Tampa Bay Lightning – 2020 GVFHL Stanley Cup Champion
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Montreal Wins Game 7, Head To 3rd ECF in 4 years
Matt Murray stood tall and stopped 24 shots to get the shutout and led the Habs to a 4-0 win game 7 win on enemy ice. Murray hasn’t been the most consistent goalie for the Habs during this run but when the chips are down he has come up big for them. Another player who came to play was star trade deadline acquisition Filip Forsberg who scored his 9th goal of the playoffs and assisted on Craig Smith’s goal which eventually turned out to be the game winning goal.
Next up on the schedule for the Habs is a series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Bolts have a really nice mix of physical, skilled, two-way, and vet players which makes them an insanely hard club to match up with. There is hope in Montreal that they can pull this off as they beat 2 of the best teams in the league in Carolina and Toronto, both of these teams outperformed Tampa during the season but of course this is the playoffs and the regular season means shit, but nonetheless both Carolina and Toronto were among the top contenders for the title in the league. The big concern for the Habs is if they can keep getting players like Foligno and Boyle to keep playing at a higher than normal level to help out Forsberg and Tkachuk. With Tampa having a very sound and physical d-core there are not going to be a ton of high quality chances. The X-factor might be if Montreal’s blueline can continue to be an offensive force as they have the 2nd, 3rd and 4th highest scoring d-men in the playoffs.
Congrats to Adam for a well built team and a great season! And good luck to Chris, please be gentle with my team!
Here We Go Again….
Once again it seems the Habs are trying to defy the odds and punch their ticket to their 3rd eastern conference final appearance in 4 seasons. Playing against a powerhouse Leafs squad it was thought that the Habs would be beat easily as their 7 games series win against the Hurricanes had to have been a fluke. A poll where GVFHL GM’s were surveyed to see who they thought would win showed that the large majority think the Leafs will win. 8 votes said the Leafs would win and 4 said the Habs will win. Only 3 of these votes thought the series would go to 7 games, one of these votes doesn’t count though as that was more so a dream of GM MacPherson to go through another 7 game series. Down 2-0 in the series it looked like the Leafs would get a nice sweep as they had shut down the Habs top guns. Maybe the Habs could force a game 5 but it seemed like a pipe dream. What neither team counted on though was Nick Foligno channelling in his inner Ovechkin.
Foligno has put the Habs on his back in their 3 wins, putting up a total of 7 goals(including 2 hat-tricks), 8 hits, and a +5. What is even more insane if Foligno’s shooting percentage. Not including these past 3 games Foligno has 1 goal on 24 shots for a shooting percentage of 4.17%. For Foligno to reach 7 goals in 3 games with this percentage he’d need to shoot 168 shots. He instead has done it on 13 shots having a 53.8%. What is even crazier is that if you add up the 1 goal he has had in his other 10 playoff games this year and his goal total from the regular season he only has 4 more goals than he has in these 3 home games in round 2. To make his Hat-Trick in game 6 even more impressive is that he scored a 5v5 goal, pp goal, and a sh goal.
Game 7 will be on Friday and the Habs are hoping Foligno has just a little bit more magic left in him as the Habs only have 4 goals this series playing in Toronto. It has taken the Habs 2 game winners in the last minute of regulation and some great play form Foligno to get here. The Habs hope they can continue to surprise the league and win another hard fought 7 game series. Even if they lose Friday there is nothing to be mad at as the Habs thought they wouldn’t even make the playoffs back in October. Good luck on Friday Adam!
Ludicrous – The dominance of Leon Draisaitl
https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/6knghx/connor_mcdavid_and_leon_draisaitl_the_next_crosby/
About 2 years ago, I made a post on reddit suggesting that Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl could become the next Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, respectively. I thought I raised some pretty good points. But, despite the post not getting that much attention, I pretty much got laughed out of the room.
