31 Teams in 31 Days, 2018-19

[Sabel79]

5 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Wouldn't you say Mittelstud is also a key addition?  6 games at the end of the season doesn’t make him a vet.

I think I’d also limit my key losses to ROR, Kane and maybe Lehner.  The rest are just cannon fodder.

That particular roster move needs to be listed under key additions.  IMHO.  

[Randall Flagg]

1 minute ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Except Mittelstadt was basically our 1st off-season signing at the end of last season.  

Okay, but he has been in the organization since June 2017. Like I said, the format I use for this lists "Key additions" as players who are new to the organization as of June 2018. 

It isn't "key additions to the starting lineup of the big club from all possible locations," it's what transactions with other teams, UFA signings, and draft picks have you made since last season ended that will likely play

otherwise I have to go back and change the additions to every other team and add lots of players, but will have no idea who constitutes that for most of them

[GASabresIUFAN]

Fyi: Luszczyszyn for the Athletic is up to 23. Still no mention of the Sabres.  Therefore we are 22nd or better in his model.  From his model to G-d’s ears.  

[WildCard]

13 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Fyi: Luszczyszyn for the Athletic is up to 23. Still no mention of the Sabres.  Therefore we are 22nd or better in his model.  From his model to G-d’s ears.  

Who are the teams listed so far?

[dudacek]

I dropped it on a different thread yesterday

The results so far:

31) Detroit

30) Ottawa

29) Vancouver

28) Montreal

27) NY Rangers

26) NY Islanders

25) New Jersey

24) Edmonton

23) Colorado

[dudacek]

And the shoe drops this morning: The Athletic picks the Sabres at 22.

https://theathletic.com/506976/2018/09/07/2018-19-nhl-season-preview-buffalo-sabres/

“The Sabres are ready to turn the corner, but the playoffs are still very unlikely.”

Projected points 86.8.

Edited September 7, 2018 by dudacek

[GASabresIUFAN]

The Sobotka comment is particularly cutting.   

Quote

Sobotka is just plain ineffective at both ends of the ice and I wouldn’t be surprised if the unheralded Evan Rodrigues, Buffalo’s points-per-60 leader from last season, earns some more ice-time in his place.

He also has Larsson on the outs and Thompson in the minors.  Interesting.  I like what he has to say, but his comments made me think that the line competition in camp is going to be where the real excitement will be.  

You might even see something like

Skinner Eichel Reinhart

Sheary Mittelstadt Thompson

Erod Berglund Okposo

Wilson Girgensons Pominville

Sobotka

[dudacek]

It's a preview based pretty much entirely on adding up the analytics of each player on the roster.

As someone who doesn't consume a lot of that stuff aside from what Sabrespace and the Athletic present to me, I was quite interested in seeing the ratings he attaches to each player, and how they line up with the opinions expressed by some of our posters who are very much in to analytics.

[Randall Flagg]

I would love an 86 point season.

[Randall Flagg]

Calgary Flames
Record last season: 37-35-10, 84 points, 5th in the Pacific
Playoffs: None
Coach: Bill Peters
GM: Brad Treliving
Captain: Mark Giordano

GF: 216 (27th)
GA: 243 (19th)
PP: 16.0% (28th)
PK: 81.8% (7th)

Top 5G:
1.) Sean Monahan (31)
2.) Johnny Gaudreau (24)
3.) Matthew Tkachuk (24)
4.) Dougie Hamilton (17)
5.) Mark Jankowski (17)

Top 5A:
1.) Johnny Gaudreau (60)
2.) Sean Monahan (33)
3.) Mikael Backlund (31)
4.) TJ Brodie (28)
5.) Dougie Hamilton (27)

Top 5 PTS:
1.) Johnny Gaudreau (84)
2.) Sean Monahan (64)
3.) Matthew Tkachuk (49)
4.) Mikael Backlund (45)
5.) Dougie Hamilton (44)

