Now we have the Eliminated teams from the West in the Sharks, Ducks, Coyotes, and Kings
4th St.Louis Blues 0 27-20-9 63 19 25 169-170-1
———————————————————————————————
5th Arizona Coyotes 0 24-26-6 54 19 21 153-176-23
6th Los Angeles Kings 0 21-28-7 49 19 20 143-170-27
7th San Jose Sharks 0 21-28-7 49 15 16 151-199-48
8th Anaheim Ducks 0 17-30-9 43 11 15 126-179-53
Arizona Coyotes
The Coyotes faded during the last quarter of the season and finished 9 points back of a playoff spot and were 1 game back of .500 and do not have a first round pick this year. On the Goalies Darcy Kuemper has one more year on his contract and I lone some people have said the should trade him but I think they should work on a contract extension with them but they do need to figure out the backup situation. Annti Raanta is a pending UFA and will most likely not be back so they will either go and signa goalie in Free agency or via trade market or maybe they will stay the road with Adin Hill who did acceptably this year when the other goalies were hurt. On the defense there will need to be modify as Goligoski, Hjalmarsson, Demers, and Oesterle are all head for Free Agency the defense will need to be retooled. Victor Soderstrom should have a more Prominent role with all the departures. The Coyotes will also need a top 4 defensemen on the right side who can fill in for Goligoski when he leaves and will also need a third D Pair defensemen who can play on the Left side as they will be losing a lot of depth so getting some of that Depth back would be important. And on the Offense it is time for a transition from young to old. Their have been a lot of talk about the Coyotes moving Phil Kessel to recoup some draft capital that they lost and I think that they should do that especially since Kessel Is entering the Final year of his contract. Young guys like Jan Jenik and Barrett Hayton should have regular roles next year and they have one more hole. With them not scoring much trying to get a couple of middle six wingers either via Trade or Free Agency would be smart and maybe a bit older who don’t take much salary cap as one thing I forgot was that they need to sign Connor Garland to a big contract.
Los Angeles Kings
The Kings missed the playoffs by 14 points and were 3.5 points back of .500 and also have the #8 overall pick in this years draft, but they improved so this is a critical offseason. On the Goalies I would not really change much as the tandem of Jonathan Quick and Cal Peterson has been soild the past two years and they should be there again next year but if it was me I would try to get a third goalie who has NHL experience to try to have someone just in case one of there two goalies get injured. On the Defense LA does not need much change on the Right side but maybe on the Left. On the Right you have Doughty, Walker, and Roy and those guys have done good for the past couple years and that should not change but on the Left side Miley Anderson has proved he can be a top 4 defensemen but other than that nothing has been locked in my opinion. They should use their big amount of young Centers to see if they can acquire a top Left shot D-Men and than have the east of the young left side defenders battle for the last spot. And on the Offence they have done a nice job on offense but they could improve more. They will need new contracts to pending RFA’s Athanasiou, Moore, Lizzotte. They have probably six or eight young players in their system or at the NHL level that play just center and they will need to fix that as they can trade those centersto acquire one of three things 1:) the previously Mentioned top 4 left side D, 2:) a more experienced Center than there young guys as that should be one of the two holes on the offensive side the other being, 3:) a middle six winger who is a all around good player and goal scorer and if they do this they will have a good chance to make the playoffs.
San Jose Sharks
San Jose missed the playoffs by 14 points and were 3.5 games under .500 this season and has the #7 overall pick at the draft. On the Goalies Martin Jones has regressed ever since sighing his extension that he will still have 3 years left and I think it is time the Sharks bought him out. The Sharks are one of many teams that will need cap space this year and it would cut Jones’s contract in about half if they buy him out. Josef Korenar proved that he should be a backup for the Sharks but if they can buyout Jones than they should try to get one of the top goalies either on the Trade Market or in Free Agency. On the Defense the top three Defenders on San Jose all have big contracts and are not living up to there contracts. Vlasic has 5 years on his contract, Karlsson has 6 years, and Burns has 4 years and the three have a total of 26.5 Million in cap space and Vlasic had said he is not moving and Karlsson is still there best defense man so if the can either trade Burns or plead to the Seattle Kraken at the expansion draft to take him than they can sign another player in Free Agency to replace him in the top four or get a young player in their system like Ryan Merkley to replace him. And on Offence they should try to retool it just a little bit. I think they need two top 9 forwards who can score to add to a core of Couture, Kane, Meier, and Hertl. Now I think that it is time that they traded Kevin Labanc as he has not lived up to his contract which still has 3 years at 4.75 million dollars and if they can trade him they should be able to get those other two forwards and than find some young players to fill in anywhere else that they might need and if they do this they might have a chance to make the playoffs.
Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks missed the playoffs for another year as they still can’t find offense. They missed the playoffs by 20 points and were 6.5 games under .500 and have the #3 overall pick at the draft. On the Goalies John Gibson is Anaheim’s starter for the foreseeable future as Gibson is one of the best goals in the world right now at least top five and has been behind the Ducks success defensively. But behind Gibson Anaheim will need to find a replacement as this years backup Ryan Miller retired and they will need a new backup, they could use Anthony Stolarz who has played as third string for the past couple years or try and get a goalie through Free Agency or trade. On the Defense side they are a solid team but might get some changes in their lineup. Their core should still remain and Drysdale should have a more impactful role next year and if they can get through the expansion draft with both Hayden Fleury and Kevin Shattenkirk then the only real change I can see them making on defense is moving Josh Manson. Manson is a soild right shot defensemen and with Drysdale he becomes expandable and with their dire need to improve their offence I could see them move Manson if it get’s them a scoring forward. And on Offence they are a mess. They only have a few scoring options and Trevor Zegras should be a full time top 6 role next year but the big question will be what are they to do with under performing young forwards Sonny Milano, Alex Volkov, Isaac Lundestrom, and Troy Terry as they all entered the NHL with high expectations but have not played like it. They need a top 6 forward and maybe a bottom 6 forward each who can score and the will either use Free Agency or the Trade Market and if they went to the trade market I would see them sell one of their underperforming young forwards and/or Josh Manson as they need to improve their scoring game to have a shot at getting back to the playoffs.
Comments
Post a Comment