You think San Jose is making the playoffs????

https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/2131629 - North Division
https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/2132450 - East Division
https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/2138959 - Central Division
https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/2138974 - West Division
https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/2137484 - Playoffs R1 and R2
https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/2139863 - Playoffs R3 and R4
https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/2140331 - Awards
https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/2140297 - First Team All-NHL, Second Team All-NHL, All-Rookie Team
https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/2142351 - Expansion Draft and Protection Lists
https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/2146043 - Top 15 Draft Preview
https://www.capfriendly.com/forums/thread/404401 - Top 15 Mock
https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/2169973 - All-Division Teams
A lot of these were created before even Duclair signed so if you do take a peek at some, I may be talking about Kucherov playing, Lundqvist playing, a Huberdeau-Barkov-Tippett line (which may still happen) or Hoffman being unsigned. Those didn't majorly affect anything though. I know you won't look at all these links (you may not look at any) so I'll sum it all up here. If you do wanna check it out, I have an in-depth analysis on basically everything. One on every team as well with the exception of Detroit, Ottawa and New Jersey because they are a waste of time. The only thing that I have changed my mind on since I made these lists is that I now have Chicago in last behind Detroit in the Central. I also have changed my mind about Corson Ceulemans and think he'll be 13th to Buffalo and Cole Sillinger will be 15th to Minnesota (from Pittsburgh). I have also changed my mind on Byfield after the WJC. My new pick is probably Stuetzle for the 3rd nominee and I think Gabriel Vilardi for the centre spot on the All-Rookie Team

North
1. Toronto
2. Calgary
3. Montreal
4. Edmonton
5. Vancouver
6. Winnipeg
7. Ottawa

East
1. Philadelphia
2. Boston
3. Washington
4. New York Rangers
5. Pittsburgh
6. Buffalo
7. New York Islanders
8. New Jersey

Central
1. Tampa Bay
2. Carolina
3. Dallas
4. Columbus
5. Nashville
6. Florida
7. Detroit
8. Chicago

West
1. Colorado
2. Vegas
3. St. Louis
4. San Jose
5. Minnesota
6. Arizona
7. Anaheim
8. Los Angeles

Playoffs
North
Toronto vs Edmonton - Toronto in 6
Calgary vs Montreal - Calgary in 7
Toronto vs Calgary - Calgary in 7
Calgary Flames

East
Philadelphia vs New York Rangers - Philadelphia in 5
Boston vs Washington - Washington in 7
Philadelphia vs Washington - Philadelphia in 7
Philadelphia Flyers

Central
Tampa Bay vs Columbus - Tampa Bay in 5
Carolina vs Dallas - Dallas in 6
Tampa Bay vs Dallas - Tampa Bay in 7
Tampa Bay Lightning

West
Colorado vs San Jose - Colorado in 4
Vegas vs St. Louis - Vegas in 7
Colorado vs Vegas - Colorado in 7
Colorado Avalanche

Reseeding - 1. Tampa Bay, 2. Colorado, 3. Philadelphia, 4. Calgary
Tampa Bay vs Calgary - Tampa Bay in 5
Colorado vs Philadelphia - Colorado in 6
Tampa Bay vs Colorado - Tampa Bay in 7
The Tampa Bay Lightning are your 2021 Stanley Cup Champions!

Awards
Art Ross - Nathan MacKinnon
Calder Trophy - Kirill Kaprizov (Alexis Lafrieniere, Tim Stuetzle)
Conn Smythe Trophy - Victor Hedman
Selke Trophy - Sean Couturier (Mark Stone, Ryan O'Reilly)
Hart Trophy - Nathan MacKinnon (Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel)
Ted Lindsay Award - Nathan MacKinnon (Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel)
Jack Adams Award - John Tortorella (Claude Julien, David Quinn)
Norris Trophy - Victor Hedman (Cale Makar, Alex Pietrangelo)
Rocket Richard - Auston Matthews
GM of the Year - Joe Sakic (Marc Bergevin, Kevyn Adams)
Vezina Trophy - Andrei Vasilevskiy (Carey Price, Carter Hart)
Jennings Trophy - Andrei Vasilevskiy and Curtis McElhinney

