Down Goes Brown with his Cup prospects

[Bloody Brian Burke]

I know he's usually not too serious and the Devils likely won't do much this season but to say they are old shows that he is misinformed. Elias is the only guy over 35, Cammalleri is 33, Greene, Tooto and Ruutu are 32. That's pretty much all the "old" guys.

And as he mentions in his write up, it's tough to pick a team with a top 5 goaltender to finish worst in the league.

There are 8 Devils aged 30 or over, and they're almost all forwards. 3 more are 29. According to the link below, they're the 7th oldest team in the league and of their old players maybe 2 are worth a damn. I don't think he's off base on that comment at all.

Team Comparison | NHLnumbers.com

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

The big difference between Buffalo and some of the others like Columbus is money.

Obviously it didn't work out for them last time they tried to buy a Cup, but with a massively wealthy owner who is completely content (so he says at least) to lose money on the team if it means winning a Cup, they can afford to spend to the limit every year when the time comes. And unlike some of the other teams who have been struggling with mediocrity or worse for years, despite spending the money (Philly, I'm looking at you) they went all in on the rebuild.

And surprisingly, they've got very few bad contracts on the books. Clearly they overpaid RoR, and I wasn't a fan of the term on the Moulson deal, but I think they've only got a total of 4 contracts with 3 or more years remaining on them (plus a few years from the CoHo buyout), so they'll have a ton of space to sign Eichel to a massive extension (assuming he develops as expected), resign the other young guys like Ristolainen and Girgensons, and sign a few key free agent pieces.

I don't think money will be too big an issue in Columbus if they play well and start to draw gates.

But if they're a good team and they stay in the bottom third of attendance, there's going to start to be a lot of questions asked about the viability of the NHL in that market.

 

[RP-29]

• Anaheim
• Buffalo
• Chicago
• Edmonton
• Montréal
• NY Islanders
• NY Rangers
• Pittsburgh
• Tampa Bay
• Washington

• Boston
• Colorado
• Columbus
• Minnesota
• Detroit
• Calgary
• St. Louis
• Dallas
• Winnipeg
• Los Angeles

I don't see as many holes in the 20-11 list as I do in the 10-1 list.

 

[Nasty_Magician]

There are 8 Devils aged 30 or over, and they're almost all forwards. 3 more are 29. According to the link below, they're the 7th oldest team in the league and of their old players maybe 2 are worth a damn. I don't think he's off base on that comment at all.

Team Comparison | NHLnumbers.com

Yeah but a bunch of those guys aren't playing. That still includes Clowe, I believe Ryder and Gomez are on that list. The guys I mentioned are the only "old" guys that will be getting serious ice time.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Yeah but a bunch of those guys aren't playing. That still includes Clowe, I believe Ryder and Gomez are on that list. The guys I mentioned are the only "old" guys that will be getting serious ice time.

I don't know why current unsigned UFA's would be on the 2015-16 list, but even if they are and you remove them from the data they're still in the bottom third of average team age.

Also, this ranking had nothing to do with where teams would finish in the standings, it's simply assigning odds of winning a championship in the next five years. And in that regard, Jersey is probably farther than any other team and it really isn't as close as he makes it out to be.

 

[Nasty_Magician]

I don't know why current unsigned UFA's would be on the 2015-16 list, but even if they are and you remove them from the data they're still in the bottom third of average team age.

Also, this ranking had nothing to do with where teams would finish in the standings, it's simply assigning odds of winning a championship in the next five years. And in that regard, Jersey is probably farther than any other team and it really isn't as close as he makes it out to be.

The bold certainly is bold.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

The bold certainly is bold.

They have next-to-no assets any other team would want or give up any futures for, they have the worst farm system in the league, their active roster makes children cry, and like you said they have a goalie that will likely keep them from bottoming out where they should be.

I don't know any team that even comes close to having any of those problems, let alone all of them at the same time.

 

[Puck082]

They have next-to-no assets any other team would want or give up any futures for, they have the worst farm system in the league, their active roster makes children cry, and like you said they have a goalie that will likely keep them from bottoming out where they should be.

I don't know any team that even comes close to having any of those problems, let alone all of them at the same time.

DL your brutal honesty is just brutal.

 

[Nasty_Magician]

They have next-to-no assets any other team would want or give up any futures for, they have the worst farm system in the league, their active roster makes children cry, and like you said they have a goalie that will likely keep them from bottoming out where they should be.

I don't know any team that even comes close to having any of those problems, let alone all of them at the same time.

They have assets like a great young defense corp with more guys waiting in the wings. They have a top flight goaltending prospect and guys like Matteau, Boucher, Zacha and Quenneville should all be at the very least 2nd line caliber players. One Kovalchuk like move for a big time player and all of a sudden that's a solid team. There's no "savior" in the system but that doesn't mean there's nobody in the system.

