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Still think Gillies is the more likely bet to be our starting goalie....Ortio has a few years of development so he's more advanced along his development curve, so it's to be expected that he looks better right now. But I'm biased, since I had Gillies right there with Vasilevski and Subban in their draft year. I'm just glad that we've got two guys we can hedge our bets on rather than one. Keeps the pressure off of both to develop into quality players. They can grow at their own pace. People who go onto HockeysFuture and look at our prospect ratings and say "They need to draft a goalie" have never watched either of them in their lives. Whether we get even an average starter out of either of them remains to be seen....but goalie is far from our weakest link in the organization. When your third string prospect is looked at by other fanbases to be a potential number 1 goalie, it's probably better than people give credit for.

Part 30 in my "State of the Franchise" series. Finishing up the individual team pages.... Feel free to leave comments; I'm always willing to take feedback and I readily accept that I'm not the next Charles Dickens, so any constructive criticism would be great. Current Rankings List: 1. Edmonton 2. St. Louis 3. Florida 4. NY Islanders 5. Chicago 6. Montréal 7. NY Rangers 8. Anaheim 9. Pittsburgh 10. Buffalo 11. Ottawa 12. Minnesota 13. Colorado 14. Phoenix 15. Detroit 16. Toronto 17. Boston 18. Washington 19. Winnipeg 20. Tampa Bay 21. Carolina 22. Los Angeles 23. Philadelphia 24. Nashville 25. New Jersey 26. Dallas 27. Calgary 28. Vancouver 29. Columbus 30. San Jose ------------------ #1: Edmonton Oilers Top Fws: Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle Top Ds: Ladislav Smid, Ryan Whitney Top G: Devan Dubnyk Top 3 Under-23s: 1. F Jordan Eberle (22) 2. F Taylor Hall (20) 3. F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (19) Top 5 Prospects 1. F Nail Yakupov (18) 2. D Justin Schultz (22) 3. D Oscar Klefbom (19) 4. D David Musil (19) 5. D Martin Marincin (20) Prospect Pool Rating: Depth: B Bluechip Talent: A Diversity: C Overall: B Organizational Strengths: Edmonton's years of being at the bottom of the well has allowed them to build an outstanding young group of forwards. Their best players are all 23 or younger, and they've got some support around the top lines up front with Ales Hemsky and Sam Gagner providing secondary scoring while Ryan Smyth and Shawn Horcoff bring veteran stability to a youthful core. Organizational Weaknesses: Namely on the backend, of course. Ryan Whitney is a top pairing guy when in the lineup, but he's only healthy for 2/3s of a season. The Oilers lack a go-to player on the backend as well as reliable depth down the defensive pairings. Goaltending is a question mark; Devan Dubnyk has yet to put together a consistent effort in any season and Nikolai Khabibulin is quickly falling off the cliff in terms of performance. Most of their young players have already missed significant time due to injury, which could be a sign of poor luck and an inability to handle the rigors of the NHL game. Prospect Strengths: When you draft as high as the Oilers have for the last three years, you're bound to have a lot of quality prospects. Nail Yakupov is the gem in a group of solid but unspectacular forwards, but their biggest strength is on the backend; the Oilers have both high-quality bluechip talent and a strong amount of depth throughout the defensive pool led by top prospects Oscar Klefbom and Justin Schultz. Names like Musil, Gernat, and Simpson are sprinkled throughout all levels of Edmonton's developmental system. Prospect Weaknesses: Beyond Nail Yakupov, the Oilers lack in talented forwards and potential NHL forwards in general (although this weakness is mitigated by the players already in their NHL lineup). The best prospects they have up front, while skilled, are all small and will face uphill battles just to crack the NHL roster and some (like Toni Rajala) are longshots to ever return to North American ice. In goal, while they have a couple of decent prospects, the pool of goalies itself is rather limited. Outlook: When you've been the worst team in hockey for three years running, there's nowhere to go but up. The Oilers, bolstered by 1st overall pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, came out of the gates running and looked like they could fight for a playoff spot as late as December. Then the wheels completely fell off the bus and the Oilers limped to 29th in the NHL before lucking out in the lottery and being awarded the 1st overall pick for the record-tying 3rd straight season. Despite strong seasons from a number of players, the Oilers didn't have the horses to compete in the tight Western Conference and thus faced a long summer for the third straight season. There are positives to every negative, however. One was the arrival of hotshot prospect Nail Yakupov. Another was the developments of the big 3 of Eberle, Hall and Nugent-Hopkins. Not to mention the improvements of young players such as Jeff Petry and Devan Dubnyk. Adding another couple of bigtime prospects to the prospect pool (including Anaheim defector Justin Schultz) was just icing on the cake for Steve Tambellini and his crew. The Oilers will look to refocus and aim for a playoff spot next season, although it's more likely that they finish out of the postseason for the 7th straight season. What Tambo and Co. are hoping for is that this team can take that next step within the next few years and become a contender in the future.

