For the team that, quite literally, is the unluckiest lottery team in NHL history, it would be really nice for this to line up for us.

Particularly considering the many reasons this team deserves some good karma right now.






But hes gonna be a Blackhawk. Let’s face it.

And cost them the opportunity for McKenna in two years? No way. He's a Ute.

no no McKenna is going to be a penguin. They have to replace Crosby with someone who will fill seats. Otherwise they will be moving another team.

I am pulling for CBJ to land Celebrini, but at the same time I think if they do he will make them a playoff team, but they still won't have a real franchise player to make them an actual cup contender.

Depending on how Fantilli develops, he may be their franchise player. I feel like if Fantilli is in this draft he goes 1st overall even over Celebrini. But what Columbus needs to become a real contender is management that isn’t afraid to make difficult decisions, and a team where each player compliments each other, as opposed to what they have now which on most nights is a team showing up for 80% of the game and disappearing at the most vital moments.

I like Fantilli, I think he's a really good player. I don't think he's a franchise player.

Truth is teams without one, find it very very very hard to win a cup.
History shows that. You got a much better chance of winning a cup with a franchise level forward.
Teams without one have a hard time going far. Because you can't out work talent that is also working hard.

As for CBJ, i wouldn't put anything on them yet as far as 80% playing as a team whatever. I don't think they are trying to win, nor do I think they should.
They should not rush their rebuild. That would be a mistake. If you try to win to early you end up like LA is right now. Stuck in the middle with nowhere to go.
If you are going to rebuild, it's best to basement dwell. Collect those high picks until you have a team that can really turn it around.
They are getting there. They got time. They shouldn't rush it.

So I agree with a bit of what you're saying here. 100% agree that rushing the process will get them nowhere, however I disagree that they're not trying to win. Babcock hire (although it lasted 2 months), Severson signing, and Provorov trade all suggested that the team was trying to compete sooner rather than later.

One thing you should know about Columbus is that for at least the past 2 seasons, they have disputed the fact that they are a rebuilding team at every turn, aside from on-ice performance. Rumor has it that they even tried to rush the process even further by attempting to trade for Lindholm in November. An organizational vision has never been properly communicated to the fanbase, which is why a lot of fans are becoming impatient, understandably so. If the team just simply said they were looking to rebuild, and made the corresponding moves typical of a rebuild, it would save the fanbase and the organization a lot of headache.

Now they're in a situation where they have a couple high-end players who signed on long-term because they expected to compete at this point, with one's future currently being unknown (Laine, wish him all the best). They have a top 3 prospect pool in the league, and are unable to fit a lot of players from it in because of the current logjam in practically all areas of the roster. The noise around the team is incredibly loud at the moment because of questionable decision-making. The new GM has their work cut out for them to say the least.

So yeah, completely understand what you're saying. A full-on rebuild should have been the way they want. However, with the team's current situation it appears that they will try to contend for a wild card spot as soon as next season.

you are trying to talk down to people like ONLY you know a team. As if no one else gets Bally Sports.

Look, the rebuilt started years ago, everyone knows that. When Bob, Panarin, and then Anderson and PLD were gone.... The rebuild started. Then Torts left and it was just starting over from scratch. Everyone who is/was a CBJ fan knows this. They didn't need to "communicate" anything. We all knew.

Babcock was them trying to find a coach. Don't put to much on it. They lost a great coach in Torts. You can say whatever you want about him. They lost a great coach and they knew it. He made that team a winner with minimal talent. It's not easy to replace a guy like that.

As for the signing and the trade. The trade didn't cost them a lot, a late 1st and a 2nd.
They needed a blue line because they traded it away. You can't develop all those young forwards with no help on the blue line. At some point they need backend support to help them develop.
Guys like Gudbranson, while he certainly does play a role on a team..... doesn't provide the actual kind of developmental support they needed. Neither do players like Bean.
So they had to do something to help those guys. Because you can't invest in guys like Johnson, fantilli and sillinger and all those wingers.... and not give them a decent blue line to help them grow.

But that doesn't mean they are trying to win now. It's clear they aren't. They know they aren't there yet. The question is how far away are they.
They need guys like Johnson to turn the corner. He's only 21. If they add a guy like Lindholm or Celebrini it obviously helps.
You figure somewhere between 2-3 years and this team will have a roster to compete again.

My guess is this is a team that moves out Gaudreau before Laine.
If they do that, there isn't a whole lot of cap left on this team in 2 years. You got Elvis, Werenski, Severson, and whatever the young players make.
That's when I think the turn around happens. Because those 3 aren't bad cap hits. The rest of the cap will be gone.