your team's biggest question(s) entering season

[HockeyVirus]

For the Leafs it remains all about the postseason. So I guess the main questions are:

- Does Berube instil a new system / culture that the team can learn over 82 games to give them results when it matters instead of playing one way 82 games and then changing things up come playoffs.

- Have the Leafs solved defensive concerns or saddled themselves with boat anchors

- What happens to Marner and Tavares?

 

[KnuckChuckinTkachuk]

Sens

- Can Josh Norris remain healthy but more importantly, effective at Centre?
- Will Shane Pinto take that next step to being a top 6 C?
- Does Giroux still have 60+ point seasons left in him?
- Does Travis Green get this team playing the right way?
- Is the D corps more balanced with Chychrun gone and Jensen in?
- How much of an impact does Ullmark make, given he's UFA at the end of the season?

 

[Regal]

1. Demko’s health
2. Can Pettersson live up to his new contract
3. Will DeBrusk and Pettersson gel together
4. Puck movement on the back-end sans Hughes and Hronek

Agreed on these.

I’d probably add

- Boeser’s health
- how the team handles increased expectations

 

[Bouboumaster]

Kirby Dach

 

[NVious]

Toronto:
When does Matthews going to break Gretzky's single season goal record?
Who locks up their award first, Woll with the Vezina or Rielly with the Norris?
Do we win the cup going 16-0 or does some luckbox team fluke a win off of us?
After all of this, what do the lines look like next year when McDavid #ComesHome?

 

[Soundgarden]

How will Stamkos and Marchessault play.
Will Fabbro play in the top 4.

 

[innitfam]

Goaltending. Demko won't be ready for season start. Silovs also has some kind of injury. Can Demko handle a ~45-50 game workload after returning from injury? Will injuries continue to reoccur?

Defense. Canucks indisputably took a step back from the defense they had in the playoffs. Will it be good enough after Hughes/Hronek?

Pettersson. Had a fairly good regular season, with some warts, and a not so great playoffs. He is now being paid to be THE guy. Can he live up to it?

 

[MCB]

Anaheim

How many trade rumors will seravalli link Zegras to?
How much more will Zegras grow to hate the ducks front office and coaches?

But seriously my questions are:
Can the ducks stay healthy?
Who of the 6-7 rookies from last year take the next step (or who won't)?
How will cutter look in his first full season?
Will vatrano repeat his offense or will we kick ourselves for not trading him sooner.
Can Dostal keep progressing and be the #1 (a real number one, yes he's better than Gibson but that isn't saying much)

 

[Bizz]

San Jose

Where should be plan the parade route?

 

[JianYang]

Will Laine be physically and mentally healthy

Will dach be reasonably healthy

Will xhekaj be reasonably healthy

Will hutson make the team

Will caufield have a better year one year removed from his shoulder surgery

Will slafkovsky pick up from where he left off

Can the young defense take a collective step

How will primeau fare in his first full season at this level

Can Josh Anderson rebound coming off his worst season on the club.

Lots of questions

 

[FunkySeeFunkyDo]

Can Crosby, Malkin, Letang and EK65 stay healthy

Goaltending—can Jarry ever put together a full season

Is there a fourth top 4 D to play with EK65, Letang and Pettersson

Are there enough top6 wings

Is there a good bottom 6 to be had out of the large and motley group of retreads and kids

Will the PowerPlay at least be below average

 

[Rubi]

Will the Flames finish in the bottom 5 this year?

 

[HabzSauce]

- can Caufield be a 40g+ scorer?
- can Laine bounce back?
- can slaf hit the next level?
- can Dach stay healthy?
- will Hutson, reinbacher, and/or mailloux make the team full time?
- what will Barron show this year?

 

[Our Lady Peace]

• When will they sign and what are the Seider, Raymond, and Berggren contracts gonna look like?

• Will a top 4 RHD be added to supplant Seider and Edvinsson, and will Edvinsson be able to carry the 2nd pair defensively from the season's start?

• Will Talbot + Lyon be a reliable duo behind the still questionable Detroit defense? Is Husso a return to form candidate after his injuries?


Other questions:

• Will Detroit's bottom 6 forwards have enough scoring capability?

• Will Albert Johansson be a contributing roster fixture to start the season or be a #7/8D?

• Will one of Danielson/Mazur/Kasper crack the roster or will all start the season in the AHL?

 

[Czechboy]

Oilers

1. 2RD
2. Will Bouchard/Ek keep it up?
3. Will we LTIR Kane and go full Vegas? (hope so)
4. Pickard/Skinner a strong enough combo

 

[Czechboy]

For fun...

Czechs in NHL

1. Will Necas be a .ppg and get it going?
2. Will Vrana be in the NHL?
3. Will Kral get NHL time in Pittsburgh?
4. Will Jiricek be full time and effective?
5. Will Kulich crack the Sabres?
6. Will Palat have a healthy and strong season?
7. Kubalik joining Zadina in NLA?
8. Svozil get some games?
9. Dostal be 1?
10. Guys I'm hoping to see getting more NHL looks and games this season.... Patera, Blumel, Jenik, Rousek, Pavel, Mysak, Spacek, Suchanek, Stezka, Hovorka, Rychlovksy, .. any of them make any kind of NHL impact?
11. Chytil back 100% and in Top 6 for Rangers for a full season?