All-NHL Teams
First Team All-NHL - Huberdeau, MacKinnon, Rantanen, Hedman, Makar, Vasilevskiy
Second Team All-NHL - Panarin, McDavid, Marner, Josi, Pietrangelo, Price
All-Rookie Team - Lafrieniere, Vilardi, Kaprizov, Valimaki, Romanov, Shesterkin

All-Division Teams
All-North - McDavid, Draisaitl, Matthews, Chabot, Rielly, Price
All-East - Crosby, Eichel, Panarin, McAvoy, Provorov, Hart
All-Central - Barkov, Huberdeau, Point, Hedman, Josi, Vasilevskiy
All-West - MacKinnon, Rantanen, O'Reilly, Makar, Pietrangelo, Gibson

If you want to see protection lists check out the link, not going to waste your finger strength to scroll past it all here for those who don't want to look at it
Seattle Kraken lineup
Dominik Kahun - Adam Henrique - JT Compher
Kieffer Bellows - Chris Tierney - Luke Kunin
Brandon Tanev - Aleksi Saarela - Vladislav Namestnikov
Nick Ritchie - Ivan Barbashev - Austin Wagner
Johnathan Dahlen - Rasmus Asplund - Daniel Sprong
Mathieu Joseph

Mark Giordano - TJ Brodie
Brady Skjei - Calvin De Haan
Carson Soucy - Cale Fleury
Shayne Gostisbehere - Sami Niku
Libor Hajek - Scott Harrington

Braden Holtby
Corey Crawford
Anton Khudobin
Adin Hill

My Draft Rankings (different from mock)
1. Owen Power
2. Carson Lambos
3. Simon Edvinsson
4. Brandt Clarke
5. Matthew Beniers
6. William Eklund
7. Dylan Guenther
8. Kent Johnson
9. Luke Hughes
10. Fabian Lysell
11. Jesper Wallstedt
12. Aatu Raty
13. Cole Sillinger
14. Chaz Lucius
15. Corson Ceulemans

Mock Draft
1. Chicago - Owen Power
2. Los Angeles - Carson Lambos
3. Seattle - Matthew Beniers
4. Detroit - Simon Edvinsson
5. Anaheim - Brandt Clarke
6. New Jersey - Luke Hughes
7. Ottawa - William Eklund
8. Minnesota - Kent Johnson
9. Florida - Dylan Guenther
10. Nashville - Aatu Raty
11. Winnipeg - Jesper Wallstedt
12. New York Islanders - Fabian Lysell
13. Buffalo - Corson Ceulemans
14. Vancouver - Chaz Lucius
15. Minnesota (from Pittsburgh) - Cole Sillinger

My Mock Kane Trade
I do think he'll be traded. I just can't think up a reason for Chicago to keep him around. This trade is at the deadline when Vegas has more built up cap from the CBA rule and can tinker around with injuries, call-ups and the taxi squad to make a few more hundred thousand dollars work. I do think that if Vegas gets Kane, they will win the Cup. Kane would also waive to go here for sure. For obvious reasons, who wouldn't want to be in situation like he would have. $10.5M to play hockey in Vegas! I know everybody likes to circle jerk home town teams, but c'mon, I'd take Vegas>my hometown if given the opportunity
Chicago Blackhawks get
- Alec Martinez
- 2021 1st round pick
- Peyton Krebs
- 2022 2nd round pick

Vegas Golden Knights get
- Patrick Kane

For me, 2 things stand out here:

1. I don't think that's a realistic Kane trade at all. Vegas isn't in need of wingers at all, they're extremely deep in the wing. They need a centre. & with their cap situation, moving a guy like Krebs better address that or they'll keep him. Gonna be extremely difficult to get him outta Vegas, I don't think Kane would even do it.