Part 29 in my "State of the Franchise" series. Top 3! Feel free to leave comments; I'm always willing to take feedback and I readily accept that I'm not the next Charles Dickens, so any constructive criticism would be great. Current Rankings List: 2. St. Louis 3. Florida 4. NY Islanders 5. Chicago 6. Montréal 7. NY Rangers 8. Anaheim 9. Pittsburgh 10. Buffalo 11. Ottawa 12. Minnesota 13. Colorado 14. Phoenix 15. Detroit 16. Toronto 17. Boston 18. Washington 19. Winnipeg 20. Tampa Bay 21. Carolina 22. Los Angeles 23. Philadelphia 24. Nashville 25. New Jersey 26. Dallas 27. Calgary 28. Vancouver 29. Columbus 30. San Jose ------------------ #2: St. Louis Blues Top Fws: David Backes, T.J. Oshie, David Perron Top Ds: Alex Pietrangelo, Kevin Shattenkirk Top G: Jaroslav Halak Top 3 Under-23s: 1. D Alex Pietrangelo (22) 2. D Kevin Shattenkirk (23) 3. D Ian Cole (23) Top 5 Prospects 1. F Vladimir Tarasenko (20) 2. F Jaden Schwartz (20) 3. F Ty Rattie (19) 4. G Jake Allen (22) 5. F Philip McRae (22) Prospect Pool Rating: Depth: B Bluechip Talent: B Diversity: B Overall: B Organizational Strengths: The Blues have built a team based on much of the same philosophies as their division-rival Nashville Predators; namely, a strong group mentality and team focus as well as a willingness to grind it out. While they don't look overwhelmingly strong at any one area, there's good depth throughout the organization and their batch of young players continue to improve year-to-year. Organizational Weaknesses: It'd be nice if their players can stay healthy; for example, Perron and Andy McDonald are arguably the Blues' two most skilled forwards, but have combined for a total of just 150 games between the two of them over the past 2 seasons. While the team can roll four lines, that plan becomes moot when players start hitting the IR. Jaro Halak and Brian Elliott were brilliant for 95% of last season, then promptly faceplanted in the wake of the Kings' multi-faceted offensive firepower. Prospect Strengths: The Blues' strengths in their system lie up front and in goal. Jake Allen leads a small-but-talented group of goaltenders, while the Blues have a multitude of prospects at center and on the wing. Vlad Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz are arguably the best one-two punch in any system's forward group, and guys like Brett Sonne, Ty Rattie and Evgeny Grachev look like they could be fighting for spots in camp as early as next season. Prospect Weaknesses: While the defensive group is solid overall, the team lacks a major topnotch blueline prospect. The forwards are mostly 3rd and 4th line types and a few of their skilled prospects up front have hit snags in their development. The Blues will likely see top prospects Schwartz and Tarasenko graduate to the big club this season, but the team doesn't have anyone to replace them within the system. Outlook: The Blues got off to a rough start in 2012. Limping along in the early stages of the season, GM Doug Armstrong eventually said enough's enough and went out and got a hardass coach to prod the Blues along in Ken Hitchcock. Almost immediately, the team was transformed and they found themselves in an unfamiliar position at the end of the season; 2nd in the West and holding home-ice advantage for the first time since the Chris Pronger era in St. Louis. St. Louis has spent the last few years patiently biding their time and acquiring young assets, and that patience has been rewarding. The Blues have one of the best young cores in the league, and a strong group of prospects to boot. Names like T.J. Oshie, Alex Pietrangelo, Kevin Shattenkirk, David Perron and Patrik Berglund will lead this team for the foreseeable future and they've got young prospects coming up at all positions. The Blues will look to build on their surprise 2011-12 season by following it up with an even better one. They're likely to be among the top teams in the league for a long time.

Part 28 in my "State of the Franchise" series. Top 3! Feel free to leave comments; I'm always willing to take feedback and I readily accept that I'm not the next Charles Dickens, so any constructive criticism would be great. Current Rankings List: 3. Florida 4. NY Islanders 5. Chicago 6. Montréal 7. NY Rangers 8. Anaheim 9. Pittsburgh 10. Buffalo 11. Ottawa 12. Minnesota 13. Colorado 14. Phoenix 15. Detroit 16. Toronto 17. Boston 18. Washington 19. Winnipeg 20. Tampa Bay 21. Carolina 22. Los Angeles 23. Philadelphia 24. Nashville 25. New Jersey 26. Dallas 27. Calgary 28. Vancouver 29. Columbus 30. San Jose ------------------ #3: Florida Panthers Top Fws: Stephen Weiss, Tomas Fleischmann, Kris Versteeg Top Ds: Brian Campbell, Dmitry Kulikov Top G: Jose Theodore Top 3 Under-23s: 1. D Dmitry Kulikov (21) 2. D Erik Gudbranson (20) 3. D Keaton Ellerby (23) Top 5 Prospects 1. F Jonathan Huberdeau (19) 2. F Nick Bjugstad (20) 3. G Jacob Markstrom (22) 4. D Alexander Petrovic (20) 5. F Quinton Howden (20) Prospect Pool Rating: Depth: B Bluechip Talent: A Diversity: C Overall: A Organizational Strengths: The Panthers have built a strong group of defensemen. Brian Campbell bounced back in a big way, Kulikov emerged as a top-3 defender, and veterans Filip Kuba and Ed Jovanovski will be around to help mentor young guys Erik Gudbranson and Keaton Ellerby, as well as provide some offense from the backend. The defense is aggressive, mobile and solid defensively in front of Theodore and Co. Organizational Weaknesses: The team's top line is solid, but there isn't any proven scoring depth behind them. Tomas Kopecky, Mike Santorelli and Scottie Upshall were all inconsistent last season, and will need to have bounce-back years for the Panthers. New acquisition Peter Mueller and rookie Huberdeau are potential scoring threats, but Huberdeau hasn't played an NHL game yet and Mueller is coming off two consecutive major injuries. Prospect Strengths: There's a lot of high-end skill in the Panther's system. Up the middle the Panthers have accumulated a lot of skilled players such as Drew Shore, Nick Bjugstad, Vince Trocheck, John McFarland and Rocco Grimaldi. While the Panthers lack a true high-caliber defensive prospect, the group is deep and skilled with Colby Robak, Alex Petrovic, Rasmus