Key Additions:  Derek Ryan (C), James Neal (RW), Elias Lindholm (RW), Austin Czarnik (LW), Noah Hanifin (D)
Key Losses: Dougie Hamilton (D), Michael Ferland (LW), Matt Stajan (C), Kris Versteeg (LW), Nick Shore (C), Matt Bartkowski (D), Tanner Glass (LW)

 

Projected Lineup:
Gaudreau - Monahan - Lindholm
Tkachuk - Backlund - Neal
Bennett - Jankowski - Frolik
Lazar - Ryan - Czarnik

Giordano - Brodie
Hanifin - Hamonic
Kulak/Valimaki/Andersson - Stone

Smith
Gillies

Top Prospects we might/might not see 
1.) Juuso Valimaki, D, drafted 1st round 2017
2.) Tyler Parsons, G, drafted 2nd round 2016
3.) Dillon Dube, C, 2nd round 2016.
4.) Rasmus Andersson, D, 2nd round 2015
5.) Oliver Kylington, D, 3rd round, 2015

My thoughts
Calgary had trouble with depth scoring last season, after largely fixing their goaltending problem. They added some wingers and a center to address that. Derek Ryan is a great player to have on your 4th line. They basically raided the Hurricanes this offseason, going for a favorite of mine in Bill Peters for the head coach position. Calgary fans think Lindholm should get the top RW spot but that Neal will spend plenty of time there. 

I think Calgary's ceiling is the leader of a weak division and a playoff series win or two, with their current roster. Smith plays well in net, and Brodie and Giordano have shown brilliant chemistry in the past. If Neal regresses and the new fits don't work out like hoped, they could again be a low-80-point team missing the playoffs entirely. 

[dudacek]

Calgary is strong and weak in the opposite ways of Anaheim and on paper probabaly isn’t any better.

But if their goaltending holds up, I think they will become media darlings this year and win the division.

[Randall Flagg]

Carolina Hurricanes
Record last season: 36-35-11, 83 points, 6th in the Metro
Playoffs: None
Coach: Rod Brind'Amour
GM: Don Waddell
Captain: Justin Williams

GF: 225 (23rd)
GA: 253 (22nd)
PP: 18.4% (23rd)
PK: 77.5% (23rd)

Top 5G:
1.) Sebastian Aho (29)
2.) Jeff Skinner (24)
3.) Teuvo Teravainen (23)
4.) Jordan Staal (19)
5.) Justin Williams (16)

Top 5A:
1.) Teuvo Teravainen (41)
2.) Sebastian Aho (36)
3.) Justin Williams (35)
4.) Elias Lindholm (28)
5.) Jordan Staal (27)

Top 5 PTS:
1.) Sebastian Aho (65)
2.) Teuvo Teravainen (64)
3.) Justin Williams (51)
4.) Jeff Skinner (49)
5.) Jordan Staal (46)

Key Additions:  Michael Ferland (LW), Andrei Svechnikov (RW), Jordan Martinook (C), Dougie Hamilton (D), Calvin de Haan (D), Petr Mraazek (G)
Key Losses: Elias Lindholm (C), Noah Hanifin (D), Cam Ward (G), Derek Ryan (C), Lee Stempniak (RW), Joakim Nordstrom (LW), Jeff Skinner (LW)

 

Projected Lineup:
Zykov - Aho - Teravainen
Ferland - Necas - Svechnikov
McGinn - Staal - Williams
Foegele - Rask - Maenalanen

Slavin - Hamilton
de Haan - Pesce
van Riemsdyk - Faulk

Darling
Mrazek

Top Prospects we might/might not see 
1.) Andrei Svechnikov, RW, 2nd overall 2018
2.) Martin Necas, C, 1st round 2017
3.) Jake Bean, D, 1st round 2016
4.) Adam Fox, D, trade with CGY
5.) Warren Foegele, 2nd round 2014

My thoughts
Carolina's problems all come down to top-end scoring and goaltending. Neither have been fixed for this season, but the pieces are slowly falling into place. Teravainen, Aho, and Svechnikov will be as good a core of top 6 wings as any team will have in the league, and Necas is going to be at least a 2C with a good chance at being a 1C, so they really just need to find one more top six center somewhere and then let things marinate. For now, though, the group will be underwhelming even if Svechnikov bursts onto the scene. 

