Worst team to try to build a contender from

[Maaaasquito]

I dunno a lot of people are going about it at a completely different point-of-view that I would have, not that its a bad thing...

I\'m thinking at least if you have a young team, you\'re cap is going to be low so it\'s easier to make FA acquisitions or draft younger players and build from the ground up.

I\'m thinking that if you had a team full of overpaid vets it\'d be harder to build a contender from...

First team that came to my mind was the Rangers...

Drury, Gomez are going to account for 14 mill of the cap, that plus you throw in Redden that brings it up to 20 mil and you chuck in Lundy\'s salary, it\'s 27.782 in salary for 4 players... 4! You can\'t build a team based on a solid goalie, and 2 70 point centerman, and a 30 point D-man...

And the worst part of it is that all those contracts are long-term, and in this day and age you can\'t get rid of those contracts, so you\'re stuck with them for the long haul.

With the Islanders, Thrashers at least you have cap room, where you can build from draft picks and add free agents along the way and be a legitimate contender in 3-4 years time like Chicago, Pittsburgh, Washington has. NY you\'ll continue to be 6-8 spot and never really have a legitimate shot at the cup and never really have a chance to rebuild from the ground up.

Another team is Philly, they have a good team, but is it really a legitimate contender? Everyone seemed to have a great year on the Flyers, what ends up happening if they all suck. All those contracts are gonna be albatrosses...

Hartnell, Briere, Richards, Carter, Gagne, Timonen... that\'s 33.03 mill committed to 6 players for the long-term, if they do well they\'re alright, but if they have a year like they did in 06-07 they\'re SCREWED...

I would much rather prefer building a team from the ground up than to have aging overpaid vets as albatrosses trying to build a contender.

[sexymountain]

Philly is on the brink of Stanley Cup success, just need a goalie better than biron/nittymaki. Briere for Gigure?