ESPN future power rankings for all 32 teams

[Three On Zero]

ESPN rated all 32 teams. These rankings consider how teams are set up for success this season as well as the next three seasons. We had a panel of writers and editors rate each team in four categories -- roster (with an emphasis on players 26 and under); prospects; cap situation and contracts; and front office, ownership and coaching.

Definitely some interesting talking points with these rankings

NHL Future Power Rankings: Predicting best, worst teams for the next three seasons

Will the Devils' climb continue? Which bubble teams are set for a breakthrough in the next three years? Here are the 1-32 rankings for NHL teams.

www.espn.com

Click to read more...

 

[NYR94]

paywalled....

 

[TrufleShufle]

Very interesting indeed, I mean I bet it is at least if I was willing to pay 10 bucks to read it.

 

[Team_Spirit]

Cap/Contracts metric is given too much importance. Ex: Detroit/Buffalo top 5.

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

Too much emphasis on future/youth. It's a 4 year prediction not a 5-10 year prediction. The Lightning will likely still contend for 2-3 more years and I don't see Buffalo or Detroit even making the playoffs in the next 2 years, yet those 2 are top 5 and Tampa is 21. That's a little absurd to me. Maybe by year 4 those 2 will be ahead of the Bolts but I can't see it happening in the next 3 years. Just 1 example.

 

[HBK27]

Here are the top/bottom of the rankings:



Don't make a ton of sense in many instances...Detroit, Buffalo & Columbus as top 10 teams when it's far from certain they'll even make the playoffs the next year or two? Maybe they'll both be in good shape 3 years from now, but this is supposed to measure success over the next 3 seasons.

 

[Breakers]

“Aside from the players, there's little respect for the team's ownership, which placed second to last in the rankings”


Makes perfect sense in this quote.
Aquilini is the worse thing to ever happen to this organization and he has no franking idea what he is doing

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

Too much emphasis on future/youth. It's a 4 year prediction not a 5-10 year prediction. The Lightning will likely still contend for 2-3 more years and I don't see Buffalo or Detroit even making the playoffs in the next 2 years, yet those 2 are top 5 and Tampa is 21. That's a little absurd to me. Maybe by year 4 those 2 will be ahead of the Bolts but I can't see it happening in the next 3 years. Just 1 example.

I can very easily see BUF making the playoffs in the next two years.

DET a bit of a longer shot. I guess my question is, is it OVER that time period or BY that time period. I'd take TBL over DET easily for the next three years, but I'd take DET over TBL easily IN three years.

 

[Captain97]

Columbus and Detroit seem like strange choices for top 10.

 

[Despote]

I'd also choose CBJ to have more success than Colorado over the next 3 seasons, very smart ranking by ESPN.

It's bait to fish for reactions BTW.

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

Columbus and Detroit seem like strange choices for top 10.

It's like somebody who knows nothing about hockey read a bunch of "Best Prospect Pool" rankings, and then copy/pasted the list, while not accounting for the fact that most of those kids are still 3-5 years from contributing at a high level.

I'd also choose CBJ to have more success than Colorado over the next 3 seasons, very smart ranking by ESPN.

It's bait to fish for reactions BTW.

I honestly don't think this is bait. I think this is somebody who knows way less about hockey than even the average HF poster that fooled people at ESPN into thinking he was knowledgeable about the sport.

 

[MNRube]

Columbus and Detroit seem like strange choices for top 10

Columbus has quietly built a loaded system with bluechip talents at C & RHD. They also have a ton of depth coming.

Not as high on Detroit

 

[CupofOil]

Here are the top/bottom of the rankings:



Don't make a ton of sense in many instances...Detroit, Buffalo & Columbus as top 10 teams when it's far from certain they'll even make the playoffs the next year or two? Maybe they'll both be in good shape 3 years from now, but this is supposed to measure success over the next 3 seasons.

Are McDavid, Draisaitl, MacKinnon, Rantanen, Kucherov, Vasilevskiy, Matthews, Marner etc. retiring in the next 3 years? What a dumb list. They might as well just call it the top prospect pool list.
Maybe those will be the best teams in 5-7 years?

Also, and I say this as a Flames hater, there's no way the Flames are anywhere close to the worst team in the league in the next 3 years. They are perfectly mired in mediocrity

 

[Osakahaus]

Keep writing the islanders off ESPN. They really think they're still owned by Spanos and ran by Snow?

I get that the contracts are long but to put them that low? And to consider them barren? These guys have been okay at least with drafting with the limited picks they've had, and I think they'll, at the very least, stick around until the decline of Sorokin. Also really strange to put the Canucks and Sharks here, but I guess the Sharks have a reason because they absolutely bungled the Karlsson trade.

