Rebuilding is nothing new in sports and definitely not new when it comes to the NHL.
Some teams are able to turn things around in a year or two while others wander in the frozen wasteland for a decade or more trying to figure things out. Whether it's mostly painless or entirely painful leading to suffering, rebuilding is a fact of life.
Fortunately for us during this summer without hockey, there are a lot of teams either coming out of, in the midst of, or just entering the rebuilding process and we're going to grade them out accordingly and as fairly as possible.
So, how is your team faring in trying to reclaim past glory? Let's find out.
Anaheim Ducks
You all know about Trevor Zegras, Troy Terry and Jamie Drysdale, but the Ducks' minor league and draft stockpile is worth watching very closely over the coming few years.
They'll have 2023 No. 2 pick Leo Carlsson itching to make the roster immediately this fall and 2021 third-round pick Sasha Pastujov will enter his first pro season after a successful junior career. No. 22 pick Nathan Gaucher was a physical and defensive dynamo for Quebec on the way to winning the Memorial Cup.
On defense is where things are really looking up.
2022's No. 10 pick Pavel Mintyukov lit up the OHL last season with 88 points in 69 games. That kind of offense will grab everyone's attention and the Ducks should be very excited by his progress. Besides McTavish from the 2021 draft, they've got defensemen Olen Zellweger and Tyson Hinds coming off big years.
Zellweger had 80 points in 55 games between Everett and Kamloops and then put up 29 points in 14 playoff games with the Blazers. Hinds, a third-round pick, had 54 points in 56 games with Sherbrooke in the QMJHL, eighth-best among defensemen in the league.
In goal, they've got 23-year-old Lukas Dostal primed to be John Gibson's backup and perhaps even more primed to take the starting job if/when Gibson is traded. He had a great season in San Diego in the AHL before he was brought up to the NHL in the second half.
Grade: B
Arizona Coyotes
I know everyone loves cracking jokes about the Coyotes, but with what they have going on in their system, they'll be the ones laughing in the end.
It's tough to count Clayton Keller as part of the rebuild here since he's 24 (soon to be 25), but he's the guy they're building around. Matias Maccelli had a strong first season while Jack McBain and Barrett Hayton showed improvement as strong depth players. Defenseman J.J. Moser has sneakily been a good puck carrier and setup player.
What Arizona has on the way is going to be worth the wait. 2021 first-round No. 9 pick, forward Dylan Guenther, got a taste of the NHL last season, but he'll likely be in the desert full-time this season after having a dynamite season with Seattle in the WHL.
Their 2022 first-round picks are shaping up strong. Logan Cooley (third overall) leading the way after being one of the top freshman scorers in the NCAA with Minnesota. Center Connor Geekie (11th overall) had 77 points in 66 games with an explosive Winnipeg team in the WHL and defenseman Maveric Lamoureux (29th overall) and 19 points in 35 games to go with 62 penalty minutes.
Although their 2023 draft looked a little odd at the moment, their first-round picks defenseman Dmitry Simashev (sixth overall) and 6'5" forward Danil But (12th overall) can be players. The only question there is if they panicked picking Simashev after Montréal snagged defenseman David Reinbacher just ahead of them. Time will bear that out, but in a vacuum, those are strong picks and guys who should be contributors when things are really rounding into form at the NHL level.
They're missing a strong goalie prospect, but with Karel Vejmelka and Connor Ingram in the NHL and not too old, they're OK.
Grade: B-minus
