iNHL 2021/22 Preseason power rankings, EASTERN CONFERENCE
Aug 22, 2017 7:48:34 GMT -5
Travis (DET), brentdog, and 3 more like this
Post by Ville (SJS) on Aug 22, 2017 7:48:34 GMT -5
Power rankings and season predictions, eastern conference
1. Boston Bruins finished last season 2nd overall in points and 1st in goals/game. They are returning with all the key pieces in place and they have star center Niklas Bäckström for the season. Brandon Saad was the league's top goalscorer with 51 and Kailer Yamamoto is quickly rising towards top numbers among wingers in the league, he had 72 points on the season. With Matt Duchene, Bäckström and Nico Hischier, even Patrice Bergeron, the Bruins are really solid at center and on the wings in addition to the mentioned there are Morand, Weissbach, Wennberg, Skager and more. This offense can again this year be one of the deadliest in the league.
On Defense the Bruins aren't lacking playmakers either. Dimitri Orlov, Julius Honka and Sami Vatanen are of elite level and Jake Bean had his strongest season to date. The Bruins have a reputation of somewhat of a gung-ho style of play and while scoring the most goals in the league, they were 16th in goals conceded. This defense is well suited for that excpect a lot of goals when the B's are playing. Lucas Peressini seems to be a lock between the pipes and does a good enough job to continue.
We expect Boston to be among the top-5 again when the regular season ends.
2. Buffalo Sabres boast one of the most talented and deepest squads in the league. Jack Eichel is one of the, if not the best center in the league. Svechnikov brothers, Reinhart, Cote, Smith-Pelly, Kirkland.. The list of playmakers on offense is impressing. The Sabres were 2nd in the league last season in goals scored, did lose one extremely talented forward in Vilardi, but that should not slow them down really, given the weapons that are left. Watch out for the younger Svechnikov who had 29 goals in his rookie season.
The Sabres traded for perennial all-star Tommy Vannelli to strenghten their defense. The top-3 is among the very best in the league (Vannelli, Chychrun and Carlsson), behind them there are solid guys in Harpur and Fitzgerald and the top talent of Philip Broberg and Marshall Warren. The annual Sabres goalie carousel sees Brandon Halverson as the starter and Juuse Saros as backup this year.
The only question regarding the Sabres is the overall youth of the team but the young players are extremely talented, so watch out for the Sabres this year too.
3. Philadelphia Flyers won the presidents trophy (again) last season as the best team in the regular season and conceded by far the least goals of any NHL team with only 182 on the season. Mostly due to cap restraints, the Flyers did lose their long time starter and all-star goalie Tuukka Rask. Jakub Voracek was also traded largely due to the same reasons, but his contributions lately had not been that impressive either. Claude Giroux continues wiith strong play season after season and Sean Couturier is probably the best and most complete "2nd C" in the league. Young Aidan Dudas, who was a PPG player in his first season in the AHL will also be making a claim for a center spot. On the wings the Flyers are loaded with Jake DeBrusk, Dmitrij Jaskin, Olivier Mathieu, Nikita Kucherov, Charlie Coyle and the list goes on. Quality throughout
On defense the Flyers parted with hard-nosed defensemen in Dillon Heatherington, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic, and are looking to replace those with young talent in Anthony Aguanno, Sean Day and Kenny Johnson. The core of the defense are Mark Friedman, Adam Larsson, Marcus Pettersson and Sami Niku. Also Jyrki Jokipakka has made a comeback to the league after signing a one year deal with the Flyers. Him and Johnson are probably the closest guys to the ones departed and might fit very well into the Philadelphia system. Tuukka Rask was replaced by another star goalie in Braden Holtby, so in theory that should be sorted too.
The Flyers look strong again.
4. Toronto Maple Leafs, the reigning champions. The Leafs had a nightmare start to last season. Dylan Strome was hurt for the season before it even started and the team was losing home and away. The season ended like a dream, but it was no fluke. Now when healthy, the top-6 forwards are Strome x2, Nugent-Hopkins, Galchenyuk, Mattheos and Brendan Leipsic. The offense is still young and looking very strong.
The defense has taken some hits, losing two regulars in the expansion (Dumba, Vande Sompel) and experienced verteran Erik Johnson was traded away due to cap issues. There is the talented trio of Playoff MVP -winner Ryan Murphy, Olli Määttä and Josh Maniscalco left. Maniscalco look ready for a top-4 spot, but that still leaves some holes for GM Grimsley to fill. Johnas Eriksson, a 23 year old defenseman was brought over from the SHL, Niklas Hansson and Michal Roman will probably also be considered. After trading Johnson, the team does have some cap room too to make a move for a defenseman and don't be surprised if they do. Antoine Bibeau has the starting job in goal.
