CarterHud

Like all of the NHL teams, the Edmonton Oilers saw free agency as a way to improve their team. But unlike some teams, Edmonton was thinking bigger. That\’s why they signed LW Milan Lucic to a 7 year deal. Lucic is a perfect scoring/tough guy to go along with the newly-named captain Connor McDavid. Lucic can\’t only protect McDavid but he can score too. Lucic only has to drive to the net to get a pass from McDavid and score. The Oilers made a questionable trade in the offseason when they traded LW Taylor Hall to the Devils in exchange for only D Adam Larsson. The Oilers did badly need a guy like Larsson but they could\’ve gotten a lot more besides Larsson. The depth in their defensive core was hurt when Nikita Nikitin (KHL) and Adam Clendening (NYR) both left. They signed D Mark Fraser but he\’s not going to really fill those spots. They signed depth forward Taylor Beck and F Kris Versteeg is on a tryout to improve offensive depth but Edmonton doesn\’t need that too much. Goalie Cam Talbot isn\’t good enough to be a starter but Edmonton has him playing as their starter. They signed backup Jonas Gustavsson to a one year deal. In the 2016 NHL draft, the Oilers selected RW Jesse Puljujarvi with the 4th overall pick. While the Oilers could have used D Olli Juolevi, Puljujarvi is a steal at no. 4. While playing with McDavid and Lucic is uncertain, this kid has a future playing with C Leon Draisaitl. The Oilers projected lines look like this:
Milan Lucic- Connor McDavid- Jordan Eberle
Benoit Pouliot- Leon Draisaitl- Nail Yakupov
Patrick Maroon- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins- Jesse Puljujarvi
Anton Lander- Mark Letestu- Zack Kassian
On defense is:
 Oscar Kleftbom- Adam Larsson
 Andrej Sekera- Darnell Nurse
 Griffen Reinhart- Brandon Davidson
   Cam Talbot and Jonas Gustavsson are in net. LW Tyler Pitlick and D Mark Fayne are scratched. C Matt Hendricks and D Andrew Ference are injured.
   Finally, for my prediction, the Edmonton Oilers, a team on the rise, won\’t make the playoffs in 2016-17.

 It is never easy to lose a franchise icon, but that\’s what happened when C Pavel Datsyuk announced that he will play the remainder of his career in the KHL. Even if Datsyuk makes a return to the NHL, Arizona will be his home due to the Red Wings\’ trading Datsyuk\’s contract away at the draft. Captain Henrik Zetterberg is still playing but at age 35 there\’ a big question if he can still produce in his last years. Besides Datsyuk, Detroit didn\’t lose too much. Brad Richards retired but they signed Steve Ott to replace him. D Kyle Quincey went to New Jersey but they didn\’t seem to be in an urge to find another defenseman. Datsyuk\’s \”replacement\” was Frans Nielson who signed a deal to be the team\’s second line center behind either Zetterberg or Dylan Larkin. When Minnesota bought out LW Thomas Vanek, the Red Wings signed him to a one year deal to possibly be a third line winger. The defensive core is shaky led by an aging Niklas Kronwall. They re-signed Danny DeKeyser who may play on the top pairing. In net is Petr Mrazek and Jimmy Howard. It\’s still questionable who will take over as the starting goalie but it seems like Mrazek will be the starter. In the Datsyuk trade, Detroit moved back from having the 16th overall pick in the NHL draft to the 20th. They then drafted D Dennis Cholowski. Detroit needed a defenseman and they got one in Cholowski. The Red Wings\’ projected lines look like this:
 Justin Abdelkader- Dylan Larkin- Tomas Tatar
 Henrik Zetterberg- Frans Nielson- Gustav Nyquist
 Thomas Vanek- Darren Helm- Riley Sheahan
 Teemu Pulkkinen- Steve Ott- Luke Glendening
 On defense is:
 Niklas Kronwall- Danny DeKeyser
 Jonathan Ericsson- Mike Green
 Brendan Smith- Alexey Marchenko
 In net is Petr Mrazek and Jimmy Howard.  Drew Miller is scratched. Johan Franzen, Tomas Jurco and Joe Vitale are injured.
 Finally, for my prediction, the Detroit Red Wings, a team that has been successful for the last 25 years, will not make it to the playoffs in 2016-17.