Their top 4 D will continue to be elite at suppressing shots. Yes, they have 4 defensemen better than Justin Faulk, which is pretty crazy. The problem is, they are likely to continue their stretch of by far the worst goaltending over the last 5 years. Darling is dreadful. As long as this position remains the worst in the league they won't be going anywhere, but will be good enough otherwise to finish in the low 80s in points. 

If things all pull together they could be a wildcard team. I don't see their floor lower than 80 points, but they likely won't beat that by much. 

Edited September 15, 2018 by Randall Flagg

[dudacek]

Hard to get a good feel for Carolina with all their changes.

They certainly have an excellent D core and some intriguing kids.

But I just can’t buy into Brind’ Amour and Waddell as a team to spark a Renaissance, especially with some of the league’s worst goaltending. If I have to bet, I think they will slip.

[Randall Flagg]

Chicago Blackhawks
Record last season: 33-39-10, 76 points, 7th in the Central
Playoffs: None
Coach: Joel Quenneville
GM: Stan Bowman
Captain: Jonathan Toews

GF: 228 (21st)
GA: 254 (23rd)
PP: 16.0% (28th)
PK: 79.1% (20th)

Top 5G:
1.) Alex DeBrincat (28)
2.) Patrick Kane (27)
3.) Nick Schmaltz (21)
4.) Artem Anisimov (20)
5.) Jonathan Toews (20)

Top 5A:
1.) Patrick Kane (49)
2.) Jonathan Toews (32)
3.) Nick Schmaltz (31)
4.) Duncan Keith (30)
5.) Alex DeBrincat (24)

Top 5 PTS:
1.) Patrick Kane (76)
2.) Jonathan Toews (52)
3.) Nick Schmaltz (52)
4.) Alex DeBrincat (52)
5.) Brandon Saad (35)

Key Additions:  Chris Kunitz (LW), Marcus Kruger (C), Jordan Schroeder (RW), Cam Ward (G), brandon Manning (G)
Key Losses: Patrick Sharp (LW), Cody Franson (D), Lance Bouma (lW), ANthony Duclair (LW), Tomas Jurco (LW), Vinnie Hinostroza (C), Jordan Oesterle (D)

 

Projected Lineup:
Saad - Schmaltz - Kane
Anisimov - Toews - DeBrincat
Hayden - Kampf - Sikura
Kunitz - Kruger - Schroeder

Keith - Murphy
Gustafsson - Seabrook
Manning - Rutta

Crawford (might not be ready right away)
Ward

Top Prospects we might/might not see 
1.) Adam Boqvist, D, 1st round 2018
2.) Henri Jokiharju, D, 1st round 2017
3.) Dylan Sikura, RW, 5th round 2014
4.) Ian Mitchell, D, 2nd round 2017
5.) Nicolas Beaudin, D, 1st round 2018

My thoughts
How quickly they fell. There were no aspects about Chicago's team last season that were good. There is no help coming anytime soon in their new additions or from their prospect pool, at least in the form of anything other than mediocre-to-middling players. The forward group has no depth, even with youngsters Schmaltz and DeBrincat looking like good offensive players. Toews and Kane have taken steps back from their dominance, and Saad's return was far worse than expected. We knew Seabrook has been bad for a while...But some put Keith as one of the worst regular defensemen playing in the league right now. He was that bad last year. Maybe he was nursing something, but he was lost defensively and couldn't hit the net to save his life offensively. Crawford's health continues to be in question, and a healthy Crawford going bananas is the only way I can see this team sniffing the playoffs. 

It was worth it, though.

And I thought I made one of these yesterday, apologies. I'll do one more today.

