Your own 'Future Power Rankings'

[conFABulator]

Damn we went from top 5 to outside the top 9 lol

No way we won't spend to the cap though when we're good.

Yeah, that's a miss on my part, not doing two do overs though.

Buffalo is a tough one. I worry about their small market status and being able to spend to a rising cap and ability to attract and retain UFA...I do think they could have a blueprint that can work here though.

The defense has to be its calling card. They need to retain them, develop them and then hope one or both of the goalies becomes great. They have enough pieces up front to make this work. They need everything to break just right though.

I hope they do. I like Buffalo. I am a Bills fan and really, really like the people of Buffalo. It would be great for the city to have a winner.

(I edited and added them back)

 

[rahad]

Yeah I like what San Jose is doing. Not every rebuild will work, but I think theirs will. I would also say the Devils will be a top 5 team in 5 years. Anaheim has the potential, but idk what they're doing with Zegras. They gotta get that situation settled.

Anaheim has a great combo of skills, speed and size. i can see them being a powerhouse in 5 years. Same about San Jose. Adding Celebrini is a huge win for the team. Also add another top 5 in 2025. They are slowly building a championship team.

 

[DingDongCharlie]

Best

Edmonton
Montreal
New Jersey
Anaheim
Chicago

Worst

Vegas
Tampa Bay
Boston
Washington
Pittsburgh

 

[wetcoast]

Great question. It will likely end up with some great content and also a lot of people justifying why they chose their team as one of the top five in five years.

I think you have to take two lenses to this.

• One is obviously the current young player and prospect roster. Which teams have the best group of players that will be in their primes five years from now.
• The other is cap and economics, not only which teams will have bad contracts holding them back in five years but also who will have spending power. As the cap continues to grow and perhaps exponentially we will see more of a gap between cap teams and budget teams. The Covid flat cap era leveled that paying field. We may go back to a dynamic where the top third of the league's spenders are spending $20M more per year than the bottom third.

Having prefaced with this, her is my quick list but I am sure this will evolve when I read more in depth analysis from others.

TOP FIVE

Vancouver. Cap team that has some nice young pieces. Hughes, Demko, and Petterson will still be in their primes in key positions.

Edmonton. Same as Vancouver. They will spend to the cap and still have McDavid and Draisatl in the tale end of primes. Bouchard looks like something to build around. If Skinner has a decent career these guys will continue to contend.

Toronto. The flat cap hurt the Leafs more than most. They will still have Matthews, Nylander and Marner if they want him. They will have money to spend and some decent young support pieces (strong young goalie prospects).

Buffalo. Probably not a cap team and that will hurt them. Lots of good young D and a couple of young G that could be franchise guys. Lots of F depth hitting prime too.

Rangers. Will always outspend others. Possibly the best goalie in the league for the next five years. Some good young D and F.

LATE EDIT. Chicago could be in here too. It's all about Bedard being the next one. They will have budget and supporting pieces.

BOTTOM FIVE

Ottawa. Not a cap team. They have locked in most of their roster for the next five years and it doesn't seem to have the high end talent to lift them. They will continue to struggle to attract and retain FA without overpay. It's a tough position for a budget team.

Montreal. Similar to Ottawa though they can spend a bit more. What pieces do they have now that are going to lifr then out. Finishing too many seasons where they wer bad, but not bad enough to pick at the top of strong drafts will hurt them.

Tampa. How do they avoid this. Vasilevsky, Hedman, Point will all be old and unless they do a fire sale of these vets they have no way to restock the shelves. No picks or prospects and they seem to be trying to extend the current window rather than building for the next one.

Pittsburgh. See Tampa but happening sooner.

Calgary. Just starting a rebuild now. Can they attract FA or will they have to build through the draft. They have picks but no real young pieces yet. They have to hit on a lot of picks and be patient with their development. Hard to do.

I think this is a fair guess but Vancouver is a risky bet as most of their core will be much older and maybe even Demko isn't there anymore and their back end aside from Hughes just doesn't stack up with other teams.

Also for the Bottom five I'll add florida as their pipeline is really weak and their core is quite old (in 5 years time as well).

Spending also isn't really an issue either in a cap world.

 

[Miller Time]

Give us your top, and bottom 5 teams in 5 years' time.

