

 

[NYRKing]

Its easy to pick oilers or Sabres due to lack of success with high draft picks but imo this could very easily be the senators brief stint which was a bit insane. This was a contender with a complete 180. Questions about relocation as well.

 

[Golden_Jet]

There was a very, very rough patch of about 2 years where the Sens were a complete clown show.

Sure and 1 year out of 3 was almost a SCF finish, and then last 2 years went to rebuild mode.
Just weird to include a successful team in 2017.
If date range was different sure.

 

[InfinityIggy]

Oilers, but Buffalo is getting close now. I said years ago at the start of their scorched earth rebuild that ‘losing culture’ is a thing, even if you get the top picks, and to be wary your team doesn’t end up as another Oilers.. cannot say I am entirely shocked by the outcome.

I feel bad for Sabres fans though.

 

[Machinehead]

Going with the Sabres because there isn't even a sign they're getting any better. At least the Oilers were a playoff team a couple of times recently.

 

[Critical13]

Going with the Sabres because there isn't even a sign they're getting any better. At least the Oilers were a playoff team a couple of times recently.

Oilers time frame for the poll is pre-McDavid's breakout/captaincy. He was drafted in 2015 if I remember correctly (although landing the world's best player with a no-brainer 1st overall may still be covering up bad management - hard to say).

 

[Machinehead]

Oilers time frame for the poll is pre-McDavid's breakout/captaincy. He was drafted in 2015 if I remember correctly (although landing the world's best player with a no-brainer 1st overall may still be covering up bad management - hard to say).

That thought crossed my mind but Eichel is no slouch either and Dahlin was an outstanding prospect that doesn't seem to be progressing in Buffalo as much as I would have liked to see.

 

[Voight]

Arizona has made their fair share of bad picks, can't even pay their players on time and tried to circumvent the draft combine. They also hired a very unqualified guy to be GM because they fell for the advanced stats hype.

However I suppose they at least made the playoffs in the time frame listed vs the other three options.

 

[AvroArrow]

Edmonton AINEC. No excuse for a team with that many top draft picks. They picked what, 10th overall, three 1st overall in a row, 3rd overall, 7th and still were in the bottom. The leafs/sabres were pretty bad at that same time too.

 

[ThatsSoSlavin]

The off ice mismanagement makes it Arizona for me

 

[explore]

It's the Sabres over the Oilers and all you have to do to prove that is look at both teams worst trades.

Edmonton traded Hall for Adam Larsson

Buffalo trades Ryan O Rielly for Berglund Sobotka a 1st a 2nd and Tage Tompson.

Neither trade is good but Edmonton at least gets a top 4 D man.

Buffalo gets 2 bottom 6 forwards, one of which quit the sport, 2 late draft picks and a bust.

Buffalo hasn't made a shered of progress in 10 years in fact they are getting worse

QFT

The Pegulas are also now the de facto President/GM of the Sabres and are making personnel decisions

 

[ClydeLee]

Arizona for me in a long shot. The others have done things to at least attract an interest or draw for the future. That hasn't happened for the yotes

 

[brentashton]

All 4 teams def deserve to be in this poll as they all have had their moments in trying to compete for this title . But for me, as others have noted, the continuing tire fire in AZ that started to smoulder almost immediately after they moved from Wpg, through the successive owners (and therefore lack of any stability), the bankruptcies, the failure to put the arena in the optimal area of the valley for fans to access, they stiffed Gretzky, the league had to take them over and operate them for a couple of years, Chayka, the scouting combine fiasco, drafting kids with sociopathic tendencies and then cutting bait on him and having nothing to show for a first round pick and now the myriad of allegations against Mereluo, just scream tire fire. Some may disagree and thats ok, they are all contenders, in my humble opinion.

If i had to rank them:
1 - AZ for aforementioned reasons
2 - Edmonton, deep pocket jock sniffing owner than cant seem to detach himself from 1984 and hire some people in his hockey ops department that know what they are doing, although seems like now they might be slowly turning that corner. It seems like the real estate play to him owning the team supersedes anything that they may do on the ice as a sports team
3 - Buffalo, similar reasons as Edmonton, they have all the money and good fans in the world but keep hiring Jr B level management and coaches
4 - Ottawa, even though Melnyk is a total douche, Dorian seems to be doing something right despite.

 

[Gurglesons]

Oilers.

Sabres have at least made moves that make sense and tried to make things work.

Oilers were like.. giving away Dubnyk, Petry, Eberle, Hall, etc for nothing.

For the Sabres.

Make some big splash deals in Ehrhoff and Leino that don't pan out. Enter a rebuild.

Make the smart move to acquire a # 1 C in ROR and an excellent goaltending prospect. ROR has a DUI within a few weeks of signing and Lehner has his own personal struggles.

Draft generational pieces in Eichel and Dahlin. Surround them with talent. Still fail.

 

[Canovin]

Eakins and Chia Era together is just bad. I'm surprised people think the Hall trade was the worst trade. It's the 16th(Barzal) and 33rd(Beauvillier) for Griffin Reinhart that was the worst AINEC. I still hate it till today

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Eakins and Chia Era together is just bad. I'm surprised people think the Hall trade was the worst trade. It's the 16th(Barzal) and 33rd(Beauvillier) for Griffin Reinhart that was the worst AINEC. I still hate it till today

In hindsight that was the worst but unless you are drafting top 5, MAYBE top 10 draft picks are magic beans, we knew the SECOND it happened Hall for Larsson was bad.