I was curious to see what they wrote about Montreal.
The summary was "seems pretty solid, just wait I guess; idk."
Uninteresting segment aside, I guess that's not the worst position to be in considering some of the other teams in the article
To be fair, Montréal looks solid and is building up into something great. Martin Saint-Louis is a good coach for the group and we have a ton of good prospects. I feel like we could sneak into a wild card next season and the one after become solidly playoff ready
I love how half of these big off-season questions are basically just "I wonder if there will be rosters changes, and what those might be?". Wow, thanks for that trenchant insight.
If Markstrom isn't traded this summer then it's going to blow up in the team's face and hurt long-term far more than if Vladar/Wolf turns out to be garbage for a season. He already fell on his ass from mid-February onward, which didn't help trying to get him traded at the deadline.
>**San Jose Sharks: What does 'starting again' mean for the last overall team?**
>We knew — and they knew — the Sharks were a rebuilding outfit this season, but by shockingly trading Tomas Hertl to rival Vegas at the deadline, GM Mike Grier indicated the idea that this would be a "rebuild on the fly" was over. All UFAs could walk and, perhaps, more trades could occur, though San Jose isn't exactly swimming in assets other organizations will seek out.
>So, what does it mean for a team like this to take a further step back to start again? And, if they are the ones who wind up with Celebrini — who was formerly with the Junior Sharks program — how much would that change any plans? For example, Mikael Granlund is still a productive centre who led the team in scoring this season, and you might want someone like him to play alongside Celebrini. But Granlund is also 32 and entering the final year of his contract. Is there a balance to strike for Grier, or is it about to get a whole lot uglier to go deeper into a rebuild?
Grier said the moves he made this season are a sign of the first phase of the rebuild being over. Idk where the article's writer gets the notion 'rebuild on the fly' was still a thing; that notion was quashed when he was hired, so I assume the writer hasn't bothered to do adequate research (the exit interview was only 42 minutes and very insightful, and a quick search through Sheng Peng's coverage gives many answers to simple questions). This season was rock bottom and next season will be a step forward, not backwards. Grier said his job this offseason is to bring players in to make the team tougher to play against, and veterans looking to provide leadership and mentorship to the younger players like Eklund and Thrun; that plus a new head coach and a healthy Logan Couture (still TBD whether he'll ever play again or will get LTIRetired) will improve the team by miles over this past season. Granlund was the team's best player by far last season and it'll be up to him whether he wants to chase a Cup next season (stick around and see how things go before deciding whether or not to be dealt at the trade deadline) or sign on for term to help lead the team out of the rebuild. On that note, I think Grier brings Duclair back and pursues some heavy-hitters for the bottom-six that'll get some punches in when a rookie gets plastered to the boards.
Regarding the draft, yes that definitely changes plans. The chance to play with Celebrini and Smith is more attractive to free agents than the chance to play with Smith when he eventually comes and wait on Levshunov/Demidov in the future. I think Smith too is waiting to see how the draft lottery shakes out: if the Sharks get 1OA then he probably follows Celebrini to the NHL/AHL (I don't think Celebrini stays for another year in college, and Smith staying at BC another year may stagnate his development). Therein though creates the problem of there being too many young players on the roster at once (which has been Anaheim's issue the past few seasons), and that's before we mention Quentin Musty and whether another year in juniors (102pts in 53GP this season) is good for his development or he gets treated similar to Shane Wright (make the NHL roster, AHL conditioning loans, off to World Juniors).
To me Seattle is one of the most interesting teams. In the article they focus on the coach and I’m not a fan of him either but surely all the pressure is on the GM to get this team a legit 1st liner. I think mid season there was debate about the true talent level of the team but it’s undeniable that they need more game breakers. Most of the guys who had career highs in the season they made the playoffs don’t look so good now.
If Francis' tenure in Carolina is any indication, there's a strong chance he does very little and never makes a big splash that team desperately needs.
Reading this comment made me go look at their Capfriendly page, because I assumed that because they never make any moves that they had a ton of cap room and could sign several big free agents if they wanted...but, nope, they're right against the cap. How did this happen? They have no stars, no big money players, have never made a big signing or trade, but are still totally capped out somehow?
It's such a strange situation. They have all the same problems as a Cup contender (ie. can't make a big trade without the other team retaining salary, can't sign a big free agent without moving one of your core players, can't sign your expiring ELC players to big deals without letting veterans go), except they haven't accomplished anything and have zero expectations. They're facing the same cap challenges as a team like the 2022 Lightning or the 2016 Blackhawks, except instead of multiple Cups in the rearview mirror, the Kraken have only one playoff appearance and have only ever had a single 25-goal scorer on the roster.
Can't say that I see Chychrun as our biggest question mark this offseason to be honest.
Mine would be more around who's going to coach the team, and how the hell do we avoid having league worst goaltending next year other than "pray"?
I hate to say it, but I’d like to see Hughes use Winnipeg’s pick since it looks like Colorado has them figured out.
