The Vancouver Canucks rebuild is well under way at this point.

People want them to get rid of the Sedins. But the way I see it, the team is still so bad that they finish in the bottom-5 even with the Sedins. So keep ’em around and let them handle the media pressure. Vancouver isn’t exactly the kindest in that regard. Continue reading

Vegas got some okay players, a few good players, and a few fantastic pieces. Shea Theodore, Alex Tuch, and Marc-Andre Fleury represent the fantastic.  Pierre Edouard-Bellemare and Clayton Stoner probably represent the “okay” group. There’s quite the spread.

Nonetheless, Vegas has quality assets they can flip at the deadline for younger talent and draft picks. How agressive will McPhee be? He already has 4 or 5 quality long-term pieces in play. Continue reading

The Colorado Avalanche had one of the worst seasons of the modern era last year, posting 22 wins in 82 games.

Every four games, the Avalanche were confidently expected to lose three, and they even exceeded expectations once in a while – notching losing streaks of nine, six, and five. It was ugly from the start for Colorado, and unfortunately consecutive years of losing top centermen like Ryan O’Reilly and Paul Stastny has made it impossible for them to remain upon the perch they so surprisingly created in 2013. Continue reading

“Defense wins championships.” Isn’t that the old saying?

Other than last year’s Stanley Cup winner (when Letang was injured), the previous 8 Cup winners have all had a franchise defenseman. Keith in Chicago three times, Letang in Pittsburgh twice, Doughty in L.A. twice, and Chara in Boston once.

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The NHL is now 13 seasons into its life as a salary capped entity, and it’s taken some time for the dust to settle. Starting with 16 power plays per game and 12 year contracts, the league has now shifted to a conservative landscape dominated by cheap, inexpensive talent and one where veteran players are now worth professional tryouts instead of 7 year commitments.

Throughout that crazy, maladjusted world, one certainty has emerged. And it’s that the Chicago Blackhawks have not only set a precedent for a perfect salary cap era rebuild, but also that it should be possible to distill it into a repeatable formula.

Will it be a perfect cookie cutter representation? No. But it will certainly allow us to set up a model that up-and-coming franchises can be compared to. And that should be kind of fun. Continue reading