Good afternoon. Hmmm...What do you say I let you off the hook from my last blog? You were a wonderful audience, btw. What can I say? There are days when I'm here to entertain you, and there are days when you're here to entertain me.
I haven't don't a blog like this in a while. 30 comments, one for each NHL team. Everyone gets some attention, whether they want it or not.
1. Anaheim Ducks - Log-jam in net. They still have Hiller and Fasth, and both should be the starter. But then you got John Gibson and some Frederik Andersen guy sitting around. Sooner or later, a goalie will be dealt for an eventual Selanne or Koivu replacement.
2. Boston Bruins - I keep hearing Brad Marchand is being shopped as a way for the Bruins to deal with the cap ceiling. Why? I'd never trade this guy.
3. Buffalo Sabres - Which player will make the NHL first: Mikhail Grigorenko or Zemgus Girgensons? I ripped this off from someone else on Twitter. It sounds like Girgensons will be the NHL regular first, but he's a future 3rd line guy. Between Hodgson, Grigorenko and Girgensons, the Sabres are set down the middle for years. They should really go full rebuild: Deal Vanek for two young quality prospects; deal Stafford for one...buyout Leino, deal Miller if you can. Move Ennis for a winger with size...Hodgson, Grig, Girg, four players from moving Vanek, Stafford and Ennis, plus Pysyk, Ristolainen, Armia, Myers, Ehrhoff, Foligno and Enroth...You have a team with enough high end young talent that you should be beating everyone in about three seasons. Amazing core just sitting there waiting to be pulled together.
4. Calgary Flames - My gut tells me Sean Monahan will be the NHL Calder Trophy winner as top rookie this season. Don't ask me why; it just does.
5. Carolina Hurricanes - Another one of those teams where I don't understand what their management is doing. Tons of power up front, and absolutely zero on defense. This team isn't going anywhere this season.
6. Chicago Blackhawks - They'll win the cup again in 2014.
7. Colorado Avalanche - So who gets dealt first for a defenseman: Paul Stastny or Ryan O'Reilly? Keep in mind O'Reilly can't be dealt until February, but he's worth way more on the trade market than Stastny. The pile up at center in Colorado is incredible, and the team blows everywhere else.
8. Columbus Blue Jackets - Sooner or later, the Jackets are going to need to bring in a true #1 center. As good as the D and goaltending is, and is decent as the wingers on the roster are, the gaping hole at center is going to cost this team playoff opportunities.
9. Dallas Stars - This team is my pick to be the disappointment of the season. Which is funny, because last year, and I said they'd be the disappointment of the season. The roster is a confused mess.
10. Detroit Red Wings - This is the opposite of Dallas: I can't see any flaws with the Wings roster. Although I get the feeling that at some point, they'll move a forward to get a defenseman.
11. Edmonton Oilers - It sounds like Oilers GM Craig MacTavish is done making deals until the pre-season. At that point, a number of things may result in an Oilers trade or two. For example, if Denis Grebeshkov and Anton Belov look like solid NHL defenseman, it creates a log jam. So will Oscar Klefbom if he plays too well to belong in the AHL. Smid, NSchultz, JSchultz, Petry, Grebeshkov, Belov, Klefbom and Ference gives the Oilers eight NHL-level defensemen, with Corey Potter and Philip Larsen also sitting around waiting to see what happens to them. Chances are Grebeshkov is the Oilers #7 guy, Potter and Larsen both gets waived (and sent to the AHL if unclaimed), and Klefbom goes to the AHL, leaving the Oilers with pairings something like Smid/Petry, Ference/Belov and NSchultz/JSchultz. But I still think Klefbom will be too good for the AHL, and most likely Nick Schultz will be dealt to make room for him.
12. Florida Panthers - Have we decided yet if Aleksander Barkov needs to spend a year in the Finnish military first before he can come to the NHL?
13. Los Angeles Kings - After seeing the stupidity that is Zach Bogosian's new contract, how mad do you think Slava Voynov is? I'd take Voynov over Bogosian every time, and he earns a million less per season. Voynov's contract made sense; Bogosian's didn't.
