Joined: Sep. 2020
Posts: 103
Likes: 24
So a bunch of teams in the Metro made moves, but does sound and fury signify anything? Not really.
1. Carolina lost Hamilton and revamped their goaltending. Deangelo might work out for them but the odds are long. At best they've maintained their position, nothing more.
2. Rangers got some depth but they have almost zero scoring- Lafreniere, Kravtsov, and Kakko haven't done it yet- and their 3rd and 4th lines are tire fires of offensive production. Drury wants to out Islander the Islanders, but he doesn't have a Cizikas nor does he have a Pageau. I don't even think he has a Martin. And their defense is young but scoring a ton against Philly, Devils, and Sabres this past season is not going to work against quality teams.
3. The Flyers revamped their defense but I'm not sure it will work. I love the Ryan Ellis move but the Ristolainen move is terrible. And getting Martin Jones to backstop an Alain Vigneault team? AV still thinks he's the reason the Rangers were good years ago- King Henrik was why. Hart and Jones aren't the King.
4. Penguins- They lost McCann and Tanev, and Malkin's out for a few months. Crosby and Letang are older, and while I like Jeff Carter and Brock McGinn it's not enough. It's a team that's hoping Marino, Petterson, and Zohorna elevate their games. Oh, and Jarry's still in net. Josh Bailey says hi.
5. The Capitals are basically the same team from last year, except they lost Dillon and didn't really improve otherwise. What's Kuznetsov's condition going forwards? How healthy is Niklas Backstrom? They're getting older, and that's about it.
6. New Jersey had a good offseason but who's gonna score? I like Hischier, Hughes, and Sharangovich. Beyond that, who? Wood? Hamilton? They’re definitely better but I don’t know what that means.
7. The Blue Jackets look terrible but I think they might not be. They’ve got a new coach and they’ve gotten rid of all the pieces that don’t work (or didn’t want to be there). They do have a lot of young talent, we’ll see how it fits in. I don’t think they’re a playoff team but I do think they’ll be fun to watch.
So, where does that leave us? Isles’ aren’t done making their moves- you left out Parise and probably elevating Bolduc or Salo to LD2/3- and you overpaid Sorokin and didn’t bring back Cizikas. Are you trying to hamstring the team when it’s known that they’ve already resigned Cizikas and Parise? And they’re likely making a trade or two? Tell, me, who’s making the playoffs instead of the Isles, when the actual data shows that most of the Metro got worse this offseason?