I was thinking it'd be better for Nucks today. Such a great turnaround. Bad injury luck in playoffs but I thought this offseason would be really strong for you guys to build on your great year. Feels more lateral to me. Giant D but not very mobile. Has a 1990s vibe to me... Other than Hughes of course. And first half Hronek.lol
Have to disagree, there's no issue with speed on the backend and as far as this off-season they got a great fit for EP and every forward they signed is a great fit in the system and best of all not one bloated term or AAV
People get so enamoured with name recognition when the reality of it hockey is more about fit and systems and this team is loaded with size, 2 foot players, tons of depth. All while having three guys that can score 40, several ppg guys and a bunch of 20 goal scorers and one of the best goalies in the game.
They are a better team than the one that opened the season and will be an absolute pain to play against.
Alvin has gone out and built a team based on the mantra of the staff and no one line or player needs to set records every year I'm order to win.
Lekkerimakki is a real wild card as well, he's coming off a year that really couldn't have gone much better on a personal level and there's no reason he can't jump right in like many other Swedes with less production have done coming out of the SHL.
I think both our teams seperated themselves from the rest of the Pacific, yet neither team added a Stamkos but neither team needed to because both team already have enough high -end talent and in the nucks case, just swapping out Mikheyev for Debrusk is a big improvement.
What are the odds we have a home and home again to kick off the season? Clearly after this last season the league would be dumb not to foster the rivalry that's been growing, especially with the flames a likely bottom three team this year the battle of Alberta isnt all that appealing.