As you might suspect I made that post not to discuss McDavid, at the time already arguably as good as or better than Crosby, but to open a dialogue about Draisaitl. I made that post knowing full well I would get lit up. But I made that post with a feeling. The same feeling Craig MacTavish had when he stepped up to the podium and selected the best player in the 2014 NHL entry draft. I knew that Draisaitl had the potential. Am I biased because I’m German? Maybe. But, now, years after the draft, and a few seasons after my reddit post we have the luxury of hindsight to show very clearly that I told you so. So, let’s talk about exactly why Leon Draisaitl has the ability on any given night to be the best player on the ice.
As you might suspect I made that post not to discuss McDavid, at the time already arguably as good as or better than Crosby, but to open a dialogue about Draisaitl. I made that post knowing full well I would get lit up. But I made that post with a feeling. The same feeling Craig MacTavish had when he stepped up to the podium and selected the best player in the 2014 NHL entry draft. I knew that Draisaitl had the potential. Am I biased because I’m German? Maybe. But, now, years after the draft, and a few seasons after my reddit post we have the luxury of hindsight to show very clearly that I told you so. So, let’s talk about exactly why Leon Draisaitl has the ability on any given night to be the best player on the ice.
Now, we all watched Draisaitl drop 50 goals like it was no big deal. But his ability to pass is second to no player in the NHL today. I don’t say that lightly, with Connor McDavid in earshot. He’s mastered every conceivable way to get the puck to a teammate, with pinpoint accuracy, the right amount of power, and the patience of a saint.
Draisaitl especially excels at making passes from his backhand at any distance, allowing him to create plays from any location on the ice with deadly consistency.
Draisaitl especially excels at making passes from his backhand at any distance, allowing him to create plays from any location on the ice with deadly consistency.
Because Draisaitl has proven his ability to anchor his own line without McDavid, they only play together on the powerplay, or in three-on-three overtime. Despite this, these two perfectly complementary players can create goals on nearly any chance given. What makes Draisaitl so effective is his vision, allowing him to dish pucks to where his teammates are going rather than just where they are.
Draisaitl translates so often onto the scoresheet because of his patience to wait for the best opportunity to score. He will draw the coverage of defenders and then dish the puck to a teammate for a chance. He rarely wastes a possession, having topped 12 statistical categories for this abbreviated season. He excels in maneuvering the puck in tight and close to his body, using his large frame to box out opponents’ attempts to force turnovers. Even in passing to a teammate, he will at the same time be positioning himself to give his teammate another passing option, adding the give-and-go to the long list of things goalies need to be aware of when Draisaitl is on the ice. Now for a quick break.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIfLr4TtT48
Generally, when asked who their favorite player was growing up, or who their idol was, an athlete’s answer will parallel their own playing style. When you consider Pavel Datsyuk, what is it about his game that stands out? His hands? Two way play? His playmaking? Whatever the hallmark is that you think defines the career of Datsyuk, there’s one glaring difference between these two players. Datsyuk never put up more than 31 goals in a season. Draisaitl, as we know, is capable of potting 50 in back to back years. Draisaitl finished this season on pace for 50 goals. Now, obviously, the scoring talent in a player like Draisaitl is a rare gift and puts him in elite company. But his answer to that question leads me to wonder if and when he consciously made an effort to contribute goals at an accelerated rate, much more than Datsyuk ever was able to. At some point, Leon hadto have recognized that he was becoming much more than the responsible but creative playmaking centre that Datsyuk was at his peak. Well, if you look at his advanced stats, there would appear to be a point at which Draisaitl flipped the switch. To understand this shift in mentality, you’ll need to know a little bit about possession statistics.
