CarterHud

The Avalanche are a force to be reckoned with. They may have been in a weak division, but they steamrolled everyone who they played not named Vegas. The Avs took home the Presidents Trophy before sweeping the Blues rather easily in the first round. But this team now needs to find out how to get over the hump. You see, they lost in the playoffs to the Golden Knights in a really disappointing six games. Locked in salary cap and expansion draft troubles, a change had to happen. The Avalanche were able to keep captain Gabriel Landeskog as he entered free agency. However, losses did happen. Is this team better than they were entering last year? Probably not.

Offseason additions: G Darcy Kuemper, D Ryan Murray, F Darren Helm, F Mikhail Maltsev, F Artem Anisimov (PTO), D Jack Johnson (PTO).

Offseason subtractions: G Philipp Grubauer, F Brandon Saad, F Joonas Donskoi, D Ryan Graves, F Pierre-Edouard Bellmare, F Matt Calvert, D Conor Timmins, D Patrik Nemeth, F Carl Soderberg, D Greg Pateryn.

Forwards

While his 20 goals may have been a bit disappointing, Nathan MacKinnon put up yet another amazing season. He supplemented those 20 goals with 45 assists for 65 points in just 48 games. In the three seasons before that, MacKinnon hit at least 90 points in full seasons. He was nominated for the Hart trophy for the third time in the past four seasons last year, while also receiving Lady Byng and Selke votes. Surprisingly, he was not the team’s leading goal or point scorer. Mikko Rantanen rode a 16.9 percent shooting rate to a 30 goal season in just 52 games. He had one more point than MacKinnon, with 66. Sometimes it is forgotten that Rantanen is a year younger than MacKinnon, at age 24. The third part of the top line, which is a top-two line in hockey, is Landeskog. In what could have been his final season in Denver, Landeskog scored 20 goals with 52 points in 54 games. Former Capital Andre Burakovsky had 12 more points than any Avalanche forward not on the first line. He rode an 18.6 percent shooting rate to a 19 goal season, adding 25 assists for 44 points. Second line center Nazem Kadri was the only player to appear in all 56 regular season games, where he scored 11 goals with 32 points. Surely he performed in the playoffs, right? Yikes. Another first round suspension cost Kadri his chance to play in round two. For the fourth season in a row, JT Compher reached the double-digit goal mark. He scored ten times in 48 games. However, he had just a goal and an assist in the postseason. Since signing with the Avalanche before 2019-20, Valeri Nichushkin has established himself as a very good two-way winger. That is not reflected well in his scoring total, as his 10 goals with 11 assists last year was good but not great, but Nichushkin has received Selke votes in both seasons with the club. 2016 tenth overall pick Tyson Jost has yet to reach the promise of his draft position. In the last four seasons, he has scored exactly seven even strength goals per season. The bad news is that 2020-21 was the only one of those seasons when he did not score on special teams. A first-rounder in 2019, Alex Newhook debuted last year, with three assists in six games. He scored a goal with an assist in eight playoff games. This was coming off the back of seven goals and 16 points in 12 games at Boston College, and five goals with four assists in eight AHL games. Veteran Darren Helm has spent his entire NHL career with the Red Wings, but his fifteenth year will come for the Avalanche. The defensive-minded forward averaged nearly 15 minutes a night last year, with eight points in 47 games. After posting good numbers in the AHL, Logan O’Connor spent his entire season in the NHL. He got into 22 games, scoring three goals with a pair of assists. He should play more this year as the depth has shallowed out. Acquired for Ryan Graves from New Jersey, Mikhail Maltsev will try to earn a fourth line spot. In 33 games, the 23-year-old scored six goals with three assists. In that fight is Stefan Matteau, who has played in 91 career games. 18 of those came last year for Columbus, where he had just a point. Kiefer Sherwood is there as well. He had three assists in 16 games last year. Veteran Artem Anisimov can get the spot while in camp on a PTO.