 

[DuklaNation]

No Canadian teams in ESPN's top 10.

Bettman's new NHL.

 

[Dubi Doo]

Here are the top/bottom of the rankings:



Don't make a ton of sense in many instances...Detroit, Buffalo & Columbus as top 10 teams when it's far from certain they'll even make the playoffs the next year or two? Maybe they'll both be in good shape 3 years from now, but this is supposed to measure success over the next 3 seasons.

Detroit being in the top-10 while Ottawa is nowhere in sight is a surprise to me. I like Ottawa's future more. I don't have much faith in Detroit becoming a contender. Ottawa has a better chance, imo.

 

[HBK27]

No Canadian teams in ESPN's top 10.

Bettman's new NHL.

It's just a crappy list as Toronto and Edmonton should both be top 10.

 

[NyQuil]

Detroit being in the top-10 while Ottawa is nowhere in sight is a surprise to me. I like Ottawa's future more. I don't have much faith in Detroit becoming a contender. Ottawa has a better chance, imo.

It's because Ottawa is ranked 26th in "management".

I have issues with their metrics and weighting, but whatever. It's designed to create discussion and it will.

Roster (35%), prospects (25%), cap/contracts (20%) and owner/GM/coach (20%).

Ok.

Players who haven't even played a game in the NHL yet are worth ~70% of the actual players the teams have in the line-up and contributing over the next THREE (3) years.

Should be something like roster (65%), cap/contracts (15%), prospects (10%), owner/GM/coach (10%).

Their weighting makes more sense for a much longer window of time.

 

[Captain97]

Columbus has quietly built a loaded system with bluechip talents at C & RHD. They also have a ton of depth coming.

Not as high on Detroit

I think Colubus will be a good team. But this list is for the next 3 years I thought. Columbus will be bad for I think the next 2 years. By the end of the 3 years I think they'll be good.

 

[Siludin]

I'm not buying the Islanders that low.
They have an "older" group but I see a lot of compete, and so far none of their older guys have fallen off.
They are going to compete for a playoff spot again this year, and their contract situation has a lot of deals expiring at the right times in those respective players' careers.
They also made the playoffs with their best player injured down the stretch.

 

[DuklaNation]

It's just a crappy list as Toronto and Edmonton should both be top 10.

Look at it as a window in the US media mindset. Unfortunately they have a huge influence on the league's direction. Ignore at your own peril.

 

[blueandgoldguy]

ESPN has released their NHL Future Power Rankings which is based on how teams are set up for success for this season and the next 3 seasons.

1st New Jersey
2nd Carolina
.
.
.
31st Vancouver
32nd Calgary

NHL Future Power Rankings: Predicting best, worst teams for the next three seasons

Will the Devils' climb continue? Which bubble teams are set for a breakthrough in the next three years? Here are the 1-32 rankings for NHL teams.

www.espn.com

These rankings consider how teams are set up for success this season as well as the next three seasons. We had a panel of writers and editors rate each team in four categories -- roster (with an emphasis on players 26 and under); prospects; cap situation and contracts; and front office, ownership and coaching -- using this scale:

• 100: A+ (elite)
  
  
• 90: A (great)
• 80: B (very good)
• 70: C (average)
• 60: D (very bad)
• 50: F (disastrous)

After averaging the results from the panelists, each of the four categories was weighted to create the overall score: roster (35%), prospects (25%), cap/contracts (20%) and owner/GM/coach (20%). The result is a comprehensive ranking based on how well each team is positioned for the future

 

[Dubi Doo]

It's because Ottawa is ranked 26th in "management".

Interesting.

I think when you have a #1C and a potential #1D locked up long-term, then you've got two incredible building blocks toward a contender. It appears to me the only thing Ottawa really NEEDS in their system is a blue-chip goalie prospect, which is why I have a team like Buffalo slightly ahead of them going forward. Levi gives Buffalo the edge for now. That + the fact Buffalo has more young talent coming up.

I'm hoping we see a Buffalo-Ottawa rivalry like we saw in 05-07. Those were some fun years.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

I think its a little ambitious for a couple of teams to be projected top 10 alread(Detroit and Columbus), but overall I do think it's a fairly reasonable list.

 

[MNRube]

I think Colubus will be a good team. But this list is for the next 3 years I thought. Columbus will be bad for I think the next 2 years. By the end of the 3 years I think they'll be good.

F: Fantilli, Laine, Gaudreau, Jenner, Sillinger, K.Johnson, Marchenko, Chinakov, Brindley

C: Werenski, Jiricek, Provorov, Boqvist, Severson, Bean, Szovil

Looks pretty loaded to me. I think they could be a force as soon as this year, provided they get decent goaltending.