Movin' On Up To The East Side
Sector 1901 - Movin' On Up To The East Side
We did the West yesterday, and now we move to the other guys. Sadly, I don't have the platform anymore to really pick fights with Rangers and Islanders fans. But that doesn't mean I'm not gonna try! Let's do it to it!
Boston Bruins - This feels like it's kind of it in The Hub. The Bs somehow made it through the retirements of Patrice Bergeron and and David Krejci last season to remain upper echelon. But now they don't have either of the goalies that helped backstop that, with Linus Ullmark traded to Ottawa and Jeremy Swayman waiting for Jeremy Jacobs to offer more than a loose button in salary to come back into the fold (though the smart money is still on Swayman being back sometime). The Bs have tried to shore up their hole in the middle with the signing of Elias Lindholm. The problem is that Lindholm has been backing up for the last three years both in counting stats and metrically (42 goals, then 29, and 15 last year). Brad Marchand is 36 now, and even Charlie Coyle is getting up there, up there enough to wonder if he's really a #2 center. Matthew Poitras flashed a little potential last season, but enough to make up for a decomposing Coyle and a declining Lindholm? David Pastrnak still rules, and the top four with Charlie McAvoy and the other Lindholm (Hampus) is still really good. Mason Lohrei looked like he could be a future piece at times last year. But they also signed Nikita Zadorov, and I refuse to believe that's anything other than a cry for help (they gave him $5 million!). The descent begins.
Buffalo Sabres - We know I have a soft spot for this outfit. The problem last year was that they became so conscious of their defensive frailties from two seasons ago that they kind of kneecapped their offensive arsenal. We don't have to worry about that with Lindy Ruff driving this bus again, as he's assuredly already cut the brake lines. The Sabres should be absolute showtime, or at least have the capability. The top six is rife with pretty young things who can light up the scoresheet. The bottom six is pretty much a wasteland, aside from old friend Sam Lafferty. Can that be balanced out by the top four on the blue line? Owen Power and Rasmus Dahlin are some of the best in the league at breaking a team out of their zone with their passing. They're some of the worst at denying their own blue line. Can Bowen Byram stay healthy and breakout in a way he never could in Colorado? A lot is riding on him to do so. The goalies here, both Devon Levi and Ukko-Pekka Lukkonen, are better than you think. It'll be firewagon every night, but the Sabres will challenge for a playoff spot. I'm not just convincing myself. I think.
Carolina Hurricanes - I'm not dumb enough to predict a collapse for these regular season giants, because their system and their coaching will comfortably keep them in the playoffs. But this does feel like the end of their cycle, or at least the beginning of the end. They let Brett Pesce walk to New Jersey, and appear to be replacing him by giving 75-year-old Brent Burns his top pairing role. The rest of the defense is old too, with Dmitri Orlov, Sean Walker, Ghost Bear, and Jalen Chatfield all in the neighborhood of 30 or over it. Brady Skjei wasn't even replaced. The forwards remain the same, though losing Teuvo means something to this team. Martin Necas certainly caused a lot of noise in the offseason and ended up staying put. But also, is he that good? Teuvo was replaced by Jack Roslovic, who never redefined the sport like he was projected to in Winnipeg. The young kids who populated their bottom six have now moved into the top, and the bottom six isn't as strong as it once was. Their spray-and-pray method of playing will still light up the metrics board, their go-hard ways will still pile up the wins in the season's doldrum months. But the window for this team to actually win a game beyond the second round is only open a sliver, if it's open at all anymore.
Columbus Blue Jackets - They'll be bad and they'll be sad, and there isn't much more to add.
Detroit Red Wings - "This time it will be different." Sure, pal. We'd say the Wings have to make the playoffs this year, but do they? Would they really fire The Yzerplan? Of course they won't. And the problem for the Wings is the same that it's always been. The top of the roster is just short of a bonafide NHL top of the roster. Dylan Larkin is really good. He's not a #1 center on a team that wants to do much. Alex DeBrincat has only poured in the goals for teams not going anywhere. Wings fans scream about how Moritz Seider is used in the most dungeon way possible, but at some point a true #1 turns that around on the ice. And until Patrick Kane proves that his hip won't turn into powder like everyone else who's had his resurfacing surgery has, we'll still believe that he'll be done by the international break (no ASG this year). Maybe Lucas Raymond takes another huge leap. Maybe Simon Edvinsson can boost Seider. But the back of the blue line has Ben Chiarot, Olli Maatta, and Erik Gustaffson...which means it sucks ass. JT Compher and Andrew Copp are still wildly overpaid. In a conference where the Sabres and Devils at least are going to add to the playoff-worthy field, and the Senators have a chance to, still feels like the Wings are sucking hind tit.
