2022 Power Rankings
PostedCOLON Wed Feb 09, 2022 4:28 pm
History
2013 http://bbkl.ca/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=9960
2015 http://bbkl.ca/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=12764 (I wrote halfway down page 2)
2016 http://bbkl.ca/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13850 (Paul's GM rankings)
2017 http://bbkl.ca/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13864
2019 http://bbkl.ca/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=15385
2021 http://bbkl.ca/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=16378
We are on the home stretch of the BBKL regular season and it's time to take a look at how teams are stacking up. Going to do things a little different this year and compare with the last few rankings to show how a team has changed over the last 5 years.
32 - NYI (-3 '21, -18 '19, -19 '17)
29th skaters, 30th goalies
GM Andrew has yet to make his mark on the Isles, in almost a year he has made a couple draft picks and no trades. As an active GM from one of BBKL's spin off leagues that is often used for BBKL recruitment there were high hopes that we had added another high quality competitive GM as he is currently 4th overall in ADHL and has made more trades than anyone this season. Hopefully interest picks up and he makes some moves to make the team feel like his own, I get that it is way easier to inherit a successful franchise, but good GMs can turn teams around and we have seen that multiple times.
Biggest Surprise - Burroughs, Karlsson (pre-injury)
Biggest Disappointment - Zaitsev, Frost
31 - VGK (-6 '21, -16 '19, N/A '17)
28th skaters, 31st goalies
Another team that has seen a steep decline in the rankings over the years. Vegas started with a lot of win-now type players and not much on the farm, but never really became competitive and are now mired in what will likely be a multiple year rebuild. GM Brian is tied for our 2nd newest GM with Andrew and the franchise is in good hands as Brian is definitely a GM who knows his prospects. The biggest issue right not with Vegas is they just don't have enough NHLers resulting in a league worst mark for GP that will penalize his draft pick. With some blue chip prospects already in the system this is a team that will likely begin to climb the rankings in a couple of years especially if Brian can get his hands on more picks.
Biggest Surprise - Entwistle
Biggest Disappointment - Beaudin
30 - CHI (-8 '21, +1 '19, -8 '17 )
31st skaters, 24th goalies
Ranking Mark 22nd last year on the back of having the 22nd best record and 23rd ranked skaters was probably a little generous and he has now come back down to earth after seeing some players exceeding expectations last season. This season is a reminder that there is still a ways to go and improvement isn't always linear. Still some decent pieces on this team and a GM who has shown he has the patience and vision to not cut corners and rush the rebuild. It's nice to see teams at the bottom who are working there way up rather than teams at the bottom because they mismanaged their assets. There has been plenty of parity talk and a lot of it is driven by the "weaker" teams not being pushovers that you can win deals against like certain GMs were in the past.
Biggest Surprise - Ladd
Biggest Disappointment - Byram, Comtois
29 - BOS (-4 '21, -8 '19, -15 '17 )
25th skaters, 32nd goalies
There are a lot of parallels between BOS and NYI, both have seen big drops in the rankings since 2017 and were yearly contenders who did not put much emphasis on youth and as there rosters began to age they had no one coming up through their system and now find themselves with a long road ahead of them. Dan knew taking over this team would be a challenge as it is one of the franchise's with the lowest asset value. He has made some moves to take advantage of his cap situation, but this is still years of good drafting away from competitiveness. Khudobin barely playing this year and putting up bad stats isn't helping and goaltending will be another hole that needs filling.
Biggest Surprise - Tarasenko
Biggest Disappointment - Soderstrom
28 - WPG (-1 '21, -10 '19, -10 '17 )
30th skaters, 26th goalies
Luke's team always seems to fly under the radar with me, I've said this before and still no idea why maybe it's because he's in the West. It seems like WPG has come to terms with the fact he is a rebuilder now and not a bubble playoff team. There are still a few too many players on the wrong side of 30 on this roster and I'm sure he'd love to cash some in for picks. Pavelski is having a monster year and should be moved at the deadline for the best package available. The issue is his older players are all making quite a bit of $ which can make trades difficult. After the last couple drafts the minors is starting to look pretty good and with another 9 picks in the top two rounds over the next two years this is a team that is going to start having a young core to build around.
Biggest Surprise - Pavelski, Kerfoot
Biggest Disappointment - Monahan
27 - CAR(+4 '21, +2 '19, +3 '17 )
32nd skaters, 2nd goalies
BBKL's punching bag for a decade is slowly, but surely climbing out of the basement and is the first team in these rankings to improve on last year. There hasn't been more than two teams behind him in the rankings for a LONG time and Paul actually has some assets in his minors to build on. Last ranked skaters shows this is still a team far from contention, but it's also not filled with older players or multiple guys on bad contracts (after this last year of 9M Subban). It will be interesting to see if Paul takes advantage of his cap space this offseason to add talent, but it's a fine line to walk when spending your cap and trading assets when you're not contending. For BBKL only GMs they don't get the chance to see Paul actually can be a GM of a team with a winning record and maybe, just maybe we will one day live in a world where BBKL CAR isn't near the bottom of the standings.
Biggest Surprise - Marchment, Boyd (you're welcome for both), Rodriguez
Biggest Disappointment - Gallagher, Schultz
26 - NYR (+4 '21, -1 '19, +1 '17 )
30th skaters, 19th goalies
Kyle's Rangers are an interesting team, they still suck and aren't getting enough GP from their skaters, but if you squint hard enough when looking at his roster you can see there might just be the makings of a competitive roster. The knock on Kyle's teams since way back in 2016 was that he had high end talent, but no depth to complement it. Six years later and nothing has changed from that standpoint, what has changed is the quality of his prospects making me believe I was right that last year's rankings were rock bottom and as the prospects begin to turn into NHL players this team can begin to rise. The true test and one that has separated successful rebuilds and teams that have spun their wheels will be making the right deals to accelerate and cash in on prospects and cap space without falling victim to impatience and rushing the rebuild.
Biggest Surprise - Duchene, Boldy, Holtby
Biggest Disappointment - Blackwood, Andersson
25 - DET (-1 '21, -3 '19, -6 '17 )
27th skaters, 24th goalies
Just like NYR and CAR before them DET completes the trio of veteran GMs who have been at the bottom of the rankings for a long time now. DET doesn't possess the high end talent of NYR or have as many blue chip prospects as many of the teams below him, but he has enough decent contributors to keep him ahead of the bottom teams. Most GMs already know this, but Scott is the lifeblood of BBKL, the work he puts in behind the scenes is more than just GoogleDocs and without him this league would lack a lot of organization and structure. This paired with the fact the he is genuinely a nice guy who doesn't get involved in drama makes him extremely easy to root for. Unfortunately the Wings are still a team without a lot of promise, the extra 1st this year and extra 2nd next year hopefully will pan out as this team desperately needs an injection of talent. I do think the years of pushing for an 8th seed playoff birth are over and the realization that he needs to hold onto prospects and picks has been made. This team is in the running for worst prospect pool in BBKL which is a tough position to be in when you have the 27th ranked skaters.
Biggest Surprise - Okposo
Biggest Disappointment - Archibald, JVR
24 - MTL (+4 '21, +4 '19, -15 '17 )
24th skaters, 20th goalies
After being ranked 28th in the last couple rankings, we might be seeing Chuck starting to turn the corner. This team was a regular playoff team for years and after a few years out there is starting to be some light at the end of the tunnel. The advantage MTL has over the teams below him is depth. Chuck has NHL players in his minors and although the prospects might not have many game breakers it is clear that there are a lot of players that project to be NHLers. With the depth MTL has it will allow him to start utilizing the trade market to add value and Chuck is definitely not a GM who shies away from trades. With the East being the weaker conference it wouldn't surprise me if MTL was a bubble playoff team in the next year or two.
Biggest Surprise - Nichushkin, Gostisbehere
Biggest Disappointment - Farabee
23 - CBJ (- '21, +2 '19, +2 '17 )
22nd skaters, 26th goalies
As you can see by the rankings this is a team that has been spinning it's wheels for years. Never really bottoming out and getting superstar talent, but not really improving either. I do think this is a team that should be beginning to rise and they are in the best spot they have been since Dave took over. A solid group of young players (Krebs, Hagel, Konecny, O'Connor, Boqvist, Jokiharju, and Lundkvist) and a minors featuring Kent Johnson, Zary, Poulin and Ceulemans gives CBJ a solid foundation to build on. I still think Kopitar should have been traded years ago, but this is a team that has patiently built through the draft and a lot of the picks are beginning to pay dividends. Dave has never been known to be a big trader, but also has some pieces that could be dangled to contenders for good returns. Laughton at 3M, Joseph at 738K and DeAngelo at 1M would all be players who could really improve a team that doesn't have much cap space. I'm still kicking myself for not being more aggressive trying to pry DeAngelo from Dave last season when he wasn't playing.
Biggest Surprise - DeAngelo, Joseph
Biggest Disappointment - Hoffman, Binnington
22 - SJS (-3 '21, -2 '19, -1 '17 )
23rd skaters, 30th goalies
Similar to Columbus we have another team that has been spinning it's wheels over the last 6 years. Never thought of as a contender, but also not in the conversation of bottom feeders, this is a team that has been remarkably mediocre. Josh is a very good GM and knows how to make moves to build a winner. He also has a family and is heavily invested in running ADHL and NHLDL which means it's tough to make the Sharks a priority when they are a very middling team. No one can accuse Josh of not caring about fantasy hockey so I wouldn't count this team out, but with how strong the West it will be tough to improve his standings and Josh really needs a few prospects to come out of nowhere and be impact players. The depth of prospects is there to go along with some top end talent, but a path to contention is difficult to see in the West.
