Mediocrity?

[Jamie 438]

Is the talent level of the league turning mediocre? If you take a look across the league you can see that there aren't too many power houses left in the league.

Let's start in the North American Conference. The Calgary Wranglers just entered a huge rebuild a couple of seasons ago but are already making moves to compete. Yes they've added a couple solid pieces but we can all agree it's not enough to call themselves a contender yet, or is it? The New York Americans are in the same position but look to have improved on well drafting. Are they at the level of competing yet? Quebec is probably the only real team to call a contender in this conference as they will be a sure fire top team this year. Then you have the Cup champs who currently have four players on their roster, and not a real superstar. What do they have in store? Then there's Toronto that just decided to blow it all up so they will be a bottom feeder. So really who is going to make the playoffs and be a contender? There may be some big moves yet to come but as it looks there's not much substance in the conference.

Next the European Conference. Cologne lost a lot of players to retirement but rumour has it they still want to compete. Their roster is bare bones like Seattle but maybe they have lots in store. Davos is a team that has promise but a lot of the prospecs are just kind of crusing right now and no one is stepping up to be the next best thing. Then you have Helsinki and Riga both in rebuilds and no where close to making a push. Stockholm like Quebec is really the only top team in this conference and will sure as hell take the top spot.

Maybe with Seattle unexpectedly winning this season, anything can happen from now on. But it seems to me the talent level in the league has really trailed off the past couple seasons.

[boubabi 4,725]

Its a cycle

[Kesler 1,514]

Yeah I remember quite a few seasons ago when the league was super weak, then it got good again for a few seasons and now its kind of at the end of  all the stars. But I think its just because if you look at the drafts where players should be in there prime right now (S38-S40) there were not a lot of elite talents to come from those drafts. Yes there were a lot of depth coming from those drafts but no real elite talents. I am sure in 3-5 seasons the league will be really competitive again.

 

Also goalies play a huge part in this, look at the league, after the big three retired there is really only two goaltenders over what, 500tpe? 

[eaglesfan036 4,593]

Yeah I remember quite a few seasons ago when the league was super weak, then it got good again for a few seasons and now its kind of at the end of  all the stars. But I think its just because if you look at the drafts where players should be in there prime right now (S38-S40) there were not a lot of elite talents to come from those drafts. Yes there were a lot of depth coming from those drafts but no real elite talents. I am sure in 3-5 seasons the league will be really competitive again.

 

Also goalies play a huge part in this, look at the league, after the big three retired there is really only two goaltenders over what, 500tpe? 

wingod, brooksuck, and mikealgod