No, I don't think we're going to trade JVR or Bozak and I don't think we need to. Another year of progression from our young players and what we have internally is good enough to be a cup contender next year.
We had 3 60 point rookie on entry level deals. Expecting progression from them is not outlandish.
We had 15 overtime and shootout losses. Shootouts are mean-reverting, we will win more of them next year. We also had substandard backup goalie play. We had a total of 6 wins in 20 backup goalie starts.
With no internal improvement, by getting a competent backup goalie and mean-reversion in our extra time statistics we can win the Atlantic.
So no, it's not outlandish to say we're a cup contender next year. Please make a case for me showing why we are not a cup contender.
are other teams who had bad luck allowed to forecast like this? Tampa had a whole lot of injuries this year and were considered a cup favorite to begin the year, so they can be back into the race. Philly with provorov and Hischier/Patrick are also probably expecting pretty significant improvement also. Florida had a few injuries and could.
Not only are we not going to be cup contenders there is a real possibility we are the team of the bubble teams to miss next season. It is incredibly outlandish to think we will be cup contenders next season