Race For The Prize

Hockey Digest, Dec, 2000 by Karl Samuelson

How have recent NHL expansion teams, such as Radek Bonk's Ottawa Senators, so quickly molded themselves into playoff mainstays--and even Cup contenders?

THERE WAS A TIME IN THE NHL when a visit to an expansion team arena translated into an easy victory. That notion is now as out of date in the modern game as the idea of "soft Europeans" and "never leave your feet to make a save." The quick turnaround in the fortunes of recent expansion clubs can be attributed to the same factors that enabled the New Jersey Devils to win the Stanley Cup last season--expert scouting, strict adherence to a team philosophy, good fan support, and, most importantly, being prepared for the opposition.

When the NHL doubled in size for the 1967-68 season, the six new franchises were stocked with career minor-leaguers and castoffs from Original Six teams who well past the prime of their career. Occasionally, a crafty general manager might pluck a potential late bloomer or a solid prospect from an established club but often had to surrender a high draft pick to do so.

Former Montreal Canadiens general manager Sam Pollock had the skill down to a science, dealing a veteran player in his mid-30s--or a collection of minor leaguers with no chance of ever making the parent team--to an expansion team in exchange for one or two high first-round draft choices. As a result, the Canadiens had six of the Top 25 picks in the 1971 entry draft and used them to select, among others, future Hall-of-Famers Guy Lafleur and Larry Robinson. Pollock stockpiled four first-round picks in the. 1974 draft and further cemented his team's supremacy with the addition of Doug Risebrough and Mario Tremblay. Arguably, the Canadiens dynasty of the 1970s was created at the expense of panic-stricken expansion teams.

Recent expansion franchises have been wise in avoiding a jump start in favor of patiently developing their young prospects. The Ottawa Senators struggled through their first couple of seasons only to recently emerge as One of the NHL's top teams. Highly prized prospects such as Radek Bonk, Daniel Alfredsson, Marian Hossa, and Wade Redden were never cast into the role of franchise-maker; they were each given time to develop.

"Expectations can be unreasonable with 18-year-olds," says Senators scout Phil Myre. "You expect them to play hard and lead the team every night and they can't. Even if they are exceptionally gifted there are still no guarantees.

Consider Mario Lemieux. It took Mario quite some time before he could develop that winning edge. I think teams expect too much from young players, especially those first-round picks that come in and play right away."

Yet the Senators patient approach was initially met with derision. "Ottawa has one of the most talented clubs around," says Tom Thompson, chief amateur scout for the Minnesota Wild. "They were ridiculed by a lot of people during their first few years because they took a different approach. Ottawa built through the draft with their young guys and had to wait until they were good players."

No recent expansion club has garnered greater respect than the San Jose Sharks, which entered the league in 1991 and established an NHL record two years later for the largest single-season turnaround in league history--a 58-point improvement over their sophomore campaign. The Sharks put San Jose hockey on the map in the 1994 postseason with a stunning seven-game upset over the powerhouse Detroit Red Wings, and then went within a goal of eliminating the Toronto Maple Leafs in the following round. They continued their Cinderella drive the following year by eliminating the Calgary Flames in the opening round before succumbing to the re-energized Red Wings. Ironically, the postseason success at the time covered, up the Sharks internal problems that were created by having no clear leader in the front office.

"I think those two Cinderella runs covered up a lot of serious infighting," says Sharks executive vice president and general manager Dean Lombardi. "It all goes back to when they fired Jack Ferreira after the first year and decided to work with a three-headed [management structure]. Not having anybody in charge really set us back, but those two playoff runs covered up a lot of our problems.

"We're beyond all that now."

While the Sharks have experienced wide fluctuations in the success of their on-ice product, the one constant through the team's 10-year history is fan support.

"The fan loyalty has just been tremendous," says Lombardi. "It's analogous to having a McDonald's restaurant on the perfect street corner. We are the only game in town and we are in an area that is driving the economy. There is a large population base in San Jose, and Silicon Valley has a young, gunslinger mentality so it's a perfect environment for a relatively new sport in a new building; we fit in with the image of the community as a whole."

"We had a down period after that Cinderella run five years ago but the fans still supported the team," says Lombardi, who joined the Sharks in their inaugural year as the assistant general manager. "As bad as we were back in 1995-96--and with all the turmoil in the organization--the fans got ticked off but they were still there. I think the place would really go nuts if we become a contender and the fans deserve that to happen.