Rumor: 2023-2024 Trade Rumors and Free Agency: Off-season is in full swing

[henchman21]

IMO people are underrating Devils, Stars, and Kings. Canes, Bolts, and Rangers are overrated. Still need to see where teams fill their gaps though. Devils could easily already have the answer in net, we just don't have proof. Stars are the most complete team, but really then need one more level out of Hintz and Otter has to play to his capabilities. Kings, assuming Kopi doesn't fall off a cliff, have the best center depth in the league and solid defense... what they do in net is a huge question. Canes ideally need a better 1C, push Aho down and that 1C is hopefully a gamebreaker... though I think they end up with the flawed route eventually. Bolts are old and have lost their depth. Rangers have pieces, but until their young players take a step forward, they won't progress... also not sold on Laviolette.

My personal thoughts:

Devils
Stars



Canes
Oilers
Kings
Panthers


Leafs
Avs
Rangers
Vegas
Bolts

Sabres and Sens are wildcards. The pieces are there for those two to take a massive step forward and leap to the top of the third group in a blink of an eye... or they could disappoint again.

Also I don't think George is getting questioned enough... he was not good in the Seattle series. The Avs are not a good enough or deep enough team to overcome bad goals. The only area where I don't think the Avs have questions is on defense. There are some minor ones like will Byram/Manson be healthy, but the depth is currently there to overcome that. Up front there are a few major questions and in net I think there are still questions.

I'm not going to bother doing a full comparison with the forwards here, but "kicks the crap out of ours" is really an overstatement if I ever saw one.

I mean it kinda does... a guy they pushed down to the 4th line and didn't attempt to keep is going to be a 3rd line fixture here.

 

[Balthazar]

Where are you getting that I hate or lost faith in him?

I thought you were saying that if Colton is better than expected and passes Ryjo on the depth chart that will make Ryjo not give a f*** anymore and be bad defensively...but I may have misread your post.

 

[LOFIN]

I mean it kinda does... a guy they pushed down to the 4th line and didn't attempt to keep is going to be a 3rd line fixture here.

Cool. Our top-2 players are better than theirs, and the other fixtures in the top-6 are close enough for me TBH. As long as RyJo and Drouin perform at median level, we are fine.

BTW, having Panthers as a contender is a joke. Even if Bob would now suddenly start to play good, they are missing like half of their roster to start the season. In competitive Atlantic, that could spell a disaster.

 

[henchman21]

I thought you were saying that if Colton is better than expected and passes Ryjo on the depth chart that will make Ryjo not give a f*** anymore and be bad defensively...but I may have misread your post.

I'm saying if Colton plays at a 2C level it is because RyJo failed. Colton won't be a 50+ point guy on the 3rd line, so he'd have to have the 2C role... which mean that RyJo didn't work.

 

[Balthazar]

Let's not forget that Dallas is the team that beat Seattle (something we couldn't do) and they added Duchene for peanuts without losing any significant piece.

 

[Balthazar]

Look who's #1

Which NHL teams have improved the most this offseason? Rating all 32 teams

From most value added to least, rating each team based on whether they have more talent than they did at the start of the offseason.

theathletic.com

 

[henchman21]

Let's not forget that Dallas is the team that beat Seattle (something we couldn't do) and they added Duchene for peanuts without losing any significant piece.

And with poor goaltending that should be expected to improve. Otter has more in him.

To me, Dallas just needs 3 things to sway their way. Otter needs to play above average... not great, not elite, certainly not bad, just above average. Capability is there. Hintz needs one more step up. Not just a good 1C, but a great 1C. Lastly, Harley needs to establish in their top 4. If he plays like he played most of the playoffs, he will make a dramatic improvement to that team. It was night and day how much better their puck movement was with him.

 

[The Abusement Park]

I'm not going to bother doing a full comparison with the forwards here, but "kicks the crap out of ours" is really an overstatement if I ever saw one.

I mean maybe not kicks the crap out of, but as a whole their forward core is far better than ours. It’s way deeper, has almost if not just as much high end talent as ours, and the composition of it is far better. As a whole I don’t think there’s a better forward group in the entire league.

 

[henchman21]

Look who's #1

Which NHL teams have improved the most this offseason? Rating all 32 teams

From most value added to least, rating each team based on whether they have more talent than they did at the start of the offseason.

theathletic.com

And don't look who is #25

 

[LOFIN]

Wow, has the tide here turned regarding Dallas in just 2 months time.