2. Your Seattle draft is too far out to even predict. You have Seattle banking on too many players that were good before and bouncing back. I think they'll go young and controllable like Vegas did. Guys like Giordano, Henrique, Crawford, Khudobin, etc. likely won't be taken (plus I could totally see Dallas protecting Khudobin and rolling with him and Oettinger since Bishop is extremely injury prone). Not to mention that a guy like TJ Brodie 100% will not be made available. He has a full no movement clause and no one knows the actual date that it switches to a no trade. He likely included that in his deal to avoid being exposed to Seattle. Plus there's 0% chance Toronto would leave him exposed after just signing him when they've needed a guy like him for so long and they've targeted him for over 2 years and they just signed him. Needs quite a bit of work.


1 final thing is your draft rankings. I work in player analysis for a local CHL team so I can give a bit more feedback than the average person. & your rankings seem to be quite far off. Not many people have Lambos that high over guys like Edvinsson, Clarke, or Hughes. They all offer more than Lambos can give. And I don't see Ratÿ falling that far at all. He's struggled this season, but he has unreal quick hands and his vision may be second to none. He has the highest upside over any forward in this draft and will go top 5. He's likely to over a guy like Beniers who may be performing better than Ratÿ right now, but Beniers only projects as a 2C. Ratÿ has the top line potential that teams at the top of the draft will look for more because they're likely rebuilding. Even Guenther will likely go before Beniers as a more pure goal scorer with top line potential. Only way I could see Beniers going that high would be if a team misses the playoffs this year that's still in good shape, but wins the lottery and moves up.
* side note: a sneaky guy to watch for late in the 1st round/ early 2nd is Sebastian Cossa, a goalie from Edmonton. I love his game. I think he might be the best goalie on the draft but Wallstadt has all the hype since he was noticed younger.
Assuming the draft landed your way with those teams picking in that order, I'd see it like this:
1. Chicago - Owen Power
2. Los Angeles - Simon Edvinsson
3. Seattle - Aatu Ratÿ
4. Detroit - William Eklund
5. Anaheim - Luke Hughes
6. New Jersey - Brandt Clarke
7. Ottawa - Matt Beniers
8. Minnesota - Cole Sillinger
9. Florida - Carson Lambos
10. Nashville - Dylan Guenther

Just my thoughts based on what I know from around the things I do and the logic I've learned from people in the business.

You think San Jose is making the playoffs????

Vegas didn’t need Pietrangelo either. I think that if you can get a guy like Kane he’ll push you over the top. I just think they should take that shot and given their model and the way that Vegas operates with their 3 line approach, I think they’d be all over Kane. I don’t think that a Karlsson, Glass, Stephenson center group is that bad with those wingers and the ability to roll 3 lines and not depend on a true 1C.


I think you take Khudobin to trade, Crawford can work tandem for a few years with Holtby until Adin Hill is ready. Gio can be your Captain and bring your young guys along like a Derek Engelland did. I think you have to take Henrique to have some good players up front. Now too elite a forward core and if they want to compete right away, they can’t just trade for all their forwards. They have to have some for right now at least. As for Brodie, it’ll be a disaster in Toronto. We’ve seen this movie before with Gardiner and Barrie. I think that come draft they’ll opt for Travis Dermott. As for his NMC, I’m just trusting the expansion draft simulator as it says it’s an NTC. Brodie might waive anyways after the media is done with him in Toronto.

I’m going to trust your opinion on the draft given your position. Just wondering, do you follow mostly CHL guys or all 2021 guys like in Europe. I think that a lot of Ratys draft position will come down to his interview at the combine. If they think they can work with him on his consistentency, you take him. If not, stay the f*ck away. I agree that he has the highest upside though. I’ve heard of Cossa but very unfamiliar with him. I liked Wallstedt at the WJC though and he has great numbers in pro. I love Lambos, produces great offensively and is a great shutdown defender as well. I’ve seen Sportsnet rank him at 2 as well. For me, he’s 2. I just love his game. I could see the draft shaking out like that but for me, Power 1, Lambos 2 and anything else is very debatable. Edvinsson at 3 is pretty solid as well IMO. Really interesting hearing the opinion of a guy who has some closer experience to the draft and I’d like to hear some more as the draft approaches. First class I’ve really started to follow from the beginning of the year so I’m excited for them. I’ll trust your take on these guys as you probably know more than me about them even though I disagree. It is wide open though so there will be varying opinions

Kane doesn't move the needle for Vegas. That's the issue. Pietrangelo does. I think if they can find a legit top line centre available, they'll make a move instead.

