Teams on the decline

SeawaySensFan wrote:1. Montreal Canadiens: dubious franchise player in Carey Price, superstar money paid to "good" players (long-term), about 25 years of poor drafting

2. New Jersey Devils: Fraudeur at the mercy of his own team, no longer focused on making him look good with stifling, boring style, now attempting a more aggressive, offensive brand of hockey to sell seats; overspending on that new philosophy on one player will hurt for years to come

3. Detroit Red Wings: Aging core, fooled themselves into thinking that they could keep drafting in the later rounds and always finding hidden gems

4. Chicago Black Hawks: Already on a slippery slope of top-heavy spending on long-term deals; being the son of the overrated Scotty Bowman isn't good enough to ensure success

In 5 years may be, I have them winning another cup soon. They're just too good now that even a decline would be a year similar to last, 2nd round playoffs exit-ish.

wprager wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Horrible might be an overstatement. He's adequate. He can be really good, but he can crap the bed with the best of them. Very inconsistent, which is not good for a number one goalie.

4 goals on 14 shots tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, your NHL league-leading Toronto Maple Leafs!

Does it really mean anything? I mean Leclaire was the Sens best player and let in 5 goals...
Leafs right now = playing awsome hockey.

The Rangers are a team that's probably on the upswing, same with Minnesota when they get a lottery pick this year, ditto Anaheim. It's pretty fast, the Sens were horrible from the BS 15-2 run to when Clouston took over, they got really lucky with Wiercioch and really lucky with Karlsson and Lehner, three picks that were relatively low except for Karlsson's middle of the pack. We'll see...a tad soft maybe on the backend, and as people have mentioned, no sniper in the fold with the possible exceptions of Butler, Hoffman and Petersson.

I don't think Ottawa will be on the decline a lot from here on in. They have to handle their young talent very carefully, but if we get really lucky and they all pan out, this is going to be a real fun team to watch in 3 years.

wprager wrote:Anaheim?

I don't think anyone is making bones about the fact that Anaheim is terrible. They've obviously got great young talent up front but their D is horrawful.

I'd say they aren't declining because now that they've lost Pronger and Niedermayer there's nowhere to go but up. Especially given they've also got a legit shot at adding a defender like Larsson or Musil, I'd say their core is pretty special: Getzlaf, Perry, Ryan, Etem, Holland, Palmieri, Beleskey etc. up front and Sbisa, Fowler, Gardiner and Vatanen et al. on the back end.

To be honest, I'd say every team has bright spots for the future - some moreso than others. But we probably don't quite have enough knowledge about some other teams' prospects to definitively say that we're much better off than they are. Other teams' fans who don't know much about Sens' prospects probably would dismiss names like Lehner and Wiercioch (and perhaps Cowen, if they've just seen him at the WJCs). We're probably at fault for unconsciously doing the same.

As an example, as far as a team like the Rangers go, Gaborik and Lundqvist are the only awesome parts recognized league-wide but they've also got talent comparable to the some of the Sens we hype in guys like Del Zotto, Staal, Stepan, Dubinsky, Callahan, Anisimov, Kreider etc. I'm still a little skeptical of the McIlrath pick.

There was a reason why I added the question mark after 'Anaheim'.

Not too long ago they won the Stanley Cup, and still have a great top line up front. It's hard to imagine they are still declining, given where they are, but it looks like they are worse this year (injuries don't help) than last.

wprager wrote:There was a reason why I added the question mark after 'Anaheim'.

Not too long ago they won the Stanley Cup, and still have a great top line up front. It's hard to imagine they are still declining, given where they are, but it looks like they are worse this year (injuries don't help) than last.

Not too long ago we were in the SCF... and then we missed the playoffs...Sens on the decline?