LOL... The moment Vatreno and Strome drop off from unusually high levels of production and shooting %s, this team is a high pick lottery club.
Zegras is proving out as wildly overrated and Cam Flower is now a pretty lousy NHL player whom they are stuck with for another 3 years at a $7.5MM AAV. Drysdale is hurt yet again.
The west has some bad clubs and this will be one of them when the season is wrapping up.
Glad they hit on the Mintyukov pick. McTavish was picked 3rd overall for a reason. He's not supposed to suck.
His take is not bad at all. They are 6-4 despite playing Vegas, Carolina, Dallas, and Boston already.
They are not the same team as last year. They have a new coach and basically an entirely new defense. Mintyukov is playing well and could be a Calder contender. Lacombe looks like he belongs. They'll get Drysdale back and I'd bet we see Zellweger at some point this year.
Carlsson looks as good as they could've hoped for. I thought he would need another year in Sweden, but he's stepped in seamlessly. McTavish is playing some legitimately great hockey. He was a top prospect and it's no fluke. Sure Vatrano won't keep his pace, but they've gotten nothing out of Zegras and they have babied Carlsson. Those trends will likely reverse as the year goes on. And they will still get Killorn on top off that.
Will they ultimately get into the playoffs? We'll see, but I expect them to be in the mix all year. They very much have a 17-18 Avs vibe to them.