Defensemen

Despite missing twelve games, Cale Makar was still great. He scored eight goals with 36 assists for a point-per-game 44 points. He is not a defensive liability like other offensive defensemen, and just finished second in Norris voting and 12th in Hart even though didn’t play in over a fifth of the season. He received a good amount of help from his new partner, Devon Toews. Toews made GM Joe Sakic look smart after Sakic traded for him in the offseason, scoring 31 points. Toews used to be a go-to offensive defender in New York, but is now allowed to use his full two-way abilities. Coming in between Makar and Toews in points was Sam Girard. The forgotten steal of the Matt Duchene trade, Girard had 32 points in 48 games. He is not a physical guy, and struggled a bit in the playoffs. With Graves traded, Ryan Murray was brought in to be the replacement. Murray has had a ton of injury problems in the past, which is not exactly what you want to hear considering the Avalanche dealt with those last year. When healthy, Murray has been a solid bottom-four two-way defender. The most physicality from the back-end will come from a healthy Erik Johnson. An upper body injury cost him all but four games last year. When healthy in 2019-20, Johnson had 16 points with 115 blocked shots and 97 hits in 59 games. After lighting up the WHL, Bowen Byram debuted in 2020-21. He had two assists in 19 games, with 23 penalty minutes and 33 hits. He was prohibited a bunch last year, but now twenty, Colorado should loosen the chains. A career AHLer aside from two games with the Panthers, Jacob MacDonald became an injury replacement and impressed. In 33 games, MacDonald showed off his smooth skating and posted nine points. Hard-nosed defenseman Kurtis MacDermid, the team’s third player with a name starting with “Mac” followed by a capital letter, comes in from Los Angeles via Seattle. MacDermid had four points in 28 games for the Kings last season.

Goalies

After Vezina finalist Philipp Grubauer left to join the start-up Kraken, the Avalanche were almost all out of options for a starting goalie. They had to pony up a first-round pick for the only good remaining option, Darcy Kuemper. Kuemper has just a year left on his contract and did struggle a bit last year, with a 2.56 GAA, and a .907 save percentage. In 2018-19 and 2019-20, he had a .925 and a .928 save percentage, respectively. Pavel Francouz missed all of last year and his presence will be needed this year. In his first full NHL season in 2019-20, Francouz had a very good .923 save percentage in 34 games. Jonas Johansson was a fine backup after coming over from Buffalo, with a .913 save percentage and a 2.06 GAA in eight games.

Projected Lines

Gabriel Landeskog – Nathan MacKinnon – Mikko Rantanen

Andre Burakovsky – Nazem Kadri – JT Compher

Alex Newhook – Tyson Jost – Valeri Nichushkin

Mikhail Maltsev – Darren Helm – Logan O’Connor

Extras: Stefan Matteau, Kiefer Sherwood

Devon Toews – Cale Makar

Sam Girard – Ryan Murray

Bowen Byram – Erik Johnson

Extras: Jacob MacDonald, Kurtis MacDermid

Darcy Kuemper

Pavel Francouz

Extras: Jonas Johansson

Prediction

Yeah, this team is pretty good. Their depth has taken a substantial hit, but the core has stayed intact. They are strong in all three positional groups, especially their top unit. The question is whether or not they will be the division winners, not whether or not they will make the playoffs.

Before the 2020-21 season, the Blackhawks announced that they were going to rebuild. Well, that rebuild did not last long. Chicago investing a ton of draft capital and a top prospect for controversial defenseman Seth Jones, then extended him for eight seasons. The most shocking news of the offseason wasn’t even that. The goaltending-challenged team added the guy who was the best goalie in the league this past season.

Offseason additions: G Marc-Andre Fleury, D Seth Jones, F Tyler Johnson, D Jake McCabe, D Caleb Jones, F Jujhar Khaira.

Offseason subtractions: F Pius Suter, D Adam Boqvist, D Duncan Keith, F Vinnie Hinostroza, F David Kampf, D Nikita Zadorov.