It is hard to tell if the Dallas Stars off-season was good or bad. They lost two quality defenseman in Alex Goligoski (ARI) and Jason Demers (FLA). Kris Russell also was a free agent but has not signed with a team yet. They did dign D Dan Hamhuis to a 2 year deal but it won\’t be too long until Hamhuis, who is now 33, starts to decline. Dallas also signed RW Jiri Hudler to a one year deal to potentially play along side superstars Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn. They also have John Klingberg, who is a superstar defenseman and is fairly young. The team has a big problem in net. Both Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi are inconsistent and aren\’t young at ages 32 and 33. In the first round of the 2016 NHL draft, the Stars drafted LW Riley Tufte with the 25th overall pick. Tufte projects to be a career second line LW with Jamie Benn, being one of the best LWs in the league, taking up the first line spot. The strong point of this Dallas team is their center core. They have all-star Tyler Seguin, Jason Spezza, even though he\’s 33, Cody Eakin (who\’s hurt) and Radek Faska. The Stars projected lines look like this:
 Jamie Benn- Tyler Seguin- Jiri Hudler
 Patrick Sharp- Jason Spezza- Ales Hemsky
 Patrick Eaves- Radek Faska- Brett Richie
 Antoine Roussel- Curtis McKenzie- Adam Cracknell
 On defense is:
 Dan Hamhuis- John Klingberg
 Jordie Benn- Stephen Johns
 Johnny Oduya- Jamie Oleksiak
 In net is Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi. F Devin Shore and D Patrick Nemeth are scratched. C Mattias Janmark and C Cody Eakin (who will be a third line center with Faska as a fourth line center and Craknell scratched when he comes back soon) are injured.
 Finally, for my prediction, the Dallas Stars, a good team but one desperate for a goalie, will make the playoffs in 2016-17 and will contend for the Stanley Cup.
 

The Columbus Blue Jackets seem to underachieve expectations every year. They always are supposed to make the playoffs or contend for a spot but come up with a last place finish. They started off 0-8-0 until hiring John Torterella, but they remained a .500 team. When you talk about the Blue Jackets\’ off-season, you\’re not talking about much. They signed C Sam Gagner to a one year deal. They lost D Justin Falk to Buffalo but he\’s really just depth. The only really \”notable\” thing they did in the off-season is trade prospect LW Kirby Rychel to the Maple Leafs in exchange for D Scott Harrington and a 5th round pick. Captain Nick Foligno leads an offense that could use an improvement. The leader of the team is 23 year old d-man Seth Jones. Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky was amazing in the world cup for team Russia and hopes to rebound after a terrible 2016-17 campaign. Columbus is hoping Joonas Korpisalo can have a breakout year as a backup because Curtis McElhinney is 33 and declining. In the first round of the 2016 NHL draft, the Blue Jackets selected C/LW Pierre-Luc Dubois with the 3rd overall pick. It\’s questionable why Columbus picked Dubois over RW Jesse Puljujarvi who seems to be what Columbus needs more but Dubois is still a solid prospect. He can center Nick Foligno and Brandon Saad in the future. The Blue Jackets\’ projected lines look like this:
 Brandon Saad-Boone Jenner-Cam Atkinson
 Nick Foligno-Brandon Dubinsky-Scott Hartnell
 Oliver Bjorkstrand-Alexander Wennberg-Matt Calvert
 Sam Gagner-William Karlsson-Gregory Cambell
 On defense is:
 Ryan Murray- Seth Jones
 Jack Johnson- David Savard
 Cody Goloubef- Dalton Prout
 Sergei Bobrovsky and Curtis McElhinney are in net.  RW Josh Anderson and G Joonas Korpisalo are scratched. David Clarkson is injured.
 For my prediction, the Columbus Blue Jackets, a team slowly on the rise, won\’t make the playoffs in 2016-17.

The Colorado Avalanche did a solid job in the off-season despite having about all their depth leave. They lost d-men Andrew Bodnarchuk (DAL), Nate Guenin (ANA), Zach Redmond (MTL) and Brandon Gormley (NJD) but re-signed their top defenseman (Tyson Barrie) to a 4 year deal. To replace those d-men, they signed Fedor Tyutin and Ryan Stanton to one year deals. Patrick Wiercioch was signed to a 2 year deal for more defensive depth. Forwards Mikkel Boedker (SJS), Shawn Matthias (WPG) and Taylor Beck (EDM) are all out of town and C Joe Colborne and Ben Smith are in. Joe Whitney and Mike Sislo, who were both signed to one year deals, will fight for a 4th line spot but mostly will be scratched. Goalie Semyon Varlamov is looking for another solid season with Calvin Pickard having the backup spot easily with the departure of Reto Berra. Youngster Nathan Mackinnon had an amazing world cup for team North America and Gabriel Landeskog and Matt Duchene were solid for Sweden and Canada. In the 2016 NHL draft, Colorado selected C Tyson Jost with the 10th overall pick. It\’s questionable why they picked a center when you already have centers Nathan Mackinnon and Matt Duchene. Jost can play alongside LW Gabriel Landeskog and Mackinnon if they decide to put one of them on the wing. He might also play with Duchene or RW Mikko Rantanen. The Avalanche\’s projected lines look like this:
Gabriel Landeskog-Matt Duchene-Nathan Mackinnon
Joe Colborne-Carl Soderberg-Jarome Iginla
Blake Comeau-Mikhail Grigorenko-Mikko Rantanen
Andreas Martinsen-John Mitchell-Cody McLeod
 On defense is:
  Eric Gelinas- Erik Johnson
  Tyson Barrie- Nikita Zadorov
  Francois Beauchemin- Fedor Tyutin
 Seymon Varlamov and Calvin Pickard are in net. D Ryan Stanton and LW Joe Whitney are scratched.
 For my prediction, the Colorado Avalanche, a contending team with a solid future will just miss out on the playoffs in 2016-17.