The 5 tanks are back at it!

[PaulD]

Points to watered down league when pretty well 20% of the teams tank each season.

Throw the Pens in this year - Albeit Dubas unintentional Tank.

 

[Tasteless Beaver]

Which of these is the next team that we get a rebuild documentary on?

 

[NotCommitted]

Feeling a bit protective about CBJ on this one... not that they haven't made some pretty big mistakes including bad coaching hires culminating on the Babcock fiasco but since July 2021 they've had two players die including their biggest star, their other supposed star forward lost his father in Nov 21 and was battling depression ever since and lost like 25+ games most seasons due to various injuries, culminating his time as a Blue Jacket with entering the PAP after playing only 18 games in 23-24 in a yet another season ruined by injuries and eventually figuring out he needs a new beginning elsewhere. And honestly I thought Laine was pretty damn good in 21-22 and 22-23 so it makes me wonder if he was playing at that level being depressed and struggling with sleep issues, how good could he have been if he was 100%?

And that's only the tip of the iceberg with the injury luck and tragedies around the team. It's like they can't have good things, Kent Johnson finally looks like he's about to break out and bang, he's out. KJ finding his game on NHL level was just what the team needed after the roster lost two ~P/GP forwards in the off season.

I'm not even mentioning Jenner who is out again because at this it just seems to be expected.

 

[PaulD]

You failed to discuss the definition of success. Winning the Cup is a terrible measurement. One team wins the Cup every year. Was every decision by every team which did not win a bad one? You're making up stats to support a false premise. You can imagine any while you're at it: "How many times did acquiring the best goalie in the league result in winning the Cup? See???!! It doesn't work most of the time!! We shouldn't try to get a good goalie!"

Tanking and drafting future super stars results in media buzz, ticket and merchandise sales, advertising, making the team more attractive for good coaches and players as a destination, points and wins, the list goes on.

If you actually did analysis and came to the conclusion that multiple very bad seasons actually do more harm to the franchise compared to the eventual upswing made possible by high first and 2nd round picks then you'd got something, but all you said is duh see they don't win the Cup that often. Duh, winning the cup requires hundreds of things to go right, not only getting a star player, despite it surely being a big help.

Well said.
Eg. Leafs tanked the 2016 season to get Matthews. 8 seasons later and they still can't win a round.
But leafers and Toronto media will tell you there are a successful , contending team every season.
Habs tanked after going to finals. Still stink and will for years to come.
Sharks and Hawks like to tank, tank, then tank again. Thet ain't going anywhere soon.
Drafting high is good for hype and sometimes ticket sales. Then can fade fast. Bedard was the headline every night for his last year of junior and the first half of his NHL season
Now ? Crickets.

 

[HockeyVirus]

Is perpetual mediocrity any more successful?

The Leafs tanked for Matthews and now get bounced from the playoffs early every season.

Seems like most teams in the league really have no more claim to success than say, the Habs...who were at least able to grab opportunity when it came knocking and ride the wave to the SC Finals a few years back.

I know it is you and this is your schtick, but are your really trying to argue a yearly playoff team is the same thing as a yearly bottom 5 team? Cause as a Leafs fan who has cheered for both, I easily take making the playoffs every season

 

[Ezpz]

Bedard is in his second year.....Mackinnon had 53 points in his 4th year

I am not saying a bust just that he's not a generational talent as advertised. MacKinnon is a physical specimen, bedard is never going to be that big or fast as a 5'9 guy.

I'm sure he'll still flirt with 100 points with some talent around him but he's not pulling a team out of the basement alone.

 

[kerrabria]

How do the other major sports leagues compare in time to turn around a rebuild? More or less the same?

idk about the MLB, but NFL and NBA are not comparable. I don’t even think NFL really has true rebuilds.

 

[MHO]

It's interesting as they all decided to tank at around the same time and no other teams have made that choice. Rebuilding in hockey takes a while. It just does as no one player can elevate a team like they can in basketball. They only play a 3rd of the game and are dependent on the teammates they have.

I'll be curious as to even if the bottom 5 are the same, will their point totals all be higher this year because I think they are all better than they were last year. And then 5 years from now, will they be amongst the best teams in the league or not. Time will tell but yeah, it sucks to be a Blackhawks fan right now.

 

[TBF1972]

Do you think all of these teams are "tanking"? Or do they just don't have the talent to compete right now? I don't think every team tanks.

if you trade away veterans for picks and end up with not having enough talent, you can call it tanking.

 

[isles55]

Doesn’t this prove they aren’t tanking and are actually just bad?

 

[AUAIOMRN]

Doesn’t this prove they aren’t tanking and are actually just bad?

The word "tanking" has become so overused that many people don't know there's a difference.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

We were last for a day...I was happy but that didn't last long ..... as much as i wish we would finish last I'm not so sure we can outank these guys

 

[WarriorofTime]

It's interesting as they all decided to tank at around the same time and no other teams have made that choice. Rebuilding in hockey takes a while. It just does as no one player can elevate a team like they can in basketball. They only play a 3rd of the game and are dependent on the teammates they have.

I'll be curious as to even if the bottom 5 are the same, will their point totals all be higher this year because I think they are all better than they were last year. And then 5 years from now, will they be amongst the best teams in the league or not. Time will tell but yeah, it sucks to be a Blackhawks fan right now.

All those teams basically had a lot of runway to get better and still pick high in the Draft. A lot of teams out there have been flirting with the "sort of close to the Playoffs" mediocre spot, some are young teams that are trying to come out of recent rebuilds themselves... like do you think Buffalo or Ottawa want to do another tank right now? Some just don't want to blow it up and go for a tank even if on paper they "should". Basically, nobody new is consciously entering a tank phase and it's fairly unlikely that most of the middling teams could fall far enough to do an accidental tank. Look at the Goal Differentials of the bottom 5 last season compared to everyone else. There is a huge gap. Ottawa and Arizona were 7th and 6th to last with goal differentials of -26 and -18. Then you had Montreal at -53, Columbus at -63, Anaheim at -91, Chicago at -111 and San Jose at -150.

 

[Viqsi]

At this point I'm convinced a fair number of the participants in this thread, based on some of the "same old Jackets" takes, don't know Jarmo Kekalainen was fired and/or don't realize Johnny (z''l) was playing for the Blue Jackets.

 

[WarriorofTime]

It's because none of those teams have actually, truly, committed to a rebuild and still ice teams of overpaid, overvalued, and underperforming veterans. Those teams all missed the boat on when to start their rebuild.

Chicago spent way too much time trying to hang on when the team was long passed its expiration date. It would have been nicer to have a deeper foundation from 2018/2019 Drafts but I suppose everything looks different if Boqvist and K. Dach are better than they were.

 

[MHO]

I'm also curious who joins the party going into next year with McKenna coming out and the 26 draft looking pretty sick

 

[Artaud]

I'm also curious who joins the party going into next year with McKenna coming out and the 26 draft looking pretty sick

I agree, this summer is going to get interesting as new teams will go all-in for the tank. 2026 and 2027 look to have franchise-altering talents in Mckenna and Dupont.

I think that though they made no overt win-now moves, the Ducks and Habs were hoping to jump out of the sucky 5 based on progression of their young players alone.

 

[PredsV82]

Honestly it is surprising how consistent those teams are season to season. Same bottom 5 for 3 years now.

22-23 season:

32- Ducks 58 pts
31- Jackets 59 pts
30- Hawks 59 pts
29- Sharks 60 pts
28- Habs 68 pts

23-24 season

32- Sharks 47 pts
31- Hawks 52 pts
30- Ducks 59 pts
29- Jackets 66 pts
28- Habs 76 pts

This season
View attachment 932116

I am not sure of that stats but it must be pretty rare to have the same 5 teams at the bottom for 3 years straight.

This is like it is today only because the preds lucked out a win last night and have played more games

 

[57special]

If at first you don't succeed, don't try and don't try again.