Biggest Surprise - Bertuzzi, Barbashev
Biggest Disappointment - Zadina, Price, Chychrun
21 - FLA (-1 '21, -4 '19, -13 '17 )
19th skaters, 13th goalies
Last year I said "21-17 are all pretty close in the rankings and are pretty interchangeable so they could be a few spots higher." It's more of the same this year, but I'd say more like 21-15 this year. Florida is the unlucky team to land at number 21, but they are above .500 and in the playoff mix. A few injuries would be devastating though as there isn't much depth. Parity continues to be growing in BBKL and there are really only 11 teams I would say are not playoff caliber and a handful of those 11 have very strong prospects and are primed to improve. This point in the rankings are where teams start to really have strengths in certain areas and Chris' Panthers are 9th in assists meaning they can win some offensive cats on any given week. The decline in rankings over the years shows this team might not be as competitive as they were in the past and the years of competing have left a pretty barren farm system. Luckily for Chris the average age of his roster isn't that high so he can probably squeeze a couple more years of playoff contention in a weak East before needing to really tear it down and start over.
Biggest Surprise - Bunting, Bobrovsky
Biggest Disappointment - Driedger, Leddy
20 - SEA
20th skaters, 11th goalies
David was the lucky GM who got to build the Kraken from scratch. It seems like he did a much better job than Ron Francis, but that was a very low bar since just making a couple deals and not taking nobodies from teams wasn't very difficult. In retrospect there are always regrettable decisions and a couple years later I'm sure some decisions will look good and some bad where we will wonder how a certain player went unclaimed. The biggest challenge for expansion teams is always depth, NHL clubs can always just call up someone from the minors, but a BBKL club doesn't have that luxury so having extra bodies is important. This is one area I give credit to David as his 716GP is 11th only 50GP back of 1st place ANA and over 100GP more than the bottom 4 teams. It will be interesting to see if SEA can avoid the drop off that Vegas went through, not having much of a prospect system puts him behind the 8 ball, but his team is pretty young and 20 picks in this years draft will hopefully add some depth guys in a few years time.
Biggest Surprise - Kuznetsov, Carrier
Biggest Disappointment - Lee, Barrie
19 - ARZ (-2 '21, +11 '19, +10 '17)
18th skaters, 22nd goalies
Arizona is a team I was high on going into the season and they didn't really take the next step forward this year. Considering this team was 2nd last in the 2017 and 2019 rankings things are still looking up and I still believe this is a team on the rise when you factor in the youth they have with the strong and experienced GM that Duncan has shown to be in other leagues. One of the main reasons for the small set back this year is goaltending. Last year Grubauer was elite and this year he is whatever the opposite of elite is, which I believe is shit. HIs 3.09 and .887 might have been OK in the 80s, but it is costing Duncan and the Kraken wins. Unexpectedly its the Sharks goaltending from Reimer keeping his stats afloat, which would have sounded crazy heading into this season. Just over a year ago as a parting gift Duncan managed to steal Tony's 1st so having 2 1sts in this years lottery will potentially add to a team that already has young stars Norris, Dach, Kaprizov, Necas and Tkachuk and an emerging Holtz. Eventually this team will need to trade for D to address their obvious weakness.
Biggest Surprise - Duclair, Reimer
Biggest Disappointment - Dach, Grubauer
18 - TBL (-3 '21, -12 '19, -8 '17 )
21st skaters, 4th goalies
Jimmy's Bolts continue their downward slide and now find themselves with the 21st ranked skaters. This is a team that is still in the thick of the playoff race. The once highly regarded Atlantic division is now arguably the softest division and two of OTT/TBL/FLA will find themselves in the playoffs and likely face a quick out at the hands of BUF/TOR. These three teams are all tightly bunched and it could come down to the last week. The story of Jimmy's season so far has been the play of Freddy Andersen who Leafs fans weren't upset to see go and now has 25 Ws in 32 starts and a sparkling 2.04 GAA that is giving TBL the boost they need to hang around the playoff race. Bourque, Drury, Hirvonen, Sourdif, Coronato are a decent collection of prospects to go along with a few more boom/bust types so there is a chance this team could get some help down the road. It also might be time to come to the realization that moving older guys like Kane, Giroux, Granlund, Palmieri, Oshie and Goodrow might make sense to capitalize on their value before it declines and fully embrace a rebuild.
Biggest Surprise - Andersen, Tuch
Biggest Disappointment - Appleton, Palmieri
17 - OTT (+1 '21, +7 '19, -2 '17 )
16th skaters, 12th goalies
Billy is a hard GM to evaluate, a lot of GMs would probably underrate him because he isn't a contender and he doesn't have picks or prospects to improve with. A lot of what I said in his write up last year still holds true about winning is more fun then losing and Billy deserves respect for constantly trying to improve and you can see in the rankings he has improved over the years and I believe he will make the playoffs this year over one of TBL/FLA if he stays healthy. This remark from last year sticks out to me, " Chances are this team will start to slide back eventually, but somehow he has continued to improve so I won't count him out if he continues to capitalize on winning trades that the majority of the league won't do because a player is "old". Turning high picks into good players instead of hoping those picks become good players doesn't have to be a bad strategy." We saw another one of these trades this offseason when he traded for Kadri from me. At 4.5M Kadri is one of the best bang for your buck players in the league right now and I'd love to have him, but with him being a pending UFA and my cap situation being tight it made sense to turn him into a 1st that unfortunately isn't projecting to be as high as I wanted. Kadri is a star BBKLer and a '23 1st could be nothing, but still GMs near unanimously derided that as a bad trade. I'm not going to sing Billy's praises since he still likely isn't going to reach true contender status, but I have maintained that this league has swung way too far to the side of overvaluing futures over NHLers especially 30+ and teams that exploit that market inefficiency can win.
Biggest Surprise - Kadri, Johnsson
Biggest Disappointment - Anderson, Giordano
16 - STL (-5 '21, +11 '19, -5 '17 )
T-14th skaters, 25th goalies
I think the Blues are the hardest team to project on a yearly basis, most teams are fairly consistent over the last six years or you can see a trend up or down. Nick's Blues have gone from 11th to 27th to 11th to 16th seeing jumps up and down over the years, this year has been a bit of a down year. With the 14th ranked skaters I'm confident they would easily be a playoff team in the East, but it's looking near impossible to make the playoffs this year for Nick. Stamkos, Cozens, Stone, Tkachuk, Nurse is a pretty elite core to build around, but there isn't much prospect help coming and this team might need a retool rather than a full on rebuild if they want to try and squeeze in more years of trying to win. Only getting 22 goalie starts is also really not helping, but this is a team that has enough talent that it's possible next year could see another jump up the rankings to continue the up and down trend.
Biggest Surprise - Bratt
Biggest Disappointment - Kubalik
15 - LAK (-12 '21, -14 '19, -10 '17)
17th skaters, 10th goalies
This is uncharted waters for Steve's Kings. This is a GM who has proven to be elite and the rankings have always had him near the top. As one of only three GMs with multiple championships in BBKL's history this is a low point for the Kings as they have been a staple at the top of the standings. I said in last year's rankings that cracks were beginning to show, but considering they were still ranked 3rd, this fall from grace has been more rapid than expected. Not having Eichel and to a lesser extent Walker all season gives this team an excuse that this season could just be a blip and next year will be business as usual, but with the improvement of so many Western teams it will be a battle to continue to reign atop the Pacific as he has for so many seasons. It will be interesting to see what direction is taken this offseason as Steve is a trader who is not shy to make big moves, will he retool or will he actually try and tear things down?
Biggest Surprise - his record
Biggest Disappointment - Beauvillier, Lafreniere
14 - NJD (- '21, +5 '19, +14 '17)
13th skaters, 9th goalies
After jumping up the rankings since being ranked 28th in 2017 we have Brendon's Devils once again checking in at number 14. I don't think not continuing to rise needs to be framed as a negative, this is still a team with lots of young improving players. 14th is also the first team in the tier of 14-10th that are teams with a firm hold on a playoff spot and grouped together tightly in the rankings. I don't think there is a huge difference in quality between this team and the 10th ranked. I do believe Brendon might like a mulligan on his Seattle protection list, http://bbkl.ca/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1648 ... as#p320704 this thread gives some insight on his reasoning, but it looks like he galaxy brained himself into believing a 21 year old C was a finished product in the NHL. Now he is PKing, playing way more, and has seen big increases in pts, stpts, SOG and FOW. Not trying to pick on him since I'm sure he is not the only one regretting a Seattle decision, but I do feel this was the most egregious. Back to the positives, Kuemper being on the Avs has solidified the goaltending, Robertson looks like the real deal and this team has young star power that should give it staying power in the rankings as they just need to find the right mix of depth to build around its core.
