Over the next 12 days, Hockey Hot Stove’s Mike Fink will look at 12 different NHL teams that are currently in rebuild mode. Which ones will produce a contender the soonest? Which ones are spinning their wheels — and will continue to do so in Mike’s estimation? Mike graded and ranked the rebuild pathways, from the longest remaining paths to contention to the ones closest to bearing fruit.
Starting today and each day thereafter, Hockey Hot Stove will count down from Fink’s 12th-ranked rebuild plan up to his current No. 1. Exercises such as these are designed for discussion and debate. Please feel free to comment in the NHL Talk (and/or team forum) section of Hot Stove.
By way of preview, Mike’s rankings are as follows, from bottom to top:
12. Pittsburgh Penguins
11. Seattle Kraken (note: given the franchise’s youth, this is a “build” rating rather than rebuild)
10. Buffalo Sabres
9. Chicago Blackhawks
8. Detroit Red Wings
7. Boston Bruins
6. Philadelphia Flyers
5. Anaheim Ducks
4. San Jose Sharks
3. Utah Mammoth
2. Calgary Flames
1. Columbus Blue Jackets
Mike’s perspectives differ in multiple ways from the TSN panel discussion a few months ago on the same topic.
