Returning Defense
Quinn Hughes - After the bubble we though we were watching the 2nd coming of Eric Karlsson after last year were questioning if he can be effective 5v5. The sophomore slump is real and while its fair to say players and coaches have figured out how to break Hughes down and he has some rather large deficiencies defending i think it's also fair to say he had a horrendous year with mental gaffs, coverage and puck management. Quinn's best attribute is his smarts and i fully expect he will figure out a lot of his mistakes. He will get back to being a Corsi and possession beast and a PP wizard. (Expect++)
Tyler Myers, Travis Hamonic, Olli Juolevi - Hoping that Hamonic can stay healthy and Olli can keep improving. Expecting mostly the same and potentially some age related decline. (Small -)
summary - Expect marginal improvement overall with Hughes and Myers having to eat less minutes and having better support group from the forwards and in the depth of the defensive group.
Who's out and who is in.
Out - Alex Edler, Nate Schmidt, Jordie Benn, Jalen Chatfield
In - Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Jack Rathbone, Tucker Poolman, Luke Schenn,
summary - A lot of this will hinge on OEL. If he can get back to being motivated and playing as a legit top4 that can be relied upon in all situations then him vs Edler should be a nice upgrade. I'm not gonna get too worked up about his last few yrs in Arizona it's clear he played with hot garbage in a hot garbage system and was fed up and tuned out. Have to give him a chance and see. Massive X factor here because if he's legit top pair like Benning seems to think we could see a big injection to the group.
As far as Schmidt Benn Chatfield vs Rathbone Poolman and Schenn your basically replacing 2 non NHLers with 2 serviceable guys and the X factor here is can Rathbone be nearly as effective as Nate Schmidt was? If not then we lost a good #3 defenseman and will be patching it together with lesser player which wont bode well. If Rathbone builds on his confident and impressive start to his pro career then we may look back and be happy about moving on and allocating the cap elsewhere and being a deeper group. Huge wait and see here with it relying heavily on OEL and Rathbone. (A small +) for ridding ourselves of unhappy and poor players and adding a more balance prime aged competitive group and a huge dose of hope and faith. Lots of ??????
Coaching - Shaw should be a good add and i fully expect better from Travis with a camp and internal competition and competent depth. (Big ++) if they can figure out gap control and get better support from the forwards in possession scoring and positional play.
The farm being in Abbotsford should also be a help for call ups and assisting the growth of the kids. (Small+)
Absolutely we could be the most improved team but a lot of it will hinge on chemistry coaching and young players taking big steps in the right direction and our top forwards staying relatively healthy. A lot will have to go right and every off season bring this type of optimism if your looking for it. Reality is there will be unforeseen failures and players will get hurt and how will others adapt to new roles and pressure and the Rathbone OEL vs Schmidt Edler impacts will have a lot to say about it.
Depth wise we are definitely better and an uptick in Hughes and Peteys impacts should reflect in a team fighting for playoffs at least
