Speculation: Your teams strengths and weaknesses

[Meeqs]

As the regular season is about to begin I wanted to make a thread going over what you feel your teams current strengths and weaknesses are. Where is your team deep, what are their current holes, what are some possible solutions to these holes and finally what are some of the young impact rookies making your team for the first time that might cause a difference.

It think its a good opportunity for us all to update our knowledge on each team and where they are at which may lead to more thoughtful trade proposals and discussion as well as to give each fan a place to inform others about their team and dispel misconceptions.

Thanks to all who contribute and remember to be friendly in conversations.

Click to read more...

 

[Rebels57]

Strengths
- Top 9 Forwards
- PP1
- Top D pair

Weaknesses
- Goaltending
- PK
- Bottom 4 D

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

Sharks:

We have more than enough bottom-6 wingers. There are about 4 players who are perfectly ready for NHL minutes on a 4th line that will not suit up for us opening night.

We do not need Kasperi Kapanen or Josh Leivo. At all.

 

[Mitch nylander]

Leafs

Strengths

Our offence is pretty great -)Tavares, Matthews, Kadri, Marner, Nylander, Marleau....
Left side defence is decent -) Rielly, Gards, Dermott, Borgman, Rosen, Marincin

Weaknesses

Right side Defence -) Lacking a top pairing defenceman...
Goalie Depth after Andersen ugh -) Sparks isn't great, if andy goes down we will be running either a combo of Sparks, Kaskasiou or Sparks, Mcadam.. Not good....

 

[Devilsfan992]

Devils:

Strengths - Forward Depth, Young talent, Taylor Hall

Weaknesses - A sure 2nd Line Center, Lack of a number one defenseman, Relying on too many young or aging defenseman

Unknowns - Goalie Performance (Will Schneider return to prime form? Can Kinkaid keep up the solid play from the end of the year?), Contributions from young defenseman such as Santini, Mueller and Butcher.

The Devils will have to see if their young players either improve or have a similar season as last year if they want to take the next step forward. These players are Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Pavel Zacha, Blake Coleman, Mirco Mueller, Damon Severson, and Will Butcher.

 

[Gritty]

Flames:

Strength:
- Forward depth throughout all four lines
- Top 4D
- Productive/talented youth in all positions

Weakness:
- Bottom 6D (Stone is hit or miss and overpaid)
- Mike Smith's health / unreliable backup

 

[Legend123]

Habs
Strengths:
-None other than deep at wingers who score around 30 to 40 points.

Weaknesses:
- Defense
- offense
- PK
- PP
- C depth
- Wingers
Basically everything

Unknown:
- price/goaltending but if preseason is any indication its gonna be the bad price.

 

[Kcb12345]

Strengths:
1st, 3rd, and 4th line (and bottom 6 depth).
Very mobile defense that can contribute offensively


Weakness:
- Huge question mark around our 2nd line
- Our #8D, Roman Polak

Potential weakness:
- Young d-core with very little experience. Especially if injuries occur.
- Powerplay and PK. Not sure how they will be under new coach
- Goaltending is always a question mark but I'm confident in it this year
- Spezza, Nichushkin
- team could take quite a bit of time to adjust to a new coaching system. A slow start could be costly

 

[Just Linda]

Habs
Strengths:
-None other than deep at wingers who score around 30 to 40 points.

Weaknesses:
- Defense
- offense
- PK
- PP
- C depth
- Wingers
Basically everything

Unknown:
- price/goaltending but if preseason is any indication its gonna be the bad price.

You seem like a pessimist about your team.

Strengths:
Right side D when Weber is healthy (Weber, Petry, Juulsen, Fluery, Brooks is a great right side)
Wingers (lacks an elite on the left side with Patches gone but Drouin, Tatar, Gallagher, Byron, and Lehkonen are all capable top 6 players when not snake bitten, Hudon and Armia have potential to grow into that level)
Centre depth prospects
PP was a strength last season
Youth, Habs are a young team

Don’t sell your team short. For a rebuilding team they are in a good spot.

