Season Preview, after what was a very busy first offseason as GM for Kyle Dubas, did he do enough to get Pittsburgh back into the playoffs, while the Rangers did quite well this offseason even with their tight cap situation, but is it enough to maintain a playoff spot.
After bringing in Kyle Dubas as GM this offseason, the Penguins made a ton of moves including reworking their bottom six on the forward group, switching up their D-Corp by bringing in 2 top 4 defenders, and swapping backup goalies, but will all of those moves be enough to send Pittsburgh who missed the playoffs for the first time in years back into the playoffs, while the Rangers brought in a new head coach and improved their backup goalie position, 3rd pair on the blueline and top six this offseason with only having a bit of cap space to work with, but is it enough to keep the Rangers who were ousted in round one last year in the playoffs, read the rest of my season preview post to found out.
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Pittsburgh Penguins
2022-23 regular season record:
40-31-11 for 91 points, 5th in Metro, 9th in East, finished 1 point back of Florida for final spot in East.
Significant Offseason losses:
LW,RW J.Zucker 27-21-48 78GP (ARI)
C,LW N.Bonino 10-9-19 62GP (NYR)
LW,C R.Poehling 7-7-14 53GP (PHI)
LW,RW D.Heinen 8-14-22 65GP (UFA)
RW,LW J.Archibald 6-6-12 62GP (TB)
C,RW M.Granlund 10-31-41 79GP (SJ)
LD/RD D.Kulikov 3-13-16 67GP (FLO)
LD/RD J.Rutta 3-6-9 56GP (SJ)
LD B.Dumoulin 1-24-25 82GP (SEA)
RD J.Petry 5-26-31 61GP (MON)
G C.DeSmith 15-16-4 REC 3.17 GAA .905 SV% (MON)
G D.Tokarski 1-2-0 REC 3.45 GAA .897 SV% (BUF)
Significant Offseason Additions:
LW,RW A.Johnsson 0-3-3 13GP
RW,LW V.Hinostroza 2-9-11 26GP
LW,RW R.Smith 26-30-56 78GP
C L.Eller 10-13-23 84GP
C,RW N.Acciari 14-9-23 77GP
LW,RW M.Nieto 12-12-24 81GP
LW,C,RW R.Pitlick 6-9-15 46GP
LD R.Graves 8-18-26 78GP
RD E.Karlsson 25-76-101 82GP
LD W.Butcher (AHL Numbers) 6-37-43 65GP
G A.Nedeljkovic 5-7-2 REC 3.53 GAA .895 SV%
G M.Hellberg 5-8-1 REC 3.20 GAA .888 SV%
Top 3 Penguins picks in the 2023 draft
1RD #14 C,LW,RW B.Yager
3RD #27 LD E.Pieniniemi
5RD #14 C,LW,RW M.Ilyin
My Current projected 23 man lineup
R.Rakell-S.Crosby-B.Rust
S.Poulin-E.Malkin-R.Smith
D.O’Connor-L.Eller-M.Nieto
R.Pitlick-N.Acciari-A.Nylander
R.Graves-K.Letang
M.Pettersson-E.Karlsson
P.O Joseph-T.Smith
T.Jarry
A.Nedeljkovic
J.Carter-A.Johnsson-C.Ruhwedel
(LTIR J.Guentzel)
CAP: $79.24, SPACE: $4.26
Offseason review and Season Preview:
Now the Penguins barely missed the playoffs this past year and as I talked about in my offseason preview, that was there own fault as the Penguins just needed to get a win against the Hawks in the 2nd to last game of the season to make the Playoffs, and they blew it losing badly, so they are at fault for missing the playoffs when they had the opportunity to make it, but they went into the offseason trying to strengthen the team and make them more competitive for this upcoming season and I feel that they have done so as they have been able to add and subtract some players from their roster that in a while I think makes this team better.
