Predicting the Worst Teams in the NHL for 2011-12

The 2010-11 season was of little surprise when it came to teams disappointing their fan bases and making their owners angry.

In the east, Florida missed the playoffs for a NHL-record 11 seasons running. Toronto, despite selling out every seat in the house and spending big money, recorded another failed effort. Ottawa, a team of AHLers and players who should have still been in the minors, were atrocious, scoring less goals than anyone else in the league.

Meanwhile in the west, Colorado tanked, Columbus added another playoff-less season to their uninspiring history, and Edmonton…well…Edmonton was Edmonton.

Who will have the dubious honor of having next year’s first-overall draft pick by being the worst team in the NHL? Can Edmonton score a rare hat-trick and make it three in a row, will Florida’s spending spree blow up in their face, or will there be a playoff team who hits rock bottom and implodes like the Devils did last year before they salvaged their season?

Edmonton Oilers

Inexperience and injuries took their toll on Edmonton last year as they finished so badly they were able to capture the first-overall draft pic...again. The Oilers have the potential to be one of the best teams in the league a few years from now, but as it stands they are headed for another disappointing season.

Star right winger Ales Hemsky’s fate will be decided this year, and all signs point to his tenure with the team coming to a close. The Oilers are in full rebuild mode right now, and if Hemsky is not injured at the trade deadline, he could fetch a nice ransom. Captain Shawn Horcoff will most likely stay with the team as his contract will not be a real problem until Taylor Hall’s entry-level contract is up.

We might not see the debut of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins this year. RNH has the skills to be in the NHL this year, but there are concerns that he does not have the size to absorb hits from his opponents. There is absolutely no need to rush Nugent-Hopkins, as nobody, the organization included, has high hopes for the team next year.

To put things in perspective of just how bad the Oilers have been recently: If they do not finish dead last in the NHL, the season will have been an improvement and success.

Prediction: 12th in the west, 25th overall 

Florida Panthers

GM Dave Tallon officially lost his mind this summer, almost literally picking up piles of cash and throwing them at players who didn’t deserve it. Forced to spend upwards of $20 million just to hit the cap floor, Florida signed anyone and everyone they could.

Florida is made up of mostly bottom six forwards who will be forced to play in all situations. The defense is made up of father time, Ed Jovanovski, who will be with the team for the next four years, as well as the extremely overpaid Brian Campbell. Chicago must have been jumping up and down giddy after they rid themselves of the contract that made them break up their Stanley Cup-winning team.

Tampa Bay tried this plan a few years ago when Barry Melrose was coach (for a few games). Tampa acquired multiple free agents who never really clicked with the team and didn’t have an assigned role to play. The result was drafting second overall the next year, which doesn’t seem too bad in retrospect. But Florida is trying to win very fast and very soon, as they have not seen the playoffs longer than any team in the league.

Losing Tomas Vokoun was losing the glue who held the team together. Vokoun, an elite goalie, stole games and performed admirably for the defensively challenged Panthers. Replacing Vokoun is an older and slower tandem of Jose Theodore and Scott Clemmensen.

Unlike other teams on this list, the future is bright for Florida. The Panthers claim one of the best prospect pools in the league and expect to have Jacob Markstrom show his face in Florida next year. Markstrom is considered by many to be the top prospect in the league and is universally accepted as the top goaltending prospect in the league. We are also likely to see action from future franchise defenseman Erik Gudbranson.

The Panthers will make the playoffs for the first time in more than a decade eventually. It just won’t be this year—not even close. 

Prediction: 14th in the east, 26th overall

Dallas Stars

No good can come from losing your star player and having no plan to replace him. This is exactly what happened to Dallas this offseason when they lost Brad Richards to free agency.

Not only did Dallas lose the star center, but Richards also exercised his no-trade clause and refused to have his rights traded to another team. Richards says the reason is that he did not want any pressure put on him to sign with the team his rights were traded to. This is up for debate, as this was either the real reason, or Richards simply spurned the Stars for not trading him at the deadline and giving him the chance to play for a contender.

Years ago, when the Stars lost mainstay defenseman Sergei Zubov, they did little to replace him. The results were brutal. Dallas missed the playoffs after years of being serious contenders despite poor postseason play with the blame placed mostly on Marty Turco.

