Quoting: tadhockey
Obviously, this is still a tad early: Vegas has only played 19 games this season, so they could still fall out of the race. However, with each passing game, they look more and more like a team that could seriously be a playoff team in the Pacific division. Right now, their lineup looks like some derivative of this:
Perron - Haula - Neal
Marchessault - Karlsson - Smith
Leipsic - Eakin - Tuch
Nosek - Bellemare - Carrier
Lindberg
Schmidt - Sbisa
Hunt - Miller
Theodore - Engelland
McNabb
Fleury
Subban/Dansk/Legace
With this team succeeding, a question few asked before the season: which of their pending UFAs do they attempt to keep, and which do they move at the trade deadline?
Well so far I was only person to vote for them to have 85+ to 100 points in poll I did in their forum before team even existed... Also figuring they would land in the 11-15 spot in another poll in there... So unless they are not in the top 3 of the Pacific I don't expect them to make any trades that would weaken them... Likely they will try to ship out Garrison who is buried in the minors, deals like that, maybe trade Sbisa since McNabb is younger with a lower money value... Forwards rotate in/out at times, maybe Neal would get traded though in a deal to improve them getting a quality right shooting D-man to help out Miller since Engelland is only other right shot they got back there.
Kings just got whipped by Vegas, Quick let up like 3 goals on 9 shots so they had to throw Darcy back in. If not for the goalie injuries they would really be in great shape... STill they on pace for about 48 wins with 94ish points, so figure getting the 88 I picked is fairly possible in actual reality
. The younger players on those lists likely will stay, maybe if guy is 28-30+ they would have less LTR for team. None of those goalies seem like will get traded unless Fleury is shipped for his injury issues etc. Though don't think any sane team would take his contract including the Coyotes
. Would be great if Vegas wins Pacific Division with Kings getting shaky while other teams have own issues like Sharks not scoring, Ducks injuries, Flames being a bit up/down while Canucks seem like might start dipping...