2014 Mid-Season NHL Outlooks and Belated Draft Notes

[St. Louis Sting]

I was bored and wanted to do this since it hadn't been done yet. These rankings are as of Week 8

Buffalo Wings
Biggest Assets: Henrik Lundqvist, Henrik Sedin
Biggest Needs: Everything
Best Value: Henrik Sedin $5, TJ Brodie $2
Biggest Reach: None
2014 Outlook: Bleak. Doomed to the bottom 1/4th of the league
Future Outlook: Middle/Lower tier. Probably 7th-9th
Notes: Got a late start to the team building process due to an inactive owner and it shows. Plenty of cap space for future seasons should help in rebuild. May be time to start stacking young talent for the future.


Chicago Fire
Biggest Assets: Duncan Keith, Patrice Bergeron
Biggest Needs: Goalie, Forwards
Best Value: None of note
Biggest Reach: Mats Zuccarello $25
2014 Outlook: Bottom half of the league. Very little star talent
Future Outlook: Bottom half of the league. Old team with very little breakout potential
Notes: Plenty of Chicago players as always. Great depth, but lack of front line players to headline the team. Still plenty of salary to work with, if owner Jay decides to use it.


Clayhounds Dawgs
Biggest Assets: Jamie Benn, Erik Karlsson, Marc-Andre Fleury
Biggest Needs: Scorer
Best Values: Roman Josi $4, Sean Monahan $1
Biggest Reach: Jordan Staal $7
2014 Outlook: Great team. Title contender with quality throughout the lineup
Future outlook: Top team for years to come. Locked up talent for extended period.
Notes: Very little cap space to work with both currently and in the future. Could make things difficult, but the team has plenty of talent to compete with limited depth


Dallas Desperados
Biggest Assets: Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Shea Weber, Tuukka Rask
Biggest Needs: None of Note
Best Values: Jaden Schwartz $5, Tyler Johnson $1, Sidney Crosby $38
Biggest Reach: None of Note
2014 Outlook: Title contender currently in 4th. Great throughout the lineup, decent depth
Future Outlook: Top team for years to come. Young players and top players signed for many years.
Notes: Very limited cap space for the future. Full of top players and should be a league leader for the foreseeable future.


Eakin Doughnuts
Biggest Assets: Taylor Hall, John Tavares, Vladimir Tarasenko
Biggest Needs: Defense, Scorers
Best Values: Vladimir Tarasenko $12
Biggest Reach: Cam Fowler $12
2014 Outlook: Bottom half of the league
Future Outlook: Future competitor. Top half of the league
Notes: Cap space to work with, young talent, and no real contract missteps to this point leave the Doughnuts plenty of room to grow


Gainesville Gators
Biggest Assets: Eric Staal, Frederik Andersen
Biggest Needs: Everything
Best Values: Frederik Andersen $1
Biggest Reach: Damon Severson $4
2014 Outlook: Doomed to the bottom 1/4th of the league
Future Outlook: Depends entirely on ownership. Anywhere from 5th to the bottom.
Notes: Late start to the team building process. Only $45 of cap space used so can easily put together a strong team in future seasons. Some younger talent on extended deals that could pan out.


New Jersey Haze
Biggest Assets: Steven Stamkos, Ryan Getzlaf, Phil Kessel
Biggest Needs: None of note
Best Values: Ryan Johansen $14, Ryan Miller $10, Jimmy Howard $9
Biggest Reach: None of note
2014 Outlook: Currently 6th but near the top of the league in most categories. Prime candidate for a move.
Future Outlook: Loads of talent, well balanced team. Top tier
Notes: Currently over the cap for future seasons. Lots of talent, but will need to clear cap space to use it


Norwich Nemesis
Biggest Assets: Corey Perry, Tyler Seguin
Biggest Needs: None
Best Values: Pekka Rinne $9, Patric Hornqvist $11
Biggest Reach: None
2014 Outlook: Top team, serious title contender with no holes
Future Outlook: Young roster with extended contracts. Top team for the future.
Notes: Not a whole lot of cap space, but plenty of talent and depth to compete for a long time.


Pensacola Pelicans
Biggest Assets: Mark Giordano
Biggest Needs: Everything
Best Values: None of note
Biggest Reach: Frans Nielsen $16
2014 Outlook: Not good. Bottom team in the league
Future Outlook: Owner dependent. Plenty of cap space and has started signing young talent to long-term deals. Could be a future contender.
Notes: Late start to the bidding. Very little current talent, but has some upside and plenty of cap space to grow. With good management could become a solid competitor.


Salisbury Hot Dogs
Biggest Assets: Patrick Kane, Jonathon Toews, Corey Crawford
Biggest Needs: Scorers and Defense
Best Values: Tomas Plekanec $1, Erik Johnson $2
Biggest Reach: Patrik Kane $50
2014 Outlook: Middle tier. Not much upside but won't flounder
Future Outlook: Could see some regression in the future. But could also end up being a top half team
Notes: Very top-heavy roster with a lot of cap tied up in them. Very little young talent for the future to grow with.


St. Louis Sting
Biggest Assets: Jakub Voracek, Filip Forsberg
Biggest Needs: None
Best Values: Jakub Voracek $12, Filip Forsberg $1, Ben Bishop $8
Biggest Reach: David Krejci $12
2014 Outlook: Currently atop the leaderboard and will most likely stay in the top 3 throughout
Future Outlook: Great. Talent locked up for the foreseeable future.
Notes: Mix of proven vets and high-upside youth. Plenty of cap space to use if needed. Not going anywhere.


Syracuse Warriors
Biggest Assets: Evgeni Malkin, Jonathon Quick
Biggest Needs: Scorer
Best Values: Jake Allen $1
Biggest Reach: Marian Gaborik $20
2014 Outlook: Currently middle of the pack. A good trade could push them into the top tier.
Future Outlook: Very Good. A lot of resources to work with.
Notes: Lots of cap space for the future and great talent to build around. Could prove to be a top team in the years to come

[Norwich Nemesis]

Thanks for taking the time to do these. Considering I'd never heard of over three quarters of my team before this league, I'm really happy with the team I put together.

[Deleted]

This is great, Andrew. Nice work. Love the quote, "plenty of Chicago players as always." I think my issue is I go to all these games in person, the talent blows me away, and I can't separate first hand accounts from the consensus estimates...so of course I disregard the latter. Well anyway, thanks for this.

[Jeff (Haze)]

Hahahaahha that's funny. I'm not that great with basketball, but I know CP3 and Blake Griffin are good. After I had them signed, I ended up watching a Clippers/Jazz game on TV. That's how I ended up with Trey Burke (who's working out OK) and Rudy Gobert (not so much). He looked good that night though.