Biggest Surprise - Killorn, Robertson
Biggest Disappointment - Pettersson, Pulock
13 - PIT (+3 '21, - '19, +10 '17)
T-14th skaters, 2nd goalies
For the 2nd year in a row, Mike's Pens have a record that should have them higher in these rankings. The 9th place Pens find themselves ranked 13th, but just like the Devils this team could be ranked anywhere from 10-14. The biggest difference year over year for the Pens has been the resurgence of Jarry changing Mike's goaltending from one of the worst last year to the 2nd best so far this season. Although this team is close in the rankings and standings to their division rival Devils their team makeups are very different. PIT is not a team with young star players on the rise, they are a team built with a win now mentality, this team isn't going to improve through picks and prospects so it needs a deep playoff run to be able to justify the win now mentality. To be honest the Pens aren't the prettiest team on paper, but Mike has proven to be a good GM as he just continues to win and find the right mix of players to be competitive. The biggest challenge to the Pen's success is they are below average offensively which leaves little room for error. This team has shown it can win weeks with periphs and goaltending and that can be a recipe for playoff upsets.
Biggest Surprise - Forsberg, Jarry
Biggest Disappointment - Patrick, Radulov, Zucker
12 - CGY (- '21, - '19, -5 '17)
12th skaters, 11th goalies
This team seems destined to be 12th, 12th ranked skaters, 11th ranked goalies and 13th in the standings averages out to 12 and they have been 12th in the last two rankings. Back in 2017 Josh's Flames peaked with a 7th overall ranking and since then they have continued to be a dangerous team and a constant in the playoff picture but on the outside of the elite group of teams that you might bet on to win a championship. Depth and periphs have always been a calling card in CGY and that continues to be the case. This year more than ever that depth has been tested with 0GP for White, Edmundson and Weber. Josh has managed his franchise very well and the Flames have been a model of consistency and the core is young enough that they should continue to be a fixture in the West for years to come. It will probably require some trades or a prospect to burst on the scene out of nowhere to vault this team into the next tier of contenders, but they have the assets to make that a possibility.
Biggest Surprise - Meier, Doughty, Peeke
Biggest Disappointment - Ritchie
11 - MIN (+2 21, -7 '19, -7 '17)
10th skaters, 18th goalies
The Wild are a team that has been very good my entire tenure here. I faced them in the Finals one season so they have been close to winning it all and after 4th place rankings they dropped to 13 last year. Some of that was due to goaltending and some was due to trading talent over the years to be cap compliant. It is a sign of a good GM when their team becomes to good to afford, but it takes good trades to be able to sustain being at the top. One thing about Hong that can be seen as both a positive and negative is he doesn't make a lot of trades, there are lots of players who have been on his roster a long time and sometimes when he makes a splash with a big trade he gives up quite a bit. Hong is also one of the most successful draft and develop GMs since he has had years of success and it's not from winning a lot of trades. Generally Hong has had a good eye for talent and while the jury is still out on Hayton, Veleno, Durzi and Vilardi there is a next wave of talent including Lapierre, Lucius, Perfetti and Sanderson that should continue to keep MIN competitive along with another 2 1sts and 2nds this draft to continue supplementing a talented roster with young talent.
Biggest Surprise - Thompson, Kylington
Biggest Disappointment - Dunn, Smith
10 - COL (-3 '21, +6 '19, +7 '17)
8th skaters, 27th goalies
2016 - "COL has been getting killed by it's goaltending"
2019 - "is being sewered in the standings by league worst goaltending"
2021 - "13th in the standings, but with the fourth ranked skaters "
You can sense a bit of a theme here when it comes to Casper's tenure as a BBKL GM so it's fitting that he is a Flyers fan as he is trying his best to emulate that franchise's goaltending woes. This year the skaters are still putting up good enough stats to contend, but the leagues 27th ranked goaltending is once again a problem. This team is actually even better than 10th, but the small drop off in the rankings can be attributed to season ending injuries to Couturier and Tanev as well as Vrana not playing a game yet. Those are three impact players and any team would have a tough time overcoming that loss. The other issue with Casper's team that he was called out on last year is his drafting leaves a lot to be desired. Oeettinger, Dahlen and Dobson look like OK 1sts but not optimal and Thompson finally looks good as a 2nd rounder and Bernard-Docker might pan out. The more recent 1sts York, Caufield and Hoglander are NHLers but don't look like they will be top 30 at their position BBKLers. Taking Bracco, Ratcliffe, Bellows in the 1st and Safin, Shaw, Mascherin, Tychonick, Seeley and Johannesson in the 2nd is a lot of misses and those picks are probably the only thing holding this team back from making the jump to contender as we all know Casper wins trades and is generally good at assessing BBKL value. There is still a lot of depth and assets to consolidate in trades and make that jump next year, but waiting for a perfect trade to take advantage of sometimes never materializes. This might come off as harsh, but Casper is also one of my favourite GMs to talk hockey with and one of the only GMs I ask for opinions on players, he has had better results in other league drafts so there is some bad luck involved here too.
Biggest Surprise - Kreider,
Biggest Disappointment - Caufield, Garland, Hoglander
9 - WSH (-7 '21, - '19, -7 '17)
11th skaters, 7th goalies
After being ranked 2nd last year and considered an elite team for years this year has been a bit of a disappointment for Thom's Caps. WSH was picked to finish 1st by Matthew at the start of this season stating he had a deep ass team, I didn't deny it was a possibility to finish 1st, but said "I don't think you are deep though, not much depth at all if there are injuries". This has been the problem with Thom's team, injuries have happened and there hasn't been the depth to cover. Martinez is the only guy who has been out long term with only 11 GP, but each week it seems like someone is dealing with an injury and lots of players have missed 10-15GP. These injuries and lack of depth have resulted in only 695GP which is 22nd with only non-playoff teams below him and nearly 100GP behind the leaders. This has Thom all the way down in 10th place, 3rd in his division. This is not a team you want to see in the playoffs if they are healthy, add 100GP and they would be much higher rated than 11th for skaters and most of the skaters are having good years. The other issue with the Caps is there is nothing of value to trade to address the depth, Jenik and Portillo are OK and other than them I don't think he has a prospect that would have 3rd round value. Thom also built a roster that only has 2 30 year olds a 32 and a 34 so this team isn't going anywhere and can be a contender even without trade pieces to use to add to it.
Biggest Surprise - Bennett, Rust, Mayo, Husso
Biggest Disappointment - Pageau, Dvorak
8 - TOR (+1 '21, -4 '19, -7 '17)
9th skaters, 1st goalies
The Leafs join the Caps as one of 9 BBKL teams that wouldn't surprise me if they win it all. That's pretty good for league parity if there are 9 teams that look like legit championship contenders and another 5 teams behind them are dark horses meaning half the league are good teams. Not much to say about the GM as Welchie seems to be challenging NYI GM Andrew for who can be the least active GM. Andrew has a 4 post edge at 14 to 10 but he has a 5 month head start, I think Welchie might be able to come from behind and make a few posts to take this race. From looking at the 10 posts you can see this GM had a clear vision and stated "Look forward to wheeling and dealing - because as someone already pointed out, I have some studs but not much depth". He has followed that up by making all of 0 moves, maybe some GMs have heard from this wheeler and dealer, but with the trade deadline not far off we will see if Welchie tries to put his stamp on the 3rd place team in the East he inherited.
Biggest Surprise - Markstrom, Siegenthaler
Biggest Disappointment - Brannstrom
7 - PHI (+14 '21, +1 '19, +9 '17)
7th skaters, 6th goalies
Shep is back and after retooling over the last year he is leading PHI to their best ever regular season. In last years rankings the Flyers were having a down year and I said "It would be interesting to see just how much higher this team would be if they were fully healthy, top 10? Looking at the roster they have a lot of underperforming players so a bounce back year next season could be expected." Well I don't know if anyone expected this big of a bounce back. Sitting 3rd place in the standings this team is fairing a little better than their stats indicate, but it is firmly cemented as a contender. Many of the players who had down years last season have rebounded and Mercer and Sillinger are have rookie seasons that project they will be very good BBKLers. In what will very likely be a round two match with Caps I have to give the slight edge to Thom if his team is healthy, but this team is right there with them and deserve to be ranked higher at this point in time. Shep is known to be one of the brighter GMs who has a lot of NHL player knowledge, but in the past this hasn't always translated to success, this return to BBKL as the Flyers GM is beginning to show he is one of the stronger GMs we have.
Biggest Surprise - Hartman, Mercer, Kase, Sillinger, Duhaime, Saros
Biggest Disappointment - Koskinen
6 - VAN (- '21, +5 '19, +6 '17)
6th skaters, 5th goalies
It is really difficult to rank these teams near the top, Fraser's Canucks come in at number 6 despite sitting 2nd overall in the standings with a tiny edge in points over PHI and ANA. Similar to the Flyers this team is outperforming their stats, they are one spot higher than PHI in the standings and for skaters and goalie rankings so they come in one spot higher in the rankings. This year we have seen Fraser be more vocal about his team's chances proclaiming "Vancouver not high enough. This is my year. Team of destiny" in response to Matthews preseason rankings and "7 year build coming to fruition. Matt Bruyns I’m coming for you" during week 8 with his team performing well. So far his team is backing up his bold predictions and holding down the #1 seed in the West. The West playoffs are also downright scary, there is no easy out and even the 8 seed beating the one seed wouldn't be a huge upset. A team built to be a bunch of PKers and Vasilevskiy has played to their strengths and it is impressive they are 2nd in the standings when they are 16th in points. Fraser has shown you can win without a team full of point producers and should serve as inspiration for some rebuilders that there is more than one way to skin a cat.