With the core in place, the Maple Leafs look set for another strong season. Slight concerns on defense, but the will probably sort that one out quickly.
5. Ottawa Senators were 3rd in points in the entire league last season, made it to the 2nd round of playoffs where they lost to the would be champions in the Maple Leafs. The Senators have been a force in this league for a while now and their lowest point total in the past five seasons is 108. The succesful GM Bob Lawblaw was appointed general manager of the Seattle Sea Lions expansion franchise. The Senators now have a new GM in mr Thomas and are looking for more success under him.
The defense led by Erik Karlsson has been one of the strengths of this team for years and it's returning entirely for this season. Karlsson, Murray, Trouba and Englund are one of the strongest top-4's in the league.
Brendan Gallagher was a big loss in the expansion draft, but the strong core that are the centers Ryan Johansen, Mika Zibanejad and Kyle Turris are back. Anthony Duclair is the top winger at the moment and the team is probaby expecting Timo Meier to step up and strong performances from River Beattie, who had 21 goals last season. Even though losing a couple of forwards in the expansion the offense look fine and will definitely be enough to take this team to the postseason. The only question mark is, who's between the pipes? Is Edwin Minney going to be the man? Trading away Comrie does give the Senators some much needed breathing room cap-wise, though.
6. New York Islanders are led by one of the best lines in hockey. The forward trio of John Tavares, Anders Lee and Josh Ho-sang had 96 goals and 251 points last season. Matt Barzal And Beau Bennett do a good job of backing those guys up. Behind the obvious stars the offense looks solid but not too deep, injuries could pretty fast be a problem.
Morgan Rielly is the star on defense, behind him there is good young talent in Hanifin, Kneen, O'Grady and Merkley. This defense could be really good in 2-3 years. It raises a question though, that is it good enough right now? Especially now without Lundqvist in goal the defensive side of things might cause a problem. But if the Islanders get some goaltending and the young defense continues to improve, they will be good with the potent offense. Last year the Islanders made the playoffs with 92 points. They will be there again, fighting for it.
7. Columbus Blue Jackets are a team on the rise. The two past seasons have seen them stay on verge of a playoff spot until falling short in the end. Last season star center Sean Monahan lost nearly 50 games due to injury and adding him for the season should really push this team into the postseason. The Jackets were 9th in the league last season in goals scored and are returning with pretty much the same personnel (subtract Herzog, add Monahan), so they seem to have enough weapons on three lines to be constantly dangerous. Mackenzie Blackwood in goal had a strong season and was awarded with a new deal, he's excpected to carry the load. It's maybe a lack of competition in the goal crease that might cause some lapses during a long season, goaltending not the strongest part of this team.
The defense also features some potent scores in Zboril, Roy and Max LaJoie. Jakub Zboril made his final breakthrough to the leagues premium offensive defensemen with 63 points, Roy and Lajoie had 55 and 41 points respectively. The problem might have been the defensive side of things, and especially the penalty kill where the Jackets were among the worst in the league. If CBJ gets their players under control and not taking excessive amounts of penalties they should be in line to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since the 15/16 season.
8. Hartford Whalers made the playoffs last season, finishing 5th in the Atlantic and 6th in the conference with 93 points. They had a hard fought series with the Flyers in the 1st round, but eventually lost in the 7th game. Hartford has the core of the team returning, most importantly Defenseman Aaron Ekblad, the center duo of Nick Bjugstad and Aleksander Barkov and goalie Semyon Varlamov, who had an excellent season. On the wing Maxime Fortier had a great sophmore season with 24 goals, and Gabriel Landeskog is a certain 60+ points for every season.
On defense there is one of the best in Aaron Ekblad and Andy Welinski, who has established himself as a top-4 defenseman. 2018 1st round pick Jared McIsaac also looks like the real deal. Losing 40-point scorer Thomas Schemitsch in the expansion was quite a big loss, but with Calvin de Haan and Mackenzie Weegar around it shouldn't be too much of a problem. The Whalers could use probably one more top-6 winger, but are projected to make the playoffs with most of the team returning for one more run.
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9. New Jersey Devils lost 52 goals scored from last season in Evgeny Malkin and Max Pacioretty. The team is led by the elite defense pairing of Hampus Lindholm and Dougie Hamilton, Ryan Pilon also had a good year and is a good steady defenseman behind the stars. Other than that trio it's promising youngsters Bode Wilde and Quinton Hughes and possibly William Pethrus, who came as a free agent from Timrå in the SHL. The top pairing is one of the best in the league, but behind the top three it looks somewhat thin unless some of the rookies can really step up. Steve Mason will probably be the starting goalie and with a proven veteran between the pipes, the goaltending should not be a problem.
