What have the teams done over the last 10 years after year 3 of their reconstruction?

The Montreal Canadiens are immersed in year 3 of their reconstruction, and the debate rages among fans and observers: is it time for Kent Hughes to turn into a buyer from now on?

• Read also: The Canadian ends his losing streak

The newspaper has listed several of the reconstructions of the last 10 years in the NHL. The aim was above all to see what these training courses did, after the third year of their process. There is no clear conclusion: some have tried the big move, others have remained conservative. However, it is rather rare for a rebuild to be completed after year 3.

To establish a guideline, we evaluated Year 1 of a rebuild to the first in which a team finished among the five worst teams in the NHL.

Buffalo Sabers

Year 1 of reconstruction: 2013-2014 season (30^e and last place in the NHL)

They made draft picks in their first three years of rebuilding:

• Sam Reinhart (2^e in 2014)
• Jack Eichel (2^e in 2015)
• Alex Nylander (8^e in 2016)

Noteworthy moves made after year 3:

• Signing of Kyle Okposo for seven years and $42 million
• Acquisitions of Dmitry Kulikov and Anders Nilsson

The Sabers are immersed in an endless rebuild. For the purposes of the exercise, we decided to start at the 2013-2014 season but the previous season, they finished at 23^e rank of the circuit. Buffalo hasn’t made the playoffs since 2010-11.

The least we can say is that the signing of Okposo will not have met expectations. The veteran winger never surpassed the 45-point mark during his time in Buffalo, which just concluded as the Sabers traded him to the Florida Panthers at the latest trade deadline for Calle Sjalin and a seventh-round pick. The Sabers haven’t made the playoffs since, although they have drafted No. 1 overall twice since then.

Florida Panthers

Year 1 of reconstruction: 2012-2013 season (30^e and last place in the NHL)

They selected in the draft in their first three years of rebuilding:

• Aleksander Barkov (2^e in 2013)
• Aaron Ekblad (1^er in 2014)
• Lawson Crouse (10^e in 2015)

Noteworthy moves made after year 3:

• Acquisition of Reilly Smith with the contract of Marc Savard from the Bruins in exchange for Jimmy Hayes

The Panthers hit rock bottom in 2012-13, but when you look at where they are today, you might think their rebuild has paid off. It’s true, but it took a long time.

The Panthers were blessed with Reilly Smith who had two respectable seasons with the team before they traded him to Vegas in the expansion draft. The team made the playoffs in 2015-2016 but then had to wait until the 2020-2021 season to participate in spring ball again. Several important acquisitions, including Matthew Tkachuk, allowed the Panthers to finally rise to the rank of circuit powers.

Arizona Coyotes

Year 1 of reconstruction: 2014-2015 season (finished 29^e in the NHL)

They selected in the draft in their first three years of rebuilding:

• Dylan Strome (3^e in 2015)
• Clayton Keller (7)^e in 2016)

Noteworthy moves made after year 3:

• Acquisition of Derek Stepan in return for 7^e 2017 overall draft pick (became Lias Andersson)

The Coyotes’ rebuild is a true comedy of errors. From the selection of Dylan Strome at third place in 2015, when Mitch Marner was available (he was released one place later in Toronto), to the mess linked to the fact that they did not respect the recruiting rules which led to their was worth losing their first round pick in 2021, going through the Derek Stepan transaction after year 3 which resulted in nothing: it is not for nothing that the team continues to be part of the bottom teams classification.

Luckily for them, the Rangers screwed up royally with the pick they got in the Stepan trade, but there were some interesting players available at No. 7, including Casey Mittelstadt, Gabriel Vilardi, Martin Necas and Nick Suzuki, all of whom came out in the 13 first.