Forwards

For some unknown reason, Patrick Kane won an ESPY for being the best hockey player in the world. Kane was good, but nowhere near that level. He scored 15 goals, but had 51 ASSISTS in 56 games. With a well over a point-per-game pace, Kane showed that he is still an elite top line player. Not only was Alex DeBrincat the only Blackhawk to score at least 20 goals, he scored 32. His 56 points trailed just Kane as he rode a 20.6 shooting percentage. The Blackhawks will heavily lean on the health of Kirby Dach this season. Dach was drafted 3rd overall in 2019 but just 82 games under his belt in the NHL, with 33 points. Dach missed all but 18 games last year, where he scored twice with eight assists. 2021-22 will bring the return of Jonathan Toews. The future Hall-of-Famer missed all of last season with chronic immune response syndrome. When he last saw him, Toews was an elite defensive player with 18 goals and 60 points in 70 games. The story of the 2019-20 Blackhawks was Dominik Kubalik, who scored less last season but was still a productive player. Kubalik’s 2019-20 shooting percentage of 19.1% was obviously unsustainable. He scored 17 goals with 38 points last year. Playing with Toews this year will help boost his totals. Dylan Strome will move to the wing after a very disappointing season. He scored eight goals with nine assists in 40 games. He can’t blame his shooting percentage, as he only had 71 shots all year. His brother Ryan scored three less goals than he did points. 21-year-old Philipp Kurashev had a very similar season to Strome, but it was more acceptable since it was his first season. There is hope that the Swiss forward could become the next Kubalik. 2016 sixth round pick Brandon Hagel was a pleasant surprise as a rookie. In his 52 games played, Hagel scored nine goals with 24 points. That is good enough for him to have earned a bottom-six winger role. Veteran Tyler Johnson comes in along with a second round pick so the Lightning could get rid of his contract. The Blackhawks will take him as a solid bottom-six player with center and wings capabilities. Johnson scored 29 goals as recently as 2018-19. He netted just eight with 22 points last year. He scored four more with three assists as he won his second consecutive Stanley Cup ring. Chicago hopes that former Panthers top pick Henrik Borgstrom can establish himself as at least a fourth line center. He played in Finland last year, scoring 11 goals with 21 points in 30 games. Alex Nylander missed all of last year after knee surgery, following his first full NHL season. In that season, Nylander scored 10 goals with 16 assists in 62 games. The Blackhawks signed former Oiler Jujhar Khaira to a two-year deal. Khaira played tough, penalty killing minutes for Edmonton, and will now fight for a fourth line role in Chicago. The six-foot-four forward had a career high 151 hits in 40 games last year. A similar horse in the race is Ryan Carpenter, whose big distinction from Khaira is that he is right-handed. He also played in exactly 40 games last year, scoring four times. After scoring 33 points in 59 games in 2019-20, Adam Gaudette had a really rough season for the Canucks. That led to a midseason trade to the Blackhawks. After that, Gaudette had four points in seven games.

Defensemen

The Seth Jones debate got even heavier this offseason when he was rumored and then eventually traded. On one side, the eye test people see him as a big, mobile right-handed shot defenseman who is one of the league’s best. But the analytics community sees him as a guy who has not been able to handle his tough minutes. Jones is undoubtedly very talented, but he has been on a concerning downward track as of late. 2020-21 was his worst season, which is concerning given how much the Blackhawks just committed to him. Jake McCabe comes in on a four-year deal after actually looking good in Buffalo. He can be the perfect safety blanket for Jones. The problem is that McCabe is just coming off of major surgery and played in only 13 games last season. The Blackhawks just extended Connor Murphy as he entered the final year on his contract. The big defender had 15 points in 50 games, and for the sixth time in seven years, he had triple digits in hits and blocked shots. He had 102 and 123, respectively. Another blocked shot stalwart is the oft-injured Calvin de Haan, who could potentially be dealt by the start of the season. de Haan played in 44 games with 85 blocked shots and 99 hits last year. The Blackhawks traded potential future Hall-of-Famer and three time Cup winner Duncan Keith to the Oilers and got back Seth’s brother, Caleb Jones. The younger Jones may even be better than Keith now. He looked promising in 2019-20, but was often healthy scratched last season, and had four assists in 33 games. His defensive partner could be a number of different people. Being right-handed opposite the left-handed Jones could be huge for Ian Mitchell. The 2017 2nd rounder made his NHL debut last year, with seven points in 39 games. He nearly averaged a blocked shot per game, with 37. Wyatt Kalynuk was a nice surprise in his rookie year, scoring four goals with five assists in 21 games. The third option is Riley Stillman, who came from Florida with Henrik Borgstrom and Brett Connolly’s contract. He is probably the most defensively stable among the three and had 21 blocked shots with 37 hits in 13 games for Chicago down the road.