[Randall Flagg]

Colorado Avalanche
Record last season: 43-30-9, 95 points, 4th in the Central
Playoffs: lost in the first round to Nashville (6 games)
Coach: Jared Bednar
GM: Joe Sakic
Captain: Gabriel Landeskog

GF: 255 (10th)
GA: 236 (15th)
PP: 21.9% (8th)
PK: 83.3% (4th)

Top 5G:
1.) Nathan MacKinnon (39)
2.) Mikko Rantanen (29)
3.) Gabriel Landeskog (25)
4.) Alex Kerfoot (19)
5.) Carl Soderberg (16)

Top 5A:
1.) Nathan MacKinnon (58 )
2.) Mikko Rantanen (55)
3.) Tyson Barrie (43)
4.) Gabriel Landeskog (37)
5.) Alex Kerfoot (24)

Top 5 PTS:
1.) Nathan MacKinnon (97)
2.) Mikko Rantanen (84)
3.) Gabriel Landeskog (62)
4.) Tyson Barrie (57)
5.) Alex Kerfoot (43)

Key Additions:  Matt Calvert (LW), Ian Cole (D), Philipp Grubauer (G)
Key Losses: Blake Comeau (LW), Jonathan Bernier (G), Nail Yakupov (RW), Duncan Siemens (D), Andrew Hammond (G)

 

Projected Lineup:
Landeskog - MacKinnon - Rantanen
Nieto - Soderberg - Calvert
Andrighetto - Jost - Kerfoot
Wilson - Compher - Bourque

Zadorov - Johnson
Barberio - Barrie
Girard - Cole

Varlamov
Grubauer

Top Prospects we might/might not see 
1.) Cale Makar, D, 1st round 2017
2.) Conor Timmins, D, 2nd round 2017
3.) Martin Kaut, RW, 1st round 2018
4.) Vladislav Kamenev, C, trade from Nashville
5.) AJ Greer, LW, 2nd round 2015

My thoughts
Avs fans are sleeping a LOT easier than they did this time last year. They were 1 point away from doubling their previous seasons total. MacKinnon broke out in a huge way, behind only McDavid in points per game (injuries limited him to 97 points in 74 games). MIKKO RANTANEN scored EIGHTY FOUR POINTS. The guy drafted tenth in the McEichel draft, which will be legendary when all is said and done. Obviously a lot of that was MacK, and a lot was PP production, but the guy is a smart and talented hockey player. This team is really top-heavy but the youth being insulated is growing quite nicely and in time guys like Jost and Compher and Kerfoot will be very solid top 6/middle 6 options. The D played well, Girard is tiny but intriguing, and Makar could be great. Zadorov gets a little better every year. They've shored up goaltending in case Varlamov misses time again. Things are looking up. 

However, I would not be surprised to see them crash again. Just like when they won their division in 2013-14, they did so in a way some people would describe as "unsustainable." They crashed after that season and the potential is there after this season, whether you believe in that stuff or not - surely the roster is a slow streak from 2 top line players away from being real bad. 

I think they'll regress a hair, and be a high-80-point team that still has a lot of things to look forward to. I think their best case is winning a round of hockey, and maybe two. And the worst case is MacKinnon being hurt/regressing to a ~70 point player, Landeskog falling off the map, and the young guys not playing as well as last year, leading to a bottom 10 finish. 

[Randall Flagg]

Columbus Blue Jackets
Record last season: 45-30-7, 97 points, 4th in the Metropolitan
Playoffs: lost in the first round to Washington in 6 games
Coach: John Tortorella
GM: Jarmo Kekalainen
Captain: Nick Foligno

GF: 236 (17th)
GA: 226 (10th)
PP: 17.2% (25th)
PK: 76.2% (26th)

Top 5G:
1.) Artemi Panarin (27)
2.) Cam Atkinson (24)
3.) Pierre-Luc Dubois (20)
4.) Josh Anderson (19)
5.) Seth Jones (16)

Top 5A:
1.) Artemi Panarin (55)
2.) Seth Jones (41)
3.) Oliver Bjorkstrand (29)
4.) Pierre-Luc Dubois (28)
5.) Alexander Wennberg (27)

