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Which NHL Team is the Most Interesting? Part 1 |
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I started writing a blog the other day, ranking NHL teams from most to least interesting. It's become so large of a blog, that I'm breaking it into three sections. Today, we start with teams 1 - 10. The top 10 most interesting teams in the NHL (in order).
1. Edmonton Oilers - The Oilers are, without question, the most interesting team in the NHL. It’s a soap opera on skates. There always seems to be something – Coaches being fired, unhappy players, trades that can’t happen because someone won’t waive their NTC, last-place finishes, high draft picks, completely unhappy fans, an overly active local media hyping the hell out of everything the team does or could do…
I got to thinking the other day about how lucky Oilers writers/bloggers/reporters have it. This team is drama, drama, drama and that makes it a great team to cover.
The Oilers are the Charlie Brown of the NHL. No matter how hard everyone involved with the team tries, nothing seems to goes right.
2. Calgary Flames – The movie Titanic was, up until recently, the most profitable movie in history. Everyone wanted to watch it again and again. Why? Because it was a total disaster: A horrifying, completely man-made, completely preventable disaster. People love tragedy, and there is no team in professional sports more tragic than the Flames. Years of terrible drafting, complete mismanagement, horrifying contracts…Failure at every conceivable level. And unlike the Titanic, which eventually sank, the Flames just seem to circle the drain, year after year, refusing to succeed or die both at the same time.
3. Phoenix Coyotes – This team is like an episode of Lost. From the first season. The good season. Why is the NHL still in Phoenix? No one cares. Not the fans, not the players…no one. Yet the team won’t die because the NHL refuses to let it. Has anyone actually uncovered the real reason the NHL won’t get the team out of Phoenix? It’s been a disaster from the start. The other interesting story in Phoenix is how the team keeps playing okay hockey, even though they have a roster worse than half of the AHL. The only thing not interesting in Phoenix is the hockey itself, which might be the dullest on-ice product in the league.
4. Ottawa Senators – There are a few teams on the list that are interesting because of how functional they are. The best players on the Sens got old recently, and we all thought the team was headed for a major rebuild. Nope. Smart trades. Smart drafting. Smart player acquisition. Good coaching. Sound leadership. This team is the poster child for over-achievement, and the club will be back challenging for cups again before you know it. And the plot twist is, ownership isn’t stable and has kept management on a strict diet. Yet, the team survives and thrives in a small market. The anti-Oilers.
5. Philadelphia Flyers – Every league needs one team with misfits, cast-offs, and screw-ups. A team that will lie, cheat, or do whatever to win. The NFL has the LA Raiders. The NBA has the Miami Heat. MLB has whatever team A-Rod is on. In the world of hockey, it's the Flyers.
What makes the Flyers interesting is that they’re more or less indestructible, and ownership knows it. If you knew you couldn’t die, would you live life safe and do smart things? No. You’d constantly do ridiculous, huge things that often result in catastrophe. The Flyers might be able to win a cup if they calmed down and quit trying to sign absolutely every player and make absolutely every trade. The fans of the team are a freak show, too. They’d rather break your teeth than hold up a cup again. This team is great fun.
6. Vancouver Canucks – The Canucks are #6 with a bullet. Management has done practically nothing with this franchise for years, but a busy summer makes this team suddenly interesting. Trading Schneider over Luongo when Big Lou is the one who wanted out is neat, but wait until this absolutely explodes when the goalie will, yet again, demand a trade. Replacing Arrogant Alain with loudmouth Torts is one of the worst coaching changes in history. When that situation explodes, comedy will ensue. Also an interesting draft for the Canucks, who picked up two future NHL stars in Bo Horvat and Hunter Shinkaruk. The Sedins are reaching the end of their contracts and may run for it. The fan base is perhaps the most undeservingly arrogant group in all of professional sports, so they and team management have things in common. What’s perhaps most fun here is that this team will go for a complete nose-dive in the standings as they’ve gotten older and worse while everyone around them is younger and improving. The new division they are in is going to destroy them. This team has such entertainment potential.
7. Pittsburgh Penguins – This team has perhaps the two best players in the world in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. They’ll never win another cup though. Why? Because hockey is a team sport, and the Penguins spend way too much money on way too few players. The Penguins are also internationally recognized as being the league’s most whiny team, which makes sense considering Mario Lemieux’s involvement. Lemieux might have had, in his prime, even more talent than Gretzky did…but he whined and complained constantly and doing so detracted from his legacy. Lemieux is not fit to carry around Gretzky’s jock.
8. Montreal Canadiens – This city eats their sports teams alive. Hockey in Montreal use to be about trying to win cups. Now, the fans in Montreal would rather see how long it takes to dismantle the players. It’s not only about the play on the ice: The fans in Montreal will find something against everyone, be it personal attacks or hockey-relevant. You notice why players don’t ask for trades to Montreal anymore? Unless the team is a contender, no player wants to be there because the fans are unmerciful.
9. Los Angeles Kings - The players themselves on this team make it interesting. You've got guys like Doughty, Richards and Carter who like the nightlife...they like to boogie. Rock stars who act that way...until playoff time. Once the playoffs start, the team is all business. The Kings coach might be the dullest person in human history, but the roster is full of characters. Jarret Stoll...Has this guy dated every supermodel and Gretzky daughter? He gets all the chicks for some reason. Anze Kopitar is the NHL's most enigmatic superstar. Jonathan Quick is more or less a hoser, but he's American. Human-condo defensemen Robyn Regehr, Matt Greene and Willie Mitchell all are no longer mobile. The fan base is exactly what you'd expect from a Los Angeles team: Completely insane. We're not talking "arrogant insane" like Canucks fans. Kings fans aren't harmful; they just aren't functional. And no one...absolutely no King fan...understands anything about hockey or any other sport.
10. Buffalo Sabres - The Sabres and modern-day Oilers are cut from the same cloth. A franchised doomed to mediocrity. It isn't because of ownership, as Terry Pegula has all the money in the world and he's willing to spend whatever it takes to make the Sabres a winner. Management has been innovative and willing to take risks. The roster is deep, and so is the pool of prospects. So what's the problem here? Why can't the Sabres ever get it right? The team recently tried to buy a winner by overpaying for UFAs. That didn't work. Now, management is leaning in the direction of a full rebuild, meaning, veterans like Thomas Vanek and Ryan Miller will disappear before their contracts expire, and will be replaced by quality kids. Hockey in Buffalo is going to get worse before it gets better...and when the quality kids turn into quality NHL veterans...the team is still going to be average. Okay. Fine. Just not good. Won't win a single trophy. Why? Because it's Buffalo, and that's what Buffalo does.
So there's the Top 10. 11-20 and 21-30 will appear in the next few days.
Readers to unleash their venom on the blogger in 5...4...3...2...1...
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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