I just see Seattle going young like Vegas did. That's the way the league is going and younger guys will have more trade value anyways. Giordano isn't gonna wanna play there. Crawford likely not either given his injury history and he'll be calling it a career soon, won't wanna go out on a losing note. Khudobin I think will be protected. I don't think they would've signed him to 3 years if they were gonna. Bishop has too many injury concerns to protect, but it exposes Oettinger which I think they'd work out a side deal to keep.

As for draft, I work with some of European teams. I did a lot more before the pandemic but things have changed now. With Lambos again it's more of what he is now versus his potential. He'll likely be a solid #3 guy where as guys like Power, Edvinsson, Clarke, and maybe Hughes just have higher upside. Earlier in the draft you can kinda bank on the higher upside guys going. Ratÿ a the best projected forward in the draft by far. I know he's struggled this year but the kid has played above his age group for many years, sometimes by more than 1 year. So he's shown the potential to dominate older, bigger guys. A down year is gonna happen every now and then. I don't think he's hurt his stock too much to drop outta the top 5 yet

I like your awards picks. Think your standings are probably pretty accurate (but I think Minny makes it over the Sharks), though that's going to be such a crapshoot this year due to shortage of games so I wouldn't be surprised to see it be way off. TJ Brodie also can't be selected by Seattle as he has a NMC.

Ye Minny vs SJ is gonna be close. For me it’s about Dubnyk. Good season by Dubnyk and they make, bad season and they miss.
The expansion draft simulator says that Brodie’s NMC becomes an NTC by draft start so I guess we’ll find out later. He may even waive because I see Toronto being a disaster for him and the media crushes him into waiving.

That's odd. Seems like a mistake.

I think a top line centre would help more but I do think Kane moves the needle for Vegas

I hadn’t thought about protecting Khudobin or potentially giving away Oettinger or Bishop. I believe Oettinger is exempt but could be wrong. I’d stay away from Khudobin as a long term solution though. I’m very anti-Khudobin because he’s so unorthodox. Not sure how much longer he’ll last and I just think he got hot come playoffs and is overrated. I could see Dallas doing it but I’d stay far away from that.

Okay, maybe I’m just too high on Lambos but I guess we’ll see. I do agree Raty has the highest upside but we’ve seen guys fall before because of bad draft years. Liljgren, Kylington, Krebs. But those were more injury based. I just think that having a season this bad could be evident of some character issues. But like you said it happens to everyone. You don’t want to draft a Yakupov. I said in my armchair link at the top that I would put some extra stock in his draft interview. If he has a good attitude you can probably work past his failures this year. If not, you stay away.

I honestly wouldn't be shocked if Vegas went hard after PLD. Fits their age group of the team and they could dangle 1 of Krebs or Glass to be able to move a contract out to Columbus to help with the cap

Yes, Dubois absolutely fits. But they’d have to overpay to pry him free. The problem is that i don’t think he’ll be traded. He wants a trade, but until he’s 27 they can just strong arm him. Vegas has some interesting assets though that could force the Jackets hand

Most GM'a outside of Lou in New York aren't dicks like that. If a guy really wants out, they'll find a way to make it work. It would take some manoeuvring to work out Dubois to Vegas, but it could be done. I just posted a 3way deal for that situation (likely take a 3rd team to make the salary work):

https://www.capfriendly.com/forums/thread/407274?post_id=2037746

Toronto to lose in the 1st RD is the only safe bet, LOL

Cool thing about the Canadian division is that all the teams are disappointments so now, one won’t be a disappointment

Well Toronto and Calgary have been known to underperform in the playoffs but not the other Canadian teams

Cool thing about the Canadian division is that all the teams are disappointments so now, one won’t be a disappointment