Feeling optimistic about next season. Expect we could start a bit slow, but who knows what happens in the playoffs. We're basically running it back.
Top-9 forwards are essentially the same for regular season and could be better. We're putting in someone like Samo or Boqvist instead of Cousins on the third which is either a wash or a win. Reino likely regresses in goals/points, but not overall play. Lundell likely improves while Tkachuk and Benny hopefully healthier.
Nosek replaces Stenlund on the 4th and PK. Bringing in some energy guys like Greer and Entwistle who are on two-ways and could just get sent down if outplayed by rookies. Could even see Davies, Sourdif in those spots instead. Gadjo is back.
Defense downgraded on paper, but we started the last season without Monty and Ekblad, and both were not that great during the season. If Ekblad is relatively more healthy, he could be better year over year. Schmidt is downgrade from Monty, but we'll see by how much, seems like he was playing as a high end 3rd pair last year while Monty played like a low end 2nd pair guy - Monty also sucked on the PP and maybe Schmidt does better there. OEL to Balinskis or Bjornfot is theoretically another downgrade, but both looked good in short stints. May be fine on 3rd pair and maybe surprise. Biggest benefit with OEL is he could play up the line up for short stints and still do ok, so we'll have less flexibility, bur our D was in constant flux last year too.
Most guys are also in their prime (27-29) which I think is important. Oldest guy will be Schmidt at 33 which isn't that old. So don't expect any regression in overall play. Have played a lot of games last couple years, but they're mostly pretty young and healthier than start of last year. Plus this will be year 3 of the Maurice system so they all know what to expect.
Hopefully Knight can come into camp and grab that backup spot, play like 39-40 games to keep Bob fresh. No idea what to expect from Judge.