Bengtsson and newly-drafted Michael Matheson. Jacob Markstrom is one of the top goalie prospects in the world. Prospect Weaknesses: The team's development system is heavy on centers and defenders, but weak everywhere else. Quinton Howden and Huberdeau are two highly skilled wingers, but the team lacks any skill or depth behind them. The goalie pool is relatively shallow behind Markstrom. There's a lot of boom-or-bust prospects in the organization at every skating position. A large portion of their skilled prospects are in the NCAA and are at least a few years away. Outlook: Dale Tallon did a masterful job (and got a lot of luck) in hsi first season as Panthers GM. The team rode a hot start and managed to fend off charges from the Washington Capitals and Winnipeg Jets en route to its first-ever division title. A group of what amounted to mostly misfits and scrubs managed to push the Cup finalist New Jersey Devils to a 7th game (the hardest series faced by the Devils in their postseason run) before losing in heartbreaking fashion in double overtime. A lot of credit goes to the Panthers for their most successful season in 12 years. However, the team itself is far from perfect and still has some big holes to fill. Luckily for the Panthers, all their years of suck gave them one of the best prospect pools in the NHL and thus Dale Tallon has some great assets with which to work. There are young burgeoning superstars at all levels of their organization, and Florida hopes that the combination of these young centerpieces and a bunch of castoffs from other teams can bring about a return to prominence not seen in Florida since 1996. The Panthers are going to be in the playoff bubble once again, and with the group of core players they have built, could be a playoff team for the foreseeable future.

Part 27 in my "State of the Franchise" series. Frozen 4! (Yes, that was a college reference. Get over it.) Feel free to leave comments; I'm always willing to take feedback and I readily accept that I'm not the next Charles Dickens, so any constructive criticism would be great. Current Rankings List: 4. NY Islanders 5. Chicago 6. Montréal 7. NY Rangers 8. Anaheim 9. Pittsburgh 10. Buffalo 11. Ottawa 12. Minnesota 13. Colorado 14. Phoenix 15. Detroit 16. Toronto 17. Boston 18. Washington 19. Winnipeg 20. Tampa Bay 21. Carolina 22. Los Angeles 23. Philadelphia 24. Nashville 25. New Jersey 26. Dallas 27. Calgary 28. Vancouver 29. Columbus 30. San Jose ------------------ #4: New York Islanders Top Fws: John Tavares, Kyle Okposo, Matt Moulson Top Ds: Mark Streit, Lubomir Visnovsky Top G: Evgeni Nabokov Top 3 Under-23s: 1. F John Tavares (21) 2. D Travis Hamonic (22) 3. F Josh Bailey (22) Top 5 Prospects 1. F Ryan Strome (19) 2. D Griffin Reinhart (18) 3. F Brock Nelson (20) 4. D Matt Donovan (22) 5. D Calvin de Haan (21) Prospect Pool Rating: Depth: B Bluechip Talent: B Diversity: B Overall: B Organizational Strengths: Simply put, John Tavares IS the Islanders organization. As long as they have the lacrosse player, the Isles can put up a few Ws. The Isles have the makings of an above average forward corps; Moulson, Okposo, Michael Grabner, Frans Nielsen, Josh Bailey, Nino Niederreiter and newly acquired Brad Boyes will be fighting for spots on the top 2 forward lines. They also have two certified high-caliber puckmovers on defense in Mark Streit and Lubomir Visnovsky. Organizational Weaknesses: Defensive depth and toughness on the backend are the Isles' biggest holes. Mark Streit is a decent two-way player, and Hamonic is a burgeoning young two-way blueliner, but the rest of the defense is merely passable-below average. They lack a big, clear-the-crease defensive defender who can play a regular shift; in general, the defense is soft. Nabokov/DiPietro looks like a decent tandem if this were 2007, but Nabokov is 37 and DiPietro has appeared in just 47 games in 4 seasons, including just 8 last year. Prospect Strengths: With all 7 of the new prospects from the recent draft defensemen, it's easy to see where their strengths lie; the Islanders boast a deep, skilled group of defensemen. Griffin Reinhart takes over as the top dog, but the group of players with NHL potential run deep after him with guys like Scott Mayfield, Calvin de Haan, Aaron Ness, Ville Pokka and Matt Donovan. The Isles also have a decent group of goaltending prospects. Prospect Weaknesses: The Islanders, with the graduation of Niederreiter, utterly lack depth on the wings and overall skill up front. Ryan Strome is a bluechip prospect and there's some potential up front in Brock Nelson, Kirill Kabanov, Anders Lee and Casey Cizikas, but in general the team's forwards are underwhelming at best. While the Isles have a couple of potential goalies, none of them project as starting netminders. Most of the Isles' prospects have a boom-or-bust feel to them, with a few (Koskinen, Trivino, Petrov, Joensuu) already looking like they won't be panning out as originally expected. Outlook: The Chicago Blackhawks are a great example of how to rebuild a professional hockey team from scorched earth. The Islanders are a great example of how NOT to rebuild a professional hockey team. The perennially shoddy team has consistently shown that they don't know how to turn high picks into a winning formula. Another below-average season (despite some great performances from Tavares, Moulson, the now-departed Parenteau, and Evgeni Nabokov) gave the Isles another lottery selection with which to work with. That being said, the Isles have managed to build a good group of prospects (through years of draft picks and failures). There are a number of potential difference-makers in the system, and the team has already begun to see some of its best young talent break through into the NHL. The Isles already have a promising, if small, group of young NHL talent within its nucleus; if the team can push the winning buttons with regards to its prospects and acquisitions, the Isles may have what it takes to pull themselves out of the abyss. It'll be extremely unlikely for the Islanders' current roster to make the postseason. However, with a little bit of luck, Long Island may find itself a competitive team sooner rather than later.