On offense all the talk in the offseason has been about the crazy contract GM Bold dished out on the biggest free agent prize of the year in German Rubtsov. Rubtsov is pretty much like all of the NJD offense; talented and unproven. Jason Zucker is an established goalscorer and of good NHL standard and Michael McLeod had a real breakout season with 61 points. Behind those guys there is a lot of potential but not so much proven quality. Remains to be seen if the young guys can step up in place of the departed veterans. NJD made the last wildcard spot last season in the east, our prediction is that they will just fall short of that this year.
10. Carolina Hurricanes had a really bad start last season and GM Constantin felt the need to pull the trigger on some major trades and have a change of direction. Big names in Tyler Seguin, Patrick Kane and Damon Severson were all traded away in quick succession and the Hurricanes finished the season with 67 points. The Canes have some exceptional young talent onboard in Nolan Patrick, Joe Veleno and Jan Micak to name a few. Apparently this is the road the franchise is taking, relying on these young talents, but with some battleworn veterans thrown into the mix. Mark Stone was an excellent acquisition by the team to ease the burden on the young players, Phil Kessel should also have some gas left in his tank.
On defense there's top players in Justin Faulk, John Klingberg and Drew Doughty and top talent in Jan Micak. Established NHL defender Jacob Larsson and forever young Duncan Keith complete the group. In goal Michael Hutchinson was brought in from the Rangers and he most certainly can be a solid starter for this team.
The big question is on the young stars in Veleno and Patrick. Are they ready to carry this team? Defense should be good enough, there are some goal scoring wingers too, but our consensus here is that the Hurricanes are still a year or two away. Of course they can prove us wrong too..
11. Tampa Bay Lightning were surprisingly strong last season, given the fact that the team traded away pretty much all of their established talent, in particular star player Steven Stamos and defensive leader Victor Hedman. Hanging on for a playoff spot until the last 10-15 games, they really surprised many with their performances. Nikolai Goldobin, who had a career year with 29 goals is returning with Filip Rydström and Carl Gervais, who both had 50+ point seasons. Tampa also landed one of the most coveted free agents in Rasmus Asplund, who has been in the KHL all-star game three years in a row while playing for Slovan Bratislava. He is originally a 2nd round pick by the Edmonton Oilers and is a fine 2-way center, ready for NHL action. Tampa is also excpecting big things from Jakub Vrana and Pontus Åberg, and especially Vrana could have a strong season if given a big role here. In goal Andrei Vasilevskiy was peppered with shots last season and a big reason to the good performances, he will be in a big role again.
The defense is probably lacking a true leader and top defenseman, but it's still young and developing. Karlis Cukste, two time all-star from the Dinamo Riga in the KHL was brought in along with Brady Skjei to complete the defensive corps. Overall the Tampa By Lightning look like a solid team, but are lacking in the top-end star players. They are hoping for Asplund and probably Vrana to take these roles and remains to be seen how well they do. Last season Tampa was 22nd in goals scored and 28th in goals conceded, so they need to improve a lot to have a better season this year. No playoffs for TB
12. New York Rangers had their first losing season since 03/04 last year. They lost longtime center Derek Stepan after last season and Kevin Hayes is the only really established center left on the team. On the wings the Rangers have a couple of dynamic players in Nikolaj Ehlers and Tomas Hertl, of whom Hertl had his 3rd consecutive 70+ point season last year. Jamie Benn and Zemgus Girgensons are quality players too and Benn matched his season best in goals last season. Owen Tippett and Dennis Yan are younger players that look ready for NHL -action. On the wings the Rangers look deep enough, but the center position is a concern here too. They might have to move Girgensons or even Benn to C if they can't find somebody else.
The Rangers have their standout defensemen from several seasons already in Nick Leddy, Cam Fowler, TJ Brodie and Kevin Shattenkirk, who joined before last season. Vince Dunn, Ryan Shea and Frederic Allard are also looking for spots on the roster. At least offensively this defense should be of good NHL -quality, maybe the defensive side of things causing some problems at time, the Rangers were 24th in goals against last season. Malcolm Subban was brought in to be the starting goalie, maybe he can turn things around for the Rangers, who haven't reached the postseason in six seasons despite some really good efforts.