You can paint a picture of how a player’s team controls the puck while he is on the ice by looking at a quantity called Corsi, or, the total number of shots on net, shots that would have been on net had they not been blocked, and misses, recorded at even strength. A corsi-for percentage of over 50% would indicate that the player’s team was controlling the puck more often than not while the player was on the ice. During the 2017-18 season, Draisaitl recorded a corsi-for percentage of 53.3, the highest season total of his career. The 2018-19 season, his first 50 goal season, things took a turn. His corsi-for percentage dipped to 49.1, and this year, even lower, to 48.1. It can be logically inferred that Draisaitl has been sacrificing defensive responsibility to produce more offensively.
It’s hard to put Draisaitl into a box or accurately compare him to an individual player when it comes to both how he plays the game, and how he makes an impact on the statsheet. Through his first few seasons, he did fit into the mold of the defensively responsible, puck moving centre. But recently, as he’s found his scoring touch, I find myself kind of at a loss to compare him to an individual player, past or present. The way he carries the puck and dangles in tight despite his size, with the ability to finish, reminds me a lot of prime Jaromir Jagr. However, despite his declining possession numbers, he’s still an elite two-way talent at centre, and his toolbox of creative passing, soft hands, and defensive responsibility points to a more mobile version of Aleksander Barkov. His speed and strength put him in the dirty areas of the ice, from which he can distribute the puck to pretty much anywhere.
You can paint a picture of how a player’s team controls the puck while he is on the ice by looking at a quantity called Corsi, or, the total number of shots on net, shots that would have been on net had they not been blocked, and misses, recorded at even strength. A corsi-for percentage of over 50% would indicate that the player’s team was controlling the puck more often than not while the player was on the ice. During the 2017-18 season, Draisaitl recorded a corsi-for percentage of 53.3, the highest season total of his career. The 2018-19 season, his first 50 goal season, things took a turn. His corsi-for percentage dipped to 49.1, and this year, even lower, to 48.1. It can be logically inferred that Draisaitl has been sacrificing defensive responsibility to produce more offensively.
It’s hard to put Draisaitl into a box or accurately compare him to an individual player when it comes to both how he plays the game, and how he makes an impact on the statsheet. Through his first few seasons, he did fit into the mold of the defensively responsible, puck moving centre. But recently, as he’s found his scoring touch, I find myself kind of at a loss to compare him to an individual player, past or present. The way he carries the puck and dangles in tight despite his size, with the ability to finish, reminds me a lot of prime Jaromir Jagr. However, despite his declining possession numbers, he’s still an elite two-way talent at centre, and his toolbox of creative passing, soft hands, and defensive responsibility points to a more mobile version of Aleksander Barkov. His speed and strength put him in the dirty areas of the ice, from which he can distribute the puck to pretty much anywhere.
The final piece of Draisaitl’s game we need to cover is his scoring. That’s goals and assists. Before we talk about his actual skills, you should first understand how Draisaitl scores. As of now, Leon Draisaitl is officially the 2019-2020 Art Ross trophy winner, scoring 110 points in 71 games. Despite this, he finished the season with a rating of -7. The only other time an Art Ross winner finished with a minus rating was 25 years ago. By Wayne Gretzky. In his age 33 season with Los Angeles. That seems nuts. Until you remember that plus/minus is a measure of even strength on ice goal differential. This season, 44 of Draisaitl’s 110 points came on the powerplay, or 40% When you look at his percentage of goals on the powerplay,16 out of his 43 goals came with the man advantage. That’s 37.2% of his goals. You have to go back nine years to find an Art Ross winner who scored points or goals at a higher rate on the powerplay than Draisaitl, and that honor belongs to Daniel Sedin, just edging out Draisaitl with a 40.4 power play point percentage, and 43.9% of his goals. And that Gretzky season? In ‘93 Wayne scored 46.9% of his points on the powerplay. With this raw data in front of me, I feel comfortable designating Draisaitl as a powerplay specialist. Make no mistake, I’m not telling you that Leon is better at making goals happen on the man advantage, because that would contradict our data. I’m telling you he’s the best at making goals happen on the man advantage. The best since Sidney Crosby’s 120 point Art Ross season at age 19, 61 of which, or 51%, came on the powerplay.
