The top 5 worst decisions of the 2021-22 NHL season

0 out of 5

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When looking back at seasons past, it’s always easy to pick out the highlights and smart moves, and recall the fun and excitement that transpired. All of this is especially true for Colorado Avalanche fans right now.

However, not every team is the Avalanche. Looking back on the past season, many fans can just as easily bring up painful memories of missed opportunities, frustrating decisions, and the grievous losses that resulted. For some teams, those wasted opportunities last season could have repercussions for years to come.

How general managers and coaches treat their rosters can mean the difference between them making the playoffs or missing out, or becoming an annual Stanley Cup contender versus a lottery team. While we like to praise the best moves, brooding over the bad ones can serve as a valuable lesson in what not to do in team building.

Still, some mistakes are bigger than others, and that’s what we’ll focus our attention on as we look back at the five worst decisions of the 2021-2022 season.

1 out of 5

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To say that the Chicago Blackhawks have had a tough time over the past few seasons would be a massive understatement. The once-dominant Hawks have missed the playoffs in four of the last five seasons, and that one appearance came during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, which expanded the field to 24 teams (Chicago was No. 23).

Despite all of that, they’ve acted like they’ll have to rebuild on the fly while still having Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. Though new GM Kyle Davidson is getting things back on track with one goal, former GM Stan Bowman still clung to the glory days by trying to keep building Toews and Kane – both now in their mid-30s – while the rest of the around them the list crumbled.

Heading into the 2021-22 season, Bowman traded two first-round picks and a second-round pick against Columbus for defenseman Seth Jones. To the team’s credit, Jones has done well this season while playing plenty of minutes. Still, the Blackhawks have the third-worst record in the Western Conference, and a team that’s down and gives up their picks is a great way to stay there long.

Letting go of a dynasty is hard, especially when great memories are attached to famous players, but that’s why the GM position is difficult. Toews and Kane won’t be part of the next big Blackhawks teams, and sticking with them until last season’s trade close — even though Davidson was only a month into his tenure — will only make the rebuild take longer.

2 out of 5

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There’s always a sky-high premium on winning in the NHL, but in classic Las Vegas style, the Golden Knights take their drive to win to another level. Ever since they reached the Stanley Cup Finals in their first season, the bar has been raised forever.

However, as the latest expansion franchise, they don’t have many prospects in the pipeline. Having traded in veteran players every season for the past few seasons, they are even less proactive with young talent. That’s why last season’s move to acquire Jack Eichel from the Buffalo Sabers was so surprising.

Vegas has been plagued by injuries to key players all season, and the abandonment of Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs and a first-round pick for an elite player who has had a disc replacement raised more eyebrows.

When Eichel was ready to play after undergoing neck rehabilitation, star forward Mark Stone was done for the season (back surgery). Also, goaltender Robin Lehner only played 44 games thanks to separate lower and upper body injuries, and Max Pacioretty had to sit out 39 games due to various ailments.

The Golden Knights were so tied it was almost impossible to make any moves, not that they had to go too deep to overcome this barrage of injuries.

In the end, the Knights missed the postseason for the first time in their existence, costing Pete DeBoer his job as coach. They then traded Pacioretty to Carolina this summer for “future considerations” to free up salary space, and they added Shea Weber’s contract to give them long-term injured reserve relief to get under the cap this season.

The addition of Acorn didn’t derail their 2021-22 season – and it might work out in the end – but the trade was just another example of Vegas selling its future to win right now. Eventually she will catch up.

3 out of 5

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Senators GM Pierre Dorion has a lot to cover during his tenure in Canada’s capital. The team was run on a tight budget, their luck at developing prospects was hot and cold, and some of their trades – ie, Matt Murray’s trade – were dubious to say the least.

But after four straight seasons out of the playoffs and the addition of star forwards Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stützle, who are teaming up with young defender Thomas Chabot, Dorion declared at the start of the season that “the rebuild is complete”.

Time to plan the parade? Not now.

Ottawa’s 0.445 point percentage in 2021-2022 was the second-highest mark since their last playoff season, 2016-2017. The catch? The best grade came in 2020-2021 at .455, so they actually moved back last season.

The Senators’ offense was a major concern as they finished 25th in the NHL. There was no goal depth apart from Tkachuk (67 points), Stützle (58), Josh Norris (55 goals) and Drake Batherson (44, who missed 36 games through injury). No other player cracked 40 points and only three had more than 30.

4 out of 5

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If there’s one truth they all share about the Philadelphia Flyers, it’s that they’re always on the hunt for the next big, bloody, game-changing defenseman. Since Chris Pronger retired in 2011, they’ve consistently tried to land the next great defender. Her pick last summer was Rasmus Ristolainen.

The Flyers traded their first-round picks in the 2021 draft (14th overall) and up for Buffalo to acquire the 6’4″, 220-pound Ristolainen. At that point, they were probably feeling their days of worry about who would lay the body While the Flyers focused on Ristolainen’s physical attributes and his hitting and scoring stats, the deeper stats told a very different story.

From 2018 to 2021, Ristolainen had the 11th-worst expected goal percentage among defenders with 2,500 minutes or more in 5-on-5 scenarios (46.3 percent, via NaturalStatTrick.com) and he also had the fifth-worst CorsiFor percentage (46.3 ). In short, despite playing countless minutes (nearly 18 minutes per game in 5-on-5 alone), he regularly struggled to own the puck and was on the ice to allow more quality scoring chances than he produced.

Despite those numbers, along with some other struggles early in his tenure with the Flyers, Philadelphia GM Chuck Fletcher rewarded Ristolainen with a five-year, $25.5 million extension in March.

Ristolainen’s numbers have remained virtually the same as they have been in Buffalo for the past three seasons. The Flyers got the exact player they traded for, but how they see him couldn’t be more different than many.

5 out of 5

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Thanks to Igor Shesterkin’s spectacular Vezina win and the explosive attacking performance of Artemi Panarin (96 points), Mika Zibanejad (81 points), Chris Kreider (52 goals, 77 points) and Adam Fox (74 points), the New York Rangers surprisingly ended up in the top four teams in the Eastern Conference.

Despite these strengths, they never figured out what defense was.

Among Rangers defenders who played more than 300 minutes last season, one player had a CorsiFor over 50 percent in 5-on-5 (K’Andre Miller, 50.1) and one had an expected goal average of over 50 percent (Fox, 50.6). . They had Jacob Trouba and Ryan Lindgren within reach of Miller and Fox in those areas, but they still didn’t give Shesterkin enough relief.

The Rangers’ only signing at the close on defense was Philadelphia’s Justin Braun, who gave up a 2023 third-round pick to get him. Braun was an immediate positive addition to the group defensively to end the season but fell sharply in the playoffs.

Despite the fact that the Rangers made the Eastern Conference Finals, they made it possible while conceding the most high dangerous scoring chances in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Their shot attempt difference was the fifth worst (46.95), and only one team among them made it past the first round (St. Louis). No Rangers defender had a positive shot or expected goal percentage.

That Rangers were two wins away from the Stanley Cup Finals is unbelievable. Now think how well it could have gone if they had supported the back line a little more.