Worst team next season

[Hockey Know it all]

Here is my prediction for the standings next year:

32. Chicago Blackhawks
31. San Jose Sharks
30. Calgary Flames
29. Columbus Bluejackets
28. Pittsburgh Penguins
27. Buffalo Sabres
26. Anaheim Ducks
25. St. Louis Blues
24. Montreal Canadians
23. Utah HC
22. Philadelphia Flyers
21. Minnesota Wild
20. New York Islanders
19. Seattle Kraken
18. Washington Capitals
17. Detroit Red Wings
—————————————————————————
16. Nashville Predators (WC 2W)
15. Ottawa Senators (WC 2E)
14. LA Kings (WC 1W)
13. Boston Bruins (WC 1E)
12. Winnipeg Jets (CD3)
11. Vancouver Canucks (PD3)
10. Colorado Avalanche (CD2)
9. New Jersey Devils (MD3)
8. Tampa Bay Lightning (AD3)
7. Vegas Golden Knights (PD2)
6. Florida Panthers (AD2)
5. New York Rangers (MD2)
4. Carolina Hurricanes (MD1)
3. Toronto Maple Leafs (AD1)
2. Edmonton Oilers (PD1)
1. Dallas Stars (CD1)

Hahaha Ottawa over the wings made me laugh so hard that I fell of my dinosaur.

Flyers
Best Forward: Thomas Konecky
Best Defenseman: Cam York
Best Goalie: Someone named Samuel Ersson

Torts effect clearly wore off in the second half. More of the same next year.

My Best-Carey

Who the heck is Thomas Konecky?

 

[Coffey]

Couldn't you have at lease said "All your first are belong to us"?

 

[BlueBaron]

My guess is a California team not LA. You never know though. One injury to the wrong guy would hobble a few teams.

 

[Cenzo_]

At least to me, Montreal looks like the worst team right now

What makes you think that? Last year we lost Dach after game 2 and Dvorak very early also. Losing our No2 and No3 centers had a huge impact on our standings, especially after trading Monahan.

I think many people will be surprised by Montreal this year. All depends on Dach's health. If he can stay healthy this changes everything and offers 2 legit top lines. Our young D core will all have one more year under the belt and should provide better hockey. We won't be doing a rotation of 3 goalies and Montembeault, who has constantly improved over the years, should have a greater impact. Our power play should be improved with Hudson's crazy moves on the blue line and I expect that by mid season, one of Rainbacher or Mailloux will be promoted in the lineup full time from the AHL and provide important contribution.

 

[ManofSteel55]

The Sharks look epically bad. They haven't done much to improve, and I don't think Celebrini is enough to pull them out of the basement.

I'll say the flames finish last.

Only if their goaltending completely craters. They won't be good, but they still have a better roster than the Sharks, and probably a few others.

 

[Volica]

Calgary is in the conversation. When you're sole adds in FA are Mantha and Lomberg you've basically given up and are focusing on some value at the deadline. Why not start the firesale? It's like they're playing poker and slowly losing all their chips, but refusing to sit out any hand before seeing the flop.

They should be trading Coleman and Backlund this offseason before their values drop. Andersson or Weegar will have good years so they can flip at least one next summer or even at the TDL.

Their adds were strategic because they only started their rebuild essentially midway through last year. Like in January there was still the thought around the organization that this was a wildcard team (because, well, they were sitting in the second wildcard spot for a while). 1-2 year contracts that are flip-able at the 2025 and 2026 deadlines.

After trading away Hanifin and Tanev, they went 8-13 down the stretch.
They also just moved on from Markstrom before the draft who probably won them, conservatively, 17 or 18 games on his own this year.

This is going to be year 1 of the rebuild.
Guys like Coleman and Backlund never lose their value as players because they've both proven they can produce and be A+ defensive players even on bad teams. Backlund's been doing it essentially his entire career.

Not sure how your analogy works?

We've traded:
Lindholm
Tanev
Hanifin
Markstrom
Zadorov
Toffoli

This calendar year. If that doesn't signal fire sale, not sure what does. We need to hit the cap floor.

Only if their goaltending completely craters. They won't be good, but they still have a better roster than the Sharks, and probably a few others.

Flames over/under 62.5 points this year?

