The Anaheim outlook could change every quickly if a few of the right players pop off this season.
I think Utah’s rebuild gets a little underrated too because most casual observers have written off Simashev and But as top prospects. And with the sheer volume of picks, later 1sts like Lamoureux and Beaudoin are a bit forgotten, even though they’d be the stars of the show in other pools.
Deep down, I do worry that we have a bunch of really good pieces and no great pieces. If Cooley, Guenther and Sergachev can all surpass expectations by a decent margin this season, I’ll feel a lot better. Will also be watching Hayton’s progress closely.
This is a really important year for so many of the most important pieces.
I can see Tij, Smashev, and But be ready to play pro next season.
This season, I expect them to make the playoffs. It will be about evaluation. How each player rises up to each challenge.
Hayton is the biggest question mark.
Another are the top 3 forward lines all going to be an offense threat while being defensive resposible?
Will the defense click with minimal lapses and contribute offense?
Can the overall team defense drastically improve the stats from last season?
Will the goalie tandem stats look like Vezina qualifiers thanks to the team's defensive performance?
I do believe that the overall team's desire to compete will drive this team to be one of the biggest surprises this upcoming season!