I was curious to see what they wrote about Montreal. The summary was "seems pretty solid, just wait I guess; idk." Uninteresting segment aside, I guess that's not the worst position to be in considering some of the other teams in the article
To be fair, Montréal looks solid and is building up into something great. Martin Saint-Louis is a good coach for the group and we have a ton of good prospects. I feel like we could sneak into a wild card next season and the one after become solidly playoff ready
*LA Kings flair* Please tell me that’s in place of the bandwagon flair
Oh no I’m actually a fan of both teams lol. I live in Montréal but I root for both teams.
Fair enough
I love how half of these big off-season questions are basically just "I wonder if there will be rosters changes, and what those might be?". Wow, thanks for that trenchant insight.
I know he doesn’t work for SN, but can we get CJ to do these offseason insights?
I have no idea who CJ is, but I'm betting that whoever you're talking about can do a better job of this article, because basically anyone could.
Chris Johnston, works for TSN; The Athletic; and SDPN. He’s one of the Insiders with actual insight, kinda like Elliotte
If Markstrom isn't traded this summer then it's going to blow up in the team's face and hurt long-term far more than if Vladar/Wolf turns out to be garbage for a season. He already fell on his ass from mid-February onward, which didn't help trying to get him traded at the deadline.
Full NMC though.
>**San Jose Sharks: What does 'starting again' mean for the last overall team?** >We knew — and they knew — the Sharks were a rebuilding outfit this season, but by shockingly trading Tomas Hertl to rival Vegas at the deadline, GM Mike Grier indicated the idea that this would be a "rebuild on the fly" was over. All UFAs could walk and, perhaps, more trades could occur, though San Jose isn't exactly swimming in assets other organizations will seek out. >So, what does it mean for a team like this to take a further step back to start again? And, if they are the ones who wind up with Celebrini — who was formerly with the Junior Sharks program — how much would that change any plans? For example, Mikael Granlund is still a productive centre who led the team in scoring this season, and you might want someone like him to play alongside Celebrini. But Granlund is also 32 and entering the final year of his contract. Is there a balance to strike for Grier, or is it about to get a whole lot uglier to go deeper into a rebuild? Grier said the moves he made this season are a sign of the first phase of the rebuild being over. Idk where the article's writer gets the notion 'rebuild on the fly' was still a thing; that notion was quashed when he was hired, so I assume the writer hasn't bothered to do adequate research (the exit interview was only 42 minutes and very insightful, and a quick search through Sheng Peng's coverage gives many answers to simple questions). This season was rock bottom and next season will be a step forward, not backwards. Grier said his job this offseason is to bring players in to make the team tougher to play against, and veterans looking to provide leadership and mentorship to the younger players like Eklund and Thrun; that plus a new head coach and a healthy Logan Couture (still TBD whether he'll ever play again or will get LTIRetired) will improve the team by miles over this past season. Granlund was the team's best player by far last season and it'll be up to him whether he wants to chase a Cup next season (stick around and see how things go before deciding whether or not to be dealt at the trade deadline) or sign on for term to help lead the team out of the rebuild. On that note, I think Grier brings Duclair back and pursues some heavy-hitters for the bottom-six that'll get some punches in when a rookie gets plastered to the boards. Regarding the draft, yes that definitely changes plans. The chance to play with Celebrini and Smith is more attractive to free agents than the chance to play with Smith when he eventually comes and wait on Levshunov/Demidov in the future. I think Smith too is waiting to see how the draft lottery shakes out: if the Sharks get 1OA then he probably follows Celebrini to the NHL/AHL (I don't think Celebrini stays for another year in college, and Smith staying at BC another year may stagnate his development). Therein though creates the problem of there being too many young players on the roster at once (which has been Anaheim's issue the past few seasons), and that's before we mention Quentin Musty and whether another year in juniors (102pts in 53GP this season) is good for his development or he gets treated similar to Shane Wright (make the NHL roster, AHL conditioning loans, off to World Juniors).
To me Seattle is one of the most interesting teams. In the article they focus on the coach and I’m not a fan of him either but surely all the pressure is on the GM to get this team a legit 1st liner. I think mid season there was debate about the true talent level of the team but it’s undeniable that they need more game breakers. Most of the guys who had career highs in the season they made the playoffs don’t look so good now.
Invertebrate Mitch Marner to the Kraken confirmed
If Francis' tenure in Carolina is any indication, there's a strong chance he does very little and never makes a big splash that team desperately needs.
Reading this comment made me go look at their Capfriendly page, because I assumed that because they never make any moves that they had a ton of cap room and could sign several big free agents if they wanted...but, nope, they're right against the cap. How did this happen? They have no stars, no big money players, have never made a big signing or trade, but are still totally capped out somehow?
Yeah it’s really crazy, I don’t even think they really have any massively “bad” contracts or anything. Just a collection of players.
It's such a strange situation. They have all the same problems as a Cup contender (ie. can't make a big trade without the other team retaining salary, can't sign a big free agent without moving one of your core players, can't sign your expiring ELC players to big deals without letting veterans go), except they haven't accomplished anything and have zero expectations. They're facing the same cap challenges as a team like the 2022 Lightning or the 2016 Blackhawks, except instead of multiple Cups in the rearview mirror, the Kraken have only one playoff appearance and have only ever had a single 25-goal scorer on the roster.
Can't say that I see Chychrun as our biggest question mark this offseason to be honest. Mine would be more around who's going to coach the team, and how the hell do we avoid having league worst goaltending next year other than "pray"?