Biggest Surprise - Terry, Schenn
Biggest Disappointment - Myers
5 - DAL (+4 '21, +2 '19, +21 '17)
4th skaters, 17th goalies
The record holder for largest increase in the rankings goes to Will with a 21 spot jump from 2017. Not many teams have had swings this large over the last 5 years with the next largest being the Isles 19 spot drop. Will was the first GM I was trade advisor for so I like to steal some of his credit, but he is a very good GM and it's a ranking he has earned through years of improving his team through smart trades. This was a team that when he took over was worse than NYI or VGK are today it didn't have enough NHLers to make GP and there weren't a ton of prospects or picks since it was run for years by bad GMs who were taken advantage of in trades. The playoff success hasn't happened yet, but this is unquestionably a top BBKL team. Will need to make a move soon once Hamilton comes off LTIR so not surprising he continues to lead the league in trade blocks. I have had plenty of quick easy trade talks with him, but my style is find mutually beneficial deals and don't low ball so I don't know why he is always shopping players and not trading them, is it lack of good offers or not winning a deal by a large enough margin to pull the trigger? Someone should get a decent player at a decent cost and Will will pad his minors system that although not a strength still has some high end pieces other contenders lack.
Biggest Surprise - Kyrou
Biggest Disappointment - Roslovic, Knight
4 - EDM (- '21, +6 '19, +16 '17)
5th skaters, 14th goalies
Another team that has seen a rapid rise up the rankings in the last 5 years is Arian's Oilers. This team has made trades, but not to the volume Will did and was built more on years of successful drafts producing valuable assets. This is a team that rebuilders can look at as a playbook for success, but it isn't easy and you need the picks to pan out and need to make the right trades to be able to pull off what Arian has done with an EDM franchise that is set up for years of contention. The logical next step for this team will be beginning to sell of picks, prospects and depth to maximize the talent on the roster. For a GM that for years has horded and accumulated assets will they be able to flip the switch and go all in or will Arian take the Mik approach and be satisfied with winning a lot in the regular season and having a sexy minors to brag about how deep they are. Don't get me wrong Arian is no where near Mik's quality of minors, Samoskevich, Brink, Colangelo, Gunler, Kisakov, Knies, Maccelli, Poltapov, Alexeyev, Harris, Heinola, Niemela, and all your picks with an extra 2022 2nd and 2 3rds are the type of ammo a team can use to make a splash before some of that prospect shine wears off guys. Chytil, Strome, Heinen, Jarnkrok, Olofsson, Clifton, Tatar are the type of players a contender should be looking at upgrading, but a team who is as successful as Arian's doesn't need advice and I'm sure he has his own plans.
Biggest Surprise - Milano, Toews
Biggest Disappointment - Chytil, Olofsson
3 - ANA (+5 '21, +20 '19, +21 '17)
1st skaters, 15th goalies
Fresh off a somewhat surprising trip to the BBKL finals we have Matthew's Ducks. This team has followed up that finals birth with an even more impressive season solidifying himself as one of BBKL's elite teams. There is definitely an argument that could be made to have the Ducks ranked 2nd or 1st as they boast the top ranked skaters and are ahead of Mik in the standings. I feel Mik's team is just more dangerous with the plug and play options available to him to cover off any injuries his team is deeper and would be a favourite in a playoff matchup and I ranked myself higher because I said so and don't feel I need to justify it. This team is still one of BBKL's biggest success stories joining Will as the only team to jump 20 spots in the rankings and more impressively doing it since 2019, it will be interesting to see who can be the next GM to have a rapid rise like this over two years as plenty of teams are in as good or better of a position as Matthew was in 2019. Even though when Matthew joined he got on a lot of people's nerves with the terrible trade offers that is part of his character and I'm sure even if he wins this year we will all still wake up to offers of good player for 3rd + NCAA guy who is socring some points. Matthew brings a ton to this league, he is knowledgable, dedicated and very active, which is why I have tried to bring him over to ADHL/NHLDL to no avail. He has proven to be an elite GM and built up a weak Ducks squad through a combination of trades and good entry/waiver drafts. For GMs that have been here a long time it's still hard to shake the opinion that the Ducks aren't that great and Matthew is like a gnat buzzing around with trade offers that you swat away, but the finals appearance and the stats this year speak for themselves and he has positioned himself to be a top team for a long time with how shrewd he manages. Similar to what I said about Arian the next challenge will be shifting gears to the competitor mind set and sacrificing value to win titles, I think he will pull that off, but it's not easy making trades you know you are losing.
Biggest Surprise - Jeannot, Seider
Biggest Disappointment - Staal, Chinakhov, Smith
2 - NSH (+3 '21, -'19, +4 '17)
2nd skaters, 24th goalies
After only having the 9th ranked skaters in last years rankings Mik's Preds are now back to their dominant self ranking 2nd overall and leading all offensive categories. Goaltending looks like a weak spot until you realize arguably the best goalie Shesterkin is in his minors. Everything I said last year can be repeated again and the Shesterkin in the minors situation further illustrates the point that Mik places more value on being the best organization over being a Championship winning GM. Laine, Heiskanen, Armia, Mittelstadt and Josi are all not earning what they are paid, fuck them, trade them and attach futures to make it worth it for teams with cap space and get back whatever you can. Now you can dress Shesterkin and any of your other exempt NHLers, rotate guys in and out depending on who is giving you the most GP to give you the advantage in every playoff matchup. Like the path to winning is so clear, but having 12 picks in the first three rounds of this draft is more important than winning I guess. JUST LOSE TRADES MIK! It will be OK no one will lose respect for you and think you aren't an amazing GM. Secretly I continue to hope Mik continues being Mik because honestly he could completely dominate the league for years with a different mindset. He also could still easily win this year and the next and the next and shut me up and any other GMs who mock his style of GMing but until he wins he is an easy target to poke fun at for being the best GM at having a ridiculously overpowered franchise that no one else can touch and still losing every year. You are the gold standard when it comes to building a franchise and your team continues to improve, I remember when you use to have to trim your roster you were packaging nobodies and trying to talk them up, but now a days you have so many good prospects that trimming down to 90 players means really good prospects don't make the cut. You might deserve number one in the rankings this year, but until you develop a more cut throat style of going after what you want in trades or actually win I can't rightfully say you deserve the top spot.
Biggest Surprise - Larkin, Zuccarello, Raymond, Fehervary, Lundell
Biggest Disappointment - Kaako, Armia, Georgiev
1 - BUF(- '21, +1 '19, +2 '17)
3rd skaters, 8th goalies
I don't think ranking myself 1st is going to shock anyone. Sure I might not have the top ranked skaters this season, but I'm still 1st in the standings right now and when your team hasn't lost a playoff match since the 15-16 season you earn some benefit of the doubt. Being a team with a top offence and top periphs has been the reason for my success and I'm 1st in PIMs, 1st in hits, 6th in blocks and 4th in SHTOI so that side of things is still elite, but only being 7th in points is lower than I have been in past years and leaves me a little vulnerable if I lose offence and goalie stats in a week. With how many good teams there are it is definitely a statistical anomaly that I have won 18 straight playoff matchups against good teams. The probability of that happening when the odds in some matchups would have been close has to be like 1 in a 10,000 or probably more. I have had luck on my side and the chances of another team going undefeated for 5 straight playoffs has to be near impossible. I have also made moves every year to give myself a shot at winning, there has been a core of MacKinnon, Kane, Marchand, Gudas and Zadorov that have been on my team for all the wins, but the supporting cast has changed quite a bit, as recently as 2020 12 of my 20 starters are different. I imagine there are a few other teams with that type of turnover, but moving 12 regulars on a championship team in 2 years shows I don't just sit back and hope my team is good enough to repeat. I also poked fun at top GMs being afraid to lose trades and I think this has helped me be able to win since I have nothing to prove and I just go for players I want at the time without worrying if it will look bad down the road.
2020 1st (BUF)
2020 2nd (CHI)
Jordan Kyrou
Ryan Reaves
Ryan Poehling
Mason Marchment
To Buffalo
Jonathan Marchessault
Joel Armia
2020 5th (BUF)
Horrible trade, Kyrou is probably worth that on his own now and I didn't want to include Marchment, but Armia was a beast that season on a cheap deal and Marchessault was a win now piece.
To Sharks
Shea Theodore
To Buffalo:
Jeff Petry
2021 4th rounder NJ
Horrible trade, but Petry was putting up just as much offence with elite periphs compared to hardly any from Theodore.
This season I moved the two best players in a deal in Gibson and Cirelli to add some depth which will likely look bad long term as well as trading a 1st, 2nd, and 3 promising prospects in Steeves, Spence and Kerins to make marginal upgrades from Rakell + Cole to Hyman + Murphy. They still make my team quite a bit better and everyone knows when Steve decides to trade players you move fast or miss out so I'm OK with spending futures since when you are a contender your picks and prospects should be viewed as ammunition used to improve and probably the biggest reason I keep winning is we have too many GMs who don't subscribe to that theory and don't make the sacrifices required to improve.