Goalies

With Marc-Andre Fleury in the fold, the biggest issue for the Blackhawks from last year has been resolved. Sure, the 36-year-old is primed for regression. But it can not be ignored that he just won the Vezina Trophy and the Blackhawks got him for nothing. He had a 1.98 GAA and a .928 save percentage for the Golden Knights last year. Last year’s starter, Kevin Lankinen, will move to behind Fleury. He started off hot but cooled down to end with a 3.01 GAA with a .909 save percentage. Both of last year’s backups, Collin Delia and Malcolm Subban, are both still in the organization, as they have went from being awful in net to having elite goaltending depth.

Projected Lines

Alex DeBrincat – Kirby Dach – Patrick Kane

Dylan Strome – Jonathan Loews – Dominik Kubalik

Brandon Hagel – Tyler Johnson – Philipp Kurashev

Alex Nylander – Henrik Borgstrom – Adam Gaudette

Extras: Jujhar Khaira, Ryan Carpenter

Jake McCabe – Seth Jones

Calvin de Haan – Connor Murphy

Caleb Jones – Ian Mitchell

Extras: Riley Stillman, Wyatt Kalynuk

Marc-Andre Fleury

Kevin Lankinen

Extras: Malcolm Subban, Collin Delia

Prediction

The Blackhawks made substantial changes this offseason to improve their roster. Both Jones brothers, Fleury, and Johnson can give the team some life. They are in a Central Division that will almost certainly have five playoff spots in it. That spot could very easily come down to them, the Stars, and the Predators. The Blackhawks have the goaltending now, but I am not sure that they will come out on top.

Like everything with the Hurricanes these days, the past offseason was chaotic. They lowballed their best defenseman, brought in the league’s most controversial player, then made a reckless decision to get revenge on the Canadiens in an offer sheet war. There was no peace for Carolina. They re-enter an insanely tough Metropolitan Division this year, hoping that they did enough.

Offseason additions: F Jesperi Kotkaniemi, D Ethan Bear, D Tony DeAngelo, G Frederik Andersen, G Antti Raanta, D Ian Cole, D Brendan Smith, F Josh Leivo, F Derek Stepan, F Stefan Noesen, G Alex Lyon.

Offseason subtractions: D Dougie Hamilton, G Alex Nedeljkovic, G Petr Mrazek, G James Reimer, F Warren Foegele, F Brock McGinn, D Jake Bean, D Jani Hakanpaa, F Cedric Paquette, F Morgan Geekie.

Forwards

The first domino in the offer sheet games to fall was Sebastian Aho two years ago. Aho led the team with 24 goals while averaging over a point-per-game, 57 in 56. He is an elite center who now has his line mates locked up for multiple seasons. Andrei Svechnikov signed an eight-year contract as a restricted free agent after scoring 15 with 42 points. The idea is for him to grow into the contract, as Svechnikov is entering just his age 21 season. A fully healthy Teuvo Teravainen is going to be important for the Hurricanes this year. Teravainen got into just 21 regular season games this season. He scored just five goals but did have ten assists. He was healthy in the playoffs but scored just twice in 11 games. Vincent Trocheck really struggled after coming over in 2019-20. But he rebounded last season, finishing second on the team in points. He had 43 points, 17 of them goals, in 47 games. Trocheck’s big year has established the Hurricanes as a team with elite center depth. The only Hurricanes not named Aho to score 20 goals was Nino Niederreiter. He scored nine more goals in eleven less games than he did in 2019-20. His shooting percentage was his highest since 2014-15. He also led the team with a 57.67 xGF%. Martin Necas had a breakout season. He scored 14 goals with 41 points. His elite speed helps the top-six, both as a winger and a potential center. Jordan Staal is one of the league’s top third line centers. He is good defensively, the team’s captain, and also scored 16 goals with 38 points. The Hurricanes successfully offer sheeted Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and will let the 2018 third overall pick grow on the left wing. He was not great for Montreal, with 20 points in 56 games. He did match his five regular season goals in the playoffs as Montreal went to the Stanley Cup Finals. Giving them a stable right wing is Jesper Fast. Despite an xGF% above 53, Fast had a 42.11 GF%, thanks to a .971 PDO. He went to free agency, but Jordan Martinook ended up returning on a three-year deal. Martinook is a leader and a gritty player, but he is the only returning starter to have an xGF% under 50 percent. Veteran Derek Stepan will fight to be the fourth line center. He was once a consistent 50-point scorer, but even at age 31, Stepan has fallen off. He played in 20 games for Ottawa last year, scoring a goal with five assists. Former seventh round pick Steven Lorentz captured a roster spot last year, appearing in 45 games plus all eleven in the playoffs, where he had three assists. Fighting for a roster spot is Josh Leivo. He played in 38 games for the Flames last year, scoring six goals.

Defensemen

Losing Hamilton is going to hurt this defense. With him on the division rival Devils, Jaccob Slavin will have to step up. The cat is out of the bag with Slavin being an elite defensive defender. But Slavin lacks Hamilton’s offensive prowess, as he had just 15 points last year. Slavin took just one minor penalty all year, and captured the Lady Byng Trophy. Brett Pesce received Norris votes for the second time in three seasons after a career high in average ice time, at just under 23 minutes a game. He had 25 points and an xGF% on par with Hamilton, at 56.46%. It looks like Jake Gardiner is going to miss the entire season, meaning that the pressure stays on Brady Skjei. Skjei struggled a bit last year, but he still had 62 blocked shots. He had good offensive production early in his career but scored just 10 points last year. The Hurricanes did a nice job sending Warren Foegele to Edmonton for Ethan Bear. Bear is a very underrated two-way defenseman who excelled on the top pair in Edmonton. He joins a better team with less responsibility. Carolina is risking it for Tony DeAngelo. He has been suspended in years prior for racist comments, and was kicked off the Rangers after six games last year for instigating a fight with goalie Alex Georgiev. He comes in on a cheap one year deal. DeAngelo has offensive talent, as he showed when he scored 15 goals with 53 points in 2019-20. However, he also struggles defensively. Steady defender Ian Cole could be a good match to play with DeAngelo. Cole blocked 94 shots in 54 games, just missing the 100 mark for the sixth consecutive season. A former teammate of DeAngelo’s, Brendan Smith, also joined the Hurricanes. He tied his career high of five goals last year in 48 games. Smith has a big penalty problem, with over 60 PIM in each of the last eight seasons, plus over 70 in the past three.

Goalies

The Hurricanes surprisingly overhauled their goaltending this offseason after it was finally strong last year. Out is Calder winner Alex Nedeljkovic, and in are two injury prone former starters. Frederik Andersen played his way out of Toronto the past two seasons as Jack Campbell took over. In 24 games last year, Andersen had a .895 save percentage with a 2.96 GAA in front of a good defense for really the first time in his Maple Leafs tenure. Antti Raanta posted a .921 save percentage in 2019-20, but he was injured for most of last season. In just 12 games, he had a .905 save percentage.

Projected Lines

Andrei Svechnikov – Sebastian Aho – Teuvo Teravainen

Nino Niederreiter – Vincent Trocheck – Martin Necas

Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Jordan Staal – Jesper Fast

Steven Lorentz – Derek Stepan – Jordan Martinook

Extras: Josh Leivo

Jaccob Slavin – Brett Pesce

Brady Skjei – Ethan Bear

Ian Cole – Tony DeAngelo

Extras: Brendan Smith

Frederik Andersen

Antti Raanta

Prediction

It goes ignored how good the Hurricanes were last year in the regular season. They won the Central Division, beating out the Lightning and Panthers. They will face tougher competition this season, and goaltending is a big question. But the Hurricanes have the best forward core in the division, and could very easily take it.

With how bad the North Division was on paper, not making the playoffs was going to be a huge disappointment for the two teams that were not the Senators. The Flames finished in fifth place, in a season which saw them dismiss Geoff Ward for Darryl Sitler, only to be a .500 team under both coaches. The Flames survived major trade rumors in the offseason and now come into training camp with a similar team. Can they defy the odds now? The division is weak again.

Offseason additions: F Blake Coleman, D Nikita Zadorov, F Tyler Pitlick, D Erik Gudbranson, D Trevor Lewis, F Brad Richardson, G Dan Vladar.

Offseason subtractions: D Mark Giordano, F Derek Ryan, F Josh Leivo, F Joakim Nordstrom, D Nikita Nesterov, F Buddy Robinson.

Forwards

Johnny Gaudreau remains a Flame as he enters the final year of his contract. Gaudreau led the team with 49 points. It could be a bit concerning that Gaudreau only scored 19 goals despite riding a seventeen shooting percentage. A question may emerge on who will be his center. Sean Monahan has collapsed over the past few years. His ten goals and 28 points in 2020-21 could push him down to the third line. For a guy that had 82 points in 2018-19, this is a shocking change in events. Elias Lindholm took more face-offs than anyone in Calgary last year. He tied with Gaudreau for the team lead with 19 goals and had 47 points. There is a situation where Lindholm centers the first line with Gaudreau and maybe Matthew Tkachuk on his side. Tkachuk had 132 hits with 43 points. You do not want one of your top wingers to lead the team in penalty minutes, but Tkachuk did, with 55. Leading the team in even strength goals was Andrew Mangiapane, with 15. He added three more on special teams and had 32 points. His 19.8 percent shooting rate was certainly unsustainable. On the opposite side of the spectrum from Mangiapane was two-way center Mikael Backlund. Backlund had 50 more shots but half of the goals. His 6.3 shooting percentage has to change next year. This past season ended Backlund’s streak of earning Selke votes in four consecutive seasons. Stanley Cup champion Blake Coleman comes to Calgary. He could center the third line or play wing on the second. Coleman is an analytical darling and scored 14 goals with 31 points for Tampa last year. 2016 2nd round pick Dillon Dube had the best production of his career so far, with 11 each of goals and assists. He will get to play with a good center, no matter who it is. The Flames paid a pick to Seattle to get Tyler Pitlick, who the Kraken picked from Arizona. He is not much more than a defensive bottom-six winger who had 11 points and 81 hits in 38 games last year. With expectations all the way off, Milan Lucic was not half bad. He scored 10 goals in 56 games, for his highest scoring pace since 2016-17. He used his physically, with 139 hits. Of course, he is still overpaid, but Lucic showed that he can be good enough to be an above-average fourth line player. It will be interesting to see if Glenn Gawdin can make the starting lineup. Gawdin had had AHL success but had just 13 points in 22 games there last year. He had one assist in seven NHL games. Trevor Lewis went from a professional tryout to playing every game for the Jets. It was on the wing and averaged less than 10 minutes a game, but still unexpected. He could have a very similar role in Calgary. Veteran Brad Richardson would be a stable fourth line center. He is very good at face-offs and is a fine defensive player. Brett Ritchie is back after playing in 32 games for the Flames last year. He recorded eight points.

Defensemen

The Flames were hit as hard as anyone during the expansion draft, losing captain Mark Giordano. He was still a quality defenseman, leaving the Flames lacking a top-four defender. Chris Tanev was a revelation after coming over from the rival Canucks. He was arguably a top-five player defensively. He also cut down from 41 penalty minutes to just six. Tanev does not bring much offensively but he is still very good. Noah Hanifin is going to need to step up this year. His offensive production dipped last year but the Flames would trade that for great defensive numbers. Rasmus Andersson signed a big deal after a promising start to his career, but he lost all of that last year. His xG% dropped to 47.04. On the bright side, Andersson did have 21 points. Big defenseman Nikita Zadorov comes in after a year in Chicago. He had 190 hits for the Blackhawks and is a very good defensive defenseman. Former first-rounder Juuso Valimaki came back from a torn ACL to play in 49 games. He had a very good Corsi percentage of 54.1% with a 53.54 xG%. The Flames just gave Erik Gudbranson a one year deal for a bit under $2 million, signaling that he will play. Gudbranson is an analytical nightmare but is a very physical defenseman, leading to him continually getting NHL opportunities. Gudbranson may play over Oliver Kylington, who played in 48 games in 2019-20 but got into just eight last year. Back is Michael Stone for his sixth season as a Flame. He has been a depth defender for the past three seasons.

Goalies

The Flames signed Jacob Markstrom before the season after believing that he was a victim of awful defense in Vancouver. Well, he had his worst save percentage in his first year as a Flame since before he was a Canuck. His .904 SV% needs to get better, although his 2.66 GAA was actually an improvement. The new backup in town is…. Dan Vladar. The Flames paid a third-round pick for the third goalie of the Bruins, who has a .886 save percentage in five career NHL games. He did have a .923 in 10 AHL games and was dominant in the AHL in 2019-20, but this is still a massive risk to take on as a backup full-time.

Projected Lines

Johnny Gaudreau – Elias Lindholm – Matthew Tkachuk

Blake Coleman – Mikael Backlund – Andrew Mangiapane

Dillon Dube – Sean Monahan – Tyler Pitlick

Milan Lucic – Brad Richardson – Trevor Lewis

Extras: Glenn Gawdin, Brett Ritchie

Noah Hanifin – Chris Tanev

Nikita Zadorov – Rasmus Andersson

Juuso Valimaki – Erik Gudbranson

Extras: Oliver Kylington, Michael Stone

Prediction

The Pacific Division is very bad, so bad that it will certainly take a top-three finish to make the playoffs. Are the Flames good enough to do that? They should be in the running, but I have them in fourth place. A very near miss is coming for them.

The Sabres have been an absolute mess over the past few seasons. The play has been awful, the coaches have been cycled out nearly biyearly. Many key players have wanted out. Some got that this offseason. And then there is Jack Eichel. The face-of-the-franchise has requested a trade and is injured with surgery required. He will miss the first half of the season. When he returns, who will he play for? It is yet to be seen.

Offseason additions: D Will Butcher, D Robert Hagg, G Craig Anderson, G Aaron Dell, D Mark Pysyk, F Vinnie Hinostroza, F John Hayden.

Offseason subtractions: F Sam Reinhart, D Rasmus Ristolainen, G Linus Ullmark, F Riley Sheahan, F Tobias Rieder, D Jake McCabe, G Carter Hutton.