Part 26 in my "State of the Franchise" series. Final 5! Feel free to leave comments; I'm always willing to take feedback and I readily accept that I'm not the next Charles Dickens, so any constructive criticism would be great. Current Rankings List: 5. Chicago 6. Montréal 7. NY Rangers 8. Anaheim 9. Pittsburgh 10. Buffalo 11. Ottawa 12. Minnesota 13. Colorado 14. Phoenix 15. Detroit 16. Toronto 17. Boston 18. Washington 19. Winnipeg 20. Tampa Bay 21. Carolina 22. Los Angeles 23. Philadelphia 24. Nashville 25. New Jersey 26. Dallas 27. Calgary 28. Vancouver 29. Columbus 30. San Jose ------------------ #5: Chicago Blackhawks Top Fws: Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa, Patrick Kane Top Ds: Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook Top G: Corey Crawford Top 3 Under-23s: 1. F Patrick Kane (23) 2. D Nick Leddy (21) 3. F Marcus Kruger (22) Top 5 Prospects 1. F Teuvo Teravainen (17) 2. F Brandon Saad (19) 3. F Jeremy Morin (21) 4. F Mark McNeill (19) 5. F Brandon Pirri (21) Prospect Pool Rating: Depth: B Bluechip Talent: B Diversity: B Overall: B Organizational Strengths: The Blackhawks are blessed with some of the best players in the NHL at the front of their team. The forward corps consist of such luminaries such as Toews, Kane, Hossa, Patrick Sharp and Dave Bolland. Not to be outdone, the backend also has some top talent with Keith, Seabrook, Nick Leddy, Niklas Hjalmarsson, and Johnny Oduya. With a core that's as good as any, the Hawks are a highly skilled and speedy team that scores a lot of goals on the transition. Organizational Weaknesses: Depth throughout the pro system is thin. The offense is extremely top-heavy; after the aforementioned Kane, Toews, Hossa, Sharp and Viktor Stalberg, the rest of the forwards have been marginal in terms of production. On the backend, Duncan Keith has been merely ordinary since his glory year in 2010, while names like Leddy and Hjalmarsson have been on and off in their own ends (a fact only compounded by a goalie who is merely "good"). The team lacks a capable number 2 center up front. Prospect Strengths: The Hawks have a potent group of forward prospects. Some, like Morin and Pirri, are already top contributors at the AHL level and look to be NHL-ready, if not now then sometime soon. At the wings, names like Teravainen, Philip Danault, Jimmy and Kevin Hayes and Ben Smith all look like potential NHL players. Overall, it's a very well-balanced and deep development system that should churn out some assets for the Hawks. Prospect Weaknesses: While they have a good number of goalie prospects, none of them can be considered high-end (unless one comes out of nowhere and surprises). Similarly, while they have a good group of defenders (Dylan Olsen, Adam Clendening, Dillon Fournier, Stephen Johns), none of them look to be top quality prospects. In general, beyond a small group of forwards, none of the Blackhawks' prospects can be considered high-end players or bluechip talents. Outlook: The Hawks are coming off a second straight 1st-round ousting in the playoffs. Just two years removed from a Stanley Cup victory, the team has had to weather just about everything from management miscommunication to injuries to inconsistency over the last two years. To be fair, the Blackhawks had to gut their championship-winning support almost immediately after that win; while their star-studded core remains the same, the oh-so-important role players (guys like Ladd and Versteeg) were shipped off, leaving the team with a group of 6-7 really good players and a whole bunch of less-effective-than-thou players. The Blackhawks have found a silver lining in those trades though, as it allowed them to rebuild their prospect pool. The Hawks, a prime example of a team that built itself through strong drafts and young players, have seemingly found a new group of young guns. While it's unlikely there's another Kane or Toews among the group, the prospects should eventually be able to provide the secondary contributions that the Hawks have lacked. Combine that with the aforementioned Kane and Toews, as well as names like Hossa, Keith, and Seabrook, and the Hawks have all the pieces required to remain contenders for a long time. Unless their team defense implodes on itself (unlikely in its own right considering Seabrook, Keith, Toews and Hossa remain on the team) the Blackhawks can be counted as a postseason team again next season and for what they hope will be a long time.

