Currently the best & worst rebuilds ongoing

[blankall]

I think Detroit at best is heading towards years of mediocrity at best. They aren’t nearly as exciting as last year and they give up pretty much after allowing a goal or two. They generate almost no offense at 5 on 5 and their power play is the only thing keeping them from the very bottom of the standings.

Our defense outside Seider and Edvinsson is terribad with only really ASP on the backend in our prospect pool with “that guy” ceiling. If he doesn’t pan out not retaining any of Walman,Ghost,Hronek doesn’t look good….

I get Buffalo has been missing for longer but when you watch them this year you can tell they are talented. Way more exciting to watch and have more guys with higher upside.

I do not think the Red Wings will compete seriously while Larkin is in his prime. I really want to be wrong, but a chunk of wings fans were expecting a step back this year, but not to the state of looking like a bottom dweller.

Oh , and we don’t have much cap space

Detroit has issues, but at a certain point you have to use asset management, trades, and great ufa signings to be successful.

You state the defence minus seider and edvinsson is awful, but those are very good pieces to build around. Acquiring #3-7 dmen is much easier than getting those two to dmen, which Detroit has.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

I like Chicago's. They have the star up front and a hell of a top 4 D if they all come close to their potential.

 

[AvroArrow]

Buffalo has gotta be the worst, it's their second rebuild and still can't even crack a wildcard spot

Not sure who the best would be, no one has a particularly great one right now. Montreal I guess ? They whiffed on a couple huge draft picks (Tkachuk/Michkov) but have hit on some others and made good trades.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Kings are headed directly for a cliff in a year or two

Completely botched their rebuild and created a black hole team with no future

I think you’ll see everyone Byfield’s age and older with new franchises by 2026-2027 when they start a real rebuild instead of an arrogant “we’re actually smarter than everyone” retool

 

[dirtydanglez]

best - chicago, minesota

worst - buffalo, detroit, ottawa, utah.

 

[DitchMarner]

I think it's too early to declare the Sharks' rebuild a success.

They've been absolute trash for a while (and still are) and have been able to accumulate some very good pieces but have a lot to prove. Having guys like Celebrini and Smith on the roster doesn't guarantee success. The Sabres had Eichel and Reinhart and sucked. Not hating or anything... I just think they have a long way to go to become good and we don't know if/when it'll happen. Their rebuild certainly is far from over.

 

[rahad]

Habs would be looking excellent had they taken Tkachuk, Michkov, Oettinger. Now that may have changed their positions but if it hadn’t, they’d be looking good with Tkachuk, Suzuki, Caufield, Michkov, Slaf, Laine. Plus other prospects

What are you talking about.... If we had drafted Tkachuk and Oettinger. We will not be drafting in the bottom 5....

 

[rahad]

They still stink but I like the talent that Montreal and San Jose have accumulated. One more high end player each this draft and I think they're ready to start coming out of it. But that's the hardest part so remains to be seen.

I feel like more Montreal, we are missing the elite 1 center. Suzuki is not a bad player. But, if we want to win the stanley cup oen day. We will need a better center. Is kinda a shame Reinbacher got injured for the whole year. We needed him in the top 4 next year....

 

[Keystone]

The Avs have done it best cause you never really notice it. Got some high picks with a few poor years before McKinnon and Landeskog. If they have a bad year since then it’s only an abberition and they grab someone like Makar to ease the pain.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Kings are headed directly for a cliff in a year or two

Completely botched their rebuild and created a black hole team with no future

I think you’ll see everyone Byfield’s age and older with new franchises by 2026-2027 when they start a real rebuild instead of an arrogant “we’re actually smarter than everyone” retool

They have some promising forward prospects coming up no? If they do poorly they might even draft dupont.

 

[My3Sons]

McTavish and Zegras are undersized. Carlsson is a 6’3 potential franchise 1C.

NHL roster lists McTavish at 6’1” and 220 lbs.

 

[Juxtaposer]

lol We didn't even really "tear it down". Lou just unintentionally ran us into the ground at the end of his tenure and left us with the oldest roster in the league with one of the worst prospect pools and only Henrique/Larsson as promising young players.

Okay, I meant more like "bottomed out", as in got a bunch of top-5 picks.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

I feel like more Montreal, we are missing the elite 1 center. Suzuki is not a bad player. But, if we want to win the stanley cup oen day. We will need a better center. Is kinda a shame Reinbacher got injured for the whole year. We needed him in the top 4 next year....

Should be able to get one this year. Some good centers in the top 7-8 picks.

 

[ohcomeonref]

NHL roster lists McTavish at 6’1” and 220 lbs.

He's not small but he plays pretty small. Does not utilize his chunky frame at all.

 

[My3Sons]

He's not small but he plays pretty small. Does not utilize his chunky frame at all.

not that uncommon for young skilled guys. He will likely develop a bit more of an edge.

 

[winnipegger]

So no that old, if that’s as far back as you go

I'm old enough to remember when the leafs were good. That should clear up my age somewhat.

 

[RandV]

Its amazing how getting the #1 pick and a chance to draft a generational player helps your rebuild. Detroit has been pretty unlucky in that regard. The Ducks as well. SJ and Chicago have had good draft luck. Put Bedard on the Ducks or Detroit and this entire thread has a different take.

That's because in the simplest terms this is what a "successful" rebuild comes down to. It's not a coincidence that the best teams in the NHL almost always also have the best players in the NHL. Last season for example, of the top 30 players in league scoring only 4 didn't appear in the playoffs. The makeup of a successful team tends to be a team that's built smartly around a small core of elite players. On HFBoards especially, fans get overly enamoured with the process of a rebuild. Things like selling for extra picks, weaponizing cap space, and building a top 5 prospect pool. But much of that is inconsequential if you're hotshot prospects don't emerge as elite players like Jack or Quinn Hughes have.

This was a large point of contention for the Canucks board when ownership finally fired Jim Benning and we got the opportunity to watch the team move forward under new management. He never went through the typical motions of a rebuild, for 8 seasons he spent to to the cap on free agents with term and trying to compete for the playoffs. Hell the final three drafts under Benning the team only had one 1st, two 2nds, and one 3rd. But despite he got lucky in getting together what could potentially be a good core group of 5-6 players you could build a successful team around. Many Canuck fans though thought the only way forward was to finally go through the motions of stockpiling picks and building a top prospect pool, and there was a lot of contention among Canuck fans when new management moved to compete around what they had.

So basically for the thread topic it's largely going to come down to which few among guys like Bedard/Carlsson/Celebrini/etc are going to emerge as top 10 players in their position, not how good the overall prospect pools are. And while some guys are better bets than others that's still highly unpredictable.