Offseason power ranking:

[yave1964]

After the draft and the free agent frenzy, here is my power ranking, counting down from 30 to 1:

 

30) Senators. did absolutely zero to fix their defensive depth.

29) Canucks. At sea without a clue. Signing Eriksson gives them the softest top line in the game.

28) Leafs. But with Marner, Nylander and Matthews they are on the right track.

27) Coyotes. I like their draft but they are a long way from contending.

26) Avalanche. Faded badly to miss the playoffs, did nothing to get better.

25) Devils. Got Hall and resigned Palmieri but still too many holes.

24) Jackets. Did nothing in the offseason but lots of young talent.

23) Sabres. Okposo nice signing but nothing in net slows the growth.

22) Bruins. Backes for Eriksson is at best a wash, no depth on defense dooms team.

21)  Jets. They are set to soar with depth everywhere but need to see it before moving them up.

20) Red Wings. Replaced Datsyuk with older forwards, did absolutely nothing to fix glaring weakness on back end.

19) Wild. Staal sounds motivated to fill crater at 1C. Has been lousy for 3 years.

18) Flames. Had as good of an offseason as any team in the game and could make giant leap.

17) Oilers. They lost Hall but adding Larsson, Lucic and Puljujarvi gives the needed depth. Playoff contender.

16) Rangers. Lost Staal, Stallberg and Yandle, adding nothing. They are in clear decline.

15) Hurricanes. Slowly the forwards are catching up with the brilliant young defense. Should be a playoff team this year.

14) Kings. Lost Lucic added nobody. No cap room.

13) Canadiens. That is if Price is healthy, if he misses time they are still bottom five.

12) Hawks. No depth. Zero. Nada. If one or two of big 5 break down will be much lower.

11) Sharks. Cup hangover is a real thing and they were 6th in West last year and caught lightning in the postseason.

10) Flyers. Strong finish, more kids on the back end, Weise and Gordon fix glaring holes.

9) Islanders. Relying on kids to step up to replace Okposo. Aging goalies are worrisome.

8) Blues. Not as deep losing Brouwer and Backes and Elliot but still have tons of talent.

7) Predators. Pushed eventual conference champ Sharks to 7 games. Subban and Johansen bring energy.

6) Stars. No goalies but deep everywhere else.

5) Ducks. Someone has to be the best in West by default.

4) Panthers. Brilliant offseason, division champ 10 percent better.

3) Capitals. Leagues best regular season team returns everyone they wanted to. Still in the conversation as leagues best.

2) Tampa. The gold standard for team building from within. The next five years they are going to be in the top 5 teams every year.

1) Penguins. Stanley Cup Champions did not have to rebuild, they returned everyone including Schultz on a cheap contract.

 

 

 

[aziz]

1 hour ago, yave1964 said:

1) Penguins. Stanley Cup Champions did not have to rebuild, they returned everyone including Schultz on a cheap contract.

 

....

 

the pengiuns won a carolina/tampa bay-style cup, and are now the top of the pack heading into next season?  

 

grats to them for winning a 4 round tournament, but you really think they are the strongest team in the league going into next season?  did you think they were the strongest team in the league before the very moment they won the cup?  like, at the start of last season?  at the allstar break?  at the start of the playoffs?  after two rounds of the playoffs?  at any second prior to marking their 4th win in the finals?

 

fair enough, if so, i guess.  i see a team with a goaltender controversy brewing, a lack of depth at all positions other than center and goaltending (which is likely to cause some brand new problems), and some very...inconsistent marquee players (do we now think kessel is going to be a beast all the time?).  a deeply flawed lineup pulled it together when it counted most, and good on them for that, but really.  we've seen it before, and it generally doesn't follow up with much.  as i recall, carolina missed the playoffs the season after their over achievement, and tampa was booted in the first round.  imo, the pens thinking they have it in the bag and doing nothing this summer is hubris.  i wouldn't put them at the top of any list.  other than "most hubris".

[yave1964]

@aziz

 

The Pens won the cup a month ago, kudos to them and based off of that they deserve to be ranked number one. Unlike other recent cup winners they are returning the entire roster, not having to blow things up due to cap issues. Matt Cullen, a middling 3rd or 4th line center is the only unsigned piece and he may yet return.

  As for lack of depth, I would disagree. Hagelin combined with Bonino and Kessel made them a three line team, lots of fun kids both among the forwards and the defense. This is a good team, well put together and deserve props for winning and the offseason power ranking reflects that, IMHO. I disagree that they are fluky as in the Canes or the Bolts of a decade before, Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, Letang see to that. It is almost impossible to repeat nowadays, given the Pens or the field even if I am giving long odds I would take the field any day of the week not because of lack of talent in Pittsburgh but because of parity in the league. That said, I stick with them ranked number one based off the cup win and retaining the roster. I see that as a plus, not a negative.