Biggest Surprise - Dowd, Mangiapane, Campbell
Biggest Disappointment - Foligno, Petry, Lankinen
2013 http://bbkl.ca/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=9960
2015 http://bbkl.ca/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=12764 (I wrote halfway down page 2)
2016 http://bbkl.ca/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13850 (Paul's GM rankings)
2017 http://bbkl.ca/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13864
2019 http://bbkl.ca/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=15385
2021 http://bbkl.ca/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=16378
We are on the home stretch of the BBKL regular season and it's time to take a look at how teams are stacking up. Going to do things a little different this year and compare with the last few rankings to show how a team has changed over the last 5 years.
32 - NYI (-3 '21, -18 '19, -19 '17)
29th skaters, 30th goalies
GM Andrew has yet to make his mark on the Isles, in almost a year he has made a couple draft picks and no trades. As an active GM from one of BBKL's spin off leagues that is often used for BBKL recruitment there were high hopes that we had added another high quality competitive GM as he is currently 4th overall in ADHL and has made more trades than anyone this season. Hopefully interest picks up and he makes some moves to make the team feel like his own, I get that it is way easier to inherit a successful franchise, but good GMs can turn teams around and we have seen that multiple times.
Biggest Surprise - Burroughs, Karlsson (pre-injury)
Biggest Disappointment - Zaitsev, Frost
31 - VGK (-6 '21, -16 '19, N/A '17)
28th skaters, 31st goalies
Another team that has seen a steep decline in the rankings over the years. Vegas started with a lot of win-now type players and not much on the farm, but never really became competitive and are now mired in what will likely be a multiple year rebuild. GM Brian is tied for our 2nd newest GM with Andrew and the franchise is in good hands as Brian is definitely a GM who knows his prospects. The biggest issue right not with Vegas is they just don't have enough NHLers resulting in a league worst mark for GP that will penalize his draft pick. With some blue chip prospects already in the system this is a team that will likely begin to climb the rankings in a couple of years especially if Brian can get his hands on more picks.
Biggest Surprise - Entwistle
Biggest Disappointment - Beaudin
30 - CHI (-8 '21, +1 '19, -8 '17 )
31st skaters, 24th goalies
Ranking Mark 22nd last year on the back of having the 22nd best record and 23rd ranked skaters was probably a little generous and he has now come back down to earth after seeing some players exceeding expectations last season. This season is a reminder that there is still a ways to go and improvement isn't always linear. Still some decent pieces on this team and a GM who has shown he has the patience and vision to not cut corners and rush the rebuild. It's nice to see teams at the bottom who are working there way up rather than teams at the bottom because they mismanaged their assets. There has been plenty of parity talk and a lot of it is driven by the "weaker" teams not being pushovers that you can win deals against like certain GMs were in the past.
Biggest Surprise - Ladd
Biggest Disappointment - Byram, Comtois
29 - BOS (-4 '21, -8 '19, -15 '17 )
25th skaters, 32nd goalies
There are a lot of parallels between BOS and NYI, both have seen big drops in the rankings since 2017 and were yearly contenders who did not put much emphasis on youth and as there rosters began to age they had no one coming up through their system and now find themselves with a long road ahead of them. Dan knew taking over this team would be a challenge as it is one of the franchise's with the lowest asset value. He has made some moves to take advantage of his cap situation, but this is still years of good drafting away from competitiveness. Khudobin barely playing this year and putting up bad stats isn't helping and goaltending will be another hole that needs filling.
Biggest Surprise - Tarasenko
Biggest Disappointment - Soderstrom
28 - WPG (-1 '21, -10 '19, -10 '17 )
30th skaters, 26th goalies
Luke's team always seems to fly under the radar with me, I've said this before and still no idea why maybe it's because he's in the West. It seems like WPG has come to terms with the fact he is a rebuilder now and not a bubble playoff team. There are still a few too many players on the wrong side of 30 on this roster and I'm sure he'd love to cash some in for picks. Pavelski is having a monster year and should be moved at the deadline for the best package available. The issue is his older players are all making quite a bit of $ which can make trades difficult. After the last couple drafts the minors is starting to look pretty good and with another 9 picks in the top two rounds over the next two years this is a team that is going to start having a young core to build around.
Biggest Surprise - Pavelski, Kerfoot
Biggest Disappointment - Monahan
27 - CAR(+4 '21, +2 '19, +3 '17 )
32nd skaters, 2nd goalies
BBKL's punching bag for a decade is slowly, but surely climbing out of the basement and is the first team in these rankings to improve on last year. There hasn't been more than two teams behind him in the rankings for a LONG time and Paul actually has some assets in his minors to build on. Last ranked skaters shows this is still a team far from contention, but it's also not filled with older players or multiple guys on bad contracts (after this last year of 9M Subban). It will be interesting to see if Paul takes advantage of his cap space this offseason to add talent, but it's a fine line to walk when spending your cap and trading assets when you're not contending. For BBKL only GMs they don't get the chance to see Paul actually can be a GM of a team with a winning record and maybe, just maybe we will one day live in a world where BBKL CAR isn't near the bottom of the standings.
Biggest Surprise - Marchment, Boyd (you're welcome for both), Rodriguez
Biggest Disappointment - Gallagher, Schultz
26 - NYR (+4 '21, -1 '19, +1 '17 )
30th skaters, 19th goalies
Kyle's Rangers are an interesting team, they still suck and aren't getting enough GP from their skaters, but if you squint hard enough when looking at his roster you can see there might just be the makings of a competitive roster. The knock on Kyle's teams since way back in 2016 was that he had high end talent, but no depth to complement it. Six years later and nothing has changed from that standpoint, what has changed is the quality of his prospects making me believe I was right that last year's rankings were rock bottom and as the prospects begin to turn into NHL players this team can begin to rise. The true test and one that has separated successful rebuilds and teams that have spun their wheels will be making the right deals to accelerate and cash in on prospects and cap space without falling victim to impatience and rushing the rebuild.
Biggest Surprise - Duchene, Boldy, Holtby
Biggest Disappointment - Blackwood, Andersson
25 - DET (-1 '21, -3 '19, -6 '17 )
27th skaters, 24th goalies
Just like NYR and CAR before them DET completes the trio of veteran GMs who have been at the bottom of the rankings for a long time now. DET doesn't possess the high end talent of NYR or have as many blue chip prospects as many of the teams below him, but he has enough decent contributors to keep him ahead of the bottom teams. Most GMs already know this, but Scott is the lifeblood of BBKL, the work he puts in behind the scenes is more than just GoogleDocs and without him this league would lack a lot of organization and structure. This paired with the fact the he is genuinely a nice guy who doesn't get involved in drama makes him extremely easy to root for. Unfortunately the Wings are still a team without a lot of promise, the extra 1st this year and extra 2nd next year hopefully will pan out as this team desperately needs an injection of talent. I do think the years of pushing for an 8th seed playoff birth are over and the realization that he needs to hold onto prospects and picks has been made. This team is in the running for worst prospect pool in BBKL which is a tough position to be in when you have the 27th ranked skaters.
Biggest Surprise - Okposo
Biggest Disappointment - Archibald, JVR
24 - MTL (+4 '21, +4 '19, -15 '17 )
24th skaters, 20th goalies
After being ranked 28th in the last couple rankings, we might be seeing Chuck starting to turn the corner. This team was a regular playoff team for years and after a few years out there is starting to be some light at the end of the tunnel. The advantage MTL has over the teams below him is depth. Chuck has NHL players in his minors and although the prospects might not have many game breakers it is clear that there are a lot of players that project to be NHLers. With the depth MTL has it will allow him to start utilizing the trade market to add value and Chuck is definitely not a GM who shies away from trades. With the East being the weaker conference it wouldn't surprise me if MTL was a bubble playoff team in the next year or two.
Biggest Surprise - Nichushkin, Gostisbehere
Biggest Disappointment - Farabee
23 - CBJ (- '21, +2 '19, +2 '17 )
22nd skaters, 26th goalies
As you can see by the rankings this is a team that has been spinning it's wheels for years. Never really bottoming out and getting superstar talent, but not really improving either. I do think this is a team that should be beginning to rise and they are in the best spot they have been since Dave took over. A solid group of young players (Krebs, Hagel, Konecny, O'Connor, Boqvist, Jokiharju, and Lundkvist) and a minors featuring Kent Johnson, Zary, Poulin and Ceulemans gives CBJ a solid foundation to build on. I still think Kopitar should have been traded years ago, but this is a team that has patiently built through the draft and a lot of the picks are beginning to pay dividends. Dave has never been known to be a big trader, but also has some pieces that could be dangled to contenders for good returns. Laughton at 3M, Joseph at 738K and DeAngelo at 1M would all be players who could really improve a team that doesn't have much cap space. I'm still kicking myself for not being more aggressive trying to pry DeAngelo from Dave last season when he wasn't playing.
Biggest Surprise - DeAngelo, Joseph
Biggest Disappointment - Hoffman, Binnington
22 - SJS (-3 '21, -2 '19, -1 '17 )
23rd skaters, 30th goalies
Similar to Columbus we have another team that has been spinning it's wheels over the last 6 years. Never thought of as a contender, but also not in the conversation of bottom feeders, this is a team that has been remarkably mediocre. Josh is a very good GM and knows how to make moves to build a winner. He also has a family and is heavily invested in running ADHL and NHLDL which means it's tough to make the Sharks a priority when they are a very middling team. No one can accuse Josh of not caring about fantasy hockey so I wouldn't count this team out, but with how strong the West it will be tough to improve his standings and Josh really needs a few prospects to come out of nowhere and be impact players. The depth of prospects is there to go along with some top end talent, but a path to contention is difficult to see in the West.