So in Net the team ran with a Jarry-DeSmith duo last year and once again Jarry went down with injury in-season so there were a lot of people thinking the Penguins would go after a new starting goalie and let Jarry sign elsewhere as a free agent, and even though he went to market, he would end up signing a 5 year deal to remain the Pen’s starter for the foreseeable future, and then the Penguins knowing that Jarry has a injury history went out and got two goalies who could play backup in Nedeljkovic and Hellberg who were both the backup in Detroit for most of the season, and although Nedeljkovic is probably backup and Hellberg the 3rd stringer, if there is injuries to Jarry the Pen’s are in a better position then they were last year and with the addition of Nedeljkovic that meant that DeSmith didn’t have a spot on the team anymore so the Penguins dealt him to Montreal, so in my eyes Nedeljkovic can be a good backup to Jarry, maybe even better then DeSmith and having Hellberg as their 3rd stringer instead of Tokarski I think is a major upgrade so I would say if Jarry can stay healthy this year then the Penguins have definitely upgraded in Net this year.
On the defensive end the Penguins had a mediocre defence last year as the defence was middle of the pack last year and the Penguins went into this offseason looking to revamp the blueline and get more offense from the defensive end as they were only able to get Letang and Petry to hit over 30 points last year and I think they did a spectacular job of improving that defence. So they went into this offseason and lost two of the defenders they had last year to free agency as long time Pen Brian Dumoulin who has been a mainstay the past few years in the top 4 and playing with Letang left and signed with Seattle, while deadline addition Kulikov left to play in Florida, and then the Penguins also moved on from Jan Rutta who they signed last offseason and didn’t work overly well to San Jose and dealt Jeff Petry who had a decent offensive season but didn’t fit in quite well with Pittsburgh back to the Habs who the Pens acquired him from in the offseason prior, so Pittsburgh lost two top 4 defenders and 2 depth defenders this offseason, but as much as those were big blows to the team they were able to do well in replacing them, first they went out in free agency and got a fantastic Dumoulin replacement in Ryan Graves, as they signed him to a 6 year deal and he is a solid defensive defensemen who is a couple years younger then Dumoulin and should work well in the top 4 for Pittsburgh, and then in the deal that helped them move Petry, DeSmith, and Rutta, they were able to bring in Erik Karlsson, now Karlsson is a older player too being 33 years old but was healthy all season last year and hit the century mark in points which is a rare accomplishment for a defensemen and if he can gel well with Letang on the Penguins, I think he is a fantastic upgrade on Petry in their lineup, then they also added some depth on the defensive side with getting Will Butcher a contract and with more room on that team now, I would expect youngster Ty Smith to get some regular looks on the bottom pair in Pittsburgh and Friedman to play more at the NHL level this year, so all in all I think the Penguins did a good job revamping their defence and I feel they should be able to get more offense from their defence this year and their defence looks better in my eyes even though they don’t have as much depth as they did last season.
And finally we go onto the forward group: now the forward group for the Penguins was good from their big time players, but the depth on that team sucked, as the big name guys like Zucker, Malkin, Crosby, Rakell, Rust and Guentzel but the depth guys were almost non existent as the third line of the pen’s that consisted of McGinn, Kapanen and Carter was atrocious and led to both Kapanen and McGinn being dealt at the deadline and I think a major part of this offseason was to revamp the bottom six and get some players who would better fit the Penguins in their bottom six, and I think they did that well. Now they lost top six forward Jason Zucker to free agency as he signed in Arizona, and also lost bottom six addition at the deadline Bonino, as well as solid 4th line players Poehling, Heinen and Archibald to free agency while they were able to move Mikael Granlund who they acquired at the deadline and wound up being a mistake to acquire to San Jose in the Erik Karlsson deal, so they lost to middle six forwards and a couple of bottom six forwards this offseason, but they did really well to replace them, as they acquired recent Stanley Cup Champion Reilly Smith from Vegas to work in their top 6 and replace Zucker, then they added Lars Eller in Free Agency to replace Mikael Granlund as the 3C, and then to replace the depth forwards they lost in free agency, they got Acciari to be the teams 4C, they signed Johnsson, Nieto and Hinostroza to compete and help fill out the bottom six and also got solid bottom six forward Rem Pitlick in the Karlsson deal as well, so in my eyes I think the teams bottom six looks a lot better then last year as not having a over priced forward like Granlund or players like McGinn and Kapanen who weren’t producing well and bringing in guys like Eller, Acciari, Nieto and Pitlick who can all be good bottom six producers and are paid accordingly makes that bottom six a lot better and the team also didn’t shakeup their top six besides adding Smith to replace Zucker which I think is a upgrade and even though Guentzel will miss the first few games of the season, all in all I think the Pens did quite well to improve that forward group and with a bit better bottom six help this year, they should get a bit more balanced scoring this year.
