With the Newish Franchises Arriving, Who have been the biggest failures of the last Decade?

[callitwhatyouwant]

Subject is the question. The teams that have been failing for a decade have been Buffalo, Detroit, Utah, Chicago. Utah and Buffalo are getting their taste. San Jose I think is making what I would call a tolerable recovery, if they don't figure it out this next year tho they fit primely in the Decade failure mix.

Who do you guys think have been the franchises that have completely failed even tho they have had some positives? I would put Toronto and the Oil up there. Toronto because of Toronto stuff. The Oilers are brutal because they are finding a way to have 2 generational talents on the same team fail to win the big one.

What's your guys thoughts?

[DawgDad]

Only seven franchises won a Cup in the past decade, so with 32 teams you could say 78% of the franchises are losers. With 32 teams that's a harsh way of looking at it. Big disappointments have to include Boston, Toronto, Dallas, and the Oilers. For all the success Carolina has had they keep coming up short. Still, I lean to the perennial losers who couldn't climb out of their holes.

[Rollin' on the River]

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Subject is the question. The teams that have been failing for a decade have been Buffalo, Detroit, Utah, Chicago. Utah and Buffalo are getting their taste. San Jose I think is making what I would call a tolerable recovery, if they don't figure it out this next year tho they fit primely in the Decade failure mix.

Who do you guys think have been the franchises that have completely failed even tho they have had some positives? I would put Toronto and the Oil up there. Toronto because of Toronto stuff. The Oilers are brutal because they are finding a way to have 2 generational talents on the same team fail to win the big one.

What's your guys thoughts?

Columbus.

They’ve been a joke their entire existence. They fumbled a generational talent in Rick Nash by continually not putting enough talent around him to be successful. They’ve also had a couple really talented guys come through there, and an above average but not quite franchise defining goalie in Steve Mason. They have just never put it all together.

[bluetunehead]

Only seven franchises won a Cup in the past decade, so with 32 teams you could say 78% of the franchises are losers. With 32 teams that's a harsh way of looking at it. Big disappointments have to include Boston, Toronto, Dallas, and the Oilers. For all the success Carolina has had they keep coming up short. Still, I lean to the perennial losers who couldn't climb out of their holes.

I don't know if it's fair to include Boston IMO. They made a Cup final against us and they won a President's Trophy. Also a lot of their biggest names were still hanging on from the 2011 Cup winning team until quite recently. I see the Bruins more as a team that was riding the long wave of their success until they absolutely couldn't do it anymore. They've done an adequate job of remaining competitive when by all rights they should have completely bottomed out the way San Jose had to once Thornton, Marleau, and Co. were done.

If you're looking at the last decade and the opportunities presented, I think Toronto and Buffalo are at the top of the list. Great draft picks, elite talent thrown at them, nothing at all to show for it. Edmonton hasn't gotten over the hump, but they've at least gotten as close as you can get.

[callitwhatyouwant]

Only seven franchises won a Cup in the past decade, so with 32 teams you could say 78% of the franchises are losers. With 32 teams that's a harsh way of looking at it. Big disappointments have to include Boston, Toronto, Dallas, and the Oilers. For all the success Carolina has had they keep coming up short. Still, I lean to the perennial losers who couldn't climb out of their holes.

I'm not defining it by winning the cup tho. I think some markets shouldn't be expecting that every year, and some markets haven't had the swings of the highs and lows. I'll use your Dallas example, very good team that has gone up and down but have never been just flat terrible for multiple years. Do they have MT Rushmore style talent like the Oilers do? Nah, so I don't count it as a bust.

Boston is intriguing as they have been floundering similar to the Blues since the 2019 cup. Both have had tastes of success but in Bostons case it wound up choking and in the Blues case they got run out by Kadri. Each only have 1 more visit to the playoffs since. Failure? I don't think so if you count the decade. At least not yet.

Blue Jackets was a good example. Should we add the Perds to that mix. it looked like they had something going, Had the Goalie.

[BalotelliMassive]

Detroit has to be on that list especially with how they flamed out so harshly this past season - expectations are high and the team hasn’t turned the corner yet.

[STL fan in MN]

Detroit - they have some good pieces but I don’t think enough of them or enough elite talent to truly put them over the top. I think they’ll be a solid playoff team here shortly but I’ll be very surprised if they can assemble what will turn up out to be the best team some given April/May/June over the foreseeable future.

Toronto - the big mistake IMO was going after Tavares and putting all that money in 4 very talented forwards and then trying to compete with a mix of #3-5 d-men and average goaltending. You need balance, people! Now it’s fallen apart and I don’t see a good path back for them at all. Or if they really wanted Tavares, they should’ve recognized immediately that one of Marner/Nylander should’ve been traded for a stud d-man of approx equal value.