Biggest Surprise - Bertuzzi, Barbashev
Biggest Disappointment - Zadina, Price, Chychrun
21 - FLA (-1 '21, -4 '19, -13 '17 )
19th skaters, 13th goalies
Last year I said "21-17 are all pretty close in the rankings and are pretty interchangeable so they could be a few spots higher." It's more of the same this year, but I'd say more like 21-15 this year. Florida is the unlucky team to land at number 21, but they are above .500 and in the playoff mix. A few injuries would be devastating though as there isn't much depth. Parity continues to be growing in BBKL and there are really only 11 teams I would say are not playoff caliber and a handful of those 11 have very strong prospects and are primed to improve. This point in the rankings are where teams start to really have strengths in certain areas and Chris' Panthers are 9th in assists meaning they can win some offensive cats on any given week. The decline in rankings over the years shows this team might not be as competitive as they were in the past and the years of competing have left a pretty barren farm system. Luckily for Chris the average age of his roster isn't that high so he can probably squeeze a couple more years of playoff contention in a weak East before needing to really tear it down and start over.
Biggest Surprise - Bunting, Bobrovsky
Biggest Disappointment - Driedger, Leddy
20 - SEA
20th skaters, 11th goalies
David was the lucky GM who got to build the Kraken from scratch. It seems like he did a much better job than Ron Francis, but that was a very low bar since just making a couple deals and not taking nobodies from teams wasn't very difficult. In retrospect there are always regrettable decisions and a couple years later I'm sure some decisions will look good and some bad where we will wonder how a certain player went unclaimed. The biggest challenge for expansion teams is always depth, NHL clubs can always just call up someone from the minors, but a BBKL club doesn't have that luxury so having extra bodies is important. This is one area I give credit to David as his 716GP is 11th only 50GP back of 1st place ANA and over 100GP more than the bottom 4 teams. It will be interesting to see if SEA can avoid the drop off that Vegas went through, not having much of a prospect system puts him behind the 8 ball, but his team is pretty young and 20 picks in this years draft will hopefully add some depth guys in a few years time.
Biggest Surprise - Kuznetsov, Carrier
Biggest Disappointment - Lee, Barrie
19 - ARZ (-2 '21, +11 '19, +10 '17)
18th skaters, 22nd goalies
Arizona is a team I was high on going into the season and they didn't really take the next step forward this year. Considering this team was 2nd last in the 2017 and 2019 rankings things are still looking up and I still believe this is a team on the rise when you factor in the youth they have with the strong and experienced GM that Duncan has shown to be in other leagues. One of the main reasons for the small set back this year is goaltending. Last year Grubauer was elite and this year he is whatever the opposite of elite is, which I believe is shit. HIs 3.09 and .887 might have been OK in the 80s, but it is costing Duncan and the Kraken wins. Unexpectedly its the Sharks goaltending from Reimer keeping his stats afloat, which would have sounded crazy heading into this season. Just over a year ago as a parting gift Duncan managed to steal Tony's 1st so having 2 1sts in this years lottery will potentially add to a team that already has young stars Norris, Dach, Kaprizov, Necas and Tkachuk and an emerging Holtz. Eventually this team will need to trade for D to address their obvious weakness.
Biggest Surprise - Duclair, Reimer
Biggest Disappointment - Dach, Grubauer
18 - TBL (-3 '21, -12 '19, -8 '17 )
21st skaters, 4th goalies
Jimmy's Bolts continue their downward slide and now find themselves with the 21st ranked skaters. This is a team that is still in the thick of the playoff race. The once highly regarded Atlantic division is now arguably the softest division and two of OTT/TBL/FLA will find themselves in the playoffs and likely face a quick out at the hands of BUF/TOR. These three teams are all tightly bunched and it could come down to the last week. The story of Jimmy's season so far has been the play of Freddy Andersen who Leafs fans weren't upset to see go and now has 25 Ws in 32 starts and a sparkling 2.04 GAA that is giving TBL the boost they need to hang around the playoff race. Bourque, Drury, Hirvonen, Sourdif, Coronato are a decent collection of prospects to go along with a few more boom/bust types so there is a chance this team could get some help down the road. It also might be time to come to the realization that moving older guys like Kane, Giroux, Granlund, Palmieri, Oshie and Goodrow might make sense to capitalize on their value before it declines and fully embrace a rebuild.
Biggest Surprise - Andersen, Tuch
Biggest Disappointment - Appleton, Palmieri
17 - OTT (+1 '21, +7 '19, -2 '17 )
16th skaters, 12th goalies
Billy is a hard GM to evaluate, a lot of GMs would probably underrate him because he isn't a contender and he doesn't have picks or prospects to improve with. A lot of what I said in his write up last year still holds true about winning is more fun then losing and Billy deserves respect for constantly trying to improve and you can see in the rankings he has improved over the years and I believe he will make the playoffs this year over one of TBL/FLA if he stays healthy. This remark from last year sticks out to me, " Chances are this team will start to slide back eventually, but somehow he has continued to improve so I won't count him out if he continues to capitalize on winning trades that the majority of the league won't do because a player is "old". Turning high picks into good players instead of hoping those picks become good players doesn't have to be a bad strategy." We saw another one of these trades this offseason when he traded for Kadri from me. At 4.5M Kadri is one of the best bang for your buck players in the league right now and I'd love to have him, but with him being a pending UFA and my cap situation being tight it made sense to turn him into a 1st that unfortunately isn't projecting to be as high as I wanted. Kadri is a star BBKLer and a '23 1st could be nothing, but still GMs near unanimously derided that as a bad trade. I'm not going to sing Billy's praises since he still likely isn't going to reach true contender status, but I have maintained that this league has swung way too far to the side of overvaluing futures over NHLers especially 30+ and teams that exploit that market inefficiency can win.
Biggest Surprise - Kadri, Johnsson
Biggest Disappointment - Anderson, Giordano
16 - STL (-5 '21, +11 '19, -5 '17 )
T-14th skaters, 25th goalies
I think the Blues are the hardest team to project on a yearly basis, most teams are fairly consistent over the last six years or you can see a trend up or down. Nick's Blues have gone from 11th to 27th to 11th to 16th seeing jumps up and down over the years, this year has been a bit of a down year. With the 14th ranked skaters I'm confident they would easily be a playoff team in the East, but it's looking near impossible to make the playoffs this year for Nick. Stamkos, Cozens, Stone, Tkachuk, Nurse is a pretty elite core to build around, but there isn't much prospect help coming and this team might need a retool rather than a full on rebuild if they want to try and squeeze in more years of trying to win. Only getting 22 goalie starts is also really not helping, but this is a team that has enough talent that it's possible next year could see another jump up the rankings to continue the up and down trend.
Biggest Surprise - Bratt
Biggest Disappointment - Kubalik
15 - LAK (-12 '21, -14 '19, -10 '17)
17th skaters, 10th goalies
This is uncharted waters for Steve's Kings. This is a GM who has proven to be elite and the rankings have always had him near the top. As one of only three GMs with multiple championships in BBKL's history this is a low point for the Kings as they have been a staple at the top of the standings. I said in last year's rankings that cracks were beginning to show, but considering they were still ranked 3rd, this fall from grace has been more rapid than expected. Not having Eichel and to a lesser extent Walker all season gives this team an excuse that this season could just be a blip and next year will be business as usual, but with the improvement of so many Western teams it will be a battle to continue to reign atop the Pacific as he has for so many seasons. It will be interesting to see what direction is taken this offseason as Steve is a trader who is not shy to make big moves, will he retool or will he actually try and tear things down?
Biggest Surprise - his record
Biggest Disappointment - Beauvillier, Lafreniere
14 - NJD (- '21, +5 '19, +14 '17)
13th skaters, 9th goalies
After jumping up the rankings since being ranked 28th in 2017 we have Brendon's Devils once again checking in at number 14. I don't think not continuing to rise needs to be framed as a negative, this is still a team with lots of young improving players. 14th is also the first team in the tier of 14-10th that are teams with a firm hold on a playoff spot and grouped together tightly in the rankings. I don't think there is a huge difference in quality between this team and the 10th ranked. I do believe Brendon might like a mulligan on his Seattle protection list, http://bbkl.ca/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1648 ... as#p320704 this thread gives some insight on his reasoning, but it looks like he galaxy brained himself into believing a 21 year old C was a finished product in the NHL. Now he is PKing, playing way more, and has seen big increases in pts, stpts, SOG and FOW. Not trying to pick on him since I'm sure he is not the only one regretting a Seattle decision, but I do feel this was the most egregious. Back to the positives, Kuemper being on the Avs has solidified the goaltending, Robertson looks like the real deal and this team has young star power that should give it staying power in the rankings as they just need to find the right mix of depth to build around its core.