  And BTW after the way they dismantled the Rags in the first round I said I was not only rooting for Pittsburgh (with my Wings as usual being an early out) but I stated in here that I thought they would win. They were the deepest and most balanced team in the playoffs.

[Polaris922]

3 hours ago, aziz said:

 

....

 

the pengiuns won a carolina/tampa bay-style cup, and are now the top of the pack heading into next season?  

 

grats to them for winning a 4 round tournament, but you really think they are the strongest team in the league going into next season?  did you think they were the strongest team in the league before the very moment they won the cup?  like, at the start of last season?  at the allstar break?  at the start of the playoffs?  after two rounds of the playoffs?  at any second prior to marking their 4th win in the finals?

 

fair enough, if so, i guess.  i see a team with a goaltender controversy brewing, a lack of depth at all positions other than center and goaltending (which is likely to cause some brand new problems), and some very...inconsistent marquee players (do we now think kessel is going to be a beast all the time?).  a deeply flawed lineup pulled it together when it counted most, and good on them for that, but really.  we've seen it before, and it generally doesn't follow up with much.  as i recall, carolina missed the playoffs the season after their over achievement, and tampa was booted in the first round.  imo, the pens thinking they have it in the bag and doing nothing this summer is hubris.  i wouldn't put them at the top of any list.  other than "most hubris".

 

 

I'm thinking somebody forgot their run after the all star game (best record second half of the season), and ignored them dismantling every team they faced in the playoffs unless the opposing goalie played an amazing game while their own completely failed.  Their depth got them through to the end with great secondary scoring and stellar defense.  Two number one goalies strikes you as a lack of depth.  

 

Usually you're more more objective thinking. 

 

 

[BluPuk]

Pretty good job, @yave1964. I do think  though that the Caps will once again finish on top of the league. Leafs will be higher ( if they actually play the players you mention) and the Habs, sadly I see as being much lower, hobbled by their own prejudices. Flyers? Not as high as you have them, but still a good, tough team.

 

P.S. I think the Wings will fall a lot farther....

[yave1964]

1 hour ago, BluPuk said:

Pretty good job, @yave1964. I do think  though that the Caps will once again finish on top of the league. Leafs will be higher ( if they actually play the players you mention) and the Habs, sadly I see as being much lower, hobbled by their own prejudices. Flyers? Not as high as you have them, but still a good, tough team.

 

P.S. I think the Wings will fall a lot farther....

I had a difficult time ranking the Wings, trying to be objective with your own team is not the easiest thing in the world to do.

  They lost Pavel and replaced him with one of my favorite two way centers, Neilsen who is aging like fine wine, a very underrated player but lets face it, he is not Datsyuk. Vanek is low risk, potentially high reward, a net front presence for the power play with a one year deal and something to prove. I get that.

  To a man, every single Wings forward saw their numbers slip last year. Every one. It was appalling, I have no explanation, is Babcock that good? Is Blashill that bad? I do not know, but my opinion is some of them will improve this year.

  So the forwards will be better as a group, but the defense is awful, long the key to the Wings, it is now embarrasingly bad. And they went out and struck out in the attempt to add a defender or two. That is why I have them missing the postseason for the first time in a quarter of a century. If they add Fowler I may give them a glimmer of a hope, but that is it. You may be right, they may fall even further.

  As for your Leafs, they may finish higher, the golden trio of Marner, Matthews and Nylander should all be mainstays this year, One or both of Kadri and Bozak should be dangled for defensive help. The Leafs have the worst defense in Hockey which prevents me from ranking them higher but wow do I love the kid forwards, throw in guys like Kapanen, Hyman and Soshnikov and they are the envy of damn near every team as far as youth at forward goes. I would probably ship both Kadri and Bozak for the best defenders I could get my hands on, throw the kids in the fire this year and let them see what they can do and just run with them.

[aziz]

10 hours ago, Polaris922 said:

Two number one goalies strikes you as a lack of depth.

 

 

you'll notice i said, " a lack of depth at all positions other than center and goaltending".

 

they won the tournament, and had a good second half of the season.  if you think they are the strongest team in the league going forward, however, problems with objectivity might not be mine alone.

 

back in the day, carolina had a really strong (overachieving) season, and won a cup.  overachieving is tough to carry on year after year, though.  eventually the whole starts to perform like the sum of its parts again, and reality comes rushing back.  the hurricanes won the tournament, fell to earth, and missed the next playoffs.  pittsburgh will make the playoffs in all likelyhood, but most powerful team in the league come opening night?  nah.

