Futile Franchises

ESPN's Mike & Mike were on the air this morning discussing the most confused, dysfunctional franchises in professional sports.  They went over some of their choices (Raiders, Yankees, Knicks) but of course forgot about the NHL.  Here at HockeyDirt we thought we'd come up with our own list for the franchise futility hall of fame.   

NHL - New York Islanders:  The Isles have made the playoffs three times in the last 12 years, getting bounced out in the first round every time.  The strength of the Islanders claim to being the worst franchise in all sports rests on their bizarre management moves in the summer of 2006.  After briefly raising hopes with the hiring of former Ranger GM Neil Smith, former Sabres Coach Ted Nolan & former star Pat Lafontaine, the wacky Isles are back with a vengeance.  Smith was fired 6 weeks into the job & replaced by backup goalie Garth "RoboGoalie" Snow.  Lafontaine quietly resigned, apparently after seeing that this train is headed for a wreck.  Nolan is the 9th Islander coach in the last decade.

The Islanders have a knack for trading away talent including Zdeno Chara, Jason Spezza, Wade Redden, Eric Brewer, Raffi Torres, Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan McCabe & Roberto Luongo.  Rick DiPietro's 15-year $67.5M contract - the longest in NHL history - confirms that Charles Wang & Mike Milbury are determined to follow their own (crystal meth addled) drummer down the path to mediocrity.  (The season is young, but the Isles are already 0-2 on the "strength" of DiPietro's bloated 4.85 GAA.)

NHL - Chicago Blackhawks:  The Hawks haven't won the Cup since 1961 and have missed the playoffs the last 3 seasons and 7 of the last 8 years.  To be fair, GM Dale Talon's moves to bring in Adrian Aucoin & Nikolai Khabibulin were derailed by injuries.  Eric Daze's promise as one of the league's bright young stars has been erased by a series of back injuries and the club lost Tuomo Ruutu for most of last season.

While not on the scale of the DiPietro deal, the Hawks have taken a huge risk in signing Martin Havlat to a 3 year, $18 million contract.  Havlat is a big talent whose game seems perfectly suited to the speedy new NHL, but he's had more than his share of injuries and he has only modest familiarity with his own end of the ice.  The concept of backchecking appears foreign to the Senator formerly known as "Mach 9".  (In an interview I recall Havlat saing he is a big fan of the TV show "24" - is that why he now wears this number?)  He hadly seems like a six million dollar man. The Forechecker thinks Hawks coach Trent Yawney will be the first coach fired this season. 

NFL - Oakland Raiders:  0-4 record, including 2 blowouts and losses to 2 of the league's weakest teams (Browns, 49ers).  An offensive coordinator who's most recent job was managing a bed & breakfast.  A legendary head coach who may not have what it takes to succeed in today's NFL.  A disgruntled "superstar" who says he's not concerned about losing because "it doesn't seem like nobody (sic) else is concerned."  A wacky owner who appears to have lost his gift for assembling formidible teams based on shrewd drafting and the ability to revive the careers of players cast aside by others as washed up  or trouble makers.   Many NFL pundits think the Raiders have a legitimate shot at eclipsing the 0-14 1976 Bucaneers by "running the table" to a 0-16 record.  (NFL runner up - Detroit Lions)

NBA - Golden State Warriors: - 12 consecutive seasons without a playoff appearance.  A knack for trading players to other teams, only to watch them move elsewhere to achieve great things (Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison, Chris Webber, and Mitch Richmond).  15 consecutive sub-.500 seasons.  (NBA runner up - New York Knicks)

MLB - Kansas City Royals - with the Montreal Expos now in Washington, the Royals are the poster boys for all that it wrong with the economics of baseball.  Nonetheless, the success of the Twins, A's & others proves that not all of KC's problems are payroll related. The team has now gone 20 years without a post-season appearance and have played over .500 once in the past decade.  For the third consecutive season the once-proud team of George Brett & Bret Saberhagen lost 100+ games.  Although the Royals are owned by rich former Wal Mart exec David Glass - the team is run on the cheap and attendance is suffering. (Runner up - Lots of choices here, but it is hard to overlook the Cubs as they approach the 100th anniversary of their last World Series victory.)

Comments

[The Forechecker]

You want a pathetic franchise? Go with the Detroit Lions. After GM Matt Millen compiled the worst NFL record by far in his first 5 seasons, the Fords gave him a 5-year contract extension earlier this year! This after a track record of 1st-round picks including Joey Harrington, Charles Rogers, and Mike Williams. Oh yeah, and there's Corey Bradford who was signed as a multi-million dollar free agent this summer and promptly cut loose after a few weeks.

The topper was the guy who rented a billboard in Detroit last season just to put up the phrase "Rebuilding Since 1957"...