14. Minnesota Wild - I like how once every off-season a team proves that going UFA crazy always backfires. The Wild are no closer to becoming a playoff threat, and now, they're losing $30mil per season. What have we learned?
15. Montreal Canadiens - If PK Subban is left off of Team Canada's roster for the Olympics it will be a damn tragedy. The boy has all sorts of game, and on the big ice surface, he'd be a machine.
16. Nashville Predators - Take Shea Weber and Pekka Rinne out of this roster and you have everyone's second line. This is a managerial miscalculation if you've ever seen one. The Preds are craving full rebuild mode, and Weber + Rinne could be turned into five solid good young players.
17. New Jersey Devils - Even though they lost Kovalchuk, they gained Clowe and Jagr, so the situation up front in NJ is not the issue. The D though...Yuck.
18. New York Islanders - I'm still waiting for the Islanders to sacrifice one of their incredible young centers to bring in a top line winger to play with Tavares. They could have Ales Hemsky cheap if they wanted him, but I'm not sure he's the guy they're looking for.
19. New York Rangers - This just might be the hardest team in the league to understand. They have plenty of talented guys and lotsa youth. Depth at all positions...what's the problem? I still don't know, and because I don't know, I can't recommend a solution, either. They'll struggle again, and it won't make sense. Going from the biggest loudmouth coach in the league to the most arrogant coach in the league isn't a solution to anything.
20. Ottawa Senators - How good would this team be if GM Bryan Murray was allowed to spend as much as he wants? That Bobby Ryan trade was genius.
21. Philadelphia Flyers - Yet another place Ryan Miller or Tim Thomas could end up. An absolute dartboard of a roster, what makes me sad here is that the team will eventually deal away their good young players (Schenn x 2 and Couturier) to make room for crusty has-beens. Disastrously run franchise.
22. Phoenix Coyotes - So are they staying or going? I've lost track. And why haven't they dealt Keith Yandle to bring in a couple forward yet?
23. Pittsburgh Penguins - This has to be the best terrible team in the league. Proof positive that you need roster depth if you want to go anywhere. Cap management is everything. How sad is it that the only way forth for the Penguins is to first either deal Fleury (if you can find someone interested, which is likely not possible have the way he's played the last two springs), Letang or Malkin? They have way too much money tied up in way too few players. The Letang deal in particular is a death sentence.
24. San Jose Sharks - The back end of this team is awful, even if you move Brent Burns back to playing defense. What did the GM of the Sharks do all summer, aside from tanning?
25. St. Louis Blues - Neither Halak or Elliott are good enough to win a cup. Tim Thomas or Ryan Miller is going to end up here by the end of the season.
26. Tampa Bay Lightning - I can't believe people want to keep Martin St. Louis off the Olympic list because he's old. Dude lead the NHL in scoring last season. He rocks.
27. Toronto Maple Leafs - Nazem Kadri is perhaps a $3.5mil re-sign on a one year deal? Situation reminds me of Gagner last year. He got $3.2mil. And after what we just saw with Bogosian, Cody Franson is worth at least $4.5mil per, which, between the two players, pushing the Leafs over the cap limit. It's got to be JM Liles who bites the bullet? No one else on the roster makes sense, unless they do a huge move to shift Phaneuf for a much younger, cheaper player.
28. Vancouver Canucks - Do we know yet if Roberto Luongo even wants to be in Vancouver? Didn't he just fire his agent? I would laugh if 10 games into the season, he started demanding to be moved.
29. Washington Capitals - I keep waiting for the Capitals to do something this off-season. There is a potential Oilers/Capitals deal here, as I can't see how Caps management could go into this season with their current group of six. Nick Schultz would fit as a 4/5/6 option.
30. Winnipeg Jets - That Zach Bogosian deal is one of the worst contracts I've seen in a long, long time. Seven years with a No Movement Clause at $5.142mil per? The guy only started looking like a decent defenseman during last year's half-season. Have the Jets lost their minds? I don't mind Blake Wheeler's deal as much, although I question if he's a 30g per season guy.
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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