CarterHud

 
     The Nashville Predators made a very surprising move in the off-season when they traded their captain D Shea Weber to Montreal in exchange for d-man P.K. Subban. Subban is younger and has a better contract than Weber. Subban\’s skill with the puck is unreal but the loss of Weber is big. Nashville\’s only other departures were when C Paul Gaustad and D Barret Jackman both announced their retirement. Also, backup goalie Carter Hutton went to St. Louis. Depth defenseman Yannick Weber (who oddly enough, took Shea Weber\’s no.6), Matt Irwin and Matthew Carle were signed to one year deals.
     Behind Subban, the defensive core is really strong. Roman Josi is turning into an elite defenseman and Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm are nice top 4 defensemen to have. RW Filip Forsberg, C Ryan Johansen and LW James Neal are all legitimate first liners but might not play together a lot. G Pekka Rinne is 34 and not getting younger. With no Carter Hutton, Marek Mazanec and Juuse Saros will fight for a backup spot. In the first round of the 2016 NHL draft, the Predators selected D Dante Fabbro with the 17th overall pick. It\’s questionable to pick a defenseman when your oldest defenseman is 27 but they have a fair amount of young forwards too.
The Predators\’ projected lines look like this:

  Filip Forsberg- Ryan Johansen- Craig Smith
  James Neal- Mike Fisher- Calle Jarnkrok
  Colin Wilson- Mike Ribeiro- Viktor Arvidsson
  Pontas Aberg- Colton Sissons- Mikka Salomaki

On defense:
 Roman Josi- P.K Subban
 Mattias Ekholm- Ryan Ellis
 Anthony Bitetto- Yannick Weber

Pekka Rinne and Marek Mazanec are in net. D Matthew Carle, F Austin Watson and G Juuse Saros are scratched.
     Finally, for my prediction, the Nashville Predators, a team on the rise, will make the playoffs AND win the Stanley Cup in 2016-17.

    The Montreal Canadians made a big splash in the off-season when they were possible losers of the biggest move this off-season trading d-man P.K. Subban to Nashville in exchange for D Shea Weber. Weber is older and has a way bigger contract. But Weber is amazing defensively but can\’t match Subban\’s offensive talent. Also, RW Alexander Radulov is back in the NHL after playing in the KHL. Depth player Chris Terry comes in to replace Michael Bournival, who went to Tampa Bay. They lost defensemen Victor Bartley (MIN) and Tom Gilbert (LAK) but signed D Zach Redmond for a replacement. LW Daniel Carr is looking to have a breakout year after having a nice rookie season last year. Goalie Carey Price was hurt almost all of last season but everyone still knows he\’s the best goalie in the game. Backup Ben Scrivens left for the KHL so Montreal brought in Al Montoya to back Price up. Captain LW Max Pacioretty has shown to be an elite player. On draft day, the Canadians traded LW/C Lars Eller to the Capitals and in a separate trade acquired RW Andrew Shaw. Shaw is a nice replacement for Eller and would fit in well along side Brendan Gallagher. In the first round of the 2016 NHL draft, the Canadians selected D Mikhail Sergachev with the 9th overall pick. The Canadians need a guy like Sergachev because besides Weber, Montreal\’s defense is pretty abysmal. The Canadians\’ projected lines look like this:
 Max Pacioretty- Tomas Plekanec- Alexander Radulov
 Brendan Gallagher- Alex Galchenyuk- Andrew Shaw
 Daniel Carr- David Desharnais- Sven Andrighetto
 Paul Byron- Phillip Danault- Michael McCarron
 On defense is;
 Jeff Petry- Shea Weber
 Andrei Markov- Nathan Beaulieu
 Alexei Emelin- Zach Redmond
 Carey Price and Al Montoya are in net. LW Artturi Lehkonen, LW Brian Flynn and D Greg Pateryn are scratched.
 Finally, the Montreal Canadians, a team who are clearly nothing without their goalie, will make the playoffs if Carey Price can stay healthy.