Edmonton - same sort of deal. All their resources went to offense. They have one elite d-man…and he’s elite offensively. They saw the problem years ago as they traded Hall for Larsson but again, you usually need a truly stud d-man and Larsson just wasn’t it. They neglected prioritizing goaltending even more IMO. Has been obvious for many years and now they’ve basically squandered McDavid and Drai’s prime years. Still though, if 2 years ago, they just do basically nothing and just leave enough cap room to re-sign RFAs Broberg, Holloway and McLeod, I bet they would’ve won the Cup last season. Instead, they spent the money on really obviously bad uFAs, lost their cheap, young depth, fell short once again and now they’re even more top-heavy than before and on the way down IMO. Window basically closing.

San Jose - they had Thornton, Couture, Karlsson, Burns, Meier…even Vlassic was a defensive stud for a while before he fell off a cliff. But their main goalie through that whole era was what, Martin Jones??! There’s your fatal flaw right there. That and a few of the studs above proved to be more regular season studs than playoff warriors.

Columbus and Arizona (although looking better now since moving to Utah) have been spinning their wheels forever. Columbus has some good young pieces but similar to Detroit, I just don’t see them rising to the level needed to ultimately win the Cup. My guess is Utah falls short too but they’re closer.

[DawgDad]

Come on, guys. Boston went 65-12-5 for 135 points then lost in the first round of the playoffs after holding a 3 games to 1 lead. Epic fold, epic. They also got Mt. Rushmore Monty fired.

[dhsux]

Detroit - they have some good pieces but I don’t think enough of them or enough elite talent to truly put them over the top. I think they’ll be a solid playoff team here shortly but I’ll be very surprised if they can assemble what will turn up out to be the best team some given April/May/June over the foreseeable future.

Toronto - the big mistake IMO was going after Tavares and putting all that money in 4 very talented forwards and then trying to compete with a mix of #3-5 d-men and average goaltending. You need balance, people! Now it’s fallen apart and I don’t see a good path back for them at all. Or if they really wanted Tavares, they should’ve recognized immediately that one of Marner/Nylander should’ve been traded for a stud d-man of approx equal value.

Edmonton - same sort of deal. All their resources went to offense. They have one elite d-man…and he’s elite offensively. They saw the problem years ago as they traded Hall for Larsson but again, you usually need a truly stud d-man and Larsson just wasn’t it. They neglected prioritizing goaltending even more IMO. Has been obvious for many years and now they’ve basically squandered McDavid and Drai’s prime years. Still though, if 2 years ago, they just do basically nothing and just leave enough cap room to re-sign RFAs Broberg, Holloway and McLeod, I bet they would’ve won the Cup last season. Instead, they spent the money on really obviously bad uFAs, lost their cheap, young depth, fell short once again and now they’re even more top-heavy than before and on the way down IMO. Window basically closing.

San Jose - they had Thornton, Couture, Karlsson, Burns, Meier…even Vlassic was a defensive stud for a while before he fell off a cliff. But their main goalie through that whole era was what, Martin Jones??! There’s your fatal flaw right there. That and a few of the studs above proved to be more regular season studs than playoff warriors.

Columbus and Arizona (although looking better now since moving to Utah) have been spinning their wheels forever. Columbus has some good young pieces but similar to Detroit, I just don’t see them rising to the level needed to ultimately win the Cup. My guess is Utah falls short too but they’re closer.

Well done sir.

But I am very curious just what the OP's, yours and all of our own definition of "failure/failing" is. For instance I noticed you kept Chicago off your list. Rollin brought up Columbus, for good reason.

I'm thinking this is going to end up like trying to define pornography.

[Old_Goat]

Great posts above in this thread. But let's give a shout-out to the Rangers too! How nice it must be to never have to worry about $ being in the way of getting the job done. The question was plural, so there's my addition to the pile.

[callitwhatyouwant]

Detroit - they have some good pieces but I don’t think enough of them or enough elite talent to truly put them over the top. I think they’ll be a solid playoff team here shortly but I’ll be very surprised if they can assemble what will turn up out to be the best team some given April/May/June over the foreseeable future.

Toronto - the big mistake IMO was going after Tavares and putting all that money in 4 very talented forwards and then trying to compete with a mix of #3-5 d-men and average goaltending. You need balance, people! Now it’s fallen apart and I don’t see a good path back for them at all. Or if they really wanted Tavares, they should’ve recognized immediately that one of Marner/Nylander should’ve been traded for a stud d-man of approx equal value.

Edmonton - same sort of deal. All their resources went to offense. They have one elite d-man…and he’s elite offensively. They saw the problem years ago as they traded Hall for Larsson but again, you usually need a truly stud d-man and Larsson just wasn’t it. They neglected prioritizing goaltending even more IMO. Has been obvious for many years and now they’ve basically squandered McDavid and Drai’s prime years. Still though, if 2 years ago, they just do basically nothing and just leave enough cap room to re-sign RFAs Broberg, Holloway and McLeod, I bet they would’ve won the Cup last season. Instead, they spent the money on really obviously bad uFAs, lost their cheap, young depth, fell short once again and now they’re even more top-heavy than before and on the way down IMO. Window basically closing.

San Jose - they had Thornton, Couture, Karlsson, Burns, Meier…even Vlassic was a defensive stud for a while before he fell off a cliff. But their main goalie through that whole era was what, Martin Jones??! There’s your fatal flaw right there. That and a few of the studs above proved to be more regular season studs than playoff warriors.

