It doesn't reflect the extenuating circumstances. The full list, with a side of bile, is after the jump.
- Plymouth Whalers 885
- London Knights 844
- Barrie Colts 830
- Kitchener Rangers 821
- Ottawa 67's 796
- Guelph Storm 783
- Belleville Bulls 780
- Soo Greyhounds 739
- Peterborough Petes 730
- Windsor Spitfires 706
- Sarnia Sting 694
- Owen Sound Attack 685
- Brampton Battalion 678
- Mississauga-St. Michael's Majors 675
- Erie Otters 661
- Kingston Frontenacs 642
- Oshawa Generals 641
- Sudbury Wolves 639
- North Bay Centennials/Saginaw Spirit 587
- Mississauga/Niagara IceDogs 532
In defence of Fronts owner Doug Springer and GM-for-life/permanent interim coach Larry Mavety, Kingston isn't centrally located to Ontario's densely populated Golden Horseshoe, which produces so many good players. Neither are the Belleville Bulls (seventh-best record in the league over the same timeframe, including two Memorial Cup appearances), Sault Ste. Marie (eighth), Windsor (10th) or Owen Sound (12th). The Brampton Battalion (13th) and Mississauga-St. Michael's Majors (14th), well, they got to draft players off of every team in the league when they came into being in the late '90s. Anyone who would be self-righteously indignant over this, well, they don't realize that being in the bottom quadrant over the past decade, but having never finished dead last and falling heir to a can't-miss kid such as John Tavares, Steven Stamkos or John McFarland, is really kind of an accomplishment.
Oh, but Oshawa and Sudbury are just a smidge worse. The 10-year timeframe also includes the IceDogs' gong show years, when they totalled only 84 points in their first four seasons (one less than they had in their first season in Niagara). They've outperformed Kingston over the past six. The North Bay-Saginaw franchise also had some rough times, including a relocation, before it got the Colbert Bump.
That leaves the Fronts' brain trust as the league's reigning icons of ineptitude.
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4 comments:
I'm surprised Kingston is that high......
Well, Jimmy Hulton (remember him? Couldn't work for Mavety, but could work with Pete DeBoer?) had a decent season with them in '05-06, and they had an 84-point year in 1999-2000 when they had Andrew Raycroft and Sean Avery.
Plus Oshawa and Sudbury have bottomed out a couple times, 'Sausa/Niagara had those first 4 years, and North Bay/Saginaw had a rough go before that franchise got the Colbert Bump.
How 'bout those Bellevillians being 7th? Considering there were some lean years around '03, '04, that's pretty good.
"Kingston isn't centrally located to Ontario's densely populated Golden Horseshoe, which produces so many good players".
Think of the Soo Greyhounds - kids from the 'golden horse shoe' don't even report there because it is so far up north of that farup north place called Barrie. Closest home game is Sudbury - 3.5 hour car drive one way.
Hey, I noted that the Soo is eighth on the list, even though it's the league's northern and western outpost. Kingston can't use location as an excuse.
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