Joined: Aug. 2020
Posts: 9,527
Likes: 8,968
Contender is a stretch imo. Virtanen’s gonna need to pot at least 30 to make up for Toffoli’s loss, and that’s just to stay on par with last season. An injury to Schmidt or Hughes would also be devastating. I don’t hate the bottom six as players (yes they’re overpaid in general but they’re majority still useful NHL players) but it’s certainly not a strength, and they will most likely heavily rely on the top 6 to carry the offensive load. The 3rd pair is also a glaring risk imo, neither guy is proven yet and both will have to step up to some degree to make this team a contender. Not to mention Holtby is a significant downgrade from Markstrom and Vancouver’s style of giving up a lot of shots will not help him bounce back. I think they’re probably a wildcard team in the 7-9 range in the conference but not a contender unless a lot of things go right and they have no injuries.