they'll regress a bit IMO simply cause there's no way 4 of the top 11 players in shooting % land on the same team
but with the Pacific being weak, they'll finish in the top 3 easily
I'm just glad Lindholm left, he's an Oiler killer
The reason I don't think they regress is while I expect some of the same guys to maintain an above average shooting% like Brock and JT because that's just a combo of their style and team system. Joshua won't shoot as high and likely maxes out at 20- if he stays healthy, maybe a few more but not gonna count on it.
That's ok tho because not even counting Sprong we added 40+ goals with Jake. Danton and Sherwood replacing Mikheyev, Lafferty and PDG. Also with those three players it's not a stretch to think Jake has a career season next to EP. Danton had 17 in a bottom six role but if he ends up next to JT and Brock replacing Suter or even with EP it's not crazy to think he could get 25. Sherwood has untapped potential and playing with Suter and possibly Hoglander or Podz, gives him a level of linemates that are definitely an offensive upgrade. Obviously there's no guarantee any of them improve their numbers but even if they just match their 2023-2024 numbers, it's still a huge difference and adding 40+ goals mitigates any potential down season from last year's guys.
Now the real wildcard is Sprong. Doing a deep dive on him showed me that on previous teams that were better defensively than the wings and kraken his defense is passable. Now I did preface this as a wildcard scenario but if Tochett can work his magic and I'll use Hoglander as an example who he turned into someone that was able to completely turn his play away from the puck to the point he was a mainstay in the top six and like Hoglander can stick next to EP and Jake, there's no telling just how much he could pop off.
I also think our pp1 is better with Jake and PP2 with Sprong and a few other options now should also be better.
Looking around the division and conference, not seeing any of the top teams potentially improving the roster, depth wise and plugging biggest holes ( winger for EP and massively improving the PK ) while I like the D moves, and wasn't a big fan of Zadorov, especially with that contract for a bottom pairing D and think Vinny and Forbort at worse equal him and Cole, we also have upwards of 3.5 million with Poolmans LTIR and waiving a dman, to use to upgrade at anytime during the season the D cor. An option other teams at the cap won't have and bring in a dman that makes as much as 7 million and at that cap hit would obviously be a significant add.
Who that could be I have no idea but nobody saw Hronek being available.
Sorry guys for the long ass post but if I'm gonna make proclamations, I think explaining why is prudent. Cheers