Top 5 PTS:
1.) Artemi Panarin (82)
2.) Seth Jones (57)
3.) Pierre-Luc Dubois (48)
4.) Cam Atkinson (46)
5.) Oliver Bjorkstrand (40)

Key Additions:  Riley Nash (C), Anthony Duclair (RW), Adam Clendening (D)
Key Losses: Thomas Vanek (LW), Jack Johnson (D), Matt Calvert (LW), Ian Cole (D), Mark Letestu (C), Jordan Schroeder (RW)

 

Projected Lineup:
Panarin - Dubois - Atkinson
Jenner - Wennberg - Bjorkstrand
Foligno - Nash - Anderson
Milano - Dubinsky - Duclair

Werenski - Jones
Murray - Nutivaara
Kukan - Savard

Bobrovsky
Korpisalo

Top Prospects we might/might not see 
1.) Liam Foudy, C, 1st round 2018
2.) Gabriel Carlsson, D, 1st round 2015
3.) Jonathan Davidsson, RW, 5th round 2017
4.) Alexandre Texier, C, 2nd round 2017
5.) Vitaly Abramov, RW, 3rd round 2016

My thoughts
The elephant in the room is the Artemi Panarin situation. Losing him for nothing would be devastating, as he's a huge part of their offense (and scored 12 more points than DOUBLE the amount the guy he was traded for straight-up scored). They could probably get a decent haul though if they need to trade him. Presuming that he plays the whole year, the team is set up to contend for a 2/3 seed in that division. They have a rock solid, if not spectaular, group of forwards, with room for improvement - Atkinson missed almost 20 games and Wennberg fell off a bit. Those guys have room to grow and PLD is only going to get better and better, and was already a very solid possession and offensive center in his rookie year. Early returns on picking him over Puljujarvi are very promising. Bjorkstrand is going to get better too. They have legitimate NHL depth on every line and can do things like insulate Milano to hope he can explode offensively. Their top 5 defensemen are also legit, though the depth is quite thin. I don't know anything about Kukan, maybe he's a good prospect, but Jones finished FOURTH in Norris voting at age 23 (I love this guy and think he'll win a couple) and Werenski is well on his way to being a top-pairing D man if he isn't already. Nutivaara and David Savard are both just solid second pairing defensemen, I'd kill to have both of them on our team. Murray is solid when healthy too. 

I think these guys will make the playoffs this year. The only issue is they always seem to face a team that wins at least 3 rounds when they make it. They've drawn each of the past two cup winners in the first round. If they can avoid that, they should be able to win their franchise's first ever playoff series, with the important caveat that Bobrovsky's playoffs versus regular season splits aren't as different as they have been every season up to this point. 

Just a solid NHL franchise all-around. We'll see what happens with the Panarin situation. 

[dudacek]

Chicago is bad. People award them bonus point because they are Chicago, but they are objectively a bottom-five roster in the league’s toughest division.

Colorado has some good young pieces, but not a lot of proven depth. They’re a bubble team that everything went right for last year. They won’t be horrible, but they will miss the playoffs.

Columbus is a well-balanced team with a good back-end. I wonder about the stability in the mixture of Torts and their two best players maybe not wanting to be  there. They should be a playoff team, but they could be vulnerable to an implosion.

[Marions Piazza]

Good write ups, with regards to Columbus, I am glad they have a good team, the fans there deserve it.  I live near Columbus and have been going to games for quite some time now, i root for them after the Sabres of course.  I have been to games in numerous away arenas, and i have had the best times watching the Sabres in Columbus, always fun and the fans are pretty awesome.