Columbus and Arizona (although looking better now since moving to Utah) have been spinning their wheels forever. Columbus has some good young pieces but similar to Detroit, I just don’t see them rising to the level needed to ultimately win the Cup. My guess is Utah falls short too but they’re closer.

Well done sir.

But I am very curious just what the OP's, yours and all of our own definition of "failure/failing" is. For instance I noticed you kept Chicago off your list. Rollin brought up Columbus, for good reason.

I'm thinking this is going to end up like trying to define pornography.

To me it's more just in people's opinions who are the common denominators? Chicago is a failure. Mostly due to leadership of the org and failing its fanbase. Toronto is a failure because the team assembled should have been better than it was. Oilers are failures because they represent the 1 org that has had the best player in hockey and can't get it done. Not only do they have the best player, they have what some has considered in any given season the 2nd 3rd or 5th best player depending on year. The Mckinnon saga almost concluded with him wanting out of Colorado over similar shortcomings and then they won the cup. We are now seeing the other side of that with the Oilers.

I don't really have a purpose, more just admiring that some new bloods are playing with Buffalo kind of Montreal, and Ducks. You can almost throw the Mild in there, and definitely throw them in there if they push this series into serious hockey. That's basically 5 new franchises even tho Montreal has had on and off success and the Mild have been playoff teams but never got out of that 1st round.

[BleedingBleu]

I might be crazy, but New Jersey sticks out to me. They’ve won the Draft Lottery more times than they’ve won playoff series. They’ve only been to the playoffs 3x since they lost the Cup in 2012. During that span, they’ve finished no higher than 7th in their Division 9x.

NJ Draft Picks Last 12 Years
2015 - #6. Pavel Zacha
2016 - #12. Mikey McLeod
2017 - #1. Nico Hischer
2018 - #17. Ty Smith
2019 - #1. Jack Hughes
2020 - #7. Alexander Holtz
2021 - #4. Luke Hughes
2022 - #2 Simon Nemec
2023 - #26. dealt - Musty, Quentin
2024 - #10. Silayev
2025 - #18. dealt - Reschny, Cole
2026 - #12. TBD

Not to mention that botched a trade to acquire Quinn Hughes and he may stay in Minnesota rather than join with his brothers

[AtillaTheBlue1]

toronto

[STL fan in MN]

Detroit - they have some good pieces but I don’t think enough of them or enough elite talent to truly put them over the top. I think they’ll be a solid playoff team here shortly but I’ll be very surprised if they can assemble what will turn up out to be the best team some given April/May/June over the foreseeable future.

Toronto - the big mistake IMO was going after Tavares and putting all that money in 4 very talented forwards and then trying to compete with a mix of #3-5 d-men and average goaltending. You need balance, people! Now it’s fallen apart and I don’t see a good path back for them at all. Or if they really wanted Tavares, they should’ve recognized immediately that one of Marner/Nylander should’ve been traded for a stud d-man of approx equal value.

Edmonton - same sort of deal. All their resources went to offense. They have one elite d-man…and he’s elite offensively. They saw the problem years ago as they traded Hall for Larsson but again, you usually need a truly stud d-man and Larsson just wasn’t it. They neglected prioritizing goaltending even more IMO. Has been obvious for many years and now they’ve basically squandered McDavid and Drai’s prime years. Still though, if 2 years ago, they just do basically nothing and just leave enough cap room to re-sign RFAs Broberg, Holloway and McLeod, I bet they would’ve won the Cup last season. Instead, they spent the money on really obviously bad uFAs, lost their cheap, young depth, fell short once again and now they’re even more top-heavy than before and on the way down IMO. Window basically closing.

San Jose - they had Thornton, Couture, Karlsson, Burns, Meier…even Vlassic was a defensive stud for a while before he fell off a cliff. But their main goalie through that whole era was what, Martin Jones??! There’s your fatal flaw right there. That and a few of the studs above proved to be more regular season studs than playoff warriors.

Columbus and Arizona (although looking better now since moving to Utah) have been spinning their wheels forever. Columbus has some good young pieces but similar to Detroit, I just don’t see them rising to the level needed to ultimately win the Cup. My guess is Utah falls short too but they’re closer.

Well done sir.

But I am very curious just what the OP's, yours and all of our own definition of "failure/failing" is. For instance I noticed you kept Chicago off your list. Rollin brought up Columbus, for good reason.

I'm thinking this is going to end up like trying to define pornography.

Absolutely a fair point as “failure” is totally subjective.

I didn’t include Chicago because they’re still building and their new core guys are in the age 18-22 range. We’ll see if their rebuild works but way too soon to call it a failure. Did they “fail” with how they handled the end of their last era as Kane, Toews, Keith etc aged? Perhaps, but pretty much every org would likely crash like that unless they traded those guys while they were still at the end of their peak years.

I would agree with a couple people that posted after me and include the Rangers and Devils too. The Rangers are in absolute purgatory. I thought the Devils were building something good but they also stalled. They still have good pieces though so maybe with the right trade or two or a younger player really popping, they can still make it. But I think they’ll fall short too.