[mojo1917]

RE: the Pens,

Man if they all buy in to playing that style of hockey they have to be the chalk.

I do think there was some lightning in a bottle with them though, Some guys like Sheary and Rust played great, so great that I was wondering where they were in the system and how come I'd never grown to hate them when they were at wb/scranton killing my beloved Hershey Bears ?  Because by all accounts they weren't.  So can those mid tier guys play like that again ?  They're fast so that helps, but there could be some drop off.   I also agree with @aziz about a potential goalie controversy.  Murray had so little to do most nights, it was tough to gauge his ability, a guy from the marketing department could have backstopped that team to the ECF at least.

I thought the way the Pens mauled the Rangers was startling and I thought the way they out skated everyone was demoralizing. If those guys keep playing Sullivan's style and use their speed, who beats them ?   

 

[aziz]

2 minutes ago, mojo1917 said:

If those guys keep playing Sullivan's style and use their speed, who beats them ?   

 

in all likelyhood, another pretty ok lineup that finds temporary mojo and punches above their weight for a few months.

[BluPuk]

@yave1964

 

I can certainly understand your feelings for your team. The one you grew up with, watched and followed all your fan life. I think it is near impossible to be unbiased when they are involved.

I can still recall (like it was yesterday) my Leafs' last cup win over the (then mighty) Habs. Sweet! That was 50 years ago this season!! (sigh)...

 

I think it's funny that the Leafs orgsnization has opted to designate this particular year as the 100th of the franchise (arguably it's not), because it also is (for real) the 50th anniversary of our last cup win. How's that for frustration....?

 

Hope your Wings do well - just not when they play my Leafs. 

[J0e Th0rnton]

@yave1964

"11) Sharks. Cup hangover is a real thing and they were 6th in West last year and caught lightning in the postseason. "

 

Ummm. Cup hangover is usually lack of motivation and 100% effort the next year because "We just did it" and the team coasts a bit.

 

Sharks fell short in the finals and will be as motivated as ever since they did not win it. If you want to argue going late into June playing hockey means they will not be 100% by October, then I would dispute that too. Nobody but Hertl got badly injured and his was minor enough to avoid surgery. 2 Months will heal bumps and bruises unless they are serious.

[J0e Th0rnton]

1 hour ago, yave1964 said:

I had a difficult time ranking the Wings, trying to be objective with your own team is not the easiest thing in the world to do.

  They lost Pavel and replaced him with one of my favorite two way centers, Neilsen who is aging like fine wine, a very underrated player but lets face it, he is not Datsyuk. Vanek is low risk, potentially high reward, a net front presence for the power play with a one year deal and something to prove. I get that.

  To a man, every single Wings forward saw their numbers slip last year. Every one. It was appalling, I have no explanation, is Babcock that good? Is Blashill that bad? I do not know, but my opinion is some of them will improve this year.

  So the forwards will be better as a group, but the defense is awful, long the key to the Wings, it is now embarrasingly bad. And they went out and struck out in the attempt to add a defender or two. That is why I have them missing the postseason for the first time in a quarter of a century. If they add Fowler I may give them a glimmer of a hope, but that is it. You may be right, they may fall even further.

  As for your Leafs, they may finish higher, the golden trio of Marner, Matthews and Nylander should all be mainstays this year, One or both of Kadri and Bozak should be dangled for defensive help. The Leafs have the worst defense in Hockey which prevents me from ranking them higher but wow do I love the kid forwards, throw in guys like Kapanen, Hyman and Soshnikov and they are the envy of damn near every team as far as youth at forward goes. I would probably ship both Kadri and Bozak for the best defenders I could get my hands on, throw the kids in the fire this year and let them see what they can do and just run with them.

The formerly Elite players on the team are in their late 30's and other than Larkin, they don't have a whole lot of 1st round picks in the ranks. Yes later draft picks can become elite, but it is rare. For most of the better 2nd/3rd rounders, getting to be 50 point players is excellent.

 

If the elite guys like Datsyuk/Zetterberg slow down, then the complimentary pieces tend to slow down with them until they learn to take over the play on their own.

 

Hopefully Larkin gets a green light to do more this season and Nyquist shakes the 2nd year slump. What he(larkin) did from the 3rd line last year was terrific and his misuse on the PP was baffling me.

