Teams on the decline

Simple.

Name 4 teams that you think are on the decline - and why.

1.Minnesota Wild - they're declining all right - all the way a lottery pick with no distinguishable talent coming - although I like Granlund. Fragile, soft players like Havlat, PM Bouchard, Brent Burns, Josh Harding (who's broken) etc.

2.NY Rangers - the calm before they start to get better, they are deplorable. Crap D, questionable F. The only great thing is Gaborik and Lundqvist.

3.NJ Devils - yes indeed. One of the big reasons is Kovalchuk. They have Rolston who's 106 years old, Arnott who's about to sail off to another team, Elias who never really got 100% over the hepatitis, Langenbrunner who is awesome, but will likely have to be let go next summer, a young-enough, but breaking down Volchenkov signed for 6 years ( ) and last, but not least - Martin Brodeur who's not only getting older, but so far, is starting to lose his reflexes a little.

4.San Jose - don't like their D, don't like their goaltending. Big problems coming.

I wish we could get Langenbrunner. Maybe something involving Campoli could work?

Also thought I'd note that you said to name 5 teams on the decline, but you only named 4...

I'm sure if this question was posed on other team's forums, the sens would be mentioned as one of them. Its a tricky question because from the perspective of the outsiders, the senators aren't the same team that went to the cup finals, nor are they doing well right now, they're getting older, etc. Only we know that actually, the senators have alot of prospects in the system, so the future actually is bright. So what really defines 'a team on the decline'?

IMO, it would be the prospects and what's expected in the next 5 years out of the teams.

With that out of the way,

1) calgary - crap GM, crap salary distribution, crap prospects
2) NJ - Kovalchuk thing single handedly seems to have handcuffed them as they lost some prospects plus picks. Brodeur definitely looks like he's declining. what prospects do they have?
3) Minnesota - they suck and have no prospects I'm excited for
4) Dallas - see above...why take a goalie in the first round when you had a shot at a stud d-man?

PKC wrote:Also thought I'd note that you said to name 5 teams on the decline, but you only named 4...

Haha, my bad. I changed it to 4 - but my 5th is Calgary (actually, they're my first choice), how did I forget them? Going nowhere - and quick.

Michallica wrote:I'm sure if this question was posed on other team's forums, the sens would be mentioned as one of them. Its a tricky question because from the perspective of the outsiders, the senators aren't the same team that went to the cup finals, nor are they doing well right now, they're getting older, etc. Only we know that actually, the senators have alot of prospects in the system, so the future actually is bright. So what really defines 'a team on the decline'?

Most fans are getting more adept at using the knowledge on the internet, so I'm not sure we'd be in there. With the devastating D coming up + Regin, Michalek, Foligno, Spezza etc. already on the team and 27 or under, I think the future is pretty bright - and it's easy to see. Lehner is still the jewel in the crown for me big time, he'll be the guy who backstops us to a championship if all goes well.

Alfie is a concern for sure, he's starting to get older, but...when/if he retires, he's already hinted at taking a front office job with us, so that makes me feel a lot better. Plus...his 5.6 million cap hit can be used to get a replacement (even though his replacement is Regin, book it ) - with Alfie's cap hit we can buy some talent up front.

Hard to say how many people think of that, maybe you're right and there'd be a lot of people thinking we're declining.

Problem is, most people would just go to HFboards and find that we're ranked in the lower half. Put old age and subsequent ranking together, and it would mean we're on somewhat of a decline.....yet its completely opposite!

Hmmm, good question for sure.

1. Montreal - Traded one of the best goalies in a long time, in doing so ripped the heart out of the Habs and their fans and left them with a goalie that just won't cut it in a Canadian city, especially Montreal.
They're going to have a rude awakening this year.

2. New Jersey - What a mess Lou has made of this team, wow. They have some good players for sure, but they also seem to have lost a lot of chemistry there with the departure of Martin. It might sound weird, but he was a big part of them winning at anytime during the season, he and Brodeur were big big parts of this teams success. Now Martin is gone and Brodeur isn't getting any younger. This will be a weird year for them for sure. They'll either make due with what they have and be awesome, or they'll just plummet down the standings. A big ? for Jersey this year.

3. San Jose will have issues this year, they've lost the man they counted on between the pipes and brought in a young goalie that just won the Cup, behind the best D in the league in a long time. In SJ he has Boyle + _________________________ I couldn't even name their D anymore beside Boyle...so that can't be good. Thornton, Marleau and Heatley should still be able to light the lamp, I just don't know how they are going to fare defensively and in nets. Should be interesting to see.

Not sure who else I could put here, there are probably a few teams in the West that will continue to struggle, these teams were never quite on the rise though, so I can't really put them on the decline...

Oh and...GO SENS GO!!!

Oh yes! Calgary!! They're brutal. That's my 4th, but really my 1st.

SpezDispenser wrote:

PKC wrote:Also thought I'd note that you said to name 5 teams on the decline, but you only named 4...

Haha, my bad. I changed it to 4 - but my 5th is Calgary (actually, they're my first choice), how did I forget them? Going nowhere - and quick.

Can you tell we're married? I didn't even read this before my last post.

The Pens look like Dung too - and they have Leclaire version 2.0 in net.

They do look like Dung, we look like Dung too.

SpezDispenser wrote:The Pens look like Dung too - and they have Leclaire version 2.0 in net.

Hahahahahaha Leclaire wishes he was Marc-Andre Fleury.

Anaheim?

SpezDispenser wrote:Simple.

Name 4 teams that you think are on the decline - and why.

1.Minnesota Wild - they're declining all right - all the way a lottery pick with no distinguishable talent coming - although I like Granlund. Fragile, soft players like Havlat, PM Bouchard, Brent Burns, Josh Harding (who's broken) etc.

2.NY Rangers - the calm before they start to get better, they are deplorable. Crap D, questionable F. The only great thing is Gaborik and Lundqvist.

3.NJ Devils - yes indeed. One of the big reasons is Kovalchuk. They have Rolston who's 106 years old, Arnott who's about to sail off to another team, Elias who never really got 100% over the hepatitis, Langenbrunner who is awesome, but will likely have to be let go next summer, a young-enough, but breaking down Volchenkov signed for 6 years ( ) and last, but not least - Martin Brodeur who's not only getting older, but so far, is starting to lose his reflexes a little.

4.San Jose - don't like their D, don't like their goaltending. Big problems coming.

The only team I'm gonna disagree with there is the Rangers, if anything they are on their way up. It's looks grim now, but they have tons of solid young players (Staal, Girardi, Del Zotto, Dubinsky, Callahan) who will only get better and they also have some amazing young prospects on the way (Anisimov, Grachev, Stepan, Kreider, McDonaugh, ect) and with Lundqvist and Gaborik signed long-term it looks promising.