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.
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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.