Now, allow me to address some of the concerns some of you may have with Draisaitl. Firstly, to the folks who might be thinking, ‘hey, it’s way easier to score on the power play than it is at even strength. I even counted on my fingers! Five is bigger than four! Why do you like him?’
*snap*
<img src=”https://i.imgur.com/tgXPcMc.png” alt=”” />
<img src=”https://i.imgur.com/TywWWnJ.jpg” alt=”” />
<img src=”https://i.imgur.com/TywWWnJ.jpg” alt=”” />
‘cause he puts up points. An even strength point is a powerplay point is a shorthanded point. Unless you’re me making this article, you probably had no clue that such a sizable chunk of his points came a man up. But I bet at least a handful of you might think that you can downplay his point totals or Draisaitl himself just because he rakes on the powerplay. You might say, “He won the Art Ross, however-” No. No ‘however,’ just be wrong. Just stand there in your wrongness and be wrong and get used to it. Because not only is it not easy to put up Art Ross numbers while splitting your points almost evenly between even strength and powerplay, I would say that it’s even harder to do than to score fewer points on the power play. Or at the very least, it takes a different type of player. It takes patience. Having the temperament to wait for an option can turn a low danger chance to a high danger chance. It takes quick, precise passes. Well placed enough to prevent turnovers and fast enough to get the other team stumbling and moving out of position. It takes trust. A powerplay quarterback needs to believe 100% in his coach’s system, for one. He also needs to trust his linemates. That they’ll be at the right place at the right time and ready to finish. It takes creativity. When you have room to skate, you can get pretty adventurous with where you want to set up, such that you have an option to pass to as many of your teammates at once as possible. This keeps the other team guessing and obviously maximizes your chance of scoring. It takes the ability to know when to utilize your teammates, and when to just go for it. The glass ceiling that the average player hits can be due to potential being fully reached. But it also could be attributed to an inability or unwillingness to adapt their game to find an optimal balance between passing off to teammates and just taking it to the hole. And while Draisaitl is a wizard when it comes to dishing the puck, man can he take it to the hole. Among active players, Draisaitl is second to Steven Stamkos in shooting percentage by four hundredths of a percent. Draisaitl is the complete package. It takes a special type of player to dominate on the ice in all situations. With or without a star linemate. Which brings me to my final point.
Yes, it’s finally time to debunk the age old “Draisaitl is a product of McDavid” meme.
Not only is it apparent that anyone who says this hasn’t watched an Oilers game, they’ve probably never even sat down to watch Draisaitl play. Just be wrong. Just stand there in your wrongness and be wrong and get used to it. McDavid, with all due respect, is a one-man show. The most dangerous thing about Connor McDavid. his legs. He’ll make his move, and then he will torch you. Draisaitl, however, wasn’t blessed with the jets that Connor has. So, he has to take his time. He waits until you make a mistake and then he takes advantage of it. He puts distance between himself and opponents not with speed, but intelligent body positioning and a large frame. He has to do the little things that someone without mach speed wheels doesn’t have to worry about. Moreover, he’s proven he can do it all without McDavid. A 6-game stretch late in the season gave us the opportunity to see peak Leon operate without McDavid. Strong, cerebral hockey played with German efficiency. Commanding the attention he deserves as the best player on the ice. It’s always interesting to see players given a larger role due to the injury of a key player. After McDavid’s quad injury, Draisaitl’s average time on ice per game jumped from 22 minutes to 25 minutes And in that six game absence, he scored 12 points. His production speaks for itself. But when they do play together… Well, you don’t want to be on the ice.
