CarterHud

 The Toronto Maple Leafs\’ off-season is one that Leafs\’ fans will remember. The signings of LW Matt Martin and D Roman Polak is not the big part. The big part was when the Leafs drafted C Auston Matthews with the first overall pick to be their franchise Center. They also finally got a legitimate starting goalie when they acquired Fredrick Anderson from the Ducks.  Both their goalies from last year, James Reimer and Jonathan Bernier are gone, Anderson and newly acquired G Jhonas Enroth will be the goalies.
     Youngsters Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner are looking to have good rookie years. Veterans James van Riemsdyk, Nazem Kadri and Leo Komarov lead an offense that mostly is depth. Anderson and Enroth should have good first years in Toronto.
      In the first round of the 2016 NHL draft, the Maple Leafs selected C Auston Matthews with the first overall pick. Matthews impressed many at the world cup and he is going to be a franchise center for the Maple Leafs.
  
The Maple Leafs\’ projected lines look like this:
    Milan Michalek- Nazem Kadri- Leo Komarov
    James van Riemsdyk- Tyler Bozak- Mitchell Marner
    Zach Hyman- Auston Matthews- William Nylander
    Matt Martin- Peter Holland- Connor Brown
 
     On defense is:
      Morgan Rielly- Martin Marincin
      Jake Gardiner- Roman Polak
       Matt Hunwick- Connor Carrick

 In net is Fredrick Anderson and Jhonas Enroth.
 F Josh Leivo and D Nikita Zaitsev and F Seth Griffith are scratched. RW Joffrey Lupul and D Stephane Robidas are injured.
     Finally, for my prediction, the Toronto Maple Leafs, a team quickly on the rise, will not make the playoffs in 2016-17 but will have a bright future.
   

     The Tampa Bay Lightning\’s biggest moves of the off-season by far was re-signing their players. Their face of the franchise, Steven Stamkos signed an 8 year deal to stay in the bay. LW Alex Killorn and RW Nikita Kucherov also re-signed with the club. The only real notable loss was when depth player Jonathan Marchessault signed with the Panthers. To replace him, they signed Michael Bournival to a one year deal.
      Stamkos, Kucherov, Ondrej Palat and Tyler Johnson lead a very potent offense that can score. Victor Hedman and Anton Stralman are the heads of a solid defensive core. Tampa Bay has 2 good goalies in Ben Bishop and Andrei Vasilevskiy. Bishop is the older goalie even though he\’s 29 and he\’s entering a contract year so a possible trade could come.
     In the first round of the 2016 NHL draft, the Lightning selected C Brett Howden with the 27th overall pick. With centers Stevan Stamkos and prospect Brayden Point, picking a center was questionable but Point and Howden are on the same WHL team (Moose Jaw) so the Lightning wanted some chemistry on the team.

The Lightning\’s projected lines look like this:
 Alex Killorn- Steven Stamkos- Jonathan Drouin
 Ondrej Palat- Tyler Johnson- Nikita Kucherov
 Vladislav Namestnikov- Valtteri Filppula- Ryan Callahan
  J.T. Brown- Brian Boyle- Brayden Point

 On defense is:
  Victor Hedman- Anton Stralman
   Jason Garrison- Andrej Sustr
   Brayden Coburn- Nikita Nesterov

 In net is Ben Bishop and Andrei Vasilevskiy.
 C Cedric Paquette and D Slater Koekkoek are scratched.
   Finally, for my prediction, the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team on the rise, will make the playoffs in 2016-17 and contend for the cup.

     The St. Louis Blues\’ off-season was about in the middle of the pack. Their captain, David Backes left for Boston and RW Troy Brouwer went to Calgary plus C Steve Ott went to Detroit. While the loss of Backes was hard to replace, the Blues signed David Perron to replace Brouwer and Landon Ferraro to replace Ott. During pre-season, the Blues acquired former first overall pick Nail Yakupov from the Oilers for practically nothing. Last year\’s Blues\’ had Jake Allen and Brian Elliot fighting for the starting job. When the Blues traded Elliot to the Flames, the Blues then signing Carter Hutton to replace Elliot as the backup.
     C Paul Stastny, LW Alexander Steen and Vladimir Tarasenko lead a very solid offense that can score. When your defensive core has Alex Pietrangelo, Kevin Shattenkirk, Jay Bouwmeester and Colton Parayko then you know it\’s amazing. The Blues\’ defense can shut down any team\’s offense whether it\’s Ovechkin\’s Capitals or Kane\’s Hawks, this defense is elite. In net is Jake Allen and Carter Hutton. Allen has shown to be a good goalie in the past and time will tell if he can be an actual starter.
     In the first round of the 2016 NHL draft, the Blues selected C Tage Thompson with the 26th overall pick. The Blues had a bad feeling that they were going to lose Backes so they drafted another center. Thompson can turn out to be a solid player for the Blues in the future.
    The Blues\’ projected lines look like this:
   Alex Steen- Paul Stastny- Robby Fabbri
   Vladimir Tarasenko- Jori Lehtera- David Perron
    Dmitrij Jaskin- Patrik Berglund- Nail Yakupov
    Scottie Upshall- Kyle Brodziak- Ryan Reaves