13. Pittsburgh Penguins are in a stage of transition still after trading away the superstars in Crosby, Malkin and Letang. They also are up against the cap with only 31 contracted players, so a lot of work for the GM. That said they do have some really good players too. Pavel Zacha is one of the best young centers in the game and Nino Niederreiter constantly puts up over 30 goal seasons. They also have a couple of top-3 picks coming up in Leevi Aaltonen and Lucas Raymond. Hunter Shinkaruk also a good hard working winger for the Penguins. What they seem to lack at the moment are proven centers behind Zacha, and they are probably counting on Lukas Vejdemo or KHL-signing Ilya Nikolayev to have big seasons.
On defense the top-4 defensemen are Damon Severson and Derrick Pouliot, Dylan Coghlan looks like he is making his way in there too. Samuel Morin and Carl Dahlström are reliable bottom pairing guys. Star goalie Petr Mrazek continues to carry the load in net. The worries we have are the center position and the overall depth of the team. Cap issues meant the team couldn't sign top-4 defenseman Simon Despres and the 31 contracts might not be enough for the long season when injuries strike.
14. Detroit Red Wings have some exceptional players in place with Patrik Laine Ryan Mcleod. They hung in there last season but missed the playoffs with 82 points in the end. Simon Stransky had a breakout year with 56 points, and him, Nikita Popugayev, Max Jones and Carl Grundström are young players to keep an eye on This season. Ryan O'reilly and Marcus Johansson are solid veterans that might be moving on during the season.
On Defense there are Tyler Myers, Jake Gardiner and Tyson Barrie, all in their 30's and last year of their deals. We won't be surprised to see any of them move at some point of the season. Mikael Wikstrand had the best season of his career with 49 points last season, Vaakanainen, Reinhart and Quenneville complete the defense. In goal the Wings have Fredrik Andersen, who is among the elite goalies for sure. We think that the Red Wings do not quite have the personnel to compete for a playoff spot in the eastern conference this year. Especially on offense they do have a great young core to build around.
15. Washington Capitals are in the middle of a rebuild after the offloading of the generational talents in Ovechkin, Bäckström and Holtby. The team traded for C Sam Bennett in the offseason to be the first line center and offensive leader. This is the chance of his career for talented Bennett, who has been stuck behind very good players at WPG and DAL before coming to Washington. Bennett had a 61 point season in 18/19, so we firmly believe he has the skills to be the number one center here. Behind him the only proven scorers are Emerson Etem, who constantly puts up good numbers and young Somppi , who had a good rookie year with 19 goals. Plenty of solid bottom six NHL:ers to grind out the season, but scoring will be hard found. The team is probably expecting for some of Timashov, Guryanov, Kazakov or even last years 1st rounder Pytlik to step up.
Marc-Andre Fleury proved last season he can still play and Eric Comrie was brought in to be the starter while the younger goalies mature. Goaltending seems to be one of the real strengths of this team now.
On defense Mike Prapavessis and Andrew Peeke had really good seasons, and no reason why they wouldn't be building on that. Chris Bigras was a part of the Ovechkin deal and is probably slightly underrated as a defenseman in this league. The other defenseman coming over in that trade was Ivan Provorov, who yet has to live up to his potential. He is a solid performer at this level, but probably not quite the force yet that was excpected of him at the time he was drafted. Interesting to see how he does here. Veteran Marc-Edouard Vlasic will also most certinly fill his role when called upon.
Finishing with 65 points last season, the prediction here is that the Caps will improve, but still finish way behind from a playoff spot.
16. Montreal Canadiens have been in a bad shape for the last three seasons with 72, 50 and 56 points. Now they have some promising pieces and some cap trouble. One veteran in Zach Bogosian was traded away, but Alex Ovechkin and Jonathan Toews were acquired and adding to the cap. Ovechkin scored 37 goals last season and will turn 36 soon. Jonathan Toews is still one of the premium 2-way centers in the game. They will help this team be better, but it still won't be good. There were two positive performes last season points-wise. Clayton Keller and Lukas Wernblom both had 20 goals and should be able to build on those performances now with some veteran help available. The Canadiens have (once again) put their faith (and dollars) in some unproven talent from the KHL. Rudolfs Balcers is a 24 year old winger and Alexander Podkorytov is a 23 year old centerman, both with solid KHL-seasons but what their contributions will be in the NHL remains to be seen.
The defense of Jared Cowen, Jordan Subban, Brendan Guhle, Guillaume Brisebois, Rasmus Andersson and Michael Ferrandino has some bright spots, but doesn't really strike fear in the opponents at the Bell Centre. Hayden Hawkey had the busy job of starting goalie last season, where the Canadiens were 29th in the league in goals against with 3.9/game. He played well enough and looks to be the starter again.
