ESPN Next 3 years poll

[Kasi]

https://www.espn.com/nhl/insider/sto...ion-management

Some interesting results here. I feel whatever they’re doing is way too weighted towards prospects or hypothetical futures. Funny enough they have Edmonton and Calgary together at 16/17. But really is Detroit 4? I mean they’re looking better but I don’t see them getting 100 points this year or next. Minnesota at 5 and tire fire Buffalo at ten also seems overrating those teams. Anaheim at 11 too. Are they even going to make the playoffs in next 3 years? Nashville being above the Alberta teams seems wrong too.

[Erick Estrada]

Seems pretty fair when looking at a 3 year window as a lot can happen between now and then. Polls like this with an eye on the future will always favor good young teams with solid prospect bases.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Generally media and fans under-rate how hard rebuilds are and how often they fail.
I would also point to the Kings and suggest there are major questions about if their re-build will succeed. They have had a ton of high picks, but it's questionable if they've made the right choices with guys like Byfield, Clarke, and Turcotte.
And now they may be making the same mistake that so many teams do, trying to kick open their contention window.

Carolina are certainly the media darlings too right now.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Generally media and fans under-rate how hard rebuilds are and how often they fail.
I would also point to the Kings and suggest there are major questions about if their re-build will succeed. They have had a ton of high picks, but it's questionable if they've made the right choices with guys like Byfield, Clarke, and Turcotte.
And now they may be making the same mistake that so many teams do, trying to kick open their contention window.

Carolina are certainly the media darlings too right now.

I think the biggest change in team sports over the last few decades is the selling of hope to fans of organizations that haven't been good. We now have all these internet sites devoted to scouting of amatuer players in hockey, college players in football, etc and it's created a new part of fandom where fans obsess over up and coming players. Rebuilding is the best way to build an elite team but it requires excellent scouting, sound decision making, luck, and above all, patience which has been the achilles heel of Canadian organizations. A lot of things have to go your way as most rebuilds don't result in Stanley Cup champions or even elite teams but many at least will lead to a more competitive team or better unless things are totally botched. It's probably a good thing for the sport that fans of the bottom half teams don't feel hopeless and lose enthusiasm.

The only thing that really bothers me is that good teams that are in the back half of their contending window and good players in the back half of their career kind of get discounted for their lack of shiny new things while the media fawns over rebuilding teams with splashy draft picks and young players that may be good, great, or total bust.

[NegativeSpace]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I think the biggest change in team sports over the last few decades is the selling of hope to fans of organizations that haven't been good. We now have all these internet sites devoted to scouting of amatuer players in hockey, college players in football, etc and it's created a new part of fandom where fans obsess over up and coming players. Rebuilding is the best way to build an elite team but it requires excellent scouting, sound decision making, luck, and above all, patience which has been the achilles heel of Canadian organizations. A lot of things have to go your way as most rebuilds don't result in Stanley Cup champions or even elite teams but many at least will lead to a more competitive team or better unless things are totally botched. It's probably a good thing for the sport that fans of the bottom half teams don't feel hopeless and lose enthusiasm.

The only thing that really bothers me is that good teams that are in the back half of their contending window and good players in the back half of their career kind of get discounted for their lack of shiny new things while the media fawns over rebuilding teams with splashy draft picks and young players that may be good, great, or total bust.

This appears to be the reasoning in Florida for the trade. Yet, I think that they overvalued age and undervalued the quality of players that they had on expiring contracts. I wonder if we see some franchises start to make similar errors focusing on younger good players at the expense excellent vets who are older but still productive.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

List is intensely stupid. Red Wings 4th, haven't shown that their potential will turn into anything. More egregiously, the Wild are right behind them and they have a combined $42 million in dead cap on their books over the next three seasons... and the list is "Next 3 years". It's almost like it's backwards; the next three years are precisely when that team has basically no shot.

[The Yen Man]

That poll is pretty dumb. In their own words:

"To determine which NHL clubs are in the best shape for the next three seasons..."

That's not what they're doing. There's no way Detroit is in better shape than the Flames (and begrudgingly the Oilers) for the next 3 seasons. You can argue after the 3 they could be. This poll is all over the place in what they are trying to accomplish.

[Enoch Root]

It is the perfect click-bait article - based entirely on a bunch of wildly-subjective variables and opinions, which, if you value them a little differently (as everyone will), you'll get wildly different answers. Then, project it all out 3 years, and it is entirely meaningless.

There are no right (or even good) answers here, so it is endlessly debatable.

Kudos to them for thinking up such a ridiculously subjective subject to get people debating about.

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

List is intensely stupid. Red Wings 4th, haven't shown that their potential will turn into anything. More egregiously, the Wild are right behind them and they have a combined $42 million in dead cap on their books over the next three seasons... and the list is "Next 3 years". It's almost like it's backwards; the next three years are precisely when that team has basically no shot.

Saw the Wild at five and closed the article. This team is HOOPED for the next three years, the Jared Spurgeon contract is also terrible.

[FlamesAddiction]

I can agree with Detroit being that high. They have some amazing young players and prospects in their system. Nothing is guaranteed, but they look like they are headed in the right direction. Their cap situation looks good in the future too, so they should be able to add when the time is right.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Generally media and fans under-rate how hard rebuilds are and how often they fail.
I would also point to the Kings and suggest there are major questions about if their re-build will succeed. They have had a ton of high picks, but it's questionable if they've made the right choices with guys like Byfield, Clarke, and Turcotte.
And now they may be making the same mistake that so many teams do, trying to kick open their contention window.

Carolina are certainly the media darlings too right now.

It's funny too as Carolina looked like they were spinning their tires and going nowhere (9 straight playoff misses), they make what was a questionable trade at the time moving two key pieces for Dougie Hamilton+ and then bring in an inexperienced head coach in Brind'Amour. But then they put it all together and became successful about halfway through Brind'Amour's first season and haven't looked back since.

[Mitch]

Early 2010s people looked at pittsburgh/chicago as clear evidence that rebuilds are how you build a great team.

Half the teams followed suit and now for every one of those teams, theres 5 teams in a perennial rebuild e.g. Edmonton/Buffalo/etc.

What really builds great teams is creative gming, a strong org culture, strategic cap planning and a #### ton of luck.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I can agree with Detroit being that high. They have some amazing young players and prospects in their system. Nothing is guaranteed, but they look like they are headed in the right direction. Their cap situation looks good in the future too, so they should be able to add when the time is right.

I don't. I would think that Detroit makes the playoffs once in the next three years, AT MOST. And they don't win a round.

Everyone over-rates prospects. It is easy acquiring picks and having some promising players, after a handful of years rebuilding. It is a different thing altogether to turn that into a competitive team.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

If it is really meant to be a "Next 3 Years" poll, the weighting should be significantly biased towards players under contract/control for the next 3 years. 5-10 years? Fill your boots with the prospect pool darlings of Detroit and Ottawa. Those prospects almost don't matter in the next 3 years.
Avs/Lightining/Blues/Canes/Leafs/Flames/Panthers, maybe the Rangers should be at or near the top.