Part 25 in my "State of the Franchise" series. Feel free to leave comments; I'm always willing to take feedback and I readily accept that I'm not the next Charles Dickens, so any constructive criticism would be great. Current Rankings List: 6. Montréal 7. NY Rangers 8. Anaheim 9. Pittsburgh 10. Buffalo 11. Ottawa 12. Minnesota 13. Colorado 14. Phoenix 15. Detroit 16. Toronto 17. Boston 18. Washington 19. Winnipeg 20. Tampa Bay 21. Carolina 22. Los Angeles 23. Philadelphia 24. Nashville 25. New Jersey 26. Dallas 27. Calgary 28. Vancouver 29. Columbus 30. San Jose ------------------ #6: Montréal Canadiens Top Fws: Max Pacioretty, Tomas Plekanec, Brian Gionta Top Ds: Andrei Markov*, P.K. Subban Top G: Carey Price Top 3 Under-23s: 1. F Max Pacioretty (23) 2. D P.K. Subban (23) 3. F Lars Eller (23) Top 5 Prospects 1. F Alex Galchenyuk (18) 2. D Nathan Beaulieu (19) 3. D Jarred Tinordi (20) 4. F Danny Kristo (22) 5. F Sebastian Collberg (18) Prospect Pool Rating: Depth: B Bluechip Talent: B Diversity: B Overall: B Organizational Strengths: The Canadiens have, on paper, a deep and talented group of defensemen. While none of them can be considered "true" top-pairing defenders (except for oft-injured Andrei Markov) the depth goes 8-deep and they have a good mix of both offensive and defensive punch. The team's scoring wingers have good size (except for Gionta) and the team looks like it has two solid scoring lines. Carey Price will be the number 1 in net for a long time, and the team's core players are all 25 and under. Organizational Weaknesses: Size up the middle is lacking; the team's top 2 centers (Plekanec and David Desharnais) are both under 6 feet tall. The team is weak in terms of depth players up front, although this isn't as big an issue with the signings of Brandon Prust and Colby Armstrong. The team has struggled with injuries and inconsistency from their top players over the last few years; a healthy Markov and bounceback years from guys like Tomas Kaberle would go a long way in making this team a playoff contender. Prospect Strengths: The Habs have quietly built an impressive group of young players. They have some depth at every skating position, and their best prospects have varied skillsets. Beaulieu headlines a solid defensive group that includes massive bruiser Tinordi and hard-hitting sparkplug Dalton Thrower. Up front, Alex Galchenyuk is the new big man on campus, and he may get to line up with a deep and talented group of wingers in Kristo, Colberg, Brendan Gallagher, Aaron Palushaj, Tim Bozon, and Charles Hudon. Prospect Weaknesses: The team's goaltending pipeline is utterly barren, although with Carey Price being only 24, that need is negated somewhat. While they have good depth throughout the forward ranks, the only top notch talent up front is Galchenyuk; the rest of the players all project to being second and third line players at best. Up the middle, beyond the aforementioned Galchenyuk, the team is weak in terms of potential scoring centers. Outlook: Coming off a successful 2010-11 season, the Canadiens entered the regular season looking to improve upon their 6th place standing in the East. What they got instead was an absolute disaster of a season. The Habs wound up 15th in the East, well short of a playoff berth, and would end up receiving their highest first round pick in years. A team that has perennially faced inner pressure from the Francophone community saw some bad luck with injuries and inconsistency and really never was able to get back on its horse. The Habs have thus refurnished their front office and bench, bringing in a new coach and a new GM, and the two will have some pieces to work with. The team has been able to find some elite talents despite regularly drafting in mediocre positions, and finds itself with a burgeoning group of young players at the NHL level such as Louis Leblanc. The system itself is well-stocked with young potential as well; Montreal has done very well for itself through the draft, leaving the team with soem hope that they can turn around an ailing franchise quickly, if not immediately. While it's unlikely that the Habs will implode on itself the way last year's team did, it'll take an uphill battle for the team to climb into postseason contention. They'll be looking to improve their team over the next few years, however, as they gradually phase in their young talent.

Part 24 in my "State of the Franchise" series. Feel free to leave comments; I'm always willing to take feedback and I readily accept that I'm not the next Charles Dickens, so any constructive criticism would be great. Current Rankings List: 7. NY Rangers 8. Anaheim 9. Pittsburgh 10. Buffalo 11. Ottawa 12. Minnesota 13. Colorado 14. Phoenix 15. Detroit 16. Toronto 17. Boston 18. Washington 19. Winnipeg 20. Tampa Bay 21. Carolina 22. Los Angeles 23. Philadelphia 24. Nashville 25. New Jersey 26. Dallas 27. Calgary 28. Vancouver 29. Columbus 30. San Jose ------------------ #7: New York Rangers Top Fws: Marian Gaborik*, Brad Richards, Rick Nash Top Ds: Marc Staal, Ryan McDonagh Top G: Henrik Lundqvist Top 3 Under-23s: 1. D Ryan McDonagh (23) 2. D Michael Del Zotto (22) 3. F Derek Stepan (22) Top 5 Prospects 1. F Chris Kreider (21) 2. F J.T. Miller (19) 3. D Dylan McIlrath (20) 4. F Michael St. Croix (19) 5. D Brady Skjei (18) Prospect Pool Rating: Depth: C Bluechip Talent: C Diversity: B Overall: C Organizational Strengths: The biggest organizational strength lies in net, plain and simple. Henrik Lundqvist is going to win them 35+ games a year guaranteed (more than a few of them by himself). With the recent acquisition of Rick Nash, the team has created a potentially lethal Big 3 up front in power forward Nash, skilled sniper Gaborik and reliable playmaker Brad Richards (imagine that line put together?). The team has a strong top 6 forward unit, as well as a young and stable top 4 on defense. Organizational Weaknesses: The depth at both forward and defense drops off after the top 3 lines and top 2 defense pairings. The defense in particular is filled with young, relatively inexperienced players (with the oldest man being Dan Girardi at 28) and while names like McDonagh and Staal can hold their own defensively, guys like Michael Sauer, Anton Stralman and Michael Del Zotto are still works in progress in the defensive zone. Prospect Strengths: The Rangers have a varied group of prospects. Though lacking in true bluechippers, the team has some interesting pieces in place at every position excluding goal. Dylan McIlrath is a big crease clearing defender, Christian Thomas, Ryan Bourque and Mats Zuccarello-Aasen are three small-but-skilled forwards, Brady Skjei is a smooth-skating two-way blueliner, and Andrew Yogan is a big powerful forward with goalscoring abilities. Prospect Weaknesses: The team utterly lacks any goaltending skill and depth. With the recent trade of Tim Erixon, the team's defensive depth and skill has taken a big hit. Most of the team's best prospects are already making waves at the NHL level (Stepan, Hagelin, Del Zotto etc.), leaving the prospect pool relatively short on high-end talent. Most of the remaining prospects have question marks all over them, whether it be related to size, speed or overall upside. Outlook: The New York Rangers, who made a big splash last summer in signing FA Brad Richards to a big money deal, came into the season looking to secure a playoff berth. They got what they wanted and more: after a stellar season by Henrik Lundqvist, a bounceback year from Marian Gaborik and Michael Del Zotto, and steps forward by young players such as Ryan McDonagh and Ryan Callahan, the team wound up in 1st place in the Eastern Conference, ahead of the constellation of star studded rosters such as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and went all the way to the Conference finals before bowing out of the postseason. All in all, it was a highly successful, if a little surprising, season for the Rangers considering the makeup of their roster. With a group of extremely young talent, the Rangers were able to beat out every other team in the East in the regular season, no small feat given that their number 1 defenseman for the season was Ryan McDonagh out of necessity. The Rangers have assembled a highly potent group of young core players through some good drafting and have a few more coming up this year as well. The team, for so long considered a wasteland in terms of young players, has managed to combine homegrown talent and big money free agents into a team that should be major players in the NHL for a long time. Barring a significant case of bad luck, the Rangers should be a competitive team both now and in the future.

Part 23 in my "State of the Franchise" series. Feel free to leave comments; I'm always willing to take feedback and I readily accept that I'm not the next Charles Dickens, so any constructive criticism would be great. Current Rankings List: 8. Anaheim 9. Pittsburgh 10. Buffalo 11. Ottawa 12. Minnesota 13. Colorado 14. Phoenix 15. Detroit 16. Toronto 17. Boston 18. Washington 19. Winnipeg 20. Tampa Bay 21. Carolina 22. Los Angeles 23. Philadelphia 24. Nashville 25. New Jersey 26. Dallas 27. Calgary 28. Vancouver 29. Columbus 30. San Jose ------------------ #8: Anaheim Ducks Top Fws: Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Bobby Ryan Top Ds: Francois Beauchemin, Cam Fowler Top G: Jonas Hiller Top 3 Under-23s: 1. D Cam Fowler (20) 2. D Luca Sbisa (22) 3. F Devante Smith-Pelly (20) Top 5 Prospects 1. F Kyle Palmieri (21) 2. F Emerson Etem (20) 3. F Peter Holland (21) 4. D Sami Vatanen (21) 5. G John Gibson (19) Prospect Pool Rating: Depth: B Bluechip Talent: B Diversity: A Overall: B Organizational Strengths: The Anaheim Ducks have key core pieces at every position. Getzlaf is a top-line center, Perry and Ryan are top-line wingmen (although Ryan has generated plenty of trade rumours). Hiller is a number 1 goalie when he isn't facing bouts of vertigo. Fowler and Sbisa are the future of the franchise on the backend. This core is also surrounded with experienced veteran talents, such as ageless Teemu Selanne, Saku Koivu and Francois Beauchemin, and a solid defense in terms of depth. Organizational Weaknesses: The team's forwards remains very top-heavy at the NHL level. The team lacks proven scoring talent on the wings after the big three of Perry, Ryan and Selanne. Koivu and Cogliano are the 2nd/3rd line pivots, but Koivu is aging and Cogliano doesn't bring enough offense to fill the scoring void behind the top line. The depth players up front lack size, aggression and intimidation beyond Devante Smith-Pelly. Prospect Strengths: The Ducks, despite the loss of top prospect Justin Schultz, have built a solid group of prospects, each projected to fill a different role at the NHL level. Overall, the pool has depth at every position behind