The Canadiens do have a future in all the picks they've made in the recent years, but those prospects are still too far away to help now. Probably a good move to get a few couple of elite players, albeit at a price and at the back of their careers, but it should help the Canadiens actually keep the puck once in a while.
1. Boston Bruins finished last season 2nd overall in points and 1st in goals/game. They are returning with all the key pieces in place and they have star center Niklas Bäckström for the season. Brandon Saad was the league's top goalscorer with 51 and Kailer Yamamoto is quickly rising towards top numbers among wingers in the league, he had 72 points on the season. With Matt Duchene, Bäckström and Nico Hischier, even Patrice Bergeron, the Bruins are really solid at center and on the wings in addition to the mentioned there are Morand, Weissbach, Wennberg, Skager and more. This offense can again this year be one of the deadliest in the league.
On Defense the Bruins aren't lacking playmakers either. Dimitri Orlov, Julius Honka and Sami Vatanen are of elite level and Jake Bean had his strongest season to date. The Bruins have a reputation of somewhat of a gung-ho style of play and while scoring the most goals in the league, they were 16th in goals conceded. This defense is well suited for that excpect a lot of goals when the B's are playing. Lucas Peressini seems to be a lock between the pipes and does a good enough job to continue.
We expect Boston to be among the top-5 again when the regular season ends.
2. Buffalo Sabres boast one of the most talented and deepest squads in the league. Jack Eichel is one of the, if not the best center in the league. Svechnikov brothers, Reinhart, Cote, Smith-Pelly, Kirkland.. The list of playmakers on offense is impressing. The Sabres were 2nd in the league last season in goals scored, did lose one extremely talented forward in Vilardi, but that should not slow them down really, given the weapons that are left. Watch out for the younger Svechnikov who had 29 goals in his rookie season.
The Sabres traded for perennial all-star Tommy Vannelli to strenghten their defense. The top-3 is among the very best in the league (Vannelli, Chychrun and Carlsson), behind them there are solid guys in Harpur and Fitzgerald and the top talent of Philip Broberg and Marshall Warren. The annual Sabres goalie carousel sees Brandon Halverson as the starter and Juuse Saros as backup this year.
The only question regarding the Sabres is the overall youth of the team but the young players are extremely talented, so watch out for the Sabres this year too.
3. Philadelphia Flyers won the presidents trophy (again) last season as the best team in the regular season and conceded by far the least goals of any NHL team with only 182 on the season. Mostly due to cap restraints, the Flyers did lose their long time starter and all-star goalie Tuukka Rask. Jakub Voracek was also traded largely due to the same reasons, but his contributions lately had not been that impressive either. Claude Giroux continues wiith strong play season after season and Sean Couturier is probably the best and most complete "2nd C" in the league. Young Aidan Dudas, who was a PPG player in his first season in the AHL will also be making a claim for a center spot. On the wings the Flyers are loaded with Jake DeBrusk, Dmitrij Jaskin, Olivier Mathieu, Nikita Kucherov, Charlie Coyle and the list goes on. Quality throughout
On defense the Flyers parted with hard-nosed defensemen in Dillon Heatherington, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic, and are looking to replace those with young talent in Anthony Aguanno, Sean Day and Kenny Johnson. The core of the defense are Mark Friedman, Adam Larsson, Marcus Pettersson and Sami Niku. Also Jyrki Jokipakka has made a comeback to the league after signing a one year deal with the Flyers. Him and Johnson are probably the closest guys to the ones departed and might fit very well into the Philadelphia system. Tuukka Rask was replaced by another star goalie in Braden Holtby, so in theory that should be sorted too.
The Flyers look strong again.
4. Toronto Maple Leafs, the reigning champions. The Leafs had a nightmare start to last season. Dylan Strome was hurt for the season before it even started and the team was losing home and away. The season ended like a dream, but it was no fluke. Now when healthy, the top-6 forwards are Strome x2, Nugent-Hopkins, Galchenyuk, Mattheos and Brendan Leipsic. The offense is still young and looking very strong.
The defense has taken some hits, losing two regulars in the expansion (Dumba, Vande Sompel) and experienced verteran Erik Johnson was traded away due to cap issues. There is the talented trio of Playoff MVP -winner Ryan Murphy, Olli Määttä and Josh Maniscalco left. Maniscalco look ready for a top-4 spot, but that still leaves some holes for GM Grimsley to fill. Johnas Eriksson, a 23 year old defenseman was brought over from the SHL, Niklas Hansson and Michal Roman will probably also be considered. After trading Johnson, the team does have some cap room too to make a move for a defenseman and don't be surprised if they do. Antoine Bibeau has the starting job in goal.
