I sort of agree - but I'm not that optimistic. I see a 50/50 shot at a top-3 finish for the simple reason that no team in the metro is strong at every facet of the game. What seems most likely to me is that either the Islanders or the Rangers join the Hurricanes + Devils in the top 3.
The team comes in with chemistry, a solid locker room, and battletestedness. It's built from the goaltender out.
Of course, we've been pointing this out for several years now.
What's scary to me is that we're not entering the season knowing what Barzal, Horvat, and Wahlstrom are going to do and mean for this team's offense. We can't just say, "Ok Barzal and Horvat are each good for 70 points, maybe more. Wahlstrom's giving us 25+ goals, even if it's an off year."
We optimally need that kind of production from them to be anywhere close to a non-wildcard PO spot.
But with no insurance that'll we'll have anything resembling an effective power play, there's simply too much potential for both Horvat and Barzal to have yeoman seasons statwise (with one ultimately playing on the wing) while Wahlstrom fails to be more than a 15-17 goal scorer. That's basically what he was off to last season.
Also up front, we're likely going to miss Parise's hustle more than some think and if Lee is down with Pageau, there's an almost unavoidable drop in his goal-scoring to expect from him.
I have no intent to be a debbie downer here. It's just the realistic approach my 35+ years of following this sport has engrained in me.
If the offense can maintain a strong spread-the-wealth character (with the Nelson line basically anchoring it) while Sorokin cuts down on the outings with 4-6 goals against and the defensive corps proves stifling more nights than not, there's no reason this team can't be top 5 in the conference. Enough pieces are there.
But if I had to point to just one aspect that simply MUST change vis-a-vis last season, it's the power play. This team needs to be middle of the pack in effectiveness. It has to turn the PP into an advantage rather than the black hole of hopelessness it was for long stretches last season.
My first suggestion to that end is to get Horvat in the slot for tips and redirections like he was in Vancouver while popping in PP goals left and right.