Dallas has been sliding for years and has shown no real signs of improving. The team has a decent defense with a good but physically unreliable goaltender in Kari Lehtonen and is essentially a one-line team on the offensive end.

The year after coach Dave Tippett was fired, he went to replace Wayne Gretzky in Phoenix. Tippett promptly turned the franchise around and won the Jack Adams award, making the postseason both years as well.

The Stars also cast off franchise player and American NHL legend Mike Modano. Modano didn’t exactly earn himself a new contract, but the Stars did everything they could to make sure the 20-year veteran and franchise leader in…well…everything, did not retire a Star.

Prediction: 13th in the west, 27th overall 

Phoenix Coyotes

To see how badly Phoenix will regress next year one only needs to look at their goalie situation. Unable to retain former Vezina nominee Ilya Bryzgalov, the Coyotes are forced to move forward with the tandem of oft-injured Mike Smith and Jason LaBarbera, who should be in the AHL.

The Coyotes also made strange offseason moves. They didn't replace their goaltender or sign or trade for any top talent.  Former first-overall pick Ed Jovanovski and now Penguin Zbynek Michalek have left for free agency in back-to-back years, diluting the talent along the blue line. Young Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Keith Yandle are going to be relied upon to be Phoenix’s top defensemen.

Other than Shane Doan, the Coyotes don’t have what I would call any legitimate star power, and for that fact the top six is rather poor.

This figures to be the last year the Coyotes are in Phoenix, as the city of Glendale is hemorrhaging money paying for the team. The city council agreed to one final year if no new owner who would keep the Coyotes in the area was named. It looks like a done deal that the Coyotes will finally be put out of their misery after next season, and Canada will be rewarded with another new team.

Prediction: 14th in the west, 28th overall

Ottawa Senators

Ottawa is a team with a good future but suffers from the Calgary syndrome. The Senators could place themselves in prime position to have the No.1 farm system in the league but are unwilling to let go of veterans Jason Spezza, Daniel Alfredsson and Chris Phillips. The trio doesn’t do any good for the team right now. They may be able to steal a few games just by themselves, but they are not doing the organization any favors by finishing the year outside of the bottom three when it comes to the draft.

Many fans consider GM Bryan Murray incompetent and unwilling to accept reality. The Sergei Gonchar signing last summer was one of the most ill-advised moves made in recent history. This summer, the Sens’ “big” move was acquiring Nikita Filatov. Filatov is widely regarded as a bust but will have one last shot to prove he belongs in the NHL. He will get his chance in Ottawa and will hopefully be one of the bright stories to come from Canada’s capital. 

Prediction: 15th in the east, 29th overall

Colorado Avalanche

It’s a pretty serious accusation to accuse a team of purposely tanking to obtain a high draft pick, but I can’t think of another word I would use to describe what Colorado did last year.

The Brian Elliott-Craig Anderson trade last year made no sense on either end. Both men were unrestricted free agents, but Elliot was AHL bound and only in Ottawa based on dire necessity. Anderson was a good goalie who has almost single-handedly carried the Avalanche to the postseason a year before and almost carried the overachievers to the second round of the playoffs.

Colorado received no draft picks, prospects, or future considerations for Anderson. It was a clean one-for-one deal. What makes this even mores suspect was that Colorado did this trade during what was the worst second half any NHL team in the league had that year. The Avalanche were downright brutal.

Colorado shipped off up-and-coming power forward Chris Stewart and offensive defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk for former first-overall pick Erik Johnson. Many consider Johnson a bust, even this early in his career. If you do, you won’t see me put up an argument. Paul Stastny’s father, Peter, publicly criticized the organization in not such nice words. 

Gone are the days of the great Detroit-Colorado rivalries. Gone are Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg. There’s not to much to look forward to in Colorado, unless you’re a fan of following young players and stars in the making. (If that’s the case, you’ve probably taken a casual interest in Matt Duchene.)

Other than Duchene, the future looks kind of grim for the Avalanche. You will probably follow this year’s No. 2 overall pick Gabriel Landeskog, who will need to produce right now. Without even playing a game in the NHL, he seems to be one of the leading candidates to be the future captain of the Avs.

After trading their first- and second-round picks to Washington for goaltender Semyon Varlamov, who is among the worst in the league at conditioning himself to avoid injury, the Avalanche will not be able to continue their rebuild through the draft should they falter, and falter they shall.  

Prediction: 15th in the west, 30th overall