Vesa Awesaka
#KeepTheSenate
- Jul 4, 2013
- 18,236
- 25
You could say that about every single franchise in the NHL. It is literally impossible to be a competitive team forever. Every team that drafts well, develops their players, sees them excel and then sees them through the aging process will eventually have a downturn. You can't be highly competitive and get very high draft picks at the same time.
Here's all the teams in the last 10 drafts to have a top 3 pick:
Edmonton 4
Florida 4
Pittsburgh 3
Chicago 3
Colorado 3
Tampa Bay 3
Anaheim 1
Carolina 1
St. Louis 1
Philadelphia 1
Phoenix/Arizona 1
Los Angeles 1
Atlanta/Winnipeg 1
NY Islanders 1
Boston 1
Columbus 1
Montreal 1
Buffalo 1
Washington 1
That's 19 teams in total. And what a surprise: of the last 9 teams to win the Stanley Cup, 8 are teams that had a top 3 pick in at least one of the drafts from 2004-2014. So, virtually every team that has won a Cup in the last decade had to have 1 or multiple seasons of bottoming out for top picks to emerge as Cup winners down the road.
So while it seems very comfortable to just go ahead and make the ridiculous connection of this team's downturn coinciding with Melnyk's ownership, the facts show that it's simply not the case. It is nearly impossible to maintain a highly competitive team without the aid of 1 or multiple top 3 draft picks.
Let's look at 2005-2006, what I consider to be the Sens last true great team. (Even though the 06-07 squad made the Finals, they definitely weren't of the calibre of the 05-06 squad)
The top 5 teams in the league that year were:
Detroit
Ottawa
Dallas
Carolina
Buffalo
In 2006-07, Carolina missed the playoffs.
In 2007-08, Carolina and Buffalo miss.
In 2008-09, Buffalo, Ottawa and Dallas miss.
In 2009-10, Dallas and Carolina miss.
In 2010-11, Dallas, Carolina and Ottawa miss.
In 2011-12, Dallas, Buffalo and Carolina miss.
In 2012-13, Dallas, Carolina and Buffalo miss.
In 2013-14, Ottawa, Carolina and Buffalo miss. Buffalo last place in NHL.
This year, only Detroit looks to be on pace to make the playoffs. Carolina is a bottom 5 team. Buffalo is dead last.
It seems disingenuous to only look at Ottawa and say they've had a fall from grace when the league is littered with teams that had falls from grace, several of whom were the league's elites when Ottawa was.
Carolina has made the playoffs once since the year they won the Cup. Buffalo has missed the playoffs 3 years in a row and is on pace for their second consecutive last place finish. Dallas missed the playoffs 5 years in a row. Ottawa only missed the playoffs 3 of the 8 years. Detroit had back to back Cup Finals and won a Stanley Cup in one of them.
Disagree when you say you need a top pick to win the cup. You just need a good player.