the big name prospects such as Etem, Holland, Palmieri, Gibson, Vatanen and Hampus Lindholm. The pool is well-rounded with offensive scorers (such as Max Friberg), defensive specialists (such as Andy Welinski), and two-way players (such as Rickard Rakell). Prospect Weaknesses: You'd have to nitpick pretty hard to find any weaknesses in Anaheim's development system. They lack a bluechip talent on the left wing, although they have some intriguing pieces there in Friberg and newcomer Nicolas Kerdiles. The defense is a little thin, given the departure of one of the best prospects in all of hockey. In net, beyond Igor Bobkov and Gibson, the team could use a few more pro-caliber prospects. Outlook: The Ducks had arguably the worst puck luck in the league last season. On paper, they were a team with some real high-end scorers, puckmoving defensemen, and an All-Star goalie. But when you're an offensive team and your best players fail to score, you get the 2011-12 Anaheim Ducks. The entire group took a step back and while the team got a little better as the year went on, the team only finished 25th in the NHL, a disappointment for a team that had playoff aspirations to start the season. There is reason for optimism in Disneyland however. The Ducks, despite regularly drafting in the mid-teens (or even later) have built an impressive prospect pool. While none of the players have "Nail Yakupov" projections or hype, it's a deep group that should churn out more than just a few NHLers, and for a team that already suffers from depth issues (and the loss of some key veterans such as Scott Niedermayer) the youth movement can only be considered a blessing. GM Bob Murray has built his team with the belief that they can contend in the near future if not right now. They'll likely be among the bubble teams in the West next season. After that, it's anyone's guess.

Part 22 in my "State of the Franchise" series. Getting into the single digits! Sorry I've been taking so long, the other ones were prewritten on Word Docs before I posted them which meant all I had to do was post em. Now I have to find time to write up the remaining ones, as well as edit previous blog psots to fit the offseason changes (i.e. Rick Nash). Feel free to leave comments; I'm always willing to take feedback and I readily accept that I'm not the next Charles Dickens, so any constructive criticism would be great. Current Rankings List: 9. Pittsburgh 10. Buffalo 11. Ottawa 12. Minnesota 13. Colorado 14. Phoenix 15. Detroit 16. Toronto 17. Boston 18. Washington 19. Winnipeg 20. Tampa Bay 21. Carolina 22. Los Angeles 23. Philadelphia 24. Nashville 25. New Jersey 26. Dallas 27. Calgary 28. Vancouver 29. Columbus 30. San Jose ------------------ #9: |Pittsburgh Penguins Top Fws: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, James Neal Top Ds: Kris Letang, Brooks Orpik Top G: Marc-Andre Fleury Top 3 Under-23s: 1. F Brandon Sutter (23) Top 5 Prospects 1. D Joe Morrow (19) 2. D Simon Despres (21) 3. F Beau Bennett (20) 4. D Derrick Pouliot (18) 5. D Olli Maatta (18) Prospect Pool Rating: Depth: B Bluechip Talent: B Diversity: C Overall: B Organizational Strengths: The Penguins have two superstar centers occupying their top 6, plain and simple. Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby give the team a chance to win every night. They also have depth behind the two with Brandon Sutter, Dustin Jeffrey and Joe Vitale filling out the rest of the spots. The team has two capable NHL starting goalies in Fleury and Tomas Vokoun, and the backend possess a good blend of aggression and mobility. Organizational Weaknesses: The team, beyond the trio of Crosby, Malkin and James Neal, really lacks in high-caliber offensive players up front. While Malkin has basically marked down his wingers with Neal and Chris Kunitz as his flankers, the ever-present search for a true scoring winger to play with Sidney Crosby continues. The biggest issue is team health; most of their best players have spent significant time in the trainer's room over the past three seasons, including their 3 best players in Crosby, Malkin, and Letang. Prospect Strengths: With the trade of Jordan Staal to Carolina, the team managed to acquire three more high-end defensive prospects, giving them arguably the strongest and deepest defensive pool in the NHL. From two-way defenders such as Brian Dumoulin and Simon Despres to offensive juggernauts such as Joe Morrow and Derrick Pouliot to no-nonsense shutdown blueliners like Scott Harrington, the team looks like it's going to be set for the foreseeable future on the backend. The team also has some depth at each of the forward positions. Prospect Weaknesses: Beyond Beau Bennett and potentially Eric Tangradi, the team lacks potential top 6 wingers and scoring forwards in general. While they have a couple of players at the C position, the players currently occupying that position in their system are depth forwards at best. The team lacks a high-end goalie, and depth in general at the goaltending position. Although the team recently tried to patch up these hoels via the 2012 draft, the selected players are likely a few years away from the pro level. Outlook: The Penguins have been one of the best teams in the league in the regular season for a number of years now. That wasn't any different this past season, as Pittsburgh rode a rejuvenated Evgeni Malkin to a playoff berth against Enemy Number 1 in the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round. Crosby was back, Letang was back, Malkin was on; the Pens had all the ingredients they needed to make waves in the psotseason. Instead, a horrid defensive effort coupled with less-than-stellar goaltending led to the Pens flaming out in the first round for the second straight season. Pittsburgh still has all the key pieces of a championship caliber team. They have depth and high-end skill up the middle. They have a number one goalie capable of stealing games, and a backup who can relive him without a major drop in capabilities. They have a number 1 defender and a big-time puckmoving defenseman, as well as a physical shutdown defender. The team's best players still have plenty of years ahead of them and their prospect pool is full of potential NHLers. The Pens, despite having lost a few key pieces this offseason, will again be looking to clinching a playoff berth in the upcoming season. They should remain competitive for a long time, as long as the core of the team remains intact.