Top 5
Montreal
Chicago
Columbus
Utah
Dallas

Mtl, Chi, Utah & CBJ translate their cap/prospect situation into a cup contention run. Dallas stays in the mix because of ability to pivot Benn/Seguin cap hits to retain their next gen core.

Bottom 5
Toronto
NYRangers
Pitt
Wash
Anaheim/SJ

Pitt, Wash are already on their way to a dark period (minimal prospects, high roster cap cost, minimal picks) Toronto about to sewer themselves with JT/Marner extensions. One of SJ/Anaheim acres up their rebuild and starts over within next 5yrs.

 

[Dread Clawz]

Anaheim has a great combo of skills, speed and size. i can see them being a powerhouse in 5 years. Same about San Jose. Adding Celebrini is a huge win for the team. Also add another top 5 in 2025. They are slowly building a championship team.

Yeah Celebrini is a very special talent. Dickinson is also a stud, just so smooth and his skating is marvelous. Tall, lanky, with a long stick and just makes the right play every time. When you have those D and a C like Celebrini and build around them, you win championships. Chernyshov and Wetsch are also very projectable forwards who could be tough to play against.

Anaheim has a great pool too. I kinda like San Jose's direction a little more though. Not all rebuilds will pan out. It'll be interesting to see which rebuilds work and which fail. There are quite a few currently.

San Jose
Anaheim
Chicago
Calgary
Detroit
Ottawa
Buffalo
Montreal
New Jersey
Philadelphia
Columbus
Utah
St. Louis is kinda rebuilding, a kinda non-aggressive retool

New Jersey is probably the furthest along at this point. Probably half of those rebuilds are gonna fail. It'll be interesting to monitor going forward.

 

[Mudz]

Yeah Celebrini is a very special talent. Dickinson is also a stud, just so smooth and his skating is marvelous. Tall, lanky, with a long stick and just makes the right play every time. When you have those D and a C like Celebrini and build around them, you win championships. Chernyshov and Wetsch are also very projectable forwards who could be tough to play against.

Anaheim has a great pool too. I kinda like San Jose's direction a little more though. Not all rebuilds will pan out. It'll be interesting to see which rebuilds work and which fail. There are quite a few currently.

San Jose
Anaheim
Chicago
Calgary
Detroit
Ottawa
Buffalo
Montreal
New Jersey
Philadelphia
Columbus
Utah
St. Louis is kinda rebuilding, a kinda non-aggressive retool

New Jersey is probably the furthest along at this point. Probably half of those rebuilds are gonna fail. It'll be interesting to monitor going forward.

Ranked them to check in 5 years.

1​	Montreal​
2​	New Jersey​
3​	Utah​
4​	San Jose​
5​	Anaheim​
6​	Chicago​
7​	Columbus​
8​	Ottawa​
9​	Buffalo​
10​	Detroit​
11​	Philadelphia​
12​	Calgary​

 

[conFABulator]

I think this is a fair guess but Vancouver is a risky bet as most of their core will be much older and maybe even Demko isn't there anymore and their back end aside from Hughes just doesn't stack up with other teams.

Also for the Bottom five I'll add florida as their pipeline is really weak and their core is quite old (in 5 years time as well).

Spending also isn't really an issue either in a cap world.

Spending was an issue in the cap world, pre-Covid and could be again. You had "cap teams" and "budget teams" and I imagine that will happen again. You might be correct in that it won't be an issue to the degree it is in other sports, however a team spending $10M to $15M more than another team is sizable advantage in a cap world, it's ten to twenty per cent. It's one to three impact players.

I also agree on Vancouver, I have updated my list in this thread and moved Vancouver, Florida, Edmonton and Toronto to Honourable Mentions as it really is about how their specific stars age and what impact they can still be making in five years. For example, Edmonton looks a lot different if Draisatl is among $14M and his injuries have caught up with him.

 

[TageGod]

Top 5- Buffalo, NJ, Chicago (they will get another lottery win), SJS, Panthers.

Bottom 5- Toronto Boston Washington Nashville CBJ.

I wouldn't put too much brain power into evaluating my choices.

 

[Lazytrout]

top 5 in no order

Montreal
Utah
Anaheim
New Jersey
Edmonton

Bottom 5 in no order

Ottawa
St-Louis
Pittsburg
Washington
Winnipeg

My little finger tell me Ottawa could be the next Buffalo

 

[Aurinko]

I'll go with Montreal & Utah as well.