 If you look at the Minnesota Wild\’s off-season they didn\’t do too much. They did sign C/LW Eric Staal. But in Staal\’s 20 game run with the Rangers last season, he only had 6 points (3 goals, 3 assists) and he\’s not the 100 point player he was 10 years ago. They also signed D Victor Bartley but he\’ll be lucky to make the team. Justin Fontaine left and is now on a PTO with Dallas. Chris Stewart is back after being with Minnesota for a part of 2014-15 then playing with Anaheim for 2015-16.  Former first round pick Joel Eriksson Ek has a chance at making the team this year. Defenseman Ryan Suter leads a relatively young defensive core but Suter isn\’t young but is still a very good defenseman. In net is Devan Dubnyk but the question is who will be backing him up. They re-signed Darcy Kuemper but they also signed Alex Stalock. Personally, I think they will dress Kuemper on opening night but new head coach Bruce Boudreau will decide. In the first round of the 2016 NHL draft, Minnesota drafted C Luke Kunin with the 15th overall pick. With captain Mikko Koivu at age 32 and at the end of his prime, Kunin is another center behind Eriksson Ek and Mikael Grandlund.The Wild\’s projected lines look like this:
 Zach Parise- Eric Staal- Nino Niederreiter
 Mikael Grandlund- Mikko Koivu- Charlie Coyle
 Jason Zucker- Erik Haula- Jason Pominville
 Zac Dalpe- Joel Eriksson Ek- Chris Stewart
 On defense is:
 Ryan Suter- Jared Spurgeon
 Marco Scandella- Jonas Brodin
 Mike Reilly- Matthew Dumba
 Devan Dubnyk and Darcy Kuemper are in net. D Nate Prosser, D Christian Folin and G Alex Stalock are scratched.
 Finally, for my prediction, the Minnesota Wild, a contending team, will make the playoffs in 2016-17.

 The Los Angeles Kings made a lot of signings this off-season. But they did not make a major signing, which isn\’t so bad since they already have all-stars Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, Jeff Carter and Jonathan Quick. Even though they didn\’t sign a big free agent, they lost one when Milan Lucic left for Edmonton this off-season. They lost forward Kris Versteeg (who\’s on PTO with EDM) but replaced him with the signing of Teddy Purcell. They also lost defensemen Jamie McBain (ARI), Luke Schenn (ARI) and Jeff Schultz (ANA). They did sign C Michael Latta, D Zach Trotman and D Tom Gilbert. C Anze Kopitar is undoubtedly a top 5 center in the game and D Drew Doughty won the Norris trophy for best defenseman. In net is Jonathan Quick who is always in the running for the Vezina trophy for best goaltender. After backup goalie Jhonas Enroth went to Toronto, the Kings signed G Jeff Zatkoff after he won the Stanley Cup with the Penguins. The Kings didn\’t have a first round pick in the 2016 NHL draft after trading it away. The Kings\’ projected lines look like this:
 Tanner Pearson- Anze Kopitar- Dustin Brown
 Marian Gaborik(hurt)- Jeff Carter- Tyler Toffoli
 Teddy Purcell- Nic Dowd-  Dwight King
 Kyle Cliffard- Andy Andreoff- Trevor Lewis
 On defense is :
 Alec Martinez- Drew Doughty
 Jake Muzzin- Zach Trotman
 Brayden McNabb- Matt Greene
 Jonathan Quick and Jeff Zatkoff are in net. Michael Latta and Tom Gilbert are scratched.
 For my prediction, the Los Angeles Kings, a powerhouse in this decade, will make the playoffs and go to the conference finals.

 

 The Florida Panthers team from their last game of 2015-16 to today is totally different. They lost forwards Jiri Hudler (DAL), Teddy Purcell (LAK), Quinton Howden (WPG) and Dave Bolland (ARI). They added Jared McCann, Jonathan Marchessault and Colton Sceviour to fill in those spots. Defensemen Dmitry Kulikov (BUF), Brian Campbell (CHI) and Erik Gudbranson (VAN) are all gone and Keith Yandle and Jason Demers are in. A questionable move was signing G James Reimer to a 5 year deal. Reimer will backup up Roberto Luongo who at age 37 will slowly decline. Reimer was signed to replace Al Montoya, who went to Montreal but Reimer is definitely an upgrade for Florida. Florida\’s superstar Aaron Ekblad, is young (20) and is an amazing defenseman especially for his age. Also, the ageless wonder Jaromir Jagr is returning again this year and we still wonder how long he can play for. In the first round of the 2016 NHL draft, the Panthers selected C Henrik Borgstrom with the 23rd overall pick. It\’s odd that they picked a center when they have Aleksander Barkov, Nick Bjugstad and Vincent Trocheck all age 24 and below. A notable thing that Florida did this off-season was change logos. The question is will the new logo mean success? The Panthers\’ projected lines look like this:
 Jonathan Huberdeau- Aleksander Barkov- Jaromir Jagr
 Jussi Jokinen- Vincent Trocheck- Reilly Smith
 Jonathan Marchessault- Jared McCann- Logan Shaw
 Shawn Thornton- Derek MacKenzie- Colton Sceviour
 On defense is:
 Keith Yandle- Aaron Ekblad
 Jason Demers- Alex Peteovic
 Mark Pysyk- Michael Matheson
 Roberto Luongo and James Reimer are in net. Steven Kampfer and Jakub Kindl are scratched. Nick Bjugstad is injured.
 For my prediction, a new logo means success for Florida and they will make the playoffs in 2016-17.