Not only is it apparent that anyone who says this hasn’t watched an Oilers game, they’ve probably never even sat down to watch Draisaitl play. Just be wrong. Just stand there in your wrongness and be wrong and get used to it. McDavid, with all due respect, is a one-man show. The most dangerous thing about Connor McDavid. his legs. He’ll make his move, and then he will torch you. Draisaitl, however, wasn’t blessed with the jets that Connor has. So, he has to take his time. He waits until you make a mistake and then he takes advantage of it. He puts distance between himself and opponents not with speed, but intelligent body positioning and a large frame. He has to do the little things that someone without mach speed wheels doesn’t have to worry about. Moreover, he’s proven he can do it all without McDavid. A 6-game stretch late in the season gave us the opportunity to see peak Leon operate without McDavid. Strong, cerebral hockey played with German efficiency. Commanding the attention he deserves as the best player on the ice. It’s always interesting to see players given a larger role due to the injury of a key player. After McDavid’s quad injury, Draisaitl’s average time on ice per game jumped from 22 minutes to 25 minutes And in that six game absence, he scored 12 points. His production speaks for itself. But when they do play together… Well, you don’t want to be on the ice.
We could be very quickly entering into what I would describe as an era of terror in the Pacific division. Gone are the days of all three California teams perennially cruising to the postseason on the backs of Getzlaf, Couture, and Kopitar. The Doctor is in.
Habs Upset Record Setting Hurricanes
We may have seen the greatest upset in GVFHL history today. The Habs were a team that were a borderline playoff club and were behind the Hurricanes in the standings by an overwhelming 21 wins and had 41 less points in the standings. Add to this the Habs had a -5 goals differential vs the Hurricanes +104 goals differential. This was a series that was supposed to be over 3 games ago. The Habs were just happy to be in the playoffs and would’ve been thrilled just with that.
Going onto enemy ice the odds were stacked against the Habs in game 7, the Canes were heavy favourites to not only beat them, but also to win the cup. The Habs didn’t care though. Vet coach John Tortorella helped keep his guys focused on the task at hand and to keep playing their tough brand of hard working hockey. Brady Tkachuk best exemplified this as he was all over the stat sheet. In the series the star rookie showed off his potential putting up 5 goals and 6 assists in these 7 games. Add to that Tkachuk also put up 13 hits and he was an impossible player to contain. “He’s the only reason we won” said Hab’s star Forsberg in regards to Tkachuk. “He gave us so much energy on the bench with his hits and to add to that he was making plays and scoring big goals for us, can’t ask much more of the kid. He’s going to be a star for years to come”. Forsberg himself had a really good series as well. Leading all Habs players in goals with 6 total and he also put up 15 hits.
The Habs are matched up with the Leafs in the 2nd round, should be an interesting series and another potential 7 game long one. No matter what though Habs fans will be happy as they keep defying the odds and pushing on forward.
Not Done Yet
Coming into the 2019-2020 season the Habs looked like a team looking to win the 2020 draft lotto. Over the course of the season though it became clear the Habs weren’t bad enough to get a high lotto pick. With this in mind the Habs made some big deals to get names like Forsberg and Ekholm added to their roster. These moves were made more so for future seasons rather than this season however. Habs management knew they weren’t going to realistically be a contender this year.
At the end of the year the Habs managed to lock up the 8th seed in the east and set themselves up for a date with the Hurricanes. The Habs and Hurricanes have some history in the playoffs, having met 3 times in the past 4 seasons. Whenever both of these teams make the playoffs it just seems like they somehow meet up to play against each other. The Habs beat the Canes in their first meeting in a 5 game series where they upset them. The Canes had just won the presidents trophy and the Habs GM at the time was just a rookie. They proceeded to meet up again in the 2018 playoffs were the Canes almost came back and 3-1 series deficit, losing to Montreal in game 7 by a score of 4-2. This year however was supposed to be an easy win for the Canes. They had just come off a record breaking season and the Habs were a team that only made a big push in the last 20 games after acquiring 1st line calibre talent. Habs management were fully expecting a quick series that would’ve left the fan-base wanting more. However the Habs have shocked the league and forced a game 7 back in Carolina after beating the Canes 5-3.
Whatