The Hockey News Front Office Rankings: Colorado Avalanche

The Hockey News released the results of a fan survey today listing every NHL franchise from No. 1 to 30. Results were gathered from more than 200 participants, who answered questions pertaining to their favorite team in the following categories: Roster Building, Cap Management, Drafting and Developing, Trading, Free Agency, Vision. Responses were then averaged to create a Front Office Confidence metric.

Sitting atop the list was the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team that has experienced considerable playoff success in recent years and just re-signed its franchise player, Steven Stamkos, in free agency. At the bottom? The Vancouver Canucks, who have produced a middling product on the ice for a number of years now. Have they been the worst team in hockey? Not at all, but their fans have little faith in the front office to turn it around.

Which leads us to Colorado’s ranking.

With just two playoff appearances in the last seven years, fans’ pessimism is certainly justified, but maybe that was offset by the glut of young talent? Nope, the Avalanche popped up at No. 24 on the list, last among Western Conference Central Division teams.

THN summarized their ranking below:

"We’ve now reached the point of the rankings where the majority of people aren’t confident with what the team is doing. For the Avalanche, it’s their vision that’s the most troubling as people don’t really see what they’re trying to accomplish. They’ve lost Paul Stastny and Ryan O’Reilly in recent years and didn’t get much in the way of a return and there’s persistent rumours about all their talented young players being in play. Not a great look for a team that’s had a lot of trouble building around them."

Follow this link to see the full rankings as well as the breakdown for the individual categories. Vote in our poll below and let us know if you agree.