Probably start pretty well and then fall to pieces I imagine. I'm excited to watch some of the youth progress. Not all that convinced we finish bottom 5 but certainly possible, especially if we see some more vets moved out.
I'm pretty confident we will finish bottom 5. I look at it like this...
We finished tied for 8th-10th worst in 2023-24, that was with a full season of Markstrom and Mangiapane, 50-60 games of Lindholm, Tanev & Hanifin; as well as Kylington and Zadorov combined.
We're replacing Tanev w/ Bahl... Hanifin w/ Miromanov... Kylington/Zadorov w/ Bean... Mangiapane w/ Mantha... Lindholm w/ Kuzmenko... Markstrom w/ Wold and more games from Vladar...
Then I look at the teams that finished around us and below us in the standings...
Buffalo hs Byram for a full season while adding Zucker and McLeod... but their season depends more on Cozens and Thompson bouncing back and internal growth of Power... are they still a bad team? or was 2023-24 a down year after being close to a playoff spot in 2022-23? I personally think they will be better.
New Jersey.... healthy Hamilton, addressed goaltending by adding Markstrom and Allen... they also added Pesce... like Buffalo was 2023-24 a blip on the radar after a much better 2022-23 where they were one of the better teams in the league? I think the reality is somewhere in teh middle, but I think they are a playoff team.
Seattle... another team in the same boat as Buffalo and New Jersey, bad 2023-24 after a good 2022-23... are the additions of Stephenson & Montour going to be enough to get Seattle back into the playoff race? I don't know, but I think at worst they'll maintain their level of play.
Ottawa... Chychrun, Tarasenko and the terrible Korpisalo out... Ullmark, Jensen & Perron in... Pinto will be around the full season... it's hard to imagine they will be worse simply via goaltending alone.
Utah... it's hard to believe they won't improve after adding Sergachev & Marino to their blueline and only subtracting Moser from the 2023-24 roster in teh deals. Thy should challenge for a playoff spot.
Montreal... they be bad, but I don't think they got worse.
Columbus... their "big" adds were Severson & Monahan... but their season depends more on the growth if their kids.... I think they improve slightly due to internal growth.
Anaheim.... I have the pegged as the worst team in the NHL this season. Not necessarily worse than 2023-24, but certainly not improved, while San Jose and Chicago took strides to improve.
Chicago... a healthy Hall and adding Bertuzzi and TT upfront will help Bedard take a step forward... adding Brodie and Martinez n the blueline will add some stability so it's not just on Jones and Murphy.... and Brossoit should be a decent improvement on Soderblom who will get to start in Rockford where he should have been last year. They will definitely be improved, maybe enough that with our step back that they could pass us.
San Jose.... they added some experience in Toffoli, Wennberg and Goodrow to help insulate Celebrini... they're still not going to be good. Probably only better than Anaheim.
Looking at those teams, as well as Philly, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Washington and St. Louis... I legitimately think we could very easily finish bottom