Now besides the fact they blew their opportunity to make the playoffs last year be losing to Chicago being one of the reasons I thought the Pens missed the playoffs, the other two were depth scoring and injuries on the Defensive side, and I think they are in a good position to be better in both things I mentioned as the Pen’s bottom six looks really good this year and I think if a young forward like Poulin could also make the roster next and play maybe consistent middle six minutes I feel that the Penguins depth scoring will be better, and the injury bug is the one thing no one can predict and their two top D-Men do have injury history in Letang and Karlsson, but if Karlsson, Letang, Graves and Pettersson can stay healthy and play in most of the games this year I feel the defensive game will be a bit better next year, so in my eyes the Penguins could be able to do better in the two categories I said cost them a playoff spot last year.
Offseason Grade B-: the Penguins went into this offseason and hired Kyle Dubas as their new GM and Dubas definitely had a fantastic offseason in my eyes, his draft wasn’t overly bad and his picks were quite good, they were able to move on from bad contracts in Granlund and Petry which a lot of people thought they couldn’t do, they replaced some of their bottom six forwards who didn’t do well last year with some experienced players in guys like Eller and Acciari while improving the top six by getting Smith to replace Zucker, and on the Defensive side while they do lose a bit of depth they are able to replace Dumoulin and Petry with Graves and Karlsson which in my eyes is a major upgrade and allows some of their younger guys like Ty Smith and Joseph bigger opportunities and they moved on from DeSmith as backup and got better and deeper at the position by bringing in Nedeljkovic and Hellberg, so I think the Penguins offseason was quite good and although I am not giving them a absolutely splendid grade as I do think they are still one of the Older teams in the league and didn’t bring in much your this offseason, I still think they did well and have positioned themselves to at the very least be in the thick of it once again for a playoff spot.
Current 2023-24 record prediction: 43-29-10 for 96 Points, 4th in Metro and 1WC in East, 5 more points then last year.
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New York Rangers
2022-23 regular season record:
47-22-13 for 107 points, 3rd in Metro, 5th in East, went to New Jersey in round 1 of the playoffs and despite taking a early 2-0 series lead, they wound up falling in 7 games to the Devils.
Significant Offseason losses:
RW P.Kane 21-36-57 73GP (UFA)
RW V.Tarasenko 18-32-50 69GP (OTT)
LW,RW T.Motte 8-11-19 62GP (UFA)
RW W.Lockwood 0-1-1 13GP (FLO)
RW,C R.Carpenter 1-2-3 22GP (SJ)
LD N.Mikkola 1-5-6 81GP (FLO)
LD L.Hajek 1-0-1 16GP (UFA)
G J.Halak 10-9-1 REC 2.73 GAA .903 SV% (UFA)
Significant Offseason Additions:
RW,C B.Wheeler 16-39-55 72GP
C,LW N.Bonino 10-9-19 62GP
RW T.Pitlick 7-9-16 61GP
C,RW A.Belzile 6-8-14 31GP
C,RW R.Nash (AHL Numbers) 24-35-59 66GP
LD E.Gustafsson 7-35-42 70GP
LD C.Mackey 3-4-7 30GP
RD M.Hollowell 0-2-2 6GP
G J.Quick 16-15-6 REC 3.41 GAA .882 SV%
Top 3 Rangers picks in the 2023 draft
1RD #23 RW G.Perreault
3RD #26 LD D.Fortescue
5RD #24 LD R.Larsson
My Current projected 23 man lineup
C.Kreider-M.Zibanejad-B.Wheeler
A.Panarin-F.Chytil-K.Kakko
B.Othmann-V.Trocheck-A.Lafreniere*
B.Goodrow-N.Bonino-J.Vesey
R.Lindgren-A.Fox
K.Miller-J.Trouba
E.Gustafsson-B.Schneider
I.Shesterkin
J.Quick
J.Leschyshyn-T.Pitlick-Z.Jones
CAP: $81.30, SPACE: $2.19
*means unsigned RFA
Offseason review and season preview:
Now the Rangers during the regular season were a heavyweight team and showed their dominance by being a top 3 team in the Metro and in the top 5 in the east and if people weren’t picking Boston to win the east in the playoffs, a lot of them picked the Rangers to be the team that went to the Cup Final out of the East, but unfortunately they ran into a young Devils team (and extremely hot goalie in Schmid) and wound up falling in 7 games as their strength from the regular season which was goal scoring dried up in the playoffs, so now the big question going into the offseason was how the team was going to change up the offense with guys like Tarasenko and Kane UFA’s and all in all I think they have actually done pretty well this offseason.