 On defense is:
    Jay Bouwmeester- Alex Pietrangelo
    Carl Gunnnarson- Kevin Shattenkirk
    Joel Edmundson- Colton Parayko

   In net is Jake Allen and Carter Hutton.
     LW Magnus Paajarvi, RW Ty Rattie and D Robert Bortuzzo are scratched and Jaden Schwartz is injured.
 Finally, for my prediction, the St. Louis Blues, a good team on the rise, will make the playoffs in 2016-17.
   

     The reigning Western conference champions failed to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup finals, but now they are better with the acquisitions of LW Mikkel Boedker and D David Schlemko. Boedker adds more scoring to an already filthy top 6. Schlemko adds more defensive depth after they lost Roman Polak (TOR) and Matt Tennyson (CAR). Backup goalie James Reimer signed with Florida, so Aaron Dell will get the chance to be the backup.
     C/RW Joe Pavelski, C Joe Thornton, C Logan Couture, and LW Patrick Marleau lead an offense that shouldn\’t have trouble scoring goals. Brent (chewbacca) Burns and Marc-Edouard Vlasic lead a solid defense. Goalie Martin Jones\’ playoff run last season showed people that he\’s an elite goaltender. Time will tell how Aaron Dell plays in a backup role for someone who hasn\’t played in the NHL yet.
     The Sharks didn\’t have a first round pick in the 2016 NHL draft because they traded it to Boston to acquire Jones.
  The Sharks\’ projected lines look like this:
 
 Tomas Hertl- Logan Couture- Joe Pavelski
 Mikkel Boedker- Joe Thornton- Joonas Donskoi
 Patrick Marleau- Tommy Wingels- Joel Ward
 Melker Karlsson- Chris Tierney- Matthew Nieto

 On defense is:
 Paul Martin- Brent Burns
 Marc-Edouard Vlasic- Justin Braun
 Brendon Dillon- David Schlemko
 In net is Martin Jones and Aaron Dell. LW Michael Haley and D Dylan DeMelo are scratched.
    
     Finally, for my prediction, the San Jose Sharks, a team with both elite old and young players, will make the playoffs in 2016-17.

 
The reigning Stanley Cup champions didn\’t change up their team too much in the off-season. And really, if you just won the Cup, would you do anything? Their roster is amazing and they are poised for another cup run.
     The face of the NHL, C Sidney Crosby is starting the year on the IR (injured reserve) due to a concussion but with RWs Patrick Hornqvist and Phil Kessel plus C Evgeni Malkin, the Penguins shouldn\’t struggle too much. Defenseman Kris Letang leads a solid defensive core. Pittsburgh\’s \”problem\” is that they have 2 elite goalies. Marc-Andre Fleury and Matt Murray have both proven to be really good. Murray was diagnosed with a broken hand during the world cup so Fleury will be the starter. The Penguins didn\’t have a 3rd goalie because Jeff Zatkoff signed with the Kings so when Montreal placed Mike Condon on waivers, Pittsburgh picked him up to be a temporary backup.
 The Penguins didn\’t have a first round pick in the 2016 NHL draft because they traded it to Toronto to acquire Phil Kessel. (Toronto then traded it to Anaheim).
 The Penguins\’ projected lines look like this:
 Conor Sheary- Evgeni Malkin- Patric Hornqvist
 Carl Hagelin- Nick Bonino- Phil Kessel
 Chris Kunitz- Bryan Rust- Scott Wilson
 Tom Kuhnhackl- Matt Cullen- Eric Fehr
 On defense is:
 Brian Dumoulin- Kris Letang
 Olli Maata- Trevor Daley
 Justin Schultz- Derrick Pouliot
 In net is Marc-Andre Fleury and Mike Condon. Ian Cole is scratched and C Sidney Crosby and G Matt Murray are injured.
 Finally, for my prediction, the Pittsburgh Penguins, a winning team, will make the playoffs in 2016-17.