Most of their best "prospects" are at the NHL level anyways and should only get better in the next 2 years. Top 5 goaltender, very high potential blue liners, more cap room than just about any other team, all working in their favor. I'll leave it at that.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

They have assets like a great young defense corp with more guys waiting in the wings. They have a top flight goaltending prospect and guys like Matteau, Boucher, Zacha and Quenneville should all be at the very least 2nd line caliber players. One Kovalchuk like move for a big time player and all of a sudden that's a solid team. There's no "savior" in the system but that doesn't mean there's nobody in the system.

Most of their best "prospects" are at the NHL level anyways and should only get better in the next 2 years. Top 5 goaltender, very high potential blue liners, more cap room than just about any other team, all working in their favor. I'll leave it at that.

Of those forwards you just named, the only one I've ever heard talked about in anything resembling a promising fashion is Zacha and he was drafted three months ago.

Even if everything pans out, they're still at least 3 years from contending for a playoff spot meaning the prospects of a championship in the next 5 years are lower than the odds we land on Mars in that same timeframe.

 

[dash]

Bump for Part 3 (Original post edited)

 

[Puck082]

Bump for Part 3 (Original post edited)

Gotta be going for shock value here. Buffalo #5? and Isles #4?!?!? Cmon.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Interesting that he describes Buffalo as a team that through the draft and trades has acquired an excellent group of forwards, which is true, but has serious flaws and question marks on the blue line and in net, which is also true.

Those two facts are also true about Dallas, and they're ranked 13th. Buffalo is 5th. What am I missing here?

 

[dash]

Those two facts are also true about Dallas, and they're ranked 13th. Buffalo is 5th. What am I missing here?

I don't think you're missing anything - DGB is a great follow and I think he is quite savvy in his hockey acumen as well as humo(u)r, but this series of articles falls more under click-bait than his usual contributions.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

I don't think you're missing anything - DGB is a great follow and I think he is quite savvy in his hockey acumen as well as humo(u)r, but this series of articles falls more under click-bait than his usual contributions.

Agree on both counts.

 

[Puck082]

Interesting that he describes Buffalo as a team that through the draft and trades has acquired an excellent group of forwards, which is true, but has serious flaws and question marks on the blue line and in net, which is also true.

Those two facts are also true about Dallas, and they're ranked 13th. Buffalo is 5th. What am I missing here?

Apparently Jack Eichel and Matt Moulson > Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin

 

[RP-29]

Interesting that he describes Buffalo as a team that through the draft and trades has acquired an excellent group of forwards, which is true, but has serious flaws and question marks on the blue line and in net, which is also true.

Those two facts are also true about Dallas, and they're ranked 13th. Buffalo is 5th. What am I missing here?

Would you have Dallas higher than Buffalo? I would...significantly. Dallas has more-elite scoring options right now than most unanimous '16 Cup contenders, much less Buffalo, and the biggest edge to Dallas is the guys they've imported via free agency and trades are loaded with deep playoff run experience.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Would you have Dallas higher than Buffalo? I would...significantly. Dallas has more-elite scoring options right now than most unanimous '16 Cup contenders, much less Buffalo, and the biggest edge to Dallas is the guys they've imported via free agency and trades are loaded with deep playoff run experience.

I would. Both would be around where Dallas is now, maybe a little lower.

If we're judging this on forward talent as of today, I like Dallas' current crop more than I do Buffalo's.

 

[forty_three]

They have assets like a great young defense corp with more guys waiting in the wings. They have a top flight goaltending prospect and guys like Matteau, Boucher, Zacha and Quenneville should all be at the very least 2nd line caliber players. One Kovalchuk like move for a big time player and all of a sudden that's a solid team. There's no "savior" in the system but that doesn't mean there's nobody in the system.

Most of their best "prospects" are at the NHL level anyways and should only get better in the next 2 years. Top 5 goaltender, very high potential blue liners, more cap room than just about any other team, all working in their favor. I'll leave it at that.

One Merill, please. You can have Boll, Clarkson and Atkinson!

Would you have Dallas higher than Buffalo? I would...significantly. Dallas has more-elite scoring options right now than most unanimous '16 Cup contenders, much less Buffalo, and the biggest edge to Dallas is the guys they've imported via free agency and trades are loaded with deep playoff run experience.

As BBB said they should both be around where Dallas is. And Dallas should be higher than Buff because, as much as it pains me to say it (in addition to what you said) they have a far better coach.

 

[dash]

And Dallas should be higher than Buff because, as much as it pains me to say it (in addition to what you said) they have a far better coach.