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Who is Really the Worst Team in the NHL? |
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There are three teams in the NHL that are miles worse than anyone else. If you look at the standings, you will see that the Leafs have at least a ten point lead on the Sabres, Coyotes and Oilers.
Ten points.
The Leafs.
Think about how bad the Oilers, Coyotes and Sabres must be if the Leafs are ten points up on them. It's a little like thinking no world leader could possibly be as bad as George Bush Jr but then meeting Canadian PM Stephen Harper - it's mind blowing on a level you didn't even know existed.
To put it in perspective: The Leafs are 5-25 in their last 30 games and there are still three teams worse than them. It's really quite remarkable, and if it wasn't for the availability of two potentially generational franchise-player superstars, the Leafs would be sauntering their way to the #1 overall pick (or at least the highest odds).
But since those players are available, the Leafs have to deal with two other teams trying to be bad on purpose, and the Oilers who are bad because they thought they could enter the season without a goalie or any top pairing defenseman and then an injury to Hall prevented them from even mediocrity.
But the Oilers aren't that bad. They deserved a lot more wins early in the season under Eakins, but were beset by bad lack (and bad goaltending). Still, there's twelve games left and if there were twenty they'd almost certainly leave Arizona and Buffalo in the dust and pass the Leafs, whose roster is much worse.
And the Leafs? Their roster still has Bernier, Kessel, JVR, Kadri, Phaneuf and Lupul. There is something wrong in the soul of that team and the defense is a nightmare, but their roster isn't bereft of NHL talent in the way that Buffalo and Arizona's are.
As for Buffalo, if you look at who's on their team, they are obviously not good, but there is a reason the Coyotes have been gaining on them in the reverse standings lately: they don't have the worst team in hockey. Moulson, Ennis and Hodgson are forwards the Coyotes would kill for at this point. (Like there being worse teams than the Leafs, that says something).
No. Ladies and gentlemen, the worst team in the NHL is the Arizona Coyotes.
And it ain't even close.
I don't think even I made enough of a big deal about the crazy way the Coyotes gutted themselves in the last month.
Think about it: A team that already couldn't make the Playoffs, that was already struggling to score and hadn't played a meaningful game since November 1st, lost Hanzal and Boedker to injury - their two best forwards.
Then they subtracted one of the best defensemen in the NHL from their roster in Keith Yandle, as well as one of the more underrated ones in Michalek and then they traded Vermette as well. They did not add back anything (for the current roster) but a couple bottom-pairing dmen.
That's two of their top three Defensemen and their top three forwards gone off what was already a pretty bad team. It's like the three guys from CCR whose names you don't know going on tour without John Fogerty and still calling themselves CCR.
What is left is perhaps the biggest joke ever to masquerade as an NHL team (and I'm not criticizing either, just pointing out the facts as I see them. The Coyotes are taking advantage of the rules and being smart here, no doubt).
Let's take a look:
Murphy, Gormley, Dahlbeck, Campbell and Moore are - at best - 6/7 options on Playoff teams at this point in their careers. They all have chances at good careers and one day will give the Coyotes a deep blueline. But right now they're a joke.
OEL is great and Stone is a legit top four, but even he's not an All-Star. He is by far the worst #2 in the NHL, even if one day he'll be very, very good.
Back when the Coyotes were dressing one of the best top-three groupings in the NHL, their goalie couldn't stop a beach ball, so what's Mike Smith to do now? (Ironically, he's actually been decent) but it is still worth pointing out that the goalie the Coyotes traded is generating unironic Hart and Vezina talk.
On forward Reider is a good rookie, Doan is a decent veteran option (a nice fourth line addition to a playoff team, but the Coyotes played him 23 minutes last night). Gagner and Chipchura are the only established veterans on the team that are actually good hockey players in the prime of their careers and that isn't saying much.
Both are underrated and useful but nothing to build a team around.
The Coyotes also run out Erat, Arcobello (on his fourth team this year) Crombeen, Vitale, Korpikoski and Moss.
I'll give Arcobello a pass because he is talented, but the other five are among the worst players in the NHL. The team also ices waiver pickups named McGuinn and Cunningham, but I can't even rate them at this point, it seems mean. They are warm bodies....they are two steps removed from a fan contest to win a chance to be dressed on the fourth line. I guess I was mean anyways. Sorry.
Look at the Coyotes roster and then imagine this: there are four guys who played less than ten minutes last night.
And that proves my point: If the coach has four guys so bad he is forced to give extra ice time to Moss, Erat and Korpikoski, you have the worst team in hockey, and it isn't close.
They have three goals in their last five games.
The NHL record for losses in a row is the 1975 Capitals and 1993 Sharks who each lost 17 straight games. The Coyotes have won two games, both in a shootout, over their last 19. That means that only a coin-flip prevented them from setting the NHL record for consecutive losses.
Also in 1975, the Kansas City Scouts went 27 games where they didn't win. They didn't lose all of them as they got a few ties. Since there were no shoot-outs, their winless streak continued at the end of overtime. The Coyotes are now at a 19 game winless streak, if you apply the same conditions that the Scouts faced.
So, my point is that they are pretty bad. Historically bad, actually.
Oh, one more thing: The Coyotes have a bizarre record of 5-0 against the Oilers. Since we can all agree the Oilers actually have and have had a better team than Arizona this year, that's pretty crazy. If the Coyotes could have gone a more realistic 2-3 vs the Oilers, then the Sabres would currently have more points.
And they might by the end of this thing anyways.
Thanks for reading.
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