Part 21 in my "State of the Franchise" series. Feel free to leave comments; I'm always willing to take feedback and I readily accept that I'm not the next Charles Dickens, so any constructive criticism would be great. Current Rankings List: 10. Buffalo 11. Ottawa 12. Minnesota 13. Colorado 14. Phoenix 15. Detroit 16. Toronto 17. Boston 18. Washington 19. Winnipeg 20. Tampa Bay 21. Carolina 22. Los Angeles 23. Philadelphia 24. Nashville 25. New Jersey 26. Dallas 27. Calgary 28. Vancouver 29. Columbus 30. San Jose ------------------ #10: Buffalo Sabres Top Fws: Thomas Vanek, Jason Pominville, Drew Stafford Top Ds: Tyler Myers, Christian Ehrhoff Top G: Ryan Miller Top 3 Under-23s: 1. D Tyler Myers (22) 2. F Tyler Ennis (22) 3. F Cody Hodgson (22) Top 5 Prospects 1. F Mikhail Grigorenko (18) 2. F Joel Armia (19) 3. D Mark Pysyk (20) 4. F Zemgus Girgensons (18) 5. F Marcus Foligno (21) Prospect Pool Rating: Depth: C Bluechip Talent: B Diversity: B Overall: B Organizational Strengths: The Sabres have a glut of scoring wingers on their NHL roster. Thomas Vanek has been inconsistent through his tenure in Buffalo, but he's a top line winger, and guys like Pominville, Leino, Stafford, Ennis, and Hodgson have all spent some time on the flanks. Ryan Miller and Johnas Enroth offer stability in between the pipes. The Sabres also have a deep group of NHL defensemen, Tyler Myers chief among them. Organizational Weaknesses: With the trade of longtime stalwart Derek Roy, the Sabres lack a proven high-caliber scoring center up the middle. While the defense is deep, the team lacks a number 1 defenseman (as well as top 4 defenders in general), and while Tyler Myers has shown glimpses of potentially being one, he has not yet put it all together on a consistent basis. The team's two big acquisitions of last summer, Ville Leino and Robyn Regehr, underachieved and they were joined by a lot of last season's Sabres roster in that regard. Prospect Strengths: Buffalo has managed to obtain a few high-caliber prospects in their system. The Sabres, courtesy of a terrible start, managed to nab offensive dynamo Mikhail Grigorenko in the 2012 draft. He's joined by fellow 2012 draftee Zemgus Girgensons in forming a strong 1-2 punch up the middle of the pool. Joel Armia is another bluechipper on the wing, and defender Mark Pysyk has accomplished just about everything possible at the junior levels. Prospect Weaknesses: The team's overall prospect pool is shallow in terms of depth. While they have some of that at the center and defensive positions, the dearth of NHL-caliber talent on the wings and in goal negate any advantage the Sabres might have. The team has been bringing up many of their best prospects to the NHL squad in recent years, and because of that the players remaining are either newly acquired, too young to make an impact at the professional level or have seen their development stall in the minor leagues. Outlook: The Sabres went through a rollercoaster of a 2011-2012 season. With new owner Terry Pegula and some high-profile acquisitions over the summer, the team headed into the season optimistic of a potential playoff berth. That hope was dashed as the team got off to a horrid start. With Ryan Miller underachieving and injured for the majority of the season, it seemed like the Sabres would be among the lottery teams. But a late season surge gave them new life and the Sabres would end up pushing for a playoff spot right up until the last week of the regular season before finishing 9th in the East. The Sabres have been retooling their roster for some time now. With a smaller budget, GM Darcy Regier has had to let go of some key players, such as Daniel Briere and Brian Campbell, and replace them with young, homegrown talent. That has given young players such as Tyler Ennis, Luke Adam, Tyler Myers and Mike Weber a chance at an NHL role, which the majority have run with, giving the Sabres a young, improving team coupled with some veteran talents such as Jason Pomiville and Ryan Miller. Now that Terry Pegula is on board (and more importantly has a year under his belt to get his feet wet), the Sabres will look to contend for a playoff spot again this year.