[yave1964]

34 minutes ago, J0e Th0rnton said:

@yave1964

"11) Sharks. Cup hangover is a real thing and they were 6th in West last year and caught lightning in the postseason. "

 

Ummm. Cup hangover is usually lack of motivation and 100% effort the next year because "We just did it" and the team coasts a bit.

 

Sharks fell short in the finals and will be as motivated as ever since they did not win it. If you want to argue going late into June playing hockey means they will not be 100% by October, then I would dispute that too. Nobody but Hertl got badly injured and his was minor enough to avoid surgery. 2 Months will heal bumps and bruises unless they are serious.

In the last 32 seasons, the Stanley Cup finals loser made it back exactly one time, the 2009 Penguins. That is it, one team. THAT is what is referred to as the SCF hangover, the losing team making it that far and having the rug pulled out from under them. Some teams recover two or three years later and give it another run, some dont. The Canucks, the Bruins,the Devils, Flyers and Wings all fell recently, some harder than others. Tampa made it back to the conference final last year, most do not even get that far. Like I said, in a third of a century one losing team ever has made it back. History is not on the Sharks side. In the age of parity losing the Cup final seems to bring out a different team the following year. I get what you are saying, they will be motivated, ect... but so were the Wings and the Bruins and the Rangers and 32 other teams that were sitting at home in June. What helps the Sharks is no clear cut elite team in the West, but I would bet against them or any other team that loses the cup making it back the next year. It simply never happens excepting every blue moon.

[ScottM]

19 hours ago, yave1964 said:

30) Senators. did absolutely zero to fix their defensive depth.

 

I can't tell you how irritated I am with Dorion. Any hopes that we've reached a new chapter in franchise history with Murray have now been dashed. I think there were some pretty simple moves that could have been made to address many issues that there was zero done to address. It's absolutely sickening. If I weren't so committed to the team, they likely would have lost me as a fan. Apparently, I'm a glutton for punishment...

[yave1964]

3 hours ago, ScottM said:

 

I can't tell you how irritated I am with Dorion. Any hopes that we've reached a new chapter in franchise history with Murray have now been dashed. I think there were some pretty simple moves that could have been made to address many issues that there was zero done to address. It's absolutely sickening. If I weren't so committed to the team, they likely would have lost me as a fan. Apparently, I'm a glutton for punishment...

Hang in there man, I am 51 and grew up in the post Gordie Howe Dead Things era. I witnessed two decades of the absolute worst Hockey anyone has ever seen, in an age where 16 of 21 teams made the playoffs the Wings consistently missed them somehow almost every single year and then blew it with the draft picks. It just makes it that much sweeter when it finally turns around.

 As for the Brassard deal, he is not a bad player, just a bit of an Adonis who is six years older than Mika and has 4 years left on his contract. He is one dimensional, does not play a 200 foot game but is a very good passer who is a consistent 55-60 point guy and Stone and Hoffman should welcome him with open arms. I think the Rags won the deal because of the age difference and the second rounder going to New York makes me do a face palm.

[ruxpin]

@aziz

Quote

did you think they were the strongest team in the league before the very moment they won the cup?  like, at the start of last season?  at the allstar break?  at the start of the playoffs?  after two rounds of the playoffs?  at any second prior to marking their 4th win in the finals?

 

I did, yes. Most of the second half of the year once they got a coach and started playing as constructed.   And then success built upon success upon success. 

 

I don't know that I'd rank them #1 going into the following season, but I guess  why not?  They won everything and have changed nothing.   History tells me a little complacency creeps in especially at the start  (a danger particularly in Pittsburgh).  And often the league adapts.   But I have no one else so,  they're at the top until they show otherwise. 

[OccamsRazor]

39 minutes ago, ruxpin said:

@aziz

I did, yes. Most of the second half of the year once they got a coach and started playing as constructed.   And then success built upon success upon success. 

 

I don't know that I'd rank them #1 going into the following season, but I guess  why not?  They won everything and have changed nothing.   History tells me a little complacency creeps in especially at the start  (a danger particularly in Pittsburgh).  And often the league adapts.   But I have no one else so,  they're at the top until they show otherwise. 

 

 

I agree they deserve it they won it all.

 

Now with that said it don't mean anything really. At the start of the season everyone has the same record.

 

Every team will have to earn everything again.

 

Now in comparisons of the Pens team to the Canes team the Canes lost Martin Gerber, Matt Cullen, Mark Recchi, Doug Weight and Aaron Ward.

 

The Pens are returning everyone IIRC. If not someone remind me but losing those players hurt the Canes that was some damn good veteran leadership out the door.

[aziz]

1 hour ago, ruxpin said:

@aziz

I did, yes. Most of the second half of the year once they got a coach and started playing as constructed.   And then success built upon success upon success. 

