https://theathletic.com/4799749/2023/08/30/nhl-front-office-confidence-rankings-2023/

1. Devils
2. Canes
3. Bolts
4. Stars
5. Avs
6. Vegas
7. Panthers
8. Sabres
9. Kraken
10. Penguins
11. Wild
12. Detroit
13. Kings
14. Habs
15. Chicago
16. Yotes
17. Sens
18. Ducks
19. Bruins
20. Oilers
21. Blues
22. CBJ
23. Predators
24. Flyers
25. Rags
26. Caps
27. Leafs
28. Jets
29. Sharks
30. Canucks
31. Flames
32. Islanders

Generally it's a decent ranking as it aggregates scores between the fan base voting on their own team and the public voting for other teams.

Too low:


Too high:


What do you guys think?

I’m bullish on STL, really like the cap and prospect environment of the team.

I guess I cannot relate to my fellow blues fans on social media, various bloggers, etc., who seem to have the majority opinion that:

The defense is old
The defense sucks
The contracts are immovable
Doug Armstrong messed up giving out no move clauses
Kyrou/Thomas are overpaid
Kyrou/Thomas are too soft

And I disagree entirely on every single point.

Last season the Blues had 3 simultaneous injuries to their LHD depth chart, they also traded away 1 guy who was not injured. (Mikkola). The rangers loved him so much they let him walk. So … I mean - there’s only 50 roster slots. Coronavirus pushed all the cap teams right up to it. There was no way out.

Additionally, last season the younger forwards were all under 200 games played. All under the age of peak performance. All showed improvement. 0 worries.

As a result, last season was a blessing for the franchises future, but not indicative of front office failure. The front office took the outcome and flipped it very nicely, drafting 2 duos and multiple high floor prospects.

Meanwhile, the defense likely won’t experience 3 simultaneous injuries to one position, and has what will likely be the top pp/60 skaters in the league not in Edmonton in Krug and Perunovich. The desire to find a partner for Parayko is the only outstanding issue, but Parayko Leddy was absolutely fine until it was forced apart due to injury.

While the No move clauses suck, this team is dense. That is the trade off. I prefer that trade off. The front office got Kevin Hayes and Jakob Vrana half off, and Kapanen is a low AAV skater acquired for free. Sammy Blais and Oskar Sundqvist are both signed under market value. The team has homegrown goalies all the way down the depth chart. This is a dense roster. I love it.

The defense is not old now. It will be old. A future problem.

I personally like every choice the front office has made (without the benefit of hindsight) and believe the team is both a bubble contender now, but also in the position to build upon it, with the only issues being defensive turnover over time.

The bar is set too high in stl. The team hasn’t used a buyout ever, has more than its own draft picks moving forward, and has a large number of nhl quality prospects at various points of development while being arguably/potentially competitive.

I find these lists funny as often they are proved inaccurate by the end of the season.

Like if Leafs win the cup all the doubters go oh I had full confidence this whole time

Same with NYR, or any of the teams at the bottom

Chicago, Montreal, Sens are too high imo, Penguins are waaayyy too high imo, the Dubas fanboying is wild, he gave out a lot of hefty contracts, traded a 1st + 2nd + Players for a guy who has to have 80 point seasons a dman too maintain his value. I liked their draft, but their moves leave them just barely above where they were imo.


Jets are too low, Leafs are way too low imo, Sharks could be a little higher imo too, I think a lot of people are too harsh on them. Grier is just fixing the mistakes of Doug Wilsons final years. Caps should be higher too.