Today is the last offseason preview and I did the Final four so Montreal, Vegas, New York I and Tampa Bay ans as this series finishes watch out for my Seattle mock expansion draft starting on June 24th.
1st Vegas Golden Knights 0 40-14-2 82 30 39 191-124+67
2nd Tampa Bay Lightning 0 36-17-3 75 29 35 181-147+34
3rd New York Islanders 0 32-17-7 71 24 28 156-128+28
4th Montreal Canadiens 0 24-21-11 59 20 23 159-168-9
Montreal Canadiens
Montreal reaches the Final four by defeating Toronto and Winnipeg in 7 and 4 games respectively and were crowned kings of the North after finishing the season 4th in the division with a record of 24-21-11 and finished 1.5 games above .500 and will pick between #28-31 in the draft. On the Goalies the Expansion draft will tell what the Canadiens do here. Carey Price is still there starter for a very long time and I think Canadiens fans will agree with me. But the backup position will be determined by what the Kraken do. If the Kraken leave Allen alone then the 1-2 punch of Price and Allen will start next year but if Seattle takes Allen then Montreal will look either via Free Agency or Trade for a cheap backup option to Price. On the Defence I don’t foresee many changes to their lineup. Edmundson or Chiarot will be exposed in the expansion draft and there is a very likely chance that one of them are taken. If one of them are taken in the expansion draft then I think they will look for two 3rd pair defensemen but if they are able to keep both of them then I would probably suspect they go after one 3rd D-Pair Defensemen. And on the Offensive side they will have some things to look out for. Philip Danault, Joel Armia, and Tomas Tatar are all pending UFA’s and could leave the team. Danault might resign but if he doesn’t the Canadiens might look for a top six forward in Free Agency or via Trade. As for their bottom six I would see them adding two or three cheap veteran depth forwards to replace players like Armia and Tatar on their bottom two lines and if they do these things they might be able to make it back to the Fianl four.
New York Islanders
The Islanders got to the Final Four after beating Pittsburgh and Boston both in 6 games and won the East after finishing 3rd in the East with a record of 32-17-7 and were 7.5 points above .500 and does not have a first round pick at the draft. In Net their is not really anything to do this upcoming season. Varlamov is their starter for the near future and besides him Sorokin is a Pending RFA and will need a new contract in the offseason but other then that I wouldn’t suspect much change. There will need to be a couple of moves on the Defence. The Right side is perfect with Mayfield, Pulock, and Dobson but the Left side will need to change. With Ledfy still signed they will need to resign pending RFA Adam Pelech to a new contract as he is there top left side defender and will also need to sign a 3rd D-Pair defensemen to play on the left side. They will need to reconfigure stuff on the Offensive side. Zajac, Palmeri, and Cizikas are all pending UFA’s and will most likely not return so getting Beauvillier (Pending RFA) a new contract should be a priority considering how well he has played this year. And with the departure of Cizikas they will need one or two more bottom six forwards who are probably older and can still produce at a high level if they want to get back to the final four.
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Lightning once again made it to the Final Four this time by beating the Panthers in 6 games and the Hurricanes in 5 games and were crowned kings of the Central after they finished 3rd in the Central and had a record of 36-17-3 and finished 9.5 games above .500 and will pick between #28-31 in the draft. In Net they will need to do something. Andrei Vasilevskiy has been the strong part in net and is one of the best goalies in the game right now but will lose McElinney via Free Agency. With the Lightning cap problems they will need to settle for a very cheap backup because of the cap problems they are suffering from. On the Defensive side they will have to make adjustments with what little cap hit they have. Luke Schenn and David Savard are both pending UFA’s and with the Lightning’s cap situation will most likely not resign so they will have to rely on youngsters like Cal Foote and Sean Day. While on the Offense it will be the youth movement for the Bolts this offseason. The Bolts are five million dollars above the cap and need to get rid of a contract or two as Johnson, Gourde, and Killorn are all possibilities to be moved due to their big cap hit. And then it will be getting the young guys more playing time, young guys like Alex Barre-Boulet, Boris Katchouk, Mitchell Stephens, and Taylor Raddysh and if they do this maybe they can get back to the Final Four.
Vegas Golden Knights
The Golden Knights were able to once again reach the Final Four by beating the Wild in 7 games and the Avalanche in 6 games after they finished second in the league and division with a record of 40-14-2 and finished 13 games above .500 and will pick between #28-31 in the draft. In Net the have cap problems. Marc Andre Fleury won back the starting net and is one of the best goalies right now and Robin Lehner who was signed to be the number one goalie is still a number one. The problem is that the Golden Knights have two number one goalies and they take up 12.5 Million of their cap so either trade one or have two expensive number one goalies. On the defensive side they may have to get younger. Alec Martinez is a pending UFA and with The Golden Knights cap situation he will probably not be resigned and Nick Holden might be traded away to help their cap situation so getting a cheap veteran 3rd pair defensemen eould make sense while giving a regular role to a young defensemen like Dylan Coghlan or Kaedan Korczak would also make sense. And on the Offense will also get younger. Janmark, Nosek, ans Brown are all UFA’s and might not be resigned so getting a bottom six forward at a cheap price would be a start. I know some people would say they should trade Marchessault or Smith but I think they both stay and they should give youngsters like Peyton Krebs or Cody Glass a chance to earn a top 6 spot and if they do all of this then they might be able to get back to the Final Four.
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