 

I don't know that I'd rank them #1 going into the following season, but I guess  why not?  They won everything and have changed nothing.   History tells me a little complacency creeps in especially at the start  (a danger particularly in Pittsburgh).  And often the league adapts.   But I have no one else so,  they're at the top until they show otherwise. 

 

Fair.  They won it,  after all.  And winning "it" is the point of everything. 

 

 

But,  going into next season...a path opened up for them,  and some really key people stepped all the way up at the right moment.  Next fall will tell if that "all the way up" is their actual normal,  or an outstanding effort that won't be repeated over 82 games.  We'll see. 

[ruxpin]

4 minutes ago, aziz said:

 

Fair.  They won it,  after all.  And winning "it" is the point of everything. 

 

 

But,  going into next season...a path opened up for them,  and some really key people stepped all the way up at the right moment.  Next fall will tell if that "all the way up" is their actual normal,  or an outstanding effort that won't be repeated over 82 games.  We'll see. 

Well, no doubt any cup year is a little bit the seas parting just the right way. 

 

Just keep in mind,  though,  the list was power rankings rather than prediction of finish.  I suppose some view them as one and the same, which I guess is valid. I never have. For me, it's who's strongest in snapshot. Since no games have been played since they won and nothing has changed for them,  their being the strongest in that snapshot makes sense to me. 

[Polaris922]

@aziz @mojo1917 @ruxpin

 

Losing Lovejoy will improve our defense.  Rust and Sheary will continue to do well because it's a fast system, they're young Nd want NHL jobs, and nobody is going to key on them when Malkin and Crosby are with them.  

 

See to me that's key.  They're mediocre talents but with the speed to play the system.  They create space for the star talent by overwhelming defensemen with that one facet they have.  And both have shown a bit of a touch with the puck.  

 

I I don't think the Pens deserve to be ranked very highly because of the Cup.  It's a factor to weigh in that they beat the best of the west, but ultimately, my reasoning is they were the best team in hockey by a landslide the entire second half of the season.  They were in 12th place half way through the season.  They were the best team in hockey for six months.  

[yave1964]

When I typed up my power rankings I almost placed Tampa ahead of them because the Bolts resigned Stamkos, resigned damn near everyone on the roster to long term deals and managed to return the whole team in what has to be considered a wildly successful offseason for a team that did not lose any key players and locked up their own.

  Then I thought about it, Pittsburgh BEAT this same Tampa team in the conference finals, and went on to win the cup convincingly over the Sharks and returned the entire team as well. The Pens lost Lovejoy, the Bolts lost Carle. That is about it. To me the key to ranking the Pens at this point as the number one team was a) the two teams directly behind them in the polls, the Bolts and Caps were both beaten by the Penguins and b) the Pens returned the entire team. Like @ruxpin pointed out, this is not a prediction of who will win the cup, just who is the best coming off the finals, out of the draft and out of the free agent frenzy. Tampa locked up the entire team that the Pens beat. The Caps lost a few small but key pieces. Both lost in the playoffs to the Pens. To me it ended up a no brainer who the number one ranked team had to be.

[ruxpin]

1 hour ago, yave1964 said:

the Bolts lost shed Carle

 

Fixed it.

[mojo1917]

2 hours ago, yave1964 said:

Then I thought about it, Pittsburgh BEAT this same Tampa team in the conference finals, and went on to win the cup convincingly over the Sharks and returned the entire team as well.

 

How many games did Stamkos play in the series vs the Pens....?  i thought he played in a couple but he wasn't "Steven Stamkos" he was maybe 85%  for a couple of games.That said if Vasaliev didn't pull 18 rabbits out of his hat vs the Pens that series could have been over in 5 games.

The emergence of Nick Bonino last year as the do it all player who is a bastard to play against is the reason why I think the Pens won and will terrorize the league next year for a considerable amount of time.  They finally got that 3rd line to contribute like in the Staal, Kennedy and Cooke days.  Phil Kessel is a match up nightmare on that line.  I don't see where anyone starts the year being "better" than that Pens team.

[Imran Awan]

Penguins. Stanley Cup Champions did not have to rebuild, they returned everyone including Schultz on a cheap contract.

[radoran]

7 hours ago, Imran Awan said:

Penguins. Stanley Cup Champions did not have to rebuild, they returned everyone including Schultz on a cheap contract.

 

The Pens are the definition of a "built" team - with long term deals for the core and a mindset to win now as a result.

 

Why would they need to rebuild now? Once they get to the end of Crosby and Malkin they will likely need to rebuild, but that's significantly in the future.