[Randall Flagg]

Dallas Stars
Record last season: 42-32-8, 92 points, 6th in the Central
Playoffs: None - missed by 3 points
Coach: Jim Montgomery
GM: Jim Nill
Captain: Jamie Benn

GF: 231 (19th)
GA: 222 (6th)
PP: 19.3% (19th)
PK: 80.8% (14th)

Top 5G:
1.) Tyler Seguin (40)
2.) Jamie Benn (36)
3.) Alexander Radulov (27)
4.) Mattias Janmark (19)
5.) Radek Faksa (17)

Top 5A:
1.) John Klingberg (59)
2.) Alexander Radulov (45)
3.) Jamie Benn (43)
4.) Tyler Seguin (38)
5.) Devin Shore (21)

Top 5 PTS:
1.) Jamie Benn (79)
2.) Tyler Seguin (78)
3.) Alexander Radulov (72)
4.) John Klingberg (67)
5.) Mattias Janmark (34)

Key Additions:  Blake Comeau (LW), Roman Polak (D), Anton Khudobin (G)
Key Losses: Kari Lehtonen (G), Dan Hamhuis (D), Antoine Roussel (LW), Greg Pateryn(D), Curtis McKenzie (LW)

 

Projected Lineup:
Benn - Seguin - Nichushkin (he's back?)
Janmark - Spezza - Radulov
Comeau - Faksa - Pitlick
Elie - Shore/Hanzal - Ritchie

Lindell - Klingberg
Heiskanen - Johns
Methot - Honka

Bishop
Khudobin

Top Prospects we might/might not see 
1.) Miro Heiskanen, D, 1st round 2017
2.) Ty Dellandrea, C, 1st round 2018
3.) Valeri Nichushkin, RW, 1st round 2013
4.) Jason Dickinson, C, 1st round 2013
5.) Denis Gurianov, RW, 1st round 2015

My thoughts
Dallas finally fixed their defensive and goaltending problems last season, and then the offense behind the top line fell off a cliff. Spezza is dreadful at this point. I bet you didn't know Faksa was 7th in Selke voting, he's real good, but they basically have 5 good forwards and a bunch of 4th liners. That continues to be the case this season. Their shutdown D pairing left, but Heiskanen is going to be great. Klingberg is an excellent offensive defensemen, one of the best in the league. I'm pretty sure Honka, Johns, and Lindell are decent but not great. Seguin is a stud who has become premiere in both directions, not just the offensive one. He's got to stop getting injured right before the playoffs, though, like he has been pretty much every time they've made it if I remember correctly. It's certainly no guarantee that they do. They could be a low to mid 80 point team. They could win that division if people develop and provide the scoring boost the team needs behind the top line. I probably won't notice which one appears to be happening until I look at the standings in April - I just don't care about this team.

[dudacek]

Dallas isn’t terrible but they have a mediocre blue line, mediocre goaltending mediocre leadership and mediocre depth.

Something tells me their season could be mediocre.

[WildCard]

10 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Dallas isn’t terrible but they have a mediocre blue line, mediocre goaltending mediocre leadership and mediocre depth.

Something tells me their season could be mediocre.

They have Heiskanen coming who, for my money, is the best d prospect outside of Dahlin. The depth issue is a real thing though, it's what killed them last year

[Randall Flagg]

One thing I forgot to mention about Dallas is that Jim Nill cannot draft to save his life and it's probably going to lead to the end of his tenure a lot sooner than if he could.

[Randall Flagg]

Detroit Red Wings
Record last season: 30-39-13, 73 points, 5th in Atlantic
Playoffs: None
Coach: Jeff Blashill
GM: Steve Yzerman Ken Holland
Captain: Zetterberg, but he's probably not playing

GF: 212 (28th)
GA: 254 (23rd)
PP: 17.5% (24th)
PK: 77.5% (23rd)

Top 5G:
1.) Anthony Mantha (24)
2.) Gustav Nyquist (21)
3.) Dylan Larkin (16)
4.) Andreas Athanasiou (16)
5.) Frans Nielsen (16)

Top 5A:
1.) Dylan Larkin (47)
2.) Henrik Zetterberg (45)
3.) Mike Green (25)
4.) Anthony Mantha (24)
5.) Nicklas Kronwall (23)

Top 5 PTS:
1.) Dylan Larkin (63)
2.) Henrik Zetterberg (56)
3.) Anthony Mantha (48)
4.) Gustav Nyquist (40)
5.) Justin Abdelkader (35)