Biggest Surprise - Killorn, Robertson
Biggest Disappointment - Pettersson, Pulock
13 - PIT (+3 '21, - '19, +10 '17)
T-14th skaters, 2nd goalies
For the 2nd year in a row, Mike's Pens have a record that should have them higher in these rankings. The 9th place Pens find themselves ranked 13th, but just like the Devils this team could be ranked anywhere from 10-14. The biggest difference year over year for the Pens has been the resurgence of Jarry changing Mike's goaltending from one of the worst last year to the 2nd best so far this season. Although this team is close in the rankings and standings to their division rival Devils their team makeups are very different. PIT is not a team with young star players on the rise, they are a team built with a win now mentality, this team isn't going to improve through picks and prospects so it needs a deep playoff run to be able to justify the win now mentality. To be honest the Pens aren't the prettiest team on paper, but Mike has proven to be a good GM as he just continues to win and find the right mix of players to be competitive. The biggest challenge to the Pen's success is they are below average offensively which leaves little room for error. This team has shown it can win weeks with periphs and goaltending and that can be a recipe for playoff upsets.
Biggest Surprise - Forsberg, Jarry
Biggest Disappointment - Patrick, Radulov, Zucker
12 - CGY (- '21, - '19, -5 '17)
12th skaters, 11th goalies
This team seems destined to be 12th, 12th ranked skaters, 11th ranked goalies and 13th in the standings averages out to 12 and they have been 12th in the last two rankings. Back in 2017 Josh's Flames peaked with a 7th overall ranking and since then they have continued to be a dangerous team and a constant in the playoff picture but on the outside of the elite group of teams that you might bet on to win a championship. Depth and periphs have always been a calling card in CGY and that continues to be the case. This year more than ever that depth has been tested with 0GP for White, Edmundson and Weber. Josh has managed his franchise very well and the Flames have been a model of consistency and the core is young enough that they should continue to be a fixture in the West for years to come. It will probably require some trades or a prospect to burst on the scene out of nowhere to vault this team into the next tier of contenders, but they have the assets to make that a possibility.
Biggest Surprise - Meier, Doughty, Peeke
Biggest Disappointment - Ritchie
11 - MIN (+2 21, -7 '19, -7 '17)
10th skaters, 18th goalies
The Wild are a team that has been very good my entire tenure here. I faced them in the Finals one season so they have been close to winning it all and after 4th place rankings they dropped to 13 last year. Some of that was due to goaltending and some was due to trading talent over the years to be cap compliant. It is a sign of a good GM when their team becomes to good to afford, but it takes good trades to be able to sustain being at the top. One thing about Hong that can be seen as both a positive and negative is he doesn't make a lot of trades, there are lots of players who have been on his roster a long time and sometimes when he makes a splash with a big trade he gives up quite a bit. Hong is also one of the most successful draft and develop GMs since he has had years of success and it's not from winning a lot of trades. Generally Hong has had a good eye for talent and while the jury is still out on Hayton, Veleno, Durzi and Vilardi there is a next wave of talent including Lapierre, Lucius, Perfetti and Sanderson that should continue to keep MIN competitive along with another 2 1sts and 2nds this draft to continue supplementing a talented roster with young talent.
Biggest Surprise - Thompson, Kylington
Biggest Disappointment - Dunn, Smith
10 - COL (-3 '21, +6 '19, +7 '17)
8th skaters, 27th goalies
2016 - "COL has been getting killed by it's goaltending"
2019 - "is being sewered in the standings by league worst goaltending"
2021 - "13th in the standings, but with the fourth ranked skaters "
You can sense a bit of a theme here when it comes to Casper's tenure as a BBKL GM so it's fitting that he is a Flyers fan as he is trying his best to emulate that franchise's goaltending woes. This year the skaters are still putting up good enough stats to contend, but the leagues 27th ranked goaltending is once again a problem. This team is actually even better than 10th, but the small drop off in the rankings can be attributed to season ending injuries to Couturier and Tanev as well as Vrana not playing a game yet. Those are three impact players and any team would have a tough time overcoming that loss. The other issue with Casper's team that he was called out on last year is his drafting leaves a lot to be desired. Oeettinger, Dahlen and Dobson look like OK 1sts but not optimal and Thompson finally looks good as a 2nd rounder and Bernard-Docker might pan out. The more recent 1sts York, Caufield and Hoglander are NHLers but don't look like they will be top 30 at their position BBKLers. Taking Bracco, Ratcliffe, Bellows in the 1st and Safin, Shaw, Mascherin, Tychonick, Seeley and Johannesson in the 2nd is a lot of misses and those picks are probably the only thing holding this team back from making the jump to contender as we all know Casper wins trades and is generally good at assessing BBKL value. There is still a lot of depth and assets to consolidate in trades and make that jump next year, but waiting for a perfect trade to take advantage of sometimes never materializes. This might come off as harsh, but Casper is also one of my favourite GMs to talk hockey with and one of the only GMs I ask for opinions on players, he has had better results in other league drafts so there is some bad luck involved here too.
Biggest Surprise - Kreider,
Biggest Disappointment - Caufield, Garland, Hoglander
9 - WSH (-7 '21, - '19, -7 '17)
11th skaters, 7th goalies
After being ranked 2nd last year and considered an elite team for years this year has been a bit of a disappointment for Thom's Caps. WSH was picked to finish 1st by Matthew at the start of this season stating he had a deep ass team, I didn't deny it was a possibility to finish 1st, but said "I don't think you are deep though, not much depth at all if there are injuries". This has been the problem with Thom's team, injuries have happened and there hasn't been the depth to cover. Martinez is the only guy who has been out long term with only 11 GP, but each week it seems like someone is dealing with an injury and lots of players have missed 10-15GP. These injuries and lack of depth have resulted in only 695GP which is 22nd with only non-playoff teams below him and nearly 100GP behind the leaders. This has Thom all the way down in 10th place, 3rd in his division. This is not a team you want to see in the playoffs if they are healthy, add 100GP and they would be much higher rated than 11th for skaters and most of the skaters are having good years. The other issue with the Caps is there is nothing of value to trade to address the depth, Jenik and Portillo are OK and other than them I don't think he has a prospect that would have 3rd round value. Thom also built a roster that only has 2 30 year olds a 32 and a 34 so this team isn't going anywhere and can be a contender even without trade pieces to use to add to it.
Biggest Surprise - Bennett, Rust, Mayo, Husso
Biggest Disappointment - Pageau, Dvorak
8 - TOR (+1 '21, -4 '19, -7 '17)
9th skaters, 1st goalies
The Leafs join the Caps as one of 9 BBKL teams that wouldn't surprise me if they win it all. That's pretty good for league parity if there are 9 teams that look like legit championship contenders and another 5 teams behind them are dark horses meaning half the league are good teams. Not much to say about the GM as Welchie seems to be challenging NYI GM Andrew for who can be the least active GM. Andrew has a 4 post edge at 14 to 10 but he has a 5 month head start, I think Welchie might be able to come from behind and make a few posts to take this race. From looking at the 10 posts you can see this GM had a clear vision and stated "Look forward to wheeling and dealing - because as someone already pointed out, I have some studs but not much depth". He has followed that up by making all of 0 moves, maybe some GMs have heard from this wheeler and dealer, but with the trade deadline not far off we will see if Welchie tries to put his stamp on the 3rd place team in the East he inherited.
Biggest Surprise - Markstrom, Siegenthaler
Biggest Disappointment - Brannstrom
7 - PHI (+14 '21, +1 '19, +9 '17)
7th skaters, 6th goalies
Shep is back and after retooling over the last year he is leading PHI to their best ever regular season. In last years rankings the Flyers were having a down year and I said "It would be interesting to see just how much higher this team would be if they were fully healthy, top 10? Looking at the roster they have a lot of underperforming players so a bounce back year next season could be expected." Well I don't know if anyone expected this big of a bounce back. Sitting 3rd place in the standings this team is fairing a little better than their stats indicate, but it is firmly cemented as a contender. Many of the players who had down years last season have rebounded and Mercer and Sillinger are have rookie seasons that project they will be very good BBKLers. In what will very likely be a round two match with Caps I have to give the slight edge to Thom if his team is healthy, but this team is right there with them and deserve to be ranked higher at this point in time. Shep is known to be one of the brighter GMs who has a lot of NHL player knowledge, but in the past this hasn't always translated to success, this return to BBKL as the Flyers GM is beginning to show he is one of the stronger GMs we have.
Biggest Surprise - Hartman, Mercer, Kase, Sillinger, Duhaime, Saros
Biggest Disappointment - Koskinen
6 - VAN (- '21, +5 '19, +6 '17)
6th skaters, 5th goalies
It is really difficult to rank these teams near the top, Fraser's Canucks come in at number 6 despite sitting 2nd overall in the standings with a tiny edge in points over PHI and ANA. Similar to the Flyers this team is outperforming their stats, they are one spot higher than PHI in the standings and for skaters and goalie rankings so they come in one spot higher in the rankings. This year we have seen Fraser be more vocal about his team's chances proclaiming "Vancouver not high enough. This is my year. Team of destiny" in response to Matthews preseason rankings and "7 year build coming to fruition. Matt Bruyns I’m coming for you" during week 8 with his team performing well. So far his team is backing up his bold predictions and holding down the #1 seed in the West. The West playoffs are also downright scary, there is no easy out and even the 8 seed beating the one seed wouldn't be a huge upset. A team built to be a bunch of PKers and Vasilevskiy has played to their strengths and it is impressive they are 2nd in the standings when they are 16th in points. Fraser has shown you can win without a team full of point producers and should serve as inspiration for some rebuilders that there is more than one way to skin a cat.
Biggest Surprise - Terry, Schenn
Biggest Disappointment - Myers
5 - DAL (+4 '21, +2 '19, +21 '17)
4th skaters, 17th goalies
The record holder for largest increase in the rankings goes to Will with a 21 spot jump from 2017. Not many teams have had swings this large over the last 5 years with the next largest being the Isles 19 spot drop. Will was the first GM I was trade advisor for so I like to steal some of his credit, but he is a very good GM and it's a ranking he has earned through years of improving his team through smart trades. This was a team that when he took over was worse than NYI or VGK are today it didn't have enough NHLers to make GP and there weren't a ton of prospects or picks since it was run for years by bad GMs who were taken advantage of in trades. The playoff success hasn't happened yet, but this is unquestionably a top BBKL team. Will need to make a move soon once Hamilton comes off LTIR so not surprising he continues to lead the league in trade blocks. I have had plenty of quick easy trade talks with him, but my style is find mutually beneficial deals and don't low ball so I don't know why he is always shopping players and not trading them, is it lack of good offers or not winning a deal by a large enough margin to pull the trigger? Someone should get a decent player at a decent cost and Will will pad his minors system that although not a strength still has some high end pieces other contenders lack.
Biggest Surprise - Kyrou
Biggest Disappointment - Roslovic, Knight
4 - EDM (- '21, +6 '19, +16 '17)
5th skaters, 14th goalies
Another team that has seen a rapid rise up the rankings in the last 5 years is Arian's Oilers. This team has made trades, but not to the volume Will did and was built more on years of successful drafts producing valuable assets. This is a team that rebuilders can look at as a playbook for success, but it isn't easy and you need the picks to pan out and need to make the right trades to be able to pull off what Arian has done with an EDM franchise that is set up for years of contention. The logical next step for this team will be beginning to sell of picks, prospects and depth to maximize the talent on the roster. For a GM that for years has horded and accumulated assets will they be able to flip the switch and go all in or will Arian take the Mik approach and be satisfied with winning a lot in the regular season and having a sexy minors to brag about how deep they are. Don't get me wrong Arian is no where near Mik's quality of minors, Samoskevich, Brink, Colangelo, Gunler, Kisakov, Knies, Maccelli, Poltapov, Alexeyev, Harris, Heinola, Niemela, and all your picks with an extra 2022 2nd and 2 3rds are the type of ammo a team can use to make a splash before some of that prospect shine wears off guys. Chytil, Strome, Heinen, Jarnkrok, Olofsson, Clifton, Tatar are the type of players a contender should be looking at upgrading, but a team who is as successful as Arian's doesn't need advice and I'm sure he has his own plans.
Biggest Surprise - Milano, Toews
Biggest Disappointment - Chytil, Olofsson
3 - ANA (+5 '21, +20 '19, +21 '17)
1st skaters, 15th goalies
Fresh off a somewhat surprising trip to the BBKL finals we have Matthew's Ducks. This team has followed up that finals birth with an even more impressive season solidifying himself as one of BBKL's elite teams. There is definitely an argument that could be made to have the Ducks ranked 2nd or 1st as they boast the top ranked skaters and are ahead of Mik in the standings. I feel Mik's team is just more dangerous with the plug and play options available to him to cover off any injuries his team is deeper and would be a favourite in a playoff matchup and I ranked myself higher because I said so and don't feel I need to justify it. This team is still one of BBKL's biggest success stories joining Will as the only team to jump 20 spots in the rankings and more impressively doing it since 2019, it will be interesting to see who can be the next GM to have a rapid rise like this over two years as plenty of teams are in as good or better of a position as Matthew was in 2019. Even though when Matthew joined he got on a lot of people's nerves with the terrible trade offers that is part of his character and I'm sure even if he wins this year we will all still wake up to offers of good player for 3rd + NCAA guy who is socring some points. Matthew brings a ton to this league, he is knowledgable, dedicated and very active, which is why I have tried to bring him over to ADHL/NHLDL to no avail. He has proven to be an elite GM and built up a weak Ducks squad through a combination of trades and good entry/waiver drafts. For GMs that have been here a long time it's still hard to shake the opinion that the Ducks aren't that great and Matthew is like a gnat buzzing around with trade offers that you swat away, but the finals appearance and the stats this year speak for themselves and he has positioned himself to be a top team for a long time with how shrewd he manages. Similar to what I said about Arian the next challenge will be shifting gears to the competitor mind set and sacrificing value to win titles, I think he will pull that off, but it's not easy making trades you know you are losing.
Biggest Surprise - Jeannot, Seider
Biggest Disappointment - Staal, Chinakhov, Smith
2 - NSH (+3 '21, -'19, +4 '17)
2nd skaters, 24th goalies
After only having the 9th ranked skaters in last years rankings Mik's Preds are now back to their dominant self ranking 2nd overall and leading all offensive categories. Goaltending looks like a weak spot until you realize arguably the best goalie Shesterkin is in his minors. Everything I said last year can be repeated again and the Shesterkin in the minors situation further illustrates the point that Mik places more value on being the best organization over being a Championship winning GM. Laine, Heiskanen, Armia, Mittelstadt and Josi are all not earning what they are paid, fuck them, trade them and attach futures to make it worth it for teams with cap space and get back whatever you can. Now you can dress Shesterkin and any of your other exempt NHLers, rotate guys in and out depending on who is giving you the most GP to give you the advantage in every playoff matchup. Like the path to winning is so clear, but having 12 picks in the first three rounds of this draft is more important than winning I guess. JUST LOSE TRADES MIK! It will be OK no one will lose respect for you and think you aren't an amazing GM. Secretly I continue to hope Mik continues being Mik because honestly he could completely dominate the league for years with a different mindset. He also could still easily win this year and the next and the next and shut me up and any other GMs who mock his style of GMing but until he wins he is an easy target to poke fun at for being the best GM at having a ridiculously overpowered franchise that no one else can touch and still losing every year. You are the gold standard when it comes to building a franchise and your team continues to improve, I remember when you use to have to trim your roster you were packaging nobodies and trying to talk them up, but now a days you have so many good prospects that trimming down to 90 players means really good prospects don't make the cut. You might deserve number one in the rankings this year, but until you develop a more cut throat style of going after what you want in trades or actually win I can't rightfully say you deserve the top spot.
Biggest Surprise - Larkin, Zuccarello, Raymond, Fehervary, Lundell
Biggest Disappointment - Kaako, Armia, Georgiev
1 - BUF(- '21, +1 '19, +2 '17)
3rd skaters, 8th goalies
I don't think ranking myself 1st is going to shock anyone. Sure I might not have the top ranked skaters this season, but I'm still 1st in the standings right now and when your team hasn't lost a playoff match since the 15-16 season you earn some benefit of the doubt. Being a team with a top offence and top periphs has been the reason for my success and I'm 1st in PIMs, 1st in hits, 6th in blocks and 4th in SHTOI so that side of things is still elite, but only being 7th in points is lower than I have been in past years and leaves me a little vulnerable if I lose offence and goalie stats in a week. With how many good teams there are it is definitely a statistical anomaly that I have won 18 straight playoff matchups against good teams. The probability of that happening when the odds in some matchups would have been close has to be like 1 in a 10,000 or probably more. I have had luck on my side and the chances of another team going undefeated for 5 straight playoffs has to be near impossible. I have also made moves every year to give myself a shot at winning, there has been a core of MacKinnon, Kane, Marchand, Gudas and Zadorov that have been on my team for all the wins, but the supporting cast has changed quite a bit, as recently as 2020 12 of my 20 starters are different. I imagine there are a few other teams with that type of turnover, but moving 12 regulars on a championship team in 2 years shows I don't just sit back and hope my team is good enough to repeat. I also poked fun at top GMs being afraid to lose trades and I think this has helped me be able to win since I have nothing to prove and I just go for players I want at the time without worrying if it will look bad down the road.
2020 1st (BUF)
2020 2nd (CHI)
Jordan Kyrou
Ryan Reaves
Ryan Poehling
Mason Marchment
To Buffalo
Jonathan Marchessault
Joel Armia
2020 5th (BUF)
Horrible trade, Kyrou is probably worth that on his own now and I didn't want to include Marchment, but Armia was a beast that season on a cheap deal and Marchessault was a win now piece.
To Sharks
Shea Theodore
To Buffalo:
Jeff Petry
2021 4th rounder NJ
Horrible trade, but Petry was putting up just as much offence with elite periphs compared to hardly any from Theodore.
This season I moved the two best players in a deal in Gibson and Cirelli to add some depth which will likely look bad long term as well as trading a 1st, 2nd, and 3 promising prospects in Steeves, Spence and Kerins to make marginal upgrades from Rakell + Cole to Hyman + Murphy. They still make my team quite a bit better and everyone knows when Steve decides to trade players you move fast or miss out so I'm OK with spending futures since when you are a contender your picks and prospects should be viewed as ammunition used to improve and probably the biggest reason I keep winning is we have too many GMs who don't subscribe to that theory and don't make the sacrifices required to improve.
Biggest Surprise - Dowd, Mangiapane, Campbell
Biggest Disappointment - Foligno, Petry, Lankinen
. Boldy And Byfield I feel would have been regulars from the get go if they didn’t also get hurt. That’s like 150gp right there. Then again if I have all those GP am I sitting as far down the standings as I currently am? Probably not.