Florida Panthers - Always the danger of a Cup hangover, and two straight Finals is a lot of mileage. But this team already knows how to measure out a regular season and then be mostly at full-juice for the playoffs. And most of this team is back. The big loss was Brandon Montour, but his spot on the top pairing will be taken by Gustav Forsling, who has somehow turned into a down-ballot Norris candidate. The Panthers are trying the same trick of turning a Hawks washout into a blue line standout with Adam Boqvist. Should they succeed, we all quit. Longtime favorite Nate Schmidt has also been added, and why he didn't quite match his heights from Vegas in either Vancouver or Winnipeg, he can certainly fit the bill on the third pairing. The top six is still the top six, and Anton Lundell will annoy the piss out of everyone as the third center. Bobrovsky is now 36, but Spencer Knight can take enough starts to make up for Bob's aging joints. Probably still the class of the Atlantic, if not the whole conference.
Montreal Canadiens - Somehow, I'm supposed to believe that losing Patrik Laine for whatever amount of time he's out is a big deal, even though Laine has wasted everyone's time for years. Somehow, I'm supposed to believe that the return of Kirby Dach is a big deal, even though he's a doofus. There are some fun kids here like Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Kaiden Guhle, and Lane Hutson. Hutson is a really small d-man who can really go toward the other net but might get run over by forwards approaching his. But if he creates more than he lets in, it's all good. Juraj Slafkovsky broke out last season, and the Habs need him to continue on that arc. Their still way short of a playoff spot, but there's a lot here for Canadiens fans to watch all season and get excited about what's to come.
New Jersey Devils - My guys! Yes, I said they'd win the Cup last year. Am I going to do it again after they missed the playoffs entirely? I'm not not licking toads! The Devils' problems last year was injuries and goaltending. Not much you can do about the former, but Jacob Markstrom is a wild upgrade over the fuckwits and the truly lost that New Jersey tossed into the crease last year. Even if Markstrom can be only ok to good, that might be enough. It would also be delightful if Sheldon Keefe gets out of the Toronto fishbowl and then makes a deep playoff run. They'll need Dougie Hamilton and Jack Hughes to play most of the season this time. Brett Pesce replacing John Marino isn't as big of an upgrade as it sounds, but it's still solid. They need to not play Brendon Dillon at all, and once Pesce and Luke Hughes are healthy they probably don't have to. The top six is still among the league's best. Unless Markstrom has a total breakdown, the Devils not only return to the playoffs but make some serious noise when they get there.
New York Islanders - I don't know how this team scraped a playoff spot, because Patrick Roy is a moron and the game has passed Lou Lamoriello by. Ilya Sorokin had a backiotomy in the summer and only just got on the ice yesterday. Is back surgery bad for a hockey player? I still get Brock Nelson and Anders Lee confused, and Bo Horvat is overrated and overpaid. No miracles this time, as this team tunes Roy out and vacates their playoff standing.
New York Rangers - Anyone who's followed me the past few years know I have a strong distaste for this era of Rangers hockey. They value the wrong things. They parade a big dumb ogre on their fourth line and worship him even though he sucks. They have maybe the league's best goalie who covers up the fact that they're only good on the power play. And they get found out by complete teams every spring. This season should be no different. Reilly Smith gets the sweetheart spot next to Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Though he got the sweetheart spot last year next to Evgeni Malkin and scored 13 goals. Maybe he's toast. Filip Chytil is back for seven minutes before he gets hurt again. The blue line is dumb and slow outside of Adam Fox, who I'm still not convinced isn't a fancy word for Torey Krug. Shesterkin and the power play probably drags them to or near 100 points again, and there may be a year where Shesterkin drags them to a Final by himself. Seeing as how he's headed into free agency after this season, it very well may be this one before he resets the market for goalies. Or maybe they just get clocked by the Devils again. Let's hope.
