Yeah that expectations thing, as fans we arent going to handle it the best way because we ask for too much
The players , idk what they expect obviously if you ask any player anywhere they all expect to make the playoffs ,
even the Sabres will say that
So i hope they just go out and play and compete and try at the very least to keep pace with last year's team cause other teams know they arent total trash anymore plus there is going to be some regression somewhere.
And i agree that if Varly is healthy and plays well he'll be no. 1 no question...but we know thats probably not going to happen
I think teams knew what was going on with the Avs by January. They only had a slightly rocky start, but were pretty consistent for 60% of the season in the style they played.
I don't feel like the "oh now they'll take us seriously" thing applies personally. The questions and answers will mostly come internally IMO.
Kam, Jost, Kerf, Compher, Grubs, Varly, Girard, Mikko, and MacK all have questions to answer. That is a metric f*** ton to try and prognosticate.