Tough article to swallow, but Wheeler’s not wrong.
We’re the only team with no top 100 prospects. None of our prospects are currently projected to be above depth quality. We’ve given away quite a few draft picks over the years just to get the team we have.
This isn’t a recipe for long-term success. You do this to win now, and it’s more and more obvious that window has closed.
It was a good run. Two conference finals appearances that came a win away from being a serious shot at the Cup, but even those were under unusual circumstances that may have meant we missed the playoffs entirely in an ordinary season.
But the writing is on the wall. We know pain as Isles fans, and there’s a lot of it coming. It’s going to take years of proper rebuild. You can’t be a contender in this league without cost controlled young players making a big impact on team-friendly deals.
This was Lou’s doing. Roy might be the right coach even going forward, but it’s time to acknowledge that we need to rebuild. The guys who have been faithful to the Island are going to need to leave if they want a shot at the hardware and it’s going to make it tough to watch our team for a while.
Stockersandwhich
A 32nd ranked prospect pool is the cost of being competitive.
Ottawa, Detroit, Etc still can’t figure it out.
If you look at the last 11 years, we’ve been mostly consistent and stable in terms of the playoff picture. Close, no cigar yada yada. But the team has been retooled on the fly a couple times. That’s how this roster will continue to be built as contracts come off the books until Barzal and Horvat are long in the tooth and it’s time to break it all down to build it all up. Snow left Lou in good hands, it took a coach to untap that potential. Players grow old.
No one wants to hear this, but it’s reality. We’re the Wild of the East. We will be in/out of the playoff conversation and we’re as good as good coaching will take us. Patrick Roy as already had an impact on advanced stats. That may not equal winning right away, but it will build a pattern of consistency, and as our negative stats move into a positive direction, wins will come.
golfy_m8
The people who obsess over prospect pools and dismiss the guys actually on the roster playing the games are so god damn annoying.
Barzal, Horvat, Dobson, Romanov, Holmstrom, Sorokin, Pelech, Pulock and Engvall are all established NHLers under 30 that are on the roster and under contract, but fuck them right?
Ragg_Tagger
Bo, Barzal, Dobson, Romanov, Sorokin is our core to focus on and build around. In terms of Sorokin playing at his best “peak” years, what do we have, 4 left if everything goes well for him, no major injuries, etc. Maybe a couple more years on the back end similar to Varlamov? If some of those prospects like Nelson can plug into the bottom 6 and be solid NHL players I don’t think its as dark as it looks. First round picks should be moved smartly for players like Lou did for Romanov.
fakerandyortonwwe
can some of yall please watch cute kitten videos or something lol everything is doom and gloom right now
drakaintdead
Honestly, bad article. We don’t have a great prospect pool, but I’d say the pool that he lists is wrong. Holmström? Not really a prospect, I’d consider him a proper NHLer at this point. And Iskhakov not on the list? He’s one of our top prospects.
7 Comments
Our farm is grim. Real grim.
Tough article to swallow, but Wheeler’s not wrong.
We’re the only team with no top 100 prospects. None of our prospects are currently projected to be above depth quality. We’ve given away quite a few draft picks over the years just to get the team we have.
This isn’t a recipe for long-term success. You do this to win now, and it’s more and more obvious that window has closed.
It was a good run. Two conference finals appearances that came a win away from being a serious shot at the Cup, but even those were under unusual circumstances that may have meant we missed the playoffs entirely in an ordinary season.
But the writing is on the wall. We know pain as Isles fans, and there’s a lot of it coming. It’s going to take years of proper rebuild. You can’t be a contender in this league without cost controlled young players making a big impact on team-friendly deals.
This was Lou’s doing. Roy might be the right coach even going forward, but it’s time to acknowledge that we need to rebuild. The guys who have been faithful to the Island are going to need to leave if they want a shot at the hardware and it’s going to make it tough to watch our team for a while.
A 32nd ranked prospect pool is the cost of being competitive.
Ottawa, Detroit, Etc still can’t figure it out.
If you look at the last 11 years, we’ve been mostly consistent and stable in terms of the playoff picture. Close, no cigar yada yada. But the team has been retooled on the fly a couple times. That’s how this roster will continue to be built as contracts come off the books until Barzal and Horvat are long in the tooth and it’s time to break it all down to build it all up. Snow left Lou in good hands, it took a coach to untap that potential. Players grow old.
No one wants to hear this, but it’s reality. We’re the Wild of the East. We will be in/out of the playoff conversation and we’re as good as good coaching will take us. Patrick Roy as already had an impact on advanced stats. That may not equal winning right away, but it will build a pattern of consistency, and as our negative stats move into a positive direction, wins will come.
The people who obsess over prospect pools and dismiss the guys actually on the roster playing the games are so god damn annoying.
Barzal, Horvat, Dobson, Romanov, Holmstrom, Sorokin, Pelech, Pulock and Engvall are all established NHLers under 30 that are on the roster and under contract, but fuck them right?
Bo, Barzal, Dobson, Romanov, Sorokin is our core to focus on and build around. In terms of Sorokin playing at his best “peak” years, what do we have, 4 left if everything goes well for him, no major injuries, etc. Maybe a couple more years on the back end similar to Varlamov? If some of those prospects like Nelson can plug into the bottom 6 and be solid NHL players I don’t think its as dark as it looks. First round picks should be moved smartly for players like Lou did for Romanov.
can some of yall please watch cute kitten videos or something lol everything is doom and gloom right now
Honestly, bad article. We don’t have a great prospect pool, but I’d say the pool that he lists is wrong. Holmström? Not really a prospect, I’d consider him a proper NHLer at this point. And Iskhakov not on the list? He’s one of our top prospects.