The only part of the team I'm not worried about is the current offensive lineup. I think we are going to be among the top 5 best scoring teams in the league this season, a top six with Kreids, Ziba, Buch, JTM, Zucc, Nash looks really good, not many teams with a top 6 better than that from an offensive standpoint. And then we probably got 4 30 point scorers from the back end with Shattenkirk, McDonagh, Skjei, DeAngelo, so I think the offense will do really well. Only thing I'm worried about with the offense is the depth. Chytil will probably go back. I don't think AV gave him much of a chance, but then again, he has not looked good so far, and very well might not be ready to play in the NHL. So lets say he goes back, Fast takes his spot after 9 games, we still have Paul Carey in our lineup, we still have Desjardins in the press box, we don't have any obvious upgrades coming from the minors. We can probably patch together a good top 12, maybe if we can eventually replace Carey with Nieves, but we better make sure we don't sustain injuries. If we do, we might be a two or three line team. There are not more than 12 NHL forwards in this organization right now, which is a problem.
Defensively, I'm extremely worried. I just don't think the talent is there to defend. You can question last season's defense, but this team has not upgraded defensively. They've done so in a big way offensively, but defense was the problem with the defense last season, not offense, in my opinion. Two games in, defense has been terrible, and Staal has not been. What happens when he starts to play like Staal? I don't expect Shattenkirk and DeAngelo to defend like they did these first two games, but they are not known for their defense. Thinking they will be is wishful thinking. Smith and Skjei are probably the two who can kind of resurrect the defense from a defensive standpoint, maybe Holden if he can defend like he did early last season. Skjei needs to be our second shut down guy after McDonagh. Needs to be, needs to take a big step. We'll see if he does so. Its asking a lot of him. And Smith needs to show he's capable of being our third shutdown guy, can't trail off as a guy the team considers scratching in a month or two. This defense has good players, but I don't think the offensive/defensive balance in there.
Goalie could be a mess, we'll have to let it play out. If we go by last season and early this season from Hank and Pavelec (along with zero depth in the minors), its looking like we'll have some of the worst goaltending in the league. Maybe not. Gotta hope Hank can turn it around, and Allaire can fix Pavelec's game. Its too early to tell where this team will stand. I think the offense is way too good to be one of the few worst in the league, but I also don't think as of now we are going to make the playoffs. A few changes in the play of some players (Hank, Pavelec, Skjei, Smith, Holden), and we could. On the other hand, a few changes the opposite way (top 6 forward injuries, McDonagh injury), we could be worse than expected.