 

[Juxtaposer]

Good:
D is top-5 in the league if not the best
Middle-6 forwards are quite good
Fourth line has potential to be excellent if DeBoer has the guts to bench Melker Karlsson

Bad:
Jones in the regular season is not good
Top line is quite subpar
Suomela (3C) is unproven

 

[deathtouchtrample]

Pens:

Strengths:
Super star forwards (and thusly Power play)
Center depth
Right wing depth
Speed
Transition
Expirence

Weakness:
Physical play
Lack of a true #3 d-man
D-zone defense
Back up goalie
Slightly aging core

Toss up/unknown:
LW depth
Murray/Letang bounce back?
PK

 

[Machinehead]

Strengths: Mika f***ing Zibanejad

Weaknesses: Everything

 

[Pure Slaughter Value]

Long Island/Brooklyn Islanders

Strengths
- UFA's to-be Lee, Eberle and Nelson should pull in a haul at the TDL
- Clean-shaven
- 4th Line Forwards
- 7th D-men in abundance
- Best day-care facilities in the NHL
- Garth Snow as the Very Special Advisor
- Owner's ability to leave Press Interviews within two minutes after start
- Have home-ice advantage in two locations
- Full season of hearing Butch Goring try to pronounce Filppula equals points

Weaknesses
- None

 

[OkimLom]

Buffalo Sabres:

Strength:
individual talent in top 6 and top 3 D
Goaltending
Speed in top 6

Weaknesses:
Bottom 6
Bottom 3 defense
Coaching
Lack of grit in team overall
Structure of team play

 

[BlueDream]

St. Louis Blues

Strengths:
- Forward depth out the wazoo; rolling 4 scoring lines
- Strong defense
- Lots of youth being injected into lineup

Weaknesses:
- The powerplay coaching was a disaster last year; has to improve
- Allen a question mark as starting goalie
- We don't have a traditional 4th line, it's just a bunch of kids; this may or may not become a weakness, we'll have to see

 

[SHANNYPLAN]

GODLY OFFENCE:
BIG PAPPY, JOHNNY TRONNA, MAGIC MITCH & WILLY

FT

NIFTY MITTENS KADRI, PAPA LEAF PATTY MARLEAU, KAPPY & The Boys

2 50 Pt D-Men:
CAPTAIN MORGAN & JAKE THE SNAKE

WORLD CLASS TENDY:

FREDDY VEZINA

 

[Taluss]

This is easy. (OTT)
Strengths: Umm... Prospects ig

Weaknesses: Everything

 

[Captain Controversy]

Oilers.
Strengths - McDavid
Weaknesses McDavid(relying on him)

 

[Gecklund]

GODLY OFFENCE:
BIG PAPPY, JOHNNY TRONNA, MAGIC MITCH & WILLY

FT

NIFTY MITTENS KADRI, PAPA LEAF PATTY MARLEAU, KAPPY & The Boys

2 50 Pt D-Men:
CAPTAIN MORGAN & JAKE THE SNAKE

WORLD CLASS TENDY:

FREDDY VEZINA

Is anyone actually able to read this?

 

[BHD]

Strengths: centre, right wing
Meh: defense
Weakness: left wing, goal (back-up)

 

[Legend123]

You seem like a pessimist about your team.

Strengths:
Right side D when Weber is healthy (Weber, Petry, Juulsen, Fluery, Brooks is a great right side)
Wingers (lacks an elite on the left side with Patches gone but Drouin, Tatar, Gallagher, Byron, and Lehkonen are all capable top 6 players when not snake bitten, Hudon and Armia have potential to grow into that level)
Centre depth prospects
PP was a strength last season
Youth, Habs are a young team

Don’t sell your team short. For a rebuilding team they are in a good spot.

Sure we are definitely in a good spot for our rebuild. Hell, we have a top 5 pool imo.
But the question was for heading into this season. My post was realistic not pessimistic.

 

[Dustin]

Leafs

Strengths

Our offence is pretty great -)Tavares, Matthews, Kadri, Marner, Nylander, Marleau....
Left side defence is decent -) Rielly, Gards, Dermott, Borgman, Rosen, Marincin

Weaknesses

Right side Defence -) Lacking a top pairing defenceman...
Goalie Depth after Andersen ugh -) Sparks isn't great, if andy goes down we will be running either a combo of Sparks, Kaskasiou or Sparks, Mcadam.. Not good....

Might add forward prospect depth. All of our high end prospects have made the team over the years and we've been using our firsts for defencemen.

 

[connormcmuffin]

Leafs

The good
Stacked top nine
Special teams elite
Left side D is above average

The Bad
Possession game isn't contender level and give up way too much shots
Goaltending depth (waivers hurt)

The Ugly
Worst right side D in the league and a GM that appears unmotivated to solve the issue.

 

[Qward]

This is easy. (OTT)
Strengths: Umm... Prospects ig

Weaknesses: Everything

Strength: We are a team.

 

[lawrence]

Canucks Strengths

= Decent prospects pool
decent powerplay actually for a team as bad as the Canucks

= roster wise is weak on everything. Tanev Pettersson, Boeser Horvat are the only bright spots on the team, not enough to push them to playoff team respect.