An Evil Comparison

I often get in the habit of comparing ourselves to our expansion brethren which I consider to be Nashville, Atlanta, and Minnesota. Nashville, Atlanta, and Minnesota have all made the playoffs of course, but that is in the past. Here are the current depth charts:


Columbus



Centers
Vermette, Brassard, Malhotra, Novotny, Gratton
Wings
Nash, Huselius, Voracek, Umberger, Williams, Torres, Modin, Dorsett, Boll
D
Commodore, Hejda, Tyutin, Klesla, Russell, Rome, Methot, Backman
Goalies
Mason, Dubi
Top Prospects
Filatov, Mayorov, Picard, Goloubef, Ruth, Holden, Clitsome, Lacosta, Lalande


Nashville



Centers
Arnott, Legwand, Nichol, Bonk
Wings
Dumont, Sullivan, Fiddler, Erat, Jones, Ward, Tootoo
D
Weber, Suter, Hamhuis, Zanon, de Vries, Klein
Goalies
Rinne, Ellis
Top Prospects
Wilson, Pickard, Blum, Franson

Minnesota




Centers
Koivu, Belanger, Sheppard, Fritsche
Wings
Gaborik*, Bouchard, Nolan, Brunette, Clutterbuck, Veilleux, Miettinen, Olvecky
D
Burns, Schultz, Johnsson, Skoula, Bergeron, Zidlicky
Goalies
Backstrom, Harding
Top Prospects
Gillies, Pouliot, Cuma, Kalus

Atlanta




Centers
White, Peverly, Slater, Perrin
Wings
Kovalchuk, Little, Armstrong, Kozlov, Boulton, Crabb, Stuart, Thorburn
D
Hainsey, Enstrom, Bogosian, Valabik, Exelby, Salmela
Goalies
Lehtonen, Hedberg
Top Prospects
Pavelec, Holzapfel, Machecek, Esposito

I don't even feel this is a contest on paper at this time. Not only do we clearly have the best roster, but we have the best prospects.

IMO we would either rate best or 2nd best in every category C, W, D, G, Prosp.

It has been many painful years to get to this point, but we are beginning to see the rewards for our suffering. Sure Minnesota, Nashville, Atlanta have all made the playoffs, but are they going to this year.... next year? I don't like to give a lot of sympathy to the Preds, but their time was budgeted away from competitiveness. Minnesota and Atlanta have not attracted free agents and do not have the assets to trade to improve their teams.

Hit the Comments. How do we stack up? Is it close