A few things I want to see when Training Camp starts, some expectations I have, certain things that will be interesting to monitor, etc.:
1. We will most likely have one opening on our top line, i.e. next to Ziba, and that will be to the right. I would be surprised if Kreider isn't at a lock at LW on that line.
For this opening, we mainly have 3 candidates; Buchnevich, Kravtsov and Kakko. I definitely think that Kravtsov is the one that should get the nod there. I think he would be a very good fit with Kreider and Ziba, and I think he -- by far -- benefits the most both short and long term from playing with those guys. He thinks the game like Ziba and plays the same diagonal, but still fairly N-S, game.
2. For a long time, we have lumped Marc Staal together with first Dan Girardi and then Smith/Shatty. I think there is a distinction to be made here, that also is interesting to monitor next season. Danny G, Smith and Shatty has been bad that are getting worse. Staal has been bad, but really, I wonder if he isn't better today than he was in October 2013 when Alain Vignault took over.
My view is that Marc Staal's career was derailed from a combination of (1) suffering horrible injuries, WHILE (2) playing 5 years under a coach in Torts that just wanted his defenders to throw the puck up ice and not take any risks.
All defenders in the NHL have a job description that isn't plain vanilla in today's game. We however tend to view these guys as they being good if they either contributes a ton in a certain area or if they make no mistakes, or that they suck if they aren't contributing a ton in a certain area or if they ever getting into any kind of trouble. Marc Staal has been healthy -- without any serious injuries -- for 6 straight years now. He has an outspoken veteran role now, and I think that he started to look more comfortable and energetic last season. I don't think we have to assume that Marc Staal next season will be 90% as good as he was last year due to him getting older. If the team takes steps in the right direction I wouldn't rule out that Marc Staal is better this coming year than what he has been for a long long time.
3. Back to line-up issues, I want Kakko to play on more in a checking line environment 5 on 5. Say with Howden and Lemieux. I don't think its fundamental that Kakko plays with players that "gets him the puck". He is still so young, I think that its perfect for him to play with teammates that can create havoc on the ice at the NHL level. Sure his scoring will not be consistently -- high -- in that environment, but it would be consistent. Less risk of being shut down etc.
4. My rule of thumb established against the background of watching prospect develop that last 3 decades, is that kids 18-19 y/o often develop a lot more than what you might expect the first couple of years. You could almost expect a bit of a night and day development from young 18 to mature 20. But the last years, it has felt like this development curve have been less positive than before. This is surely an effect of today's kids being so extremely well trained at a young age that their development potential just have been smaller.
For example, take a kid like Artem Anisimov. If we look at his development Y2Y from 18 to 19 to 20 to 21, it was fairly explosive. And he was not a late bloomer of any sort, he was good at a young age, and its not like his development curve was extreme in any way compared to kids around him. If you however took the same development curve and applied it to like Filip Chytil at 18-19 and then to 20 and 21 -- FC should have been a little bit better last year in the NHL than he was, and he especially this coming season without any doubt would establish himself as a strong top 6 forward, and more than that next season. Lias Andersson should more or less have been the same.
The 'new normal' is however to expect a little bit less steeper development curves. BUT, I just cannot see how this can be a new rule without exceptions. And while there -- of course -- always will be big variances from individual to individual, I still can't help to hope for one of the guys like Chytil, Lias, Hajak and co to come in "transformed" to camp in October. Like go back 10-15 years and this wasn't unheard of at all. And it wasn't just a matter of late bloomers, it applied from high to late draft picks.
