Fair enough. Not sure how the team could be top 67 points by removing their leading scorer, even if he wasn't up to par defensively, when it would mean giving one of Oduya, Claesson or Harpur those mins given that Ceci and Phaneuf were already maxed out and Wideman and Boro were injured.
28-43-11 isn't that hard to beat lol but I know what you mean. In a mathematical exercise, it's pretty logical but hockey is a plethora of factors and not just one player.
- goaltending (last year, we probably had the worst duo. Just average NHL goaltending would do a major difference)
- coaching (Boucher's system became obsolete, Boucher has to "reinvent" himself)
- team chemistry and cohesion (partly due to coaching, locker room problems can also affect this. I can't stress enough about how much hockey is a team sport, you have to play as a 5-men unit and last year was terrible in that regard. 2016-17 was much better)
- health (key injuries, last year those players were affected because of it : Stone, Ryan, Wideman, EK, Smith)
- progression of players who haven't peaked yet (ex : Dzingel, Chabot, Tierney, etc?)
- declining players (not many guys over 30 so hopefully not a problem)
- youth injection (Chlapik? Tkachuk? White? Wolanin? etc? Any breakout like Stone or Hoffman in 2014-15?)
- competition : what happens to other teams? Injuries? increase vs decrease in performance? etc)
- many other factors like team toughness, leadership, fan support, etc
So basically, the state of the defense compared to last year is :
Chabot 2018-19 vs Chabot 2017-18 (need a huge progression)
Ceci 2018-19 vs Ceci 2017-18 (need a progression but the problem is still that he is being asked to do too much)
Wolanin vs Phaneuf (Wolanin is a much better skater but doesn't have Dion's experience, hopefully it's still an upgrade)
Wideman 2018-19 vs Wideman/Claesson 2017-18 (Wideman missed 66 games)
Borowiecki 2018-19 vs Borowiecki/Oduya 2017-18 (Boro missed 30 games)
Harpur 2018-19 vs Harpur 2017-18 (really need to pick it up, and go back to his 2016-17 level)
Obviously the gigantic problem is DeMelo vs Karlsson. That is why I still don't understand why the package for Karlsson didn't include young D-men with potential. Why not a 24 y/o D-man on Tierney level? Why not prospects like Balcers and Norris? Or at least one. I guess they could get some D-men with the picks but how long will it take before they can help?
I wish the trade would have been EK for Miller + Theodore + Vegas 1st
Chabot-Miller
Theodore-Ceci
Wolanin-Wideman
Harpur/Boro
Now that would be a potentially good D-core, very good puck-movement.
Heck, just getting Braun instead of DeMelo would have helped a lot (but older and MORE expensive, so it's a no go for Melnyk), he is a bit similar to Methot.