Also a gentle reminder. Calgary has one of the worst coaches in the NHL. Ryan Huska is clearly a placeholder while we race to the bottom of the standings lol.

 

[PaulD]

Sharks

 

[ManofSteel55]

Their adds were strategic because they only started their rebuild essentially midway through last year. Like in January there was still the thought around the organization that this was a wildcard team (because, well, they were sitting in the second wildcard spot for a while). 1-2 year contracts that are flip-able at the 2025 and 2026 deadlines.

After trading away Hanifin and Tanev, they went 8-13 down the stretch.
They also just moved on from Markstrom before the draft who probably won them, conservatively, 17 or 18 games on his own this year.

This is going to be year 1 of the rebuild.
Guys like Coleman and Backlund never lose their value as players because they've both proven they can produce and be A+ defensive players even on bad teams. Backlund's been doing it essentially his entire career.

Not sure how your analogy works?

We've traded:
Lindholm
Tanev
Hanifin
Markstrom
Zadorov
Toffoli

This calendar year. If that doesn't signal fire sale, not sure what does. We need to hit the cap floor.



Flames over/under 62.5 points this year?

Also a gentle reminder. Calgary has one of the worst coaches in the NHL. Ryan Huska is clearly a placeholder while we race to the bottom of the standings lol.

I would say under, but I also still think that there are other teams that will finish out lower in the standings. I think they are bottom 5 unless some very unlikely things happen, like Wolf becoming a superstar in his first full season, Huberdeau returning to his pre-Calgary form, or someone completely unexpected raising the bar and dragging the team forward.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

It's SJ, and it's going to be for a long, LONG time

 

[MichaelFarrell]

Hahaha Ottawa over the wings made me laugh so hard that I fell of my dinosaur.

Wings just haven’t gotten better. We’ll see if the younger guys step up. Ottawa shored up their goaltending and I personally think guys like Greig, Sanderson, Tkachuk, and Stützle are going to take a big step.

I could be way off because it is Ottawa and they tend to suck, but the biggest difference to me was goaltending. Husso and Talbot aren’t good enough on paper for me.

 

[Boy Hedican]

Feels like the Ducks have tanked at least a decade. They and the Sharks seem to have a 30 year ish playoff drought incoming.

What? based on what? Grier has been doing a great job so far. At this rate we a few years from being at least a playoff team. Our rebuild is going great. Ana, can't say the same for them. But I also don't pay as much attention. They seem to be treading water though.

It's SJ, and it's going to be for a long, LONG time

You will be surprised.

 

[BurnabyJoe7]

Their adds were strategic because they only started their rebuild essentially midway through last year. Like in January there was still the thought around the organization that this was a wildcard team (because, well, they were sitting in the second wildcard spot for a while). 1-2 year contracts that are flip-able at the 2025 and 2026 deadlines.

After trading away Hanifin and Tanev, they went 8-13 down the stretch.
They also just moved on from Markstrom before the draft who probably won them, conservatively, 17 or 18 games on his own this year.

This is going to be year 1 of the rebuild.
Guys like Coleman and Backlund never lose their value as players because they've both proven they can produce and be A+ defensive players even on bad teams. Backlund's been doing it essentially his entire career.

Not sure how your analogy works?

We've traded:
Lindholm
Tanev
Hanifin
Markstrom
Zadorov
Toffoli

This calendar year. If that doesn't signal fire sale, not sure what does. We need to hit the cap floor.



Flames over/under 62.5 points this year?

Also a gentle reminder. Calgary has one of the worst coaches in the NHL. Ryan Huska is clearly a placeholder while we race to the bottom of the standings lol.

Coleman will be 33 this year and is just coming off a 30 goal and 54 point campaign. He never had more than 30 points in a season beforehand. This would be an ideal time to trade him for the flames.

Backlund is now 35 which is when we see a lot of guys start to slow down. Both will lose a lot of value over the next few years.

Analogy was related to the franchise moves over the last decade. Fair comment to say they started the firesale but they should be clearing out the aforementioned names as well as one of andersson or weegar.

Flames hockey about to get real ugly. You hate to see it

 

[Coffey]

Coleman will be 33 this year and is just coming off a 30 goal and 54 point campaign. He never had more than 30 points in a season beforehand. This would be an ideal time to trade him for the flames.