Not this year, but feels like they are doing it the right way.

 

[Mike Liut]

top 5 in no order

Montreal
Utah
Anaheim
New Jersey
Edmonton

Bottom 5 in no order

Ottawa
St-Louis
Pittsburg
Washington
Winnipeg

My little finger tell me Ottawa could be the next Buffalo

STL will be closer to top 5 than bottom 5

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

Dallas
Philly
Colorado
Edmonton
Vancouver

Calgary
Columbus
Washington
Montreal
Pittsburgh

Any list without Montreal in the top 5 is worthless.

 

[Snap]

Any list without Montreal in the top 5 is worthless.

Not convinced your drafted talent over the last few years will lead you anywhere in the top 15 of the league. Habs goaltending is unproven and supporting cast of forwards in bottom 6 are low end. Suzuki, Slaf, Guhle and Caufield aren't enough to sustain a top 5 team.

 

[Hull2Roenick2Kane]

top 5: my team and 4 others

bottom 5: teams i dislike

This sounds fun.

Chicago
Chicago
Chicago
Chicago
Chicago

Detroit
Detroit
Detroit
Detroit
Detroit

 

[Wayfarer13]

Not convinced your drafted talent over the last few years will lead you anywhere in the top 15 of the league. Habs goaltending is unproven and supporting cast of forwards in bottom 6 are low end. Suzuki, Slaf, Guhle and Caufield aren't enough to sustain a top 5 team.

What are your metrics that goaltender needs to be considered proven? Is there period where a goaltender plays at the level of a proven goaltender before he can be considered a proven goaltender? If so how long does this Status of Purgatory last?

 

[ArmadilloThumb]

I'd contend Caps have a much better chance of being well into the top 10 rather than bottom 5 in five years.

In two years they have 54M in projected Cap space (so not burdened by contacts). Have pretty much all their Draft Capital going forward.

Way more potential than many realize with emerging youth like Lapierre, Miroshnichenko, Leonard, Protas, and McMichael. More uncertainty but still more upside than many may be aware with Cristall, Parascak, and the younger Protas brother. Hudson, Chesley, and Muggli on D may develop well too. Lots of goalies in the pipeline with some decent potential (Stevenson/Gibson).

Add to that potential from the savvy UFA moves this summer, a promising young coach, and (ahem) a good analytics staff.

 

[TK 421]

1. Florida
2. Edmonton
3. Colorado
4. Dallas
5. Vancouver

28. Calgary
29. New York Islanders
30. Washington
31. St. Louis
32. Pittsburgh

The Leafs helped ensure the Blues wouldn't be amongst the 5 worst in 5 years by giving up the picks that turned into Otto Stenberg-25th in '23, Juraj Pekarcik-76th in '23 and Lukas Fischer-56th in '24 and that's just one trade haul from the ROR/Acciari return. Going back over the last 5 drafts since winning the 2019 Stanley Cup they have 8 1st round drafted players (Neighbours, Bolduc, Dean, Snuggerud, Dvorsky, Stenberg, Lindstein and Jiricek). That doesn't sound like a pool that's going to result in a 2nd worst finish in 5 years time, in fact quite the opposite. That looks like a solid foundation to rebuild the current roster with. Have you looked at the Blues draft record? Particularly in the 1st? Because they hit at a higher rate than the average bear and had 3 extra 1st's to work with over that span. You have them right next to Pittsburgh whose pool really is barren. Apples and oranges my man, apples and oranges.

 

[Beukeboom Fan]

Top 5:
1) Dallas
2) EDM
3) NJ
4) VAN
5) ANA

HM: Wanted to mention UT but just can't trust that team.

Bottom 5:
1) Washington
2) Pittsburgh
3) Tampa
4) Las Vegas (pipeline eventually runs dry and can't make deals to replace AP, Stone, etc.)
5) Winnepeg (Scheifele/Hellebucyk/Morrissey keep them competitive but they're all expiring here in about 5 years)

I'd contend Caps have a much better chance of being well into the top 10 rather than bottom 5 in five years.

In two years they have 54M in projected Cap space (so not burdened by contacts). Have pretty much all their Draft Capital going forward.