Ottawa Senators

Year 1 of reconstruction: 2017-2018 season (finished 30^e in the NHL)

They selected in the draft in their first three years of rebuilding:

• Brady Tkachuk (4^e in 2018)
• Tim Stutzle (3^e in 2020)

Noteworthy moves made after year 3:

• Signing of Evgenii Dadonov for three years
• Acquisitions of Matt Murray, Erik Gudbranson and Austin Watson

Dadonov was traded after just one season and Matt Murray had all kinds of injury issues. The Senators are the example that you don’t just have to draft early to get out quickly. The team didn’t go far wrong with its high picks and Tkachuk, Stutzle, Jake Sanderson and company became key pieces of the team. But it doesn’t work in Ottawa. The team tried to shake things up in the 2022 draft by trading the seventh overall pick to the Blackhawks for Alex DeBrincat but the latter, after one season in Ottawa, decided to deal with the Red Wings from Detroit as a free agent.

New Jersey Devils

Year 1 of reconstruction: 2016-2017 season (finished 27^e in the NHL)

They made draft picks in their first three years of rebuilding :

• Nico Hischier (1^er in 2017)
• Ty Smith (17^e in 2018)
• Jack Hughes (1^er in 2019)

Noteworthy moves made after year 3:

• Signing Wayne Simmonds for one year and $5 million
• Acquisitions of PK Subban and Nikita Gusev

The Devils made some major moves in 2019, even if Simmonds and Subban weren’t what they once were. Gusev arrived with enormous promise, being one of the most dominant players in the KHL. But that didn’t help the Devils reach the next level: they missed the playoffs the next three seasons, claiming Alexander Holtz, Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec along the way, before making the playoffs in 2023. It was thought then that They finally got through this rebuild, but they will likely miss the playoffs again this season.

Vancouver Canucks

Year 1 of reconstruction : 2015-2016 season (finished 28^e in the NHL)

They selected in the draft in their first three years of rebuilding:

• Olli Juolevi (5^e in 2016)
• Elias Pettersson (5^e in 2017)
• Quinn Hughes (7^e in 2018)

Noteworthy moves made after year 3:

• Signatures of Jay Beagle and Antoine Roussel

The Canucks drafted their number one center and number one defenseman during their first three years of rebuilding, but it still took six years after Hughes’ selection for them to finally become a top team. And it’s not because they didn’t try: in 2020, they traded their first-round pick for JT Miller, and the following year, they did the same in a trade that allowed them to get your hands on Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Conor Garland. Patience is starting to pay off in Vancouver.

Los Angeles Kings

Year 1 of reconstruction: 2018-2019 season (finished 30^e in the NHL)

They selected in the draft in their first three years of rebuilding:

• Alex Turcotte (5^e in 2019)
• Quinton Byfield (2^e in 2020)
• Brandt Clarke (8^e in 2021)

Noteworthy moves made after year 3:

• Signatures of Phillip Danault and Alexander Edler

The Kings’ situation is special. The team hit rock bottom in 2018-2019 despite the fact that some stars were still around the team. The signing of Danault after year 3 was an excellent move for the Kings who have not missed the playoffs since. The Kings haven’t been afraid to make a move since, trading young Brock Faber to the Minnesota Wild for Kevin Fiala in 2022, in addition to making a big move with Pierre-Luc Dubois last summer, a transaction that, for at the moment, is not yielding the expected results.

Exceptional people who change the game

The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Edmonton Oilers managed to get out of their respective reconstructions thanks to the draft and… luck, nothing more, nothing less. The Leafs won the lottery in 2016 to allow them to draft Auston Matthews who joined William Nylander and Mitch Marner selected in the previous two drafts.

For their part, the Oilers had a lucky hand by selecting Leon Draisaitl third overall in 2014 and then winning the Connor McDavid lottery in 2015. These exceptional talents are not available every year in the draft and the Maple Leafs and Oilers are two examples of teams that experienced setbacks at the right time. Again, the Oilers wanted to move a little too quickly after the selection of McDavid and made a huge mistake by signing Milan Lucic to a monstrous seven-year contract in 2016.