Ottawa Senators - The Sens are supposed to be sort of in the same spot as the Sabres or Wings, I guess, in that they've been a young team with some vibes and juice for a while now and need to make a jump. They've improved their goaltending by trading for Linus Ullmark, though how much he was a product of the Bruins' defensive stoutness we'll find out. There's a fair amount of precocious, young firepower here, though they'll need Tim Stutzle to jump into the 90+ point category to really contend for a playoff spot. Jake Sanderson is the best d-man you probably haven't heard of. The rest of the defense is iffy, though. If Ullmark carries his Boston numbers over, and if Stutzle and one other forward like the other garbage Tkachuk son or Drake Batherson does as well, then they can absolutely hang around the wildcard scene. If not, this whole ship may never get into dock.
Philadelphia Flyers - They got Matvei Michkov sooner than they expected, which has every annoying Flyer fan (is there any other kind?) tumescent. Like the Sens and Sabres, they're packed with young forwards and even threatened a playoff spot last year. They managed that with the worst even-strength save-percentage in the league, but they won't manage that again if Samuel Ersson and Ivan Fedotov can't do any better. Cam York, Jamie Drysdale, and Yegor Zamula at least hint at some potential on defense for the future. Michkov, Morgan Frost, Owen Tippett, and Tyson Forrester hint at a brighter future up front. But the Flyers didn't really belong as high in the standings as they got last year, and feels like this season might be something of a market correction.
Pittsburgh Penguins - They got out of any drama by re-signing Sidney Crosby, but that doesn't mean the Pens aren't headed for another season in the abyss. If everything maxes out maybe they can scratch out a wildcard spot, but that seems awfully ambitious when some teams that finished behind them last year should be much better this year. Anthony Beauvillier is projected to be on Crosby's line. Michael Bunting on Malkin's line. They're the 100th team to try and resuscitate Jesse Puljujarvi. This isn't a good start. Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang are still backing things up, but they were last year, too. Matt Grzelcyk could be a sneaky good signing to partner with Letang, as he always felt undervalued in Boston. Ryan Graves is still here, and he's giving Ryan Smith a run for worst player in the league. The Pens had some lousy shooting luck last year, especially on the power play, and maybe if they can get a spike somewhere it could be a last hurrah for this group. But that's about the only hope.
Tampa Bay Lightning - People are pretty bullish on the Bolts having a revival this year. Jake Guentzel replacing Steven Stamkos could work out to a push or better. They signed Cam Atkinson to be a middle-six winger, but he also might be dead. JJ Moser was saved from his Arizona hell to replace Mikhail Sergachev, but that's an iffy bet. They're still going trot Ryan McDonagh out there with a straight face. A lot of the optimism springs from Andrei Vasilevskiy having an off-year last season and bouncing back this term, and that probably will happen. Vasilevskiy is just too good to be a .900 goalie, and three straight Finals probably took some starch out of him. If Erik Cernak comes into his prime more, and they can find something on the bottom six, Jon Cooper can probably get this team back into the playoffs and not have to move up his annual key party weekend to Cinco de Mayo. How much of a danger they are when they get there will count on Vasilevskiy.
Toronto Maple Leafs - After all that they didn't trade Mitch Marner, and we're all supposed to believe that Craig Berube is the tactical and psychological genius to get this group to where they've never been. Berube did goof that one Cup that will never be mentioned, but then won exactly won playoff series since and missed the playoffs altogether the past two seasons. The Leafs also signed Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson just in time for both to get old and bad. They're still counting on Max Domi to do anything. They think their goaltending is solved by Joseph Woll. You see where this is going, right? Ok.
Washington Capitals - I have no idea how this team made the playoffs last year and I'm pretty sure they don't either. They had a -37 goal-difference, which gives you a better idea of the quality at work here. They took Pierre-Luc Dubois off the Kings' hands, which means they can be the fourth team to wonder just why the fuck they bothered in the first place after about 40 games. Not only did Alex Ovechkin's goal-scoring fall off, but so did his shots and chances, which makes you wonder if he's got enough gas to run down Gretzky's record. He's 42 short of breaking it, so he can definitely do it next year. But he'll need to turn around not just his finishing but his ability to get chances to do it this year. Which should be just about the only reason to watch this team. Jakob Chychrun washed up here in a bid to finally prove what everyone got so giddy about when he was in Arizona. Between him, John Carlson, Martin Fehervary, and Rasmus Sandin (who somehow is still only 24), the Caps could have a surprisingly tasty blue line. But this forward group blows, especially if Ovie is declining, and Anthon Mangiapane isn't getting anywhere near that 35-goal season of two years ago again. Back to the middle for this lot.
Please share and forward and retweet. Need all the help we can get. Have a great weekend everyone!