 

[Balthazar]

And don't look who is #25

It isn't surprising though, from the outside we sure didn't get better.

 

[the_fan]

Let me guess. Avs are #25?

 

[LOFIN]

It isn't surprising though, from the outside we sure didn't get better.

Because from the outside people now think that JT Compher can be a #2C because he put up so many points and even got Selke votes so he's great defensively, while Ryan Johansen is all washed up. And Colton put up as many points as Newhook, but Newhook still has way more offensive potential.

We all know here, we've upgraded significantly on both positions, I don't really care if some reporters look at stats and think it's basically the same. They probably also look at defense and think EJ is actually a loss, when I think JJ actually outperformed him last season. He's a big loss in the locker room, zero loss on the ice.

 

[henchman21]

Wow, has the tide here turned regarding Dallas in just 2 months time.

People have discounted Dallas for a while out of hatred. It was clear coming down the stretch that was a complete and deep team. They were just a sliver away this past year even with Otter playing poorly.

 

[NateTheGreat]

Let's not forget that Dallas is the team that beat Seattle (something we couldn't do) and they added Duchene for peanuts without losing any significant piece.

We swapped JTC and Eller for RyJo and Colton as our 2/3 C’s and are adding Nuke for free to the lineup we had against Seattle. Wood and Drouin can very well replace what we lost from Newhook and Erod. Not to mention our team won’t be dog tired from a short off-season and a season full of injuries.

People are underestimating Nathan Mackinnon around here. I’d argue he’s closer to McDavid than any other center is to him in the league. McDavid is in a tier by himself, but so is Nate after him.

 

[Balthazar]

Let me guess. Avs are #25?

Avs are 25 out of 32 in the "offseason improvement" department according to Luszczyszyn's advanced stats.

Which means that we got significantly worse on paper.

 

[Gumballhead]

And with poor goaltending that should be expected to improve. Otter has more in him.

To me, Dallas just needs 3 things to sway their way. Otter needs to play above average... not great, not elite, certainly not bad, just above average. Capability is there. Hintz needs one more step up. Not just a good 1C, but a great 1C. Lastly, Harley needs to establish in their top 4. If he plays like he played most of the playoffs, he will make a dramatic improvement to that team. It was night and day how much better their puck movement was with him.

I think Dallas should try to get older.

 

[UncleRisto]

"The model sees Ryan Johansen as a slight downgrade from J.T. Compher". Oh, alright.

 

[LOFIN]

"The model sees Ryan Johansen as a slight downgrade from J.T. Compher". Oh, alright.

Exactly, Dom can shove his model up his you know what.

 

[NateTheGreat]

Avs are 25 out of 32 in the "offseason improvement" department according to Luszczyszyn's advanced stats.

Which means that we got significantly worse on paper.

This is all I needed to know about that article.

 

[the_fan]

Avs are 25 out of 32 in the "offseason improvement" department according to Luszczyszyn's advanced stats.

Which means that we got significantly worse on paper.

No wonder I don’t subscribe to athletic. That’s garbage. Avs are gonna improve just by default because they’re probably gonna go into next season healthier. Guys like Manson are gonna be healthy. In what world Colton isn’t improvement over Newhook? RyJo is most likely improvement over JTC at 2C. Byram potentially having healthier season is also huge. The athletic can take those advanced stats and flush them down the toilet

 

[EdAVSfan]

Exactly, Dom can shove his model up his you know what.

If people actually read his description, he basically says that for Colorado, the model probably doesn’t work so good.

 

[thedoctor]

JTC performed just fine as 3C in the cup run and was very good in the playoffs. He was just not suited for 2C

8 points in 20 games, many of them at 2C, while shooting 19%. He played fine as a defensive 3C, but he was weak as an offensive generator as always.

 

[NateTheGreat]

If people actually read his description, he basically says that for Colorado, the model probably doesn’t work so good.

Fixed

 

[chet1926]

"The model sees Ryan Johansen as a slight downgrade from J.T. Compher". Oh, alright.

The criminal under rating of JTC around here is astonishing.

Far from a perfect player, he sure as hell wasn't bad either.

I personally don't view RyJo as an upgrade to JTC. It's lateral move IMO.

RyJo is not the player he was 5 years ago and is coming off a major injury.