NHL Playoffs
I did pretty well with my predictions this playoff season except for one, tiny misstep: in every round except the finals, I picked the Chicago Blackhawks to lose. First round I went 7 for 8 with the Chicago series being my sole error. Well that went well... Anyway, big congrats to Chicago and bigger congrats to Toews, Kane, Hossa, and Keith, who all pretty much sealed their inductions to the HHOF with that cup win (the other three-cup winners from Chicago - Sharp, Seabrook, and Hjalmarsson - may deserve consideration as well depending on what else happens in their careers).
NHL Draft
Edmonton got the #1 pick... again... boo. In fairness, with the exception of Hall, none of their previous #1 picks really seem like true #1's, so I guess this is the hockey gods compensating them for that.
The draft choices pretty much went as expected. I was hoping Toronto would get Strome, mostly because he fits their needs better than anyone else who might have made it to #4, but Marner is a great consolation prize. Marner likely won't become the physical, two-way centreman that seems necessary to win a cup these days (Strome could), but he's got more potential than Strome and could easily become a premier winger. It's like getting Kessel minus some of the attitude problems. Coming out of London, Marner should have some defensive ability as well - the Knights seem to pound defensive responsibility into their players, even the offensively gifted ones.
Trades, Trades Everywhere!
Speaking of Kessel, decent return for him from Pittsburgh. Real win-win trade. Pittsburgh gets a real winger for their top-end centers, while Toronto gets about as good as they could get for Kessel, who they really wanted to get rid of anyway. I like the players Toronto got back, both of whom weren't living up to expectations in Pittsburgh but who have real potential moving forward. I'm glad they picked up Harrington. He'll never be a top-pair D-man, but he could easily be a solid second-pair player with the right motivation.
Boston got burned on Dougie Hamilton, shipping him off for a fairly poor return and seeing him ink a very fair deal with Calgary. Must have been something going on between the organization and Hamilton, or Boston made a very, very stupid deal. Good thing they made up for it with the Lucic trade, getting way more for him than they should have been able to get.
The goalie market got weird, with Lehner fetching far more than he should while Talbot got sold off for peanuts. Don't know what any team is thinking here.
Lastly, Chicago is hurting, bad. They moved out a lot of key players and got fairly mediocre returns on them. The Saad trade at least gave them some pieces, but what they got for Sharp was pretty poor. Even after a bad year, Sharp has a lot of upside and has won three Cups for a reason.
Lastly, Chicago is hurting, bad. They moved out a lot of key players and got fairly mediocre returns on them. The Saad trade at least gave them some pieces, but what they got for Sharp was pretty poor. Even after a bad year, Sharp has a lot of upside and has won three Cups for a reason.
Free Agent Frenzy
Toronto finally did well here, signing decent players for cheap to fill out their line-up. They'll still be terrible this season, but are at least setting themselves up to be less terrible in the future.
Montreal did poorly, signing yet another defenseman for too much money without really addressing their inadequate forward lines. Now they're cap constrained for absolutely now reason. Petry's not bad, just not worth that much money and not what they needed.
Colorado, Buffalo and Boston all overpaid for what look to be serviceable but mediocre forwards. They'll pay for it in the future.
Still a few worthwhile free agents out there, especially D-men who are sorely needed by most teams (Nashville & Calgary being the major exceptions).
How the Field Changes Next Year
It's obviously too soon to make any real predictions about how the NHL picture is going to look this coming year, but I'm going to do it anyway!
In the West, Dallas looks good to make the playoffs, likely in place of Vancouver, Calgary, or Winnipeg. LA should challenge as well, but they've got some deeper issues that have yet to be resolved.
In the East, Florida and Columbus may challenge, but Ottawa's the only real weak team I see for them to bump off.
Anyway, should be a good season!
Still a few worthwhile free agents out there, especially D-men who are sorely needed by most teams (Nashville & Calgary being the major exceptions).
How the Field Changes Next Year
It's obviously too soon to make any real predictions about how the NHL picture is going to look this coming year, but I'm going to do it anyway!
In the West, Dallas looks good to make the playoffs, likely in place of Vancouver, Calgary, or Winnipeg. LA should challenge as well, but they've got some deeper issues that have yet to be resolved.
In the East, Florida and Columbus may challenge, but Ottawa's the only real weak team I see for them to bump off.
Anyway, should be a good season!
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