It's finally here, much later than intended!

BOBCAT'S MID-SEASON REPORT

Part 1: The Offseason

-Let's just start with the elephant in the room: We got the big fish. After rumors of him going to the Isles and Devils, Johnny Gaudreau signed a 7-year, 9.75M-per-year contract with us, of all teams. I'm not entirely too thrilled with the fact the contract expires at 34, but he's a piece for Patty to gel with.

-Somehow, someway, we sign both the best signing in the free-agency class, and the worst signing in the free-agency class. Erik Gudbranson signs a 4 year deal worth $4M per year. I didn't hate the idea of bringing in Gudbranson, but that contract, man...

-Patty gets an extension too: 4 years, 8.7M per year. I wish it was a bit longer of an extension, but he's still locked up!

-Because of all the cap locked up in Guddy, Johnny and Patty, we needed to move someone. That someone SHOULD HAVE BEEN Gustav Nyquist, since we could have gotten 5.5M out of the way for just a mid round pick. Instead, we trade OLIVER BJORKSTRAND to the Seattle Kraken for a cheeseburger. I hated this move then, and i still hate it now. GUS WAS RIGHT F*CKING THERE.

-The draft was an all-timer. David Jiricek, Denton Mateychuk, Luca Del Bel Belluz and Jordan Dumais all have the potential to be NHL-caliber talent, and we picked them all back-to-back-to-back-to-back! Jarmo Kekalainen is an all-time great drafter.

All in all, it was a rollercoaster of an offseason. For every high, there is a low.

Part 2: The Season So Far

-We didn't start the best: Patty got himself injured in the season opener against the Canes, and we lose our first three. We didn't win our first game until a comeback win over the Canucks (who were another 0-3-0 team at the time). Our 7-10-1 start was a far cry from the 12-6-0 from last season (with a noticeably better team than last year). WE EVEN LOST TO THE F*CKING COYOTES.

-Our trip to Finland was... a disaster. Two 3+ goal losses to the Avs on back-to-back nights. At least Patty scored once?

-The team has been injured out the *ss all season, and we have one team we can largely blame for this: The Philadelphia Flyers. The Torts-led team hit us HARD in our first two meetings, which had a lot of injury stoppages for us. By the end, Nick Blankenburg, Justin Danforth and Jake Bean all were put on IR, but the biggest loss was Zach Werenski. Zach missed a check, hit the boards, and tore his labrum. He's gonna be out for the rest of the season. I hate this.

-These injuries led to a lot of losing, most recently ending in a 7 game skid in December, and going 2-6-0 so far in January.

-The only broad observation i can really make with this squad is that our defense and power play are AWFUL. Defense especially: I find myself asking "Why is he that open in front of the net?" and "Why was that shot so open?" more times than i really think i should. There is a way to remedy that, and we'll get to that later. The PP is also awful, and i don't know how to remedy that.

-Moving on to individual players: Elvis Merzlikins has looked AWFUL on the stat sheet all year, with a .869 save percentage and a 4.44 GAA. It's like watching a car crash in slow motion. He's looked slower than he did last year, but i feel like there's an excuse: He's been ruled out more often than usual for "illness." He's playing sick. Perhaps this is a similar situation to Korpi and his hip last year: Let him heal up a bit, and he'll thrive next year. God, i hope...

-I never thought i would be saying this last year, but Joonas Korpisalo has asserted himself as our starter this year. He's put up the best SV% of all three goalies this year, with a .908. That hip surgery did him a lot of good.

-Jack Roslovic is currently stuck in this Jakub Voracek syndrome of "assists out the *ss and not scoring many goals". He's been wildly inconsistent, to the point of being benched at one point by Brad Larsen. Luckily, he's gotten himself into some good fortune alongside Laine and Gaudreau on the first line. Perhaps he WON'T be traded...

-Speaking of Jake Voracek, he's been placed on LTIR after suffering his eighth concussion in his career. Some people are saying he'll never play again. That's tough for Captain Redbeard, but great for us financially. That's $8.25M for the next couple years that we can use to improve the team. This was the most convenient concussion ever (as calloused as that sounds).

-Kirill Marchenko has played rather well for a rookie. No assists, but he's a good goal-scorer, even getting a hatty a couple of weeks ago as i write this. He's not winning the Calder, but still a great rookie campaign so far.

-Vladislav Gavrikov's contract is expiring this year, and he's been playing like it. He's proven himself again as a great defender and penalty killer, and can score in the clutch. With Jake Voracek on LTIR and possibly never playing again, we have enough money to pay him whatever he pleases. How does $5.5M/6 years sound?

-For someone that has been hailed as the worst defenseman in the NHL, Erik Gudbranson has played really well. He's being paid to play defense, and he's played defense like a pro all season. I can't point to one goal we've given up with him on the ice that i can really say was his fault. Still not worth 4x4, though.

-Guddy and Mathieu Olivier have combined to be great sandpaper, not afraid to throw the body around and fight. We really could have used this last year.

-Rookie debuts have been plentiful: the aforementioned Marchenko, Marcus Bjork, Tim Berni and David Jiricek have played an NHL game, with varying amounts of success. Berni in particular has impressed me: for the defensive prospect i thought had the lowest chance of making the NHL squad, he's managed to stick around, and play very well at that. Jiricek has been tearing the AHL apart in Cleveland, and should make the NHL squad next year.

Part 3: How I Would Do The Rest Of The Season/The Next Offseason

-CONTINUE TO LOSE. PLEASE. This is a stacked draft, and even if we lose the draft lottery and miss out on Connor Bedard, Adam Fantilli is also an amazing talent, and would fit in nicely.

-This is probably a hot take, but Brad Larsen deserves one more year. This is a lost season, and Lars is definitely a factor in that, but in my mind he deserves one more chance. Next year, it's do-or-die time.

-Remedying our defense is probably an easy fix. I don't know if you're familiar with Steve McCarthy, but he's an assistant coach for us, and works with our defensemen (since he was an NHL defensman himself). When you look at his EliteProspects page, it has this to say:

"McCarthy (is a) defenseman who is very skilled offensively. Is a gifted passer, sees the ice well, and can skate. Can be involved in a couple of defensive gaffes. Is not a very physical player."

THIS. EXPLAINS. F*CKING. EVERYTHING. The defense is just a microcosm of the coach that's in charge of it! Perhaps forcing him out and bringing in a competent defensive mind would be the kick in the *ss we need to be competent defensively.

-Adam Boqvist also has to go. With Jiricek on the rise, Blanks coming in out of nowhere, Peeke getting extended, and Guddy being unmoveable, Bo is the odd man out. At this point, we could probably get a Nils Lundkvist-level return for him. The Kings have been a team that comes up often in discussions on "Who Can Take Boqvist?", so we should ask them.

-A top-line center is definitely a must. Bo Horvat is a name that has floated around in trade talks, so perhaps we could get him for a package revolving around Bo. a first line of Gaudreau - Horvat - Laine sounds amazing!

Part 4: Conclusion

I keep having to remind myself that this team is still very young. These woes this year are just growing pains. We'll come back next year as a playoff team, I can feel it. Just ignore the fact that i said this last year, too...

THE END