Way more potential than many realize with emerging youth like Lapierre, Miroshnichenko, Leonard, Protas, and McMichael. More uncertainty but still more upside than many may be aware with Cristall, Parascak, and the younger Protas brother. Hudson, Chesley, and Muggli on D may develop well too. Lots of goalies in the pipeline with some decent potential (Stevenson/Gibson).

Add to that potential from the savvy UFA moves this summer, a promising young coach, and (ahem) a good analytics staff.

What elite players reach UFA that the Caps will be able to use that cap space on? IMO, you can supplement with cap space, not create a core. And while the Caps have their draft capital, they've seemingly committed to try and be as competitive as possible over AO's remaining contract, so those are likely to be somewhere between 10-16th in the round. They definitely have some potential in the pipeline, but many teams have similar type of prospects.

 

[kingsholygrail]

Chicago
Detroit
Nashville
Florida
New Jersey

Los Angeles
Buffalo
Columbus
Philadelphia
Utah

 

[Minnesota Knudsens]

5 years time is really difficult to predict, but people underestimate the long term stability that a really good young core brings.

Having said that being top 5 in the league is a crap shoot. You have to continue to build properly around the core and stay healthy (be lucky to some extent). Here’s 6 teams (I cheated).

Oilers and Avs: great core players that probably won’t fall off that far in 5 years

Devils: seem to have all the pieces on paper, but reason to be skeptical

Hawks: can they continue to build around Bedard?

Leafs: can they use extra cap to finally break through as a contender?

Panthers: can they retain enough talent and retool to stay competitive?

My worst list is based on teams I think will be into rebuilds, or probably should be already but are in denial:

Pens
Caps
Bruins
Blues

And then franchises I think are a tire fire:

Sens
Sabres

 

[Mogo]

Those are some good choices, especially on the bottom five. Washington seems likely, NYI always seem to stay in the mushy middle. I think St. Louis avoids bottom five because they have great management.

On the top end, the age of Dallas is an issue. Having said this, core key players are young enough. They have good management.

I think Florida starts the cup-hangover cap-related dismantling soon. Do they have any actual young pieces that will augment their aging core? They don't need to be stars, just guys that can help Barkov and Reinhart. Bobrovsky coming off the books helps, but then they need a goalie. They have good management also.

Colorado? I agree they could be there with MacKinnon and Makar. They need more pieces and a goalie.

Edmonton and Vancouver were on my list and pretty interchangeable with the Leafs.

Florida has Bill Zito

We good

 

[conFABulator]

Florida has Bill Zito

We good

That's what I said too. Zito is management.

 

[ArmadilloThumb]

What elite players reach UFA that the Caps will be able to use that cap space on? IMO, you can supplement with cap space, not create a core. And while the Caps have their draft capital, they've seemingly committed to try and be as competitive as possible over AO's remaining contract, so those are likely to be somewhere between 10-16th in the round. They definitely have some potential in the pipeline, but many teams have similar type of prospects.

Any of these projections rely on our assessment of the prospects. Not sure how familiar you are with the Caps pool, but I contend they are generally under appreciated among other team's fan bases. If the Caps prospects turn out as well as I suspect that will help them attract FA talent. Wildcard is how PLD, Roy, and Chychrun do. If they all do well under Carberry (and Chychrun re-ups) that further enhances their chances to attract FAs.

Also don't underestimate what they will do with CapCapFriendly. They didn't buy it just to piss teams off. Probably look to have a competitive advantage with modeling future trades/signings and identifying favorable potential trades.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Andlauer has shown no signs of not spending, and adding to the front office.
Looking at a new building as well.

The building is old lmao, it’s 3 years younger than the leafs building, guess they’ll be building a new one soon as well.

Leafs won’t be top 5 in 5 years, they’re starting to drop in the east.

lol, at the cap hurt the leafs the most. It hurt all cap teams the same.


Lmao

#1 No they aren't starting to drop in the east, I don't know where you get this idea but It's not based in reality, they have an overall stronger roster for this coming season than they did last season.

#2 how did it not hurt them the most given their cap structure? You can say that's Dubas's fault and that's partly true, although I don't think he can be faulted for not anticipating the world would stop, I blame Dubas for A LOT of things that's not one of them.

Regardless because of their cap structure covid f***ed the Leafs more than any other NHL team.