Forwards

With Eichel and Reinhart out of the lineup, the forward depth, a massive issue for Buffalo over the past few seasons, will be tested. The favorite to lead the team in points is Victor Olofsson, who came second to Reinhart in that regard last year. Olofsson is a power play specialist with a great shot. He scored 20 goals as a rookie in 2019-20, but had just 13 in roughly the same amount of games in this past season. He also got a Lady Byng vote despite an ugly plus-minus rating. Jeff Skinner’s new contract managed to look even worse in 2020-21. He once again did not play next to Eichel and could not score. Skinner’s seven goals was a half of his previous career low of 14, set in 2019-20. He should be thankful that the Ralph Krueger era is over. Former top prospect Casey Mittelstadt could win the number one center role despite really not being ready for it. Mittelstadt did have the best season of his career scoring-wise in 2020-21, with ten goals and 22 points in 41 games. Playing to that pace in 2021-22 would be acceptable. 2019 7th overall pick Dylan Cozens played in 41 games last year and because the Sabres can’t have anything nice, he couldn’t score. Cozens’ four goals and nine assists were very underwhelming. The Sabres did not do well in the Taylor Hall trade, but they still got some value. When he scored three goals with an equal amount of assists, Anders Bjork had more points in 15 games as a Sabre than he did in 30 in Boston. He is also a good defensive winger. Vinnie Hinostroza struggled to crack Florida’s lineup, so he must have been happy to be traded back to the Blackhawks. After the deal, he put up 12 points in 17 games. He’ll get a good role in Buffalo. Someone who had a crazy 2020-21 season was Arttu Ruotsalainen. He started by scoring 16 goals with 27 points in 19 games in Finland. He signed with the Sabres, was a point-per-game player over 13 AHL games and also scored five goals in 17 NHL games. The 23-year-old is someone to look out for on a barren team. Looking to secure a role as a center is Rasmus Asplund. The 2016 second-rounder played in 28 games last year and scored seven goals. The Sabres like him enough to protect him from the Kraken. The team picked up Drake Caggiula off of waivers from Arizona midseason. In 11 games, he scored twice with an assist. Big winger Tage Thompson is yet to live up to his first-round pedigree. Thompson’s eight goals in 38 games was an improvement, however. That was a career high and a 17 goal pace. The fourth line gets rough. Cody Eakin plays tough minutes but has really struggled. He had a very ugly 36.23 percent xG%. Zemgus Girgensons is an improvement, but not by much. He scored 12 goals in 2019-20 but missed all of last year with a hamstring injury. We will have to monitor how strong Girgensons is upon his return. Veteran Kyle Okposo has just two years left on his contract. He scored 13 points in 35 games last year. Another option is John Hayden, who played in 29 games for Arizona last season.

Defensemen

Besides the eventual Eichel trade, the Sabres are not done this offseason. They still have to sign RFA Rasmus Dahlin. Dahlin is still very good but took a big dip in his production last year. He had just 23 points in 56 games, 17 less points than he had in three more games in 2019-20. The team is free of Rasmus Ristolainen and his awful analytics, which could help the rest of the team’s defense. Henri Jokijarju will look to make the jump to top defender. He is still just 22 years old, and played in 46 games last year, to bump his career number to 153. Colin Miller has been a very solid second-pairing defender in his career, but was healthy scratched at times in 2020-21. He should play, as when healthy he is at least the team’s third best defenseman. The Sabres took back a draft pick for some of Will Butcher’s contract in the final year of his deal. Butcher has talent but flamed out of New Jersey. He did have 11 points in 23 games last year. Coming over from Philly for Ristolainen is Robert Hagg. Hagg was not much more than a third-pairing defender with the Flyers. He did have 100 hits in 34 games and has 736 in 236 career games. Coming back to the team that drafted him in the first round in 2010 is Mark Pysyk. Pysyk is decent enough to be a sixth defenseman although his role should not grow too much larger. He also has right-wing experience. Jacob Bryson could make his way into the lineup after appearing in 38 games last year. The 23-year-old also had three assists in five AHL games.

Goalies

With both Linus Ullmark and Carter Hutton both leaving town, the Sabres decided to go with more of a tank squad approach. Aaron Dell had been fine in years past until the Devils claimed him off waivers last year. Dell got into seven games, and posted a horrid 4.14 GAA and a .857 save percentage. Veteran Craig Anderson had a .915 save percentage in four games for Washington during the regular season, then got into two playoff games, where he posted a .929 save percentage. Dustin Tokarski is also an option. He actually got into more NHL games with the Sabres last year than Anderson and Dell did with their teams.

Projected Lines

Jeff Skinner – Casey Mittelstadt – Victor Olofsson

Anders Bjork – Dylan Cozens – Vinnie Hinostroza

Arttu Ruotsalainen – Rasmus Asplund – Tage Thompson

Zemgus Girgensons – Cody Eakin – Kyle Okposo

Extras: John Hayden, Drake Caggiula

Rasmus Dahlin – Henri Jokijarju

Will Butcher – Colin Miller

Robert Hagg – Mark Pysyk

Extras: Jacob Bryson

Craig Anderson

Aaron Dell

Extras: Dustin Tokarski

Prediction

The Sabres are very bad, as illustrated in the lineup above. Their one real hope is that either Eichel returns, plays for the team, and dominates, or whatever they get in return for him is good. The Eastern Conference is stacked. There is no room for this team, even if everyone breaks out.