So in Net I don’t think this comes as too much surprise but the Rangers were able to keep their starting goalie and one of the best goalies in the NHL in Igor Shesterkin, as he continues to be the teams starter and a elite level goalie and even though he will be eligible for a extension next year, the Rangers don’t have to think about that for now so they can have him remain the teams starter for the upcoming year, but they wound up losing backup goalie Halak as he was a UFA and the team didn’t bring him back so they had to go shopping and find a backup this offseason as even though Halak didn’t get into too many games, he did put up solid numbers as backup and I think they got one of the better backup contracts in the league as they brought in former Kings franchise goalie Jonathan Quick on a cheap 1 year deal to backup Shesterkin, and I think Quick is a major improvement in the backup role for NYR as although his numbers were down last year, he was battling as the starter in LA and I think he will be able to put up between 20-25 solid games for the Kings as backup and I think he could play more then Halak did this year as the Rangers backup, so getting Quick to backup Shesterkin was a fantastic move by NYR and they still have a solid 3rd stringer in Louis Domingue who could come up if there are injuries, so in my eyes the Rangers goaltending position improved this offseason as they still have a fantastic starter and pretty good 3rd stringer but with Quick as the backup I think that is going to be a major improvement for the Rangers in Net for this upcoming season.
Now on the defensive side of the puck the team had a pretty good season being top 5 in Goals Against last year and already have a stellar defence ahead of Shesterkin so they didn’t really need to make too many major moves this offseason, but they did have a couple of minor ones. Now first they got the biggest priority on their defence done rather quickly this offseason and that was signing K’Andre Miller to a 2 year contract as he was a RFA this offseason, and they were able to keep the AAV under $4 Million which I think was fantastic and I think if he continues to play like he has then he should remain a fixture in that top 4 for the Rangers, and they also still have their other top 4 defenders in Trouba who still isn’t on a good contract making over $8 Million dollars but is a solid physical top 4 defensemen who is the teams captain, Lindgren who may wind up signing a long term extension later in the offseason and Fox who is still one of the top defensemen in the NHL right now so they have a solid top 4, as well as Braden Schneider who is a fantastic 3rd pair D and I think if he continues to play like he has then he will eventually pass Trouba on the depth charts and be a top 4 defender, but they did have some movement this offseason in bringing in a new 3rd pair defensemen for the left side. Now last year there was some competition for who was going to be the Rangers 6th defender as it first was Zac Jones and then was Ben Harpur until the trade deadline when they got Nikko Mikkola from St.Louis and he finished the season being a consistent 3rd pair defensemen for them but left in the offseason as a free agent so the Rangers had to replace him. Now they do have some hope that youngster Zac Jones van grab that 3rd pair role this year but they did bring in some competition for him as Connor Mackey who was a decent 6/7 defender last year signed with the Rangers and I think should replace a guy like Hajek on the lineup, but the bigger addition they made was Erik Gustafsson who is a solid 3rd pair defensemen with high offensive upside and he may have the inside track to partner with Schneider on pair 3, but either way they were able to keep their top 4 intact on the defensive end and were able to add some depth to that team plus a solid 3rd pair defensemen who should be able to round out the Rangers starting D-Corp, so in my eyes the Rangers did pretty good with their defence and should remain a really good defensive unit for this upcoming season.