Backlund is now 35 which is when we see a lot of guys start to slow down. Both will lose a lot of value over the next few years.

Analogy was related to the franchise moves over the last decade. Fair comment to say they started the firesale but they should be clearing out the aforementioned names as well as one of andersson or weegar.

Flames hockey about to get real ugly. You hate to see it

They refuse to tank.
Only thing the management and city can hold over the Oilers.

Their PRIDE.

 

[Saga of the Elk]

Penguins are starting to look designed to fail.

"I told Geno I wouldn't cry," blubbered Crosby as he discussed the pending trade, once unthinkable for the franchise icon.

 

[waitin425]

1. Last place will be Sharks by a country mile.

2. Chicago will be threatening the bottom again.

3. Calgary is about to tumble very far in the standings

4. Those saying Habs.....are out to lunch. All the reasons have been covered. Habs will be 10th-16th pick. No playoffs yet.

 

[Sacha BOXviert]

Columbus.
Chicago will try to tank hard in 2026

 

[DJJones]

Sharks pretty easily

Chicago and Ducks next

Calgary ain't close to those teams. We'll have a couple streaks where we actually look half decent. They'll get another defender from somewhere. Have enough scorers that a couple will get hot. Do a sell off at the TDL, maybe a few injuries and drop down to 6th last.

 

[StreetHawk]

4. Those saying Habs.....are out to lunch. All the reasons have been covered. Habs will be 10th-16th pick. No playoffs yet.

Montreal was 6 points away from drafting 10th OA last season. Once you get into that 5-10 range, it's only a few points separating those clubs. 6 clubs between 76 and 81 points last season.

Separation in the bottom 5, was 5 from 1 to 2, 7 from 2 to 3, 7 from 3 to 4, and 10 from 4 to 5.

So, the bottom 4 really in SJ, Chi, Ana, Cbs really do have a lot of ground to make up to get out of the bottom 3.

 

[frisco]

Who the heck is Thomas Konecky?

He's the best forward on Philly. Plays with Joey Forabeau and Steve Courtier.

My Best-Carey

 

[Volica]

Analogy was related to the franchise moves over the last decade. Fair comment to say they started the firesale but they should be clearing out the aforementioned names as well as one of andersson or weegar.

Flames hockey about to get real ugly. You hate to see it

Razzy will likely be dealt at this deadline or next.
Weegar looks like he's here to stay. Big contract, he's signed for a long time, just had a really good season while playing on a bottom feeder. We need guys like him as we start to bring up some of those really great D prospects we've amassed.

In terms of hating to see it... Flames fans have been clamouring for a real rebuild for about 17 years.
The last time we did one, it was more of a 'fell ass backwards into it because we just got really old and really bad' rather than a 'we are aiming to be bad for a few seasons'.

We tanked for all of one year, drafted 4th and then called it a day. Went all in the next year, sent picks out the door on a PDO fueled season.

We need to sustain a bottom 5 for at least two seasons. We need to be in the McKenna sweepstakes in two years time, and one of the big prospects next year.

Flames fans have been asking for this for a long time, now it's time to see if some of us have the stomach for it.

 

[Fist of Fury]

33rd place.

We're more likely to win Stanley Cup.

 

[Rockomax]

On paper Flames have a bottom tier roster and are actively tanking. However they seem to always find a way to win some games and end up in the 18-23 range

Hopefully they end up in the 18-22 range

 

[Rockomax]

Bottom 5 should include Anaheim, Calgary, Chicago, Colombus and San Jose. But San Jose should come out on top.

 

[Boy Hedican]

I would love for the Sharks to be dead last again...but I just dont think it's going to be that easy again. Chicago wasn't far above us for most of the season.

 

[StreetHawk]

I would love for the Sharks to be dead last again...but I just dont think it's going to be that easy again. Chicago wasn't far above us for most of the season.

Also need to factor in what the timeline is for each of the GMs. I doubt any in the bottom 5 expect to be a PO team. But, growth and development of players on the roster is important. SJ doesn't want to be over 100 goals difference again.

How many of these bottom 4 GMs can still be employed after another couple of bottom 3/4 finishes? Waddell just got hired, so he's got slack. But, no clue what his assessment of the team was to the owners when he got hired. Probably, not a tear it all down for 3 more terrible years.