Key Additions:  Filip Zadina (RW), Thomas Vanek again (LW), Jonathan Bernier (G)
Key Losses: probably Zetterberg (C), Xavier Ouellet (D), David Booth (LW)

 

Projected Lineup:
Abdelkader - Larkin - Mantha
Rasmussen - Nielsen - Nyquist
Vanek - Athanasiou - Bertuzzi
Helm - Glendening - Svechnikov
Frk

DeKeyser - Green
Daley - Ericsson
Jensen - Kronwall

Howard
Bernier

Top Prospects we might/might not see 
1.) Filip Zadina, LW, 1st round 2018
2.) Michael Rasmussen, C, 1st round 2017
3.) Joe Veleno, C, 1st round 2018
4.) Dennis Cholowski, D, 1st round 2016
5.)Evgeny Svechnikov, RW, 1st round 2015

My thoughts
This team is bad if Zetterberg plays, and worse if he likely won't. They aren't as bad as Montreal with Price of last year, or as Ottawa, but they're competing. Their D is old and not much is coming, but DeKeyser is pretty good. Larkin and Mantha are good pieces but you'd want a couple of offensive players better than them, and they are the best Detroit has. I don't expect much of them and think this represents the early parts of a several year stretch of badness for that franchise. 

[dudacek]

Detroit is one of the few teams in the league legitimately a full tier below the Sabres.

[Randall Flagg]

Edmonton Oilers
Record last season: 36-40-6, 78 points, 6th in the Pacific
Playoffs: None
Coach: Todd McLellan
GM: Peter Chiarelli
Captain: Connor McDavid

GF: 229 (20th)
GA: 262 (27th)
PP: 14.8% (31st)
PK: 76.7% (25th)

Top 5G:
1.) Connor McDavid (41)
2.) Leon Draisaitl (25)
3.) RNH (24)
4.) Patrick Maroon (14)
5.) Ryan Strome (13)

Top 5A:
1.) Connor McDavid (67)
2.) Leon Draisaitl (45)
3.) RNH (24)
4.) Milan Lucic (24)
5.) Ryan Strome (21)

Top 5 PTS:
1.) Connor McDavid (108)
2.) Leon Draisaitl (70)
3.) RNH (48)
4.) Milan Lucic (34)
5.) Ryan Strome (34)

Key Additions:  Tobias Rieder (LW), Kyle Brodziak (C), Evan Bouchard (D), Mikko Koskinen (G)
Key Losses: Michael Cammalleri (LW), Laurent Brossoit (G), Iiro Pakarinen (RW), Eric Gryba (D)

 

Projected Lineup:
RNH - McDavid - Rattie
Rieder - Draisaitl - Puljujarvi
Lucic - Strome - Aberg/Caggiula
Khaira - Brodziak - Kassian

Klefbom - Larsson
Nurse - Benning
Russell - Bouchard (9 games)
Gravel/Jerabek

Talbot
Koskinen

Top Prospects we might/might not see 
1.) Evan Bouchard, D, 1st round 2018
2.) Kailer Yamamoto, RW, 1st round 2017
3.) Ryan McLeod, C, 2nd round 2018
4.) Caleb Jones, D, late 2015
5.) Ethan Bear, D, late 2015

My thoughts
The only team I was more wrong about last year than Edmonton was Vegas. Edmonton has a lot of problems, but their special teams murdered them last year. Their power play was the worst in the league. At one point in January their road PK was one of the best in the league, but their home PK was 57%. After months of sample size to iron out the weird stuff. That's insane. Their team looks ugly this year as well. I honestly wouldn't trade places. Benning is dreadful, Nurse is inconsistent. Their forwards are slow as hell. Puljujarvi struggles with processing NHL speed which is dangerous in development. Big meh. They could make the playoffs and not be dangerous if everyone stays healthy, Lucic bounces back, and Talbot plays like 2 seasons ago instead of last year. They'll likely miss and be a team in the 75-90 point range. Poor McDavid.