 

[VivaLasVegas]

What's the meaning of life

Deep Thought already answered that one: 42

Anyway, Knights have the same big question every year: Can they stay healthy?

 

[Trash Panda]

In Pierre-Luc Dubois, did the Capitals acquire a player on the cheap who will be their next big, talented scoring-line center, signed in his prime at a fair rate for many years into the future?

Else, have the Capitals saddled themselves with an overpaid lout who doesn't want to be here (again), won't put in the effort (again), and is getting harder and harder to trade away to another sucker?

If it's mostly column A, a lot of things fall into place for their retool. If it's mostly column B, then it doesn't really work, does it?

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I do know what Column is push my chips towards. Small chance he returns to his 60pt form I suppose, but that still isn’t worth that contract.

At least Kuemper isn’t your problem anymore.

 

[HockeyWooot]

Canucks.

Can Demko stay healthy once back from injury? Will Silovs and others be able to keep the team afloat in his absence?

Can the leadership group keep this group hungry and eager to take another step forward?

Can Brock Boeser repeat his performance from last season proving it’s not a one off?

Can Pettersson bounce back from a terrible second half of last season?

Can the Canucks defence outside of the top pair move the puck efficiently in transition?

Can newcomers like Debrusk, Heinen, Sherwood, Sprong improve the Canucks even strength scoring chance generation?

 

[HanSolo]

Hahaha so many for both my teams

Anaheim:

Will Zegras bounce back to the 60+ points he's capable of or more?

Were Cronin's failures last year symptomatic of being a first time NHL coach or is he not cut out for the job at this level?

Will Leo Carlsson make a bigger jump towards an elite player this year now that he's gotten his taste of the pro game and experienced a truncated season on NA ice?

How will Cutter Gauthier's one game of apparent chemistry with Leo Carlsson hold up and can that propel him to a Calder worthy season?

Will Pavel Mintyukov and Mason McTavish show significant improvement this year after both had a strong first third of the season but petered out over time?

Will Troy Terry get his head out of his ass and start playing to his strengths again or will he continue to be a heropucking puckhog who has negative chemistry with everyone he plays with?

Will John Gibson start playing like he gives a shit again with Lukas Dostal starting to breath down his neck to take the starting role?

Does Olen Zellweger have a few higher gears to get to that can propel him among the better offensive defensemen in the league or will he settle as more of a third pairing powerplay specialist?

Did all the games missed by Tristan Luneau last year seriously harm his development or was his ability to grow and adapt quickly that he showed in his brief NHL stint enough to charge him to be another dynamic young kid on the Ducks blueline?

Vegas

How good will this team be with like 45% of the core roster gone?

Can Eichel elevate his regular season game to carry the Knights enough to remain a playoff team?

Can a change in scenery really benefit Olofsson and Holtz to offset Vegas' personnel losses?

Can Hill get out of whatever dramatic funk he was in last year and play like a legit NHL starter again? If not, can Samsonov handle the job in his place?

Can Bruce Cassidy make magic happen with an objectively weaker roster?

Now that Hertl has had plenty of time to train his body after recovering from injury, can he return to full form that was clearly missing in the playoffs this year?

Can Hague, Whitecloud, Theodore, and Hanifin elevate their respective games to get to the upper level of their ability? Cause the first three had disappointing seasons by their standards.

Can guys like Brisson, Roy, and Dorofeyev step up and take their games to a new level with all these departures?

 

[CanadienShark]

Just how terrible is our defence?
Goaltending could be hit or miss, unless Askarov steps up.
Is Couture healthy?



Can our young d-men make an immediate impact?
Is Monty actually a starter?
Can Laine rebound?
Is Dach ever going to be healthy?


I could definitely see the Habs making a push for the playoffs and actually make it. Sharks might need a couple years, but they will be a MUCH improved team and exciting to watch. The Sharks record probably won't be changed as much as overall play by the team, which is still a good step.

 

[CanadienShark]

San Jose

Where should be plan the parade route?

Let's have it on the Vegas Strip.

 

[Miro4Norris]

- Can the Pens build up to the very strong ending of the season?

- Which version of Jarry we get? Injured Jarry? .850 no clutch Jarry? Or elite goalie Jarry?

- Did Bunting's net front presence actually fix up the PP?

- Is it even realistic to expect anything for them after losing other of the PPG guys, Guentzel?

- Rakell comeback?? Is Bunting-Malkin-Rakell actually a good line or was it just due to the small sample?

- Can Glass/McGroarty/O'Connor break out in Crosby's wing?

-Why on the earth we have literally 17 players like 3.57m$ Kevin Hayes, 2m Acciari and 2,5m Glass&Eller fighting for bottom6 spots instead of using that cap space to a bonafide TOP6 player(s), Dubas?

-Did we actually use 7.25m$ to 2 useless bottom pair LD in Grielzyk and Graves instead of getting a one elite LD on that money.. Or can at least one of them be actually good?

 

[Machinehead]

Why am I still doing this?

What time are the Knicks on?

Can I just go back to work?

 

[BonMorrison]

- Will Stamkos be washed without Kucherov and Hedman feeding him pucks?
- Was last year an outlier for Nyquist?
- Did Trotz make the right call in commiting to Saros long term?
- End of the road for Tomasino?
- Will Evangelista take another step?