Here is what I believe Chicago and Anaheim should do in the offseason to regain their competitive edge

 

Here is another post from some of the eliminated teams and what I think the Blackhawks and Ducks should do in the offseason to regain their competitive edge.

 Chicago

Notable UFA’s: Sam Lafferty, Calvin De Haan, Erik Gustafsson, Kevin Lankinen, Colin Delia

Notable RFA’s: Dylan Strome, Dominik Kubalik, Kirby Dach, Philipp Kurashev, Wyatt Kalynuk, Caleb Jones

Draft Picks: CHI 2RD, MIN 2RD*, EDM 3RD*, VGK 3RD, TOR 3RD, CHI 6RD, COLU 6RD, CHI 7RD.

Why did they miss the playoffs.

The Blackhawks has a lot go wrong for them this year that I didn’t predict and injuries weren’t a big factor to me but 3 other things did stand out for me as reasons they didn’t make the playoffs. First would be there awful start to the season which no one saw. After the offseason upgrades I thought the Blackhawks would be a playoff team but their bad start brought those thoughts to a halt quickly as they lost their first 9 games of the season and by Christmas they had lost 19 of 30 games and as hard as they couldn’t get the saves and Fleury started really shaky and their scoring took some time to find the back of the net consistently, and they could not recover and I was really surprised that the Hawks missed the playoffs but I don’t think any team could have come back from that. Another problem that I found with the Blackhawks is that while they goal scoring did improve later in the season they are currently the 6th lowest team in the NHL in goal scoring. Now their biggest problem has been depth scoring as their top line of Strome, DeBrincat and Kane as well as their top defensemen Seth Jones all have over 40 points and have been dominant offensive, every other player on their team (except Toews) has less then 30 points so with a major drop in depth scoring production they weren’t able to bale out their goalies in some games and that led to a few losses in my opinion. And finally I think that the defence should have been a little better then it was this year. Now Jones is by far their best defensemen and while it took him a little while to find his offensive game he isn’t particularly the best defender in my opinion so his partner would have to be a defensive defensemen and while De Haan (who was his partner for most of the year) is a good partner but not like Zach Werenski which he has last year, and then they were also going to have hiccups with young players like Kalynuk, Caleb Jones, Vlasic, Regula, and Mitchell all getting NHL time this year a bad defence that couldn’t always help Fleury or Lankinen also played a key part in the Blackhawks missing the playoffs. 

How they can improve in the offseason.

The Blackhawks were a team who retooled in the offseason and came out of the gate a awful team and weren’t able to get back in the playoff race and now it looks like it is time for a rebuild so here is how I believe Chicago can put together a competitive team with offseason moves. First in net as it is the position that they have the most questions with. Their current starting and backup goalies in Lankinen and Delia are both scheduled to be UFA’s this year and that leakages the Blackhawks is no goalie with NHL experience. Now they do have Arvid Soderblom in the minors who did play a couple NHL games this year and if they need to they could probably look at him as the backup but in my opinion they will need to get two goalies. Now they could look to resign Kevin Lankinen and I think that is a possibility but they have to consider 1) has he played well enough to deserve a extension and 2) do they view him as a starter, so whether the Blackhawks sign him or not they could impact their plans. If they are looking for a goalie in free agency then I could see them seriously consider trying to sign a starter like Ville Husso, Darcy Kuemper or Jack Campbell if they fit and a couple backup options could be Braden Holtby, Joonas Korpisalo or David Riitich, or they could look to the trade market to acquire a goalie and if they can get rid of Kane’s contract, could they look at Montreal’s Carey Price as a trade option as it seems that they could have the longe term cap space to fit him in, but either way the Blackhawks need a goalie or two to play at the NHL level next year. Now on the defence they have a few things to decide on in the offseason. Now they have Seth Jones signed for a lot of money for the next 8 years so with that there is no chance he is moving. Now they have Jake McCabe and Connor Murphy who are both veterans who recently signed contracts as McCabe has 3 years and Murphy 4 years left on their respective contracts so while I think either of these two could be moved for the right price I think each will stay to make up their second pair. And they also have a handful of young players who will probably challenge f for or a playoff spot including Vlasic, Regula, Caleb Jones, Mitchell, Beaudin and Kalynuk are all younger guys who have played up and down the past few seasons and I think a few of these players will get playing time next year, but some will start next year in the minors and they could use another veteran depth defensemen with De Haan and Gustafsson UFA’s but I believe they will role with the younger D-Corp next year. And lastly for the forward they could have a completely different forward group next year I believe as I expect the Hawks to be busy in the offseason. First the Blackhawks have to decide in the two cornerstone pieces in Chicago. The Hawks superstars Kane and Toews are both entering the final year of their identical $10.5 Million dollar contracts and their is a lot of talk about those two possibly moving. Now I think the return for Kane should outweigh his contract and the way Kane has played the last few seasons their should be no shortage of interest and moving him for what should be a substantial package would make the most sense to me, while Captain Toews has not had as productive seasons recently and him at a received cap hit to a team doesn’t make sense unless there is a third party retaining and the return makes but I definitely expect Kane to be moved and possibly Toews. Now I also see the Hawks moving to pending UFA’s in Dylan Strome and Dominik Kubalik. Kubalik apparently had a lot of interest at the deadline and I believe will be moved for sure, and while Strome has played very well  on the Hawks top line I am still not sure he is good enough for his qualifying offer and the return for him would be substantially better then when they were looking for a trade early in the season so while I definitely think that Kubalik will be moved and Strome is less likely I definitely see a scenario where both are moved. And while there has been talk that if a amazing package that blew away Chicago came in for DeBrincat then they would consider it but i don’t believe that is the case and I think they should build around DeBrincat instead of trading him. Now I see this team as younger based on the forward group as well as I believe young guys like Reichel, Reese Johnson, Borgstrom, Dach, Kurashev, Entwistle, Raddysh, Katchouk and Hardman will all likely challenge for a roster spot with most of them getting a spot, and this team could very well lack a veteran presence next year so going and getting at least a bottom 6 and top 6 forward in free agency would be good for this team to get some older players who can mentor the younger players. So just to recap get 1 or 2 goalies in free agency depending on Lankinen, maybe move some veteran D-Men but go with a young D-Corp, and at forward possibly move Kubalik, Kane, Toews and Strome and let the young guys fill out most of their roster next year.

