Since the lockout the parity for the NHL has been much greater, with the battle for the last three or four playoff spots being raged rather than the last one or two. With the NHL season winding down five teams: St. Louis Blues, Los Angeles Kings, New York Islanders, Tampa Bay Lightning and Atlanta Thrashers have all been mathematically eliminated from the post season. Though their seasons are all but over, that doesn’t mean there is no hope for the future of these teams.
New York Islanders
The Isles once again have done better with a lower level of talent than anyone expected. Injuries to key players hurt the team even more when you don’t have the talent to keep up. Ted Nolan continues to show he can make something out of nothing by keeping the team in contention much of the season. However, the Isles need to spend their money better than giving $3mm to Andy Sutton and $2.9mm to Ruslan Fedotenko, both worth about half their respective salaries. Mike Milbury still has his tainted touch on this team so it will take GM Garth Snow another year or so to clean it up. Some better drafting will help, but more importantly the right free agents at the right price is needed, something the Isles have yet to do.
Atlanta Thrashers
I will put this simply: as long as Don Waddell is GM of this team there is no hope. He might have done well in the Hossa deal, but all his other deals have been rather one sided against him, including all of his deadline deals last year. In his eight years as GM of the Thrashers he has yet to address the need for defense by doing more than signing and aging blue liner. Also, outside of Ilya Kovalchuk and Dany Heatley, two no-brainers, his drafting record has been atrocious at best. There are few prospects in the Thrashers system that will have a major impact in the coming years. He is one of the worst GM’s in the league bar none and until he is gone the Thrashers can’t expect to be going anywhere soon.
Tampa Bay Lightning
See how I said Waddell was one of the worst GM’s? That’s because this guy is the worse. Jay Feaster gave in to the demands of all his big three players when they were up for contract, which forced him to deal away Brad Richards this year to Dallas for Jussi Jokinen, Jeff Halpern and Mike Smith, the latter being the goalie they so desperately need. While the Richards deal freed up salary and gave the Lightning some much needed depth, it was unfortunately negated by the fact Feaster once again gave in to the demands of one of his most important players handing Dan Boyle over $6.5mm a year. Please note this is the amount perennial Norris candidate Scott Niedermayer makes and Boyle is no Niedermayer. Also like Waddell he is a very poor drafter, Paul Ranger being the best drafted prospect since Vincent Lecavalier and Brad Richards. If Feaster is smart, which he isn’t, he will spend what cap space he has on bringing in another scoring winger or second line center plus a steady defenseman that won’t break the bank.
Los Angeles Kings
The Kings have one of the best young cores in the NHL with the likes of Alexander Frolov, Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar and Jack Johnson. However, they are lacking two very important things: a coach and a goalie. Coach Marc Crawford is the only man on this planet that thinks Dan Cloutier is a good goalie, so that should send up a big red flag there. Kings fans don’t seem too high on what he is able to make of the talent either. The Kings are not a talent devoid team in the least, and though they had some injuries it’s obviously not a lack of talent being the problem. As for a goalie, they have the promising Jonathan Bernier in the ranks, but he is still very young and rough around the edges, and it will be a few years until he is ready for fulltime duty. The goalie carousel has been in full force this season as the Kings have fielded a total of six different goalies. If the Kings can get a new coach and a decent interim goalie they have the talent to be a contender even if their young roster is still a bit rough around the edges.
St. Louis Blues
The Blues had an up and down season, a repetitive cycle of hot and cold with the latter having the dominant toll. The Blues have a decent young core with Erik Johnson (not related to the aforementioned Kings Jack), Lee Stempniak and Brad Boyes. They do have some promising prospects coming through the system and it would be wise if they let some of their free agents in the coming year or so like Martin Rucinsky and Keith Tkachuk walk. They already offloaded some free agents at the deadline to free up the room and stock up on picks. Most their free cap space has been taken up by extensions next year so don’t look for them to be big spenders. While the outlook may not be great for St. Louis the next year, a few years down the line they can be a solid team once again if their they develop their young players correctly.
New York Islanders
The Isles once again have done better with a lower level of talent than anyone expected. Injuries to key players hurt the team even more when you don’t have the talent to keep up. Ted Nolan continues to show he can make something out of nothing by keeping the team in contention much of the season. However, the Isles need to spend their money better than giving $3mm to Andy Sutton and $2.9mm to Ruslan Fedotenko, both worth about half their respective salaries. Mike Milbury still has his tainted touch on this team so it will take GM Garth Snow another year or so to clean it up. Some better drafting will help, but more importantly the right free agents at the right price is needed, something the Isles have yet to do.
Atlanta Thrashers
I will put this simply: as long as Don Waddell is GM of this team there is no hope. He might have done well in the Hossa deal, but all his other deals have been rather one sided against him, including all of his deadline deals last year. In his eight years as GM of the Thrashers he has yet to address the need for defense by doing more than signing and aging blue liner. Also, outside of Ilya Kovalchuk and Dany Heatley, two no-brainers, his drafting record has been atrocious at best. There are few prospects in the Thrashers system that will have a major impact in the coming years. He is one of the worst GM’s in the league bar none and until he is gone the Thrashers can’t expect to be going anywhere soon.
Tampa Bay Lightning
See how I said Waddell was one of the worst GM’s? That’s because this guy is the worse. Jay Feaster gave in to the demands of all his big three players when they were up for contract, which forced him to deal away Brad Richards this year to Dallas for Jussi Jokinen, Jeff Halpern and Mike Smith, the latter being the goalie they so desperately need. While the Richards deal freed up salary and gave the Lightning some much needed depth, it was unfortunately negated by the fact Feaster once again gave in to the demands of one of his most important players handing Dan Boyle over $6.5mm a year. Please note this is the amount perennial Norris candidate Scott Niedermayer makes and Boyle is no Niedermayer. Also like Waddell he is a very poor drafter, Paul Ranger being the best drafted prospect since Vincent Lecavalier and Brad Richards. If Feaster is smart, which he isn’t, he will spend what cap space he has on bringing in another scoring winger or second line center plus a steady defenseman that won’t break the bank.
Los Angeles Kings
The Kings have one of the best young cores in the NHL with the likes of Alexander Frolov, Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar and Jack Johnson. However, they are lacking two very important things: a coach and a goalie. Coach Marc Crawford is the only man on this planet that thinks Dan Cloutier is a good goalie, so that should send up a big red flag there. Kings fans don’t seem too high on what he is able to make of the talent either. The Kings are not a talent devoid team in the least, and though they had some injuries it’s obviously not a lack of talent being the problem. As for a goalie, they have the promising Jonathan Bernier in the ranks, but he is still very young and rough around the edges, and it will be a few years until he is ready for fulltime duty. The goalie carousel has been in full force this season as the Kings have fielded a total of six different goalies. If the Kings can get a new coach and a decent interim goalie they have the talent to be a contender even if their young roster is still a bit rough around the edges.
St. Louis Blues
The Blues had an up and down season, a repetitive cycle of hot and cold with the latter having the dominant toll. The Blues have a decent young core with Erik Johnson (not related to the aforementioned Kings Jack), Lee Stempniak and Brad Boyes. They do have some promising prospects coming through the system and it would be wise if they let some of their free agents in the coming year or so like Martin Rucinsky and Keith Tkachuk walk. They already offloaded some free agents at the deadline to free up the room and stock up on picks. Most their free cap space has been taken up by extensions next year so don’t look for them to be big spenders. While the outlook may not be great for St. Louis the next year, a few years down the line they can be a solid team once again if their they develop their young players correctly.
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