This offseason surely was an entertaining one and it should also provide several NHL teams a boost in the standings.
If you’ve got a fantasy team mindset, this should be music to your ears – at least for the later rounds.
With new players that make existing players around them that much better, players that were “meh” before are now “oooooh” and worthy of an average draft pick boost.
Here’s a look at a few teams that you may want to keep on your radar for those later rounds where depth players are so important and can really tip the balance between winning and losing.
Ottawa Senators
The hockey worlds worst kept secret is how great the Sens/Dorion did in the offseason. First with the hugely surprising addition of DeBrincat (masterful) then the not quite as surprising but equally awesome was Giroux. Aside from going out and getting new players, it’s exciting to consider what Batherson will do now that he’s fully healthy. He was scoring at a rate of 1.10 before his unfortunate injury, so having Giroux and DeBrincat next to him this season is too tantalizing to ignore. Unfortunately, those players will probably go rather quickly in an open draft. However, there really is a plethora of smart draft choices on an Ottawa team poised to take huge steps this year and make no mistake, this is an offense first squad. Tkachuk, Norris, Batherson, Stutzle, Giroux and DeBrincat are the obvious choices but looking deeper we still have Pinto, Formenton and Joseph in the later rounds as great options too.
Calgary Flames
What and up and down offseason for the ages this franchise endured. In the matter of weeks (days?) the team went from “Welp, looks like we’re rebuilding!” to “Nah, lets run it back only better this time!” Losing Gaudreau and Tkachuk were both gut punches but, perhaps exactly what the team needed to catapult their chances and fill a hole they otherwise probably wouldn’t have addressed as well as they did. Replacing Gaudreau with Huberdau is, at worst, a lateral move. Both are slated to hit the 100 pts mark again this year. Will Kadri match his output from last year or, at least keep up with Tkachuck? Probably not (the later is playing with slightly better players around him so not Kadri’s fault really) but, it does still fill out the top two lines quite nicely. The hole that was plugged was the jaw dropping inclusion of Weegar in the Huberdeau trade – and it sounds like he will eventually re-sign long term there there as well. Having a good puck moving defensemen will give those on the PP a huge boost. As we look at it today, it would make sense to have a PP of Toffoli, Lindholm, Kadri, Weegar and Huberdeau so that gives an obvious boos to Toffoli who otherwise may not have been on your radar. Coleman and Mangiapane are also slated to see some time with Kadri and Weegar so there’s seems to be quite a big spread of offensive love for the top 2 lines. Very worthy of some serious consideration.
Carolina Hurricanes
They may have lost Trochek, Niederreiter and DeAngelo but did recover by grabbing Burns and Pacioretty early on. Both will lose time to injury for sure but they did right by also going out and getting Paul Stastny. The great thing about Carolina is they didn’t need to do much to keep the offensive flow going, but I feel like those 3 new players will bring in a smidge more offense to this already talented squad. Look for the usual production from Aho, Svechnikov and Teravainen but I would also expect a bump from players like Slavin, Necas, Jarvis and maybe even Kase. He’s a great player and seems to struggle with staying in the right line combination, but there’s something about how Brind’Amour runs his squad that has me feeling this year might help him take a bigger step.
Detroit Red Wings
If for no other reason, you have to consider this team this year because it’s Stevie Y’s 3rd at the helm. It was in his 3rd year as GM of Tampa that he rounded out that team with draft picks and signings (Kuch, Vasilevskiy and Point to name a few). While Tampa may have won 2 cups since his departure make no mistake, his fingerprints are all over those cups. So in a way that means we’re watching Tampa 2.0 come together and now in year 3 – much like in Tampa – we’re going to start to see the fruits of his labor. Players like Raymond, Larkin, Bertuzi, Vrana, Copp, Perron and reigning Norris trophy winner Seider are all worthy of early draft positions but, look a little deeper and I think you’ll find some more. The line of Kubalk, Suter and Zadina is about as intriguing of a 3rd line as you can get and I wouldn’t be surprised if all of them saw time on the top 2 lines whether it be for injury or rewarding good play. If there’s a GM out there you can blindly trust, it’s Stevie Y.
Columbus Blue Jackets
The addition of Johnny Gaudreau and signing of Patrik Laine really were two great moves for a franchise that otherwise wasn’t really on anyone’s radar. It did come at a cost of fan favorite Oliver Bjorkstrand but, with a great one two punch this team can build around it’s a great step in the right direction. Underperforming in the past, players like Jenner, Roslovic and hopefully even Voracek it increases the ability to put pucks in the net. Which in turn increases the draft positions of said players. Where once perhaps not worthy of a late round pick, this team has a few more options on the table now.