 Anaheim 

Notable UFA’s: Sam Carrick, Zach Aston Reese, Dominik Simon, Buddy Robinson, Gerald Mayhew, Vinni Lettieri, Andrej Sustr.

Notable RFA’s: Sonny Milano, Isac Lundestrom, Sam Steel, Urho Vaakanainen, Simon Benoit, Jacob Larsson, Brendan Guhle, Olle Eriksson Ek.

Draft Picks: ANA 1RD, BOS 1RD, ANA 2RD, PIT 2RD, ANA 4RD, ANA 5RD, TOR 5RD, NAS 6RD.

Why did they miss the playoffs.

The Ducks started the first half of the season surprisingly well and like many of you probably I was shocked at what a great season they were having but then they did what I thought originally and that was they fell off a cliff, soils almost all of their UFA’s and are now not making the playoffs but there were three things that I thought lead to them missing the playoffs. The first one would be, as mentioned their stunning second half collapse. The offense started to dry up and they holes at Defence and goaltending both really showed during probably the last game of January on the 31st against Detroit and lasted till, well actually it is still going cause since that game on JAN 31st they have only won 6 of the 29 games since that time and this disastrous play was definitely a huge factor in their downfall. Another would be the goaltending problems surrounding John Gibson who didn’t have the great backbone play the Ducks are used to having in net. Gibson has played in 20 of the 29 games during this losing streak and his GAA for the year is 3.16 which would actually only be the 2nd time in his career that he has 3.00 GAA or worse and while the defence did have troubles and Gibson hasn’t had Lindholm or Manson since the deadline but his play was a important factor to them missing the playoffs. And lastly the Ducks, as expected also had some offensive hiccups given the youth they have at the position. Now the big breakthrough of young guys like Zegras and Terry were beautiful to see and are definitely glimmers of hope for the future they still have work to do. While guys like Milano and Lundestrom both had improved play this year, I’m just not sure they have reached their potential, and guys like Steel and Comtois who especially didn’t play as well as last year still have plenty of room to grow and they also used a lot of bottom 6 forwards so while the future is bright in Anaheim these were the problems that cause them to miss this year.

How they can improve in the offseason.

The Ducks do have bright future and here is what I think they should do to their lineup to make it better for next year and I am starting with the net. Now I have heard the rumours that John Gibson may want to be moved and I actually agree with this as I think Gibson would be stuck if he kept playing with Anaheim through what looks like another retool, but only for a price as for the Ducks he is their best player and you don’t move your best player for nothing. If they were to trade Gibson it would have to be at least 3 pieces including a young player, a good prospect and a 1RD pick if not another piece, and if they move Gibson they would have to look for a goalie that they can tandem with Anthony Stolarz, so either they are confident in giving playing time to young prospect Lukas Dostal who most feel like he might be ready for a NHL role but for me I am just now sure and if the Ducks are too then I could see them signing a free agent goalie to a short term contract, or acquire a goalie via the trade market but either way I do believe Gibson leaving is a strong possibility and they will have to make moves accordingly. Now for their defence I actually believe they have most of next years roster already on their team they will just need the young guys to step up. The Ducks moved their big pending UFA’s at the deadline so they don’t have many contracts they need to sign and they have a couple of veterans in Fowler and Shattenkirk (even though Shattenkirk will enter the final year of his deal) that could start next year as the veterans of the team, they also have Drysdale and recently acquired Drew Helleson could with Shattenkirk on the right side while Urho Vaakanainen and Fowler could man the left side but if I was Anaheim I would at least get a top 4 right side defensemen who could maybe play with Helleson on the 2nd pair while Mahura and Benoit could battle for being 7th defensemen but I definitely envision a young blueline for Anaheim next year. As for their forward group they have a great system in place and they just need to grow a little bit. First the Ducks are going to lose Getzlaf to retirement next year so the loss of their captain but I think they have enough pieces to overcome that loss.  The young guys like Zegras, Milano, Terry and McTavish should all be in the top 6 next year and you have young players like Max Jones, Steel, Lundestrom, Tracey and Perreault who could all fight for roster spots next year and I would say at least three of them make the starting lineup, also veterans Henrique and Silfverberg as well as young underperforming winger Comtois will all be considered to be traded in the offseason with at least one in my opinion being moved. But no matter what is said after the departures at the deadline this team lacks at least some veteran presence so getting 1 or 2 bottom 6 forwards this offseason seems likely to me and getting a top 6 forward like Burakovsky, Rust or Perron to help with the younger players would definitely be a plus in my eyes and I stepping stone to help this team. Just to recap move Gibson and find a tandem partner for Stolarz, role with a younger D-Corp next year and get a top 4 left side defensemen, and get some veteran help in the forward group including a top 6 player but for the most part role with the young players and hope that a learning year for their youngsters leads to a competitive season and maybe a playoff spot.