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Meteor showers are related to more recent comets, rather than old ones. I once asked Rob McNaught why we dont get storm event predictions, like we are for the Leonids this year, for more showers and he said it was only the 'young' showers that put on shows like that. For example, showers like the eta Aquarids, which are from Halley, have been around for centuries and have evened out, so to speak, along the orbit. The Leonids are young and lumpy. The Geminids are another interesting case in that they are at their peak ZHR around now - they only appeared in the late 19th century and by the beginning of the 22nd they should be just about gone. The debris stream will have shifted away from us. The Leonid stream is shifting through space too - if you look at historical records they were first mentioned as beeing seen in October! And the 1799 Leonid storm event was seen on November 12th. So in the future we can expect to see them closer to the 18th than the 17th, as the stream continues to shift.
I think most comets don't come anywhere near us, so we never get showers from them, but it is possible that things could change in the future. Jupiter is good at perturbing orbits so there might be a surprise waiting for us but it just hasn't been found yet.
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