Better than Detroit probably mid 20s in the standings

Defence is real dicey, a big boom or bust.

A lot of young guys/ former rookies - who all have top 4 potential/ ability with a few of them (like Marino) who have top pair potential. Forward group is actually good, the 2nd line is really the first line. Horvat would have to do some heavy lifting to make that first line consistent - they’re probably gonna be a more of a kill time line, battling the other teams top line; but they can score.

Line 3 same thing as the second, a lot of talent as the second line but same as the second line, room for error. Vilardi and Thomas are the centres, one of them being a rookie (which at 2nd line time could spell trouble). And Virtanen is so inconsistent we don’t know what to expect. And the fourth line could be really good, but I could see defence/ grinding out a shift being a problem. Goalies are good.

I’d think they could be a wildcard contender, they’d be fun to watch or a disaster - 50/50 most nights between watching a car crash and fun hockey

I agree with everything except for Vilardi. He was the Kings 2C all of his 10 games where he put up 7 points and was very good despite being rusty from not playing an entire year before the AHL games he had. He'll be the Kings 2C next year as well.

GV is one of my favourite upcoming prospects. I think a lot of NA media/ people don’t realize he’s could win Calder (that’s my opinion). I’d go GV, Laf, Stutzle for my top 3 currently as a prediction. I doubt byfield plays this year but it wouldn’t be unlikely that he sees a good chunk of games and proves me wrong.

But as I said the only chance of error on that line is Vilardi as maybe he would struggle at that consistency of battling at 14-18min a night. But once again as you said how he performed shows no sign of worrying. I think he’ll be top 3 voting for Calder none the less but just don’t love putting rookies in the top 6 (my preference).

... how did you come up with this team

why is it a thing

Boredom