With the core in place, the Maple Leafs look set for another strong season. Slight concerns on defense, but the will probably sort that one out quickly.
5. Ottawa Senators were 3rd in points in the entire league last season, made it to the 2nd round of playoffs where they lost to the would be champions in the Maple Leafs. The Senators have been a force in this league for a while now and their lowest point total in the past five seasons is 108. The succesful GM Bob Lawblaw was appointed general manager of the Seattle Sea Lions expansion franchise. The Senators now have a new GM in mr Thomas and are looking for more success under him.
The defense led by Erik Karlsson has been one of the strengths of this team for years and it's returning entirely for this season. Karlsson, Murray, Trouba and Englund are one of the strongest top-4's in the league.
Brendan Gallagher was a big loss in the expansion draft, but the strong core that are the centers Ryan Johansen, Mika Zibanejad and Kyle Turris are back. Anthony Duclair is the top winger at the moment and the team is probaby expecting Timo Meier to step up and strong performances from River Beattie, who had 21 goals last season. Even though losing a couple of forwards in the expansion the offense look fine and will definitely be enough to take this team to the postseason. The only question mark is, who's between the pipes? Is Edwin Minney going to be the man? Trading away Comrie does give the Senators some much needed breathing room cap-wise, though.
6. New York Islanders are led by one of the best lines in hockey. The forward trio of John Tavares, Anders Lee and Josh Ho-sang had 96 goals and 251 points last season. Matt Barzal And Beau Bennett do a good job of backing those guys up. Behind the obvious stars the offense looks solid but not too deep, injuries could pretty fast be a problem.
Morgan Rielly is the star on defense, behind him there is good young talent in Hanifin, Kneen, O'Grady and Merkley. This defense could be really good in 2-3 years. It raises a question though, that is it good enough right now? Especially now without Lundqvist in goal the defensive side of things might cause a problem. But if the Islanders get some goaltending and the young defense continues to improve, they will be good with the potent offense. Last year the Islanders made the playoffs with 92 points. They will be there again, fighting for it.
7. Columbus Blue Jackets are a team on the rise. The two past seasons have seen them stay on verge of a playoff spot until falling short in the end. Last season star center Sean Monahan lost nearly 50 games due to injury and adding him for the season should really push this team into the postseason. The Jackets were 9th in the league last season in goals scored and are returning with pretty much the same personnel (subtract Herzog, add Monahan), so they seem to have enough weapons on three lines to be constantly dangerous. Mackenzie Blackwood in goal had a strong season and was awarded with a new deal, he's excpected to carry the load. It's maybe a lack of competition in the goal crease that might cause some lapses during a long season, goaltending not the strongest part of this team.
The defense also features some potent scores in Zboril, Roy and Max LaJoie. Jakub Zboril made his final breakthrough to the leagues premium offensive defensemen with 63 points, Roy and Lajoie had 55 and 41 points respectively. The problem might have been the defensive side of things, and especially the penalty kill where the Jackets were among the worst in the league. If CBJ gets their players under control and not taking excessive amounts of penalties they should be in line to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since the 15/16 season.
8. Hartford Whalers made the playoffs last season, finishing 5th in the Atlantic and 6th in the conference with 93 points. They had a hard fought series with the Flyers in the 1st round, but eventually lost in the 7th game. Hartford has the core of the team returning, most importantly Defenseman Aaron Ekblad, the center duo of Nick Bjugstad and Aleksander Barkov and goalie Semyon Varlamov, who had an excellent season. On the wing Maxime Fortier had a great sophmore season with 24 goals, and Gabriel Landeskog is a certain 60+ points for every season.
On defense there is one of the best in Aaron Ekblad and Andy Welinski, who has established himself as a top-4 defenseman. 2018 1st round pick Jared McIsaac also looks like the real deal. Losing 40-point scorer Thomas Schemitsch in the expansion was quite a big loss, but with Calvin de Haan and Mackenzie Weegar around it shouldn't be too much of a problem. The Whalers could use probably one more top-6 winger, but are projected to make the playoffs with most of the team returning for one more run.
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9. New Jersey Devils lost 52 goals scored from last season in Evgeny Malkin and Max Pacioretty. The team is led by the elite defense pairing of Hampus Lindholm and Dougie Hamilton, Ryan Pilon also had a good year and is a good steady defenseman behind the stars. Other than that trio it's promising youngsters Bode Wilde and Quinton Hughes and possibly William Pethrus, who came as a free agent from Timrå in the SHL. The top pairing is one of the best in the league, but behind the top three it looks somewhat thin unless some of the rookies can really step up. Steve Mason will probably be the starting goalie and with a proven veteran between the pipes, the goaltending should not be a problem.
On offense all the talk in the offseason has been about the crazy contract GM Bold dished out on the biggest free agent prize of the year in German Rubtsov. Rubtsov is pretty much like all of the NJD offense; talented and unproven. Jason Zucker is an established goalscorer and of good NHL standard and Michael McLeod had a real breakout season with 61 points. Behind those guys there is a lot of potential but not so much proven quality. Remains to be seen if the young guys can step up in place of the departed veterans. NJD made the last wildcard spot last season in the east, our prediction is that they will just fall short of that this year.
10. Carolina Hurricanes had a really bad start last season and GM Constantin felt the need to pull the trigger on some major trades and have a change of direction. Big names in Tyler Seguin, Patrick Kane and Damon Severson were all traded away in quick succession and the Hurricanes finished the season with 67 points. The Canes have some exceptional young talent onboard in Nolan Patrick, Joe Veleno and Jan Micak to name a few. Apparently this is the road the franchise is taking, relying on these young talents, but with some battleworn veterans thrown into the mix. Mark Stone was an excellent acquisition by the team to ease the burden on the young players, Phil Kessel should also have some gas left in his tank.
On defense there's top players in Justin Faulk, John Klingberg and Drew Doughty and top talent in Jan Micak. Established NHL defender Jacob Larsson and forever young Duncan Keith complete the group. In goal Michael Hutchinson was brought in from the Rangers and he most certainly can be a solid starter for this team.
The big question is on the young stars in Veleno and Patrick. Are they ready to carry this team? Defense should be good enough, there are some goal scoring wingers too, but our consensus here is that the Hurricanes are still a year or two away. Of course they can prove us wrong too..
11. Tampa Bay Lightning were surprisingly strong last season, given the fact that the team traded away pretty much all of their established talent, in particular star player Steven Stamos and defensive leader Victor Hedman. Hanging on for a playoff spot until the last 10-15 games, they really surprised many with their performances. Nikolai Goldobin, who had a career year with 29 goals is returning with Filip Rydström and Carl Gervais, who both had 50+ point seasons. Tampa also landed one of the most coveted free agents in Rasmus Asplund, who has been in the KHL all-star game three years in a row while playing for Slovan Bratislava. He is originally a 2nd round pick by the Edmonton Oilers and is a fine 2-way center, ready for NHL action. Tampa is also excpecting big things from Jakub Vrana and Pontus Åberg, and especially Vrana could have a strong season if given a big role here. In goal Andrei Vasilevskiy was peppered with shots last season and a big reason to the good performances, he will be in a big role again.
The defense is probably lacking a true leader and top defenseman, but it's still young and developing. Karlis Cukste, two time all-star from the Dinamo Riga in the KHL was brought in along with Brady Skjei to complete the defensive corps. Overall the Tampa By Lightning look like a solid team, but are lacking in the top-end star players. They are hoping for Asplund and probably Vrana to take these roles and remains to be seen how well they do. Last season Tampa was 22nd in goals scored and 28th in goals conceded, so they need to improve a lot to have a better season this year. No playoffs for TB
12. New York Rangers had their first losing season since 03/04 last year. They lost longtime center Derek Stepan after last season and Kevin Hayes is the only really established center left on the team. On the wings the Rangers have a couple of dynamic players in Nikolaj Ehlers and Tomas Hertl, of whom Hertl had his 3rd consecutive 70+ point season last year. Jamie Benn and Zemgus Girgensons are quality players too and Benn matched his season best in goals last season. Owen Tippett and Dennis Yan are younger players that look ready for NHL -action. On the wings the Rangers look deep enough, but the center position is a concern here too. They might have to move Girgensons or even Benn to C if they can't find somebody else.
The Rangers have their standout defensemen from several seasons already in Nick Leddy, Cam Fowler, TJ Brodie and Kevin Shattenkirk, who joined before last season. Vince Dunn, Ryan Shea and Frederic Allard are also looking for spots on the roster. At least offensively this defense should be of good NHL -quality, maybe the defensive side of things causing some problems at time, the Rangers were 24th in goals against last season. Malcolm Subban was brought in to be the starting goalie, maybe he can turn things around for the Rangers, who haven't reached the postseason in six seasons despite some really good efforts.
13. Pittsburgh Penguins are in a stage of transition still after trading away the superstars in Crosby, Malkin and Letang. They also are up against the cap with only 31 contracted players, so a lot of work for the GM. That said they do have some really good players too. Pavel Zacha is one of the best young centers in the game and Nino Niederreiter constantly puts up over 30 goal seasons. They also have a couple of top-3 picks coming up in Leevi Aaltonen and Lucas Raymond. Hunter Shinkaruk also a good hard working winger for the Penguins. What they seem to lack at the moment are proven centers behind Zacha, and they are probably counting on Lukas Vejdemo or KHL-signing Ilya Nikolayev to have big seasons.
On defense the top-4 defensemen are Damon Severson and Derrick Pouliot, Dylan Coghlan looks like he is making his way in there too. Samuel Morin and Carl Dahlström are reliable bottom pairing guys. Star goalie Petr Mrazek continues to carry the load in net. The worries we have are the center position and the overall depth of the team. Cap issues meant the team couldn't sign top-4 defenseman Simon Despres and the 31 contracts might not be enough for the long season when injuries strike.
14. Detroit Red Wings have some exceptional players in place with Patrik Laine Ryan Mcleod. They hung in there last season but missed the playoffs with 82 points in the end. Simon Stransky had a breakout year with 56 points, and him, Nikita Popugayev, Max Jones and Carl Grundström are young players to keep an eye on This season. Ryan O'reilly and Marcus Johansson are solid veterans that might be moving on during the season.
On Defense there are Tyler Myers, Jake Gardiner and Tyson Barrie, all in their 30's and last year of their deals. We won't be surprised to see any of them move at some point of the season. Mikael Wikstrand had the best season of his career with 49 points last season, Vaakanainen, Reinhart and Quenneville complete the defense. In goal the Wings have Fredrik Andersen, who is among the elite goalies for sure. We think that the Red Wings do not quite have the personnel to compete for a playoff spot in the eastern conference this year. Especially on offense they do have a great young core to build around.
15. Washington Capitals are in the middle of a rebuild after the offloading of the generational talents in Ovechkin, Bäckström and Holtby. The team traded for C Sam Bennett in the offseason to be the first line center and offensive leader. This is the chance of his career for talented Bennett, who has been stuck behind very good players at WPG and DAL before coming to Washington. Bennett had a 61 point season in 18/19, so we firmly believe he has the skills to be the number one center here. Behind him the only proven scorers are Emerson Etem, who constantly puts up good numbers and young Somppi , who had a good rookie year with 19 goals. Plenty of solid bottom six NHL:ers to grind out the season, but scoring will be hard found. The team is probably expecting for some of Timashov, Guryanov, Kazakov or even last years 1st rounder Pytlik to step up.
Marc-Andre Fleury proved last season he can still play and Eric Comrie was brought in to be the starter while the younger goalies mature. Goaltending seems to be one of the real strengths of this team now.
On defense Mike Prapavessis and Andrew Peeke had really good seasons, and no reason why they wouldn't be building on that. Chris Bigras was a part of the Ovechkin deal and is probably slightly underrated as a defenseman in this league. The other defenseman coming over in that trade was Ivan Provorov, who yet has to live up to his potential. He is a solid performer at this level, but probably not quite the force yet that was excpected of him at the time he was drafted. Interesting to see how he does here. Veteran Marc-Edouard Vlasic will also most certinly fill his role when called upon.
Finishing with 65 points last season, the prediction here is that the Caps will improve, but still finish way behind from a playoff spot.
16. Montreal Canadiens have been in a bad shape for the last three seasons with 72, 50 and 56 points. Now they have some promising pieces and some cap trouble. One veteran in Zach Bogosian was traded away, but Alex Ovechkin and Jonathan Toews were acquired and adding to the cap. Ovechkin scored 37 goals last season and will turn 36 soon. Jonathan Toews is still one of the premium 2-way centers in the game. They will help this team be better, but it still won't be good. There were two positive performes last season points-wise. Clayton Keller and Lukas Wernblom both had 20 goals and should be able to build on those performances now with some veteran help available. The Canadiens have (once again) put their faith (and dollars) in some unproven talent from the KHL. Rudolfs Balcers is a 24 year old winger and Alexander Podkorytov is a 23 year old centerman, both with solid KHL-seasons but what their contributions will be in the NHL remains to be seen.
The defense of Jared Cowen, Jordan Subban, Brendan Guhle, Guillaume Brisebois, Rasmus Andersson and Michael Ferrandino has some bright spots, but doesn't really strike fear in the opponents at the Bell Centre. Hayden Hawkey had the busy job of starting goalie last season, where the Canadiens were 29th in the league in goals against with 3.9/game. He played well enough and looks to be the starter again.
The Canadiens do have a future in all the picks they've made in the recent years, but those prospects are still too far away to help now. Probably a good move to get a few couple of elite players, albeit at a price and at the back of their careers, but it should help the Canadiens actually keep the puck once in a while.