And on the forward group, the Rangers lost two big in-season acquisitions in Tarasenko and Kane and had to try and replace them as last year their right wing side wasn’t the best, but in my eyes with their cap situation not only have they done quite well in replacing those two guys but I think this offense is definitely ahead of where it was at the start of last years regular season. Now the Rangers lost top 6 forwards Tarasenko and Kane this offseason to free agency as their deadline acquisitions both left and that left the team with a couple of glaring holes in the top six and also a couple of decent bottom six forwards in Motte and Carpenter who both did well in the bottom six, but also left via free agency, so they had some holes they need to fill this offseason and besides a pick for pick swap with Pittsburgh at the draft, the team basically didn’t make any trades at all so they went to the free agent market to try and get some decent replacements for the guys they lost and I think they did quite well. First they were able to land middle six forward Blake Wheeler who had been bought out earlier in the offseason by the Jets to a extremely reasonable 1 year deal that has a AAV under $1 Million dollars and is a extremely good value deal for the team and I think while Wheeler could easily fit in the Rangers 2nd or 3rd line and do great, with the teams lack of depth on the right side I could also see him play with some guys like Krieder and Zibanejad on the top line, as for some other guys they went and got, they also got solid bottom six forwards Bonino and Pitlick who both put up between 15-20 points last year and should both work out really well in their bottom six on maybe the 4th line while they also added depth in signing Riley Nash and Alex Belzile who both are most likely AHL forwards but have NHL experience and could easily be called up if their are injuries, so all in all I think the Rangers handled their offseason for their offense pretty good, now one piece of business still not done for them is Alexis Lafreniere who is currently a RFA and with about $2 Million in cap space, may sign a 1-2 year deal between $1.5-2.5 Million to extend in NYR but he will have to be taken care of before the season starts, and I also wouldn’t be surprised if a top prospect in Brennan Othmann who has played superb in Juniors is able to get a top 9 role out of training camp with the Rangers, and I think with a top six role open on the Right side, it would be the perfect opportunity for Kakko or Lafreniere to play higher in the lineup and finally get a shot to make more of a impact, but in my eyes although the team doesn’t look quite as good on paper offensively as they did post trade deadline, I think the team does look a lot better then they did at the start of last year and should continue to be a offensive powerhouse this year.
Now the three things I think cost the Rangers the first round series last year was they were too slow facing a younger Devils team, their offense dried up and their power play went cold, and I think they have done good to improve on these 3 issues, as the team in general I don’t think got faster as Wheeler and Bonino and Gustafsson aren’t necessarily faster players then Kane or Tarasenko, but if guys like Kakko or Lafreniere play in bigger roles and if a young guy like Othmann makes the team then I have no doubt the Rangers will be faster then last year, there scoring dried up in last year’s playoffs, but I think Wheeler will help that and if Kakko or Lafreniere can start producing more in more elevated roles then I think this team will be less likely to lose their offensive touch and I think that it goes the same for the power play as I think k offseason additions such as Wheeler and Gustafsson should both be able to make the Rangers power play better so all in all I think the Rangers have improved on the things that in my eyes code them last years series vs the Devils.
Offseason Grade B-: So just like the Penguins I am giving a B- grade to NYR as of right now because while I think there were a few more things I would’ve done (such as try to move Goodrow and maybe add another top 9 forward) they actually did quite well in my eyes, they started in net by getting Quick to replace Halak as the backup which I think was a fantastic and really smart move on the Rangers side as Quick should give Shesterkin more breaks this year, instead of having Jones and Harpur fight for the 6th defensive spot on the team, they can now have Gustafsson as well as Mackey and Jones fight over it which I think is a much better position to be in and they signed top 4 D Miller to a reasonable 2 year bridge deal, and then they added top six forward Wheeler to replace one of Kane or Tarasenko in the lineup while adding some decent depth in Bonino and Pitlick and hopefully having some growth form their young players, and I think they did fantastic this offseason and if some of their younger players take the next steps this year, I have no doubt at all the Rangers will once again be a top 3 team in the Atlantic division this year.
Current 2023-24 record prediction: 48-25-9 for 105 Points, 3rd in Metro and 4th in East, 2 less points then last year.
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