The “It” Teams | Ted's Take

I agree with the main points of this article. Pittsburgh basically is two to three years ahead of us in their development cycle. They traded away or didn’t re-sign their core older players: Jagr, Kovalev, Lang, Straka, etc. Mario retired. They finished low in the standings for several years. Their attendance dropped while they rebuilt. Fans and media were very negative early on in their plan. They did receive a great bit of luck in winning the lottery post lockout that let them draft Sidney Crosby to boot while we ended up getting the 16th slot in the draft which was bad luck for us.

Pittsburgh drafted high, year after year, and rebuilt their core and added some vets via trades and free agency. Their fan base began to believe and now they are in the Eastern Conference Finals. And they sell out every night. They will be good for a long, long time.

The Penguins are a case study in rebuilding a team the right way through the draft. I believe we are also becoming a model franchise following this same course of action.

I found this article very insightful.

6 thoughts on “The “It” Teams”

I hate to root for the Penguins but the sooner the Flyers are bounced from the playoffs the better I will feel. Also it will be encouraging to our team and fan base. However, I will want a Western Conference team to win this year because there will be a bitter taste if either Pittsburgh or Philly wins the Cup.

You also gotta hand it to their GM Ray Shero. Not only have the Pens done a great job of rebuilding through the draft, but they showed exactly what mentality it take at the trade deadline to build a winner. If you are serious about winning a championship, even with a young team like the Pens or Caps, you have to be willing to go all out at the right moment in time. Pittbsurgh knew where it stood and made a smart move defensvely by acquiring Hal Gill, and understood the need of taking a financial risk on a guy like Hossa. The Caps no doubt did something similar in aquiring Huet and Federov, its just unfortunate that they didn’t already have an extra line of scoring talent like the Pens have.

@ JR- I agree with that, my only reasoning for evidence is that they had the maximum number of balls in the lottery in 2005, however one of the stipulations for losing a ball is that you can’t have drafted 1st overall in the last 3 years (which pittsburgh DID) but because they did it through trade, it didn’t count as a first overall pick? The ball was charged against florida. Also wasn’t it convenient that the last time the penguins made the playoffs was 2002? because they didn’t begin removing balls until 2003 playoff apperances.

I also think the caps will have some salary cap boundaries once backstrom and alzner need to be re-signed but thankfully thats 2 or 3 years down the road.

I like the Washington Times article, good comparisons on the teams and how they’ve re-built.

Ted- we drafted 14th, but that doesn’t matter because we should have taken either Rask, Vlasic or Stastny, all of which were available and 14.

There are similarities, but I hate the pens and their fans. I hope the Flyers eliminate the pens because I don’t want to hear it if the end win the Cup. sid the kid, yuk. Enough of the Canadian bias for this crybaby. He looks like Freddie Mercury. I also don’t want to see malkin win due to the rivalry he has with Ovie on the ice. And I certainly dont want to hear all the obnoxious pens fans gloat about a Cup win. Hopefully the Flyers knok the pens out of the playoffs, which would serve the pens right for throwing their final regular season game in order to secure an easier path through the playoffs. If the pens lose this series, there is no conference champinship, no Stanley Cup, no Conn Smythe, no nothing. They go home empty handed.

I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but LET’S Go FLYERS!

Please note: I don’t capitalize the name of the team or its players.

Ted…The Penguins are in big trouble this offseason. The Salary-Cap is going to take some casualties.

You left out the part how they rigged the lottery after the lockout so Pittsburgh got Crosby and Mario could get paid. They wouldn’t be 2-3 years ahead of us if not for that.

Jeffrey on May 10, 2008 at 5:38 PM said:

I hate to root for the Penguins but the sooner the Flyers are bounced from the playoffs the better I will feel. Also it will be encouraging to our team and fan base. However, I will want a Western Conference team to win this year because there will be a bitter taste if either Pittsburgh or Philly wins the Cup.
Dave on May 10, 2008 at 4:19 PM said:

You also gotta hand it to their GM Ray Shero. Not only have the Pens done a great job of rebuilding through the draft, but they showed exactly what mentality it take at the trade deadline to build a winner. If you are serious about winning a championship, even with a young team like the Pens or Caps, you have to be willing to go all out at the right moment in time. Pittbsurgh knew where it stood and made a smart move defensvely by acquiring Hal Gill, and understood the need of taking a financial risk on a guy like Hossa. The Caps no doubt did something similar in aquiring Huet and Federov, its just unfortunate that they didn’t already have an extra line of scoring talent like the Pens have.
Jim on May 10, 2008 at 12:07 PM said:

@ JR- I agree with that, my only reasoning for evidence is that they had the maximum number of balls in the lottery in 2005, however one of the stipulations for losing a ball is that you can’t have drafted 1st overall in the last 3 years (which pittsburgh DID) but because they did it through trade, it didn’t count as a first overall pick? The ball was charged against florida. Also wasn’t it convenient that the last time the penguins made the playoffs was 2002? because they didn’t begin removing balls until 2003 playoff apperances.

I also think the caps will have some salary cap boundaries once backstrom and alzner need to be re-signed but thankfully thats 2 or 3 years down the road.

I like the Washington Times article, good comparisons on the teams and how they’ve re-built.

Ted- we drafted 14th, but that doesn’t matter because we should have taken either Rask, Vlasic or Stastny, all of which were available and 14.
Grant on May 9, 2008 at 2:30 PM said:

There are similarities, but I hate the pens and their fans. I hope the Flyers eliminate the pens because I don’t want to hear it if the end win the Cup. sid the kid, yuk. Enough of the Canadian bias for this crybaby. He looks like Freddie Mercury. I also don’t want to see malkin win due to the rivalry he has with Ovie on the ice. And I certainly dont want to hear all the obnoxious pens fans gloat about a Cup win. Hopefully the Flyers knok the pens out of the playoffs, which would serve the pens right for throwing their final regular season game in order to secure an easier path through the playoffs. If the pens lose this series, there is no conference champinship, no Stanley Cup, no Conn Smythe, no nothing. They go home empty handed.

I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but LET’S Go FLYERS!

Please note: I don’t capitalize the name of the team or its players.
SA-Town on May 9, 2008 at 11:59 AM said:

Ted…The Penguins are in big trouble this offseason. The Salary-Cap is going to take some casualties.
JR on May 9, 2008 at 11:55 AM said:

You left out the part how they rigged the lottery after the lockout so Pittsburgh got Crosby and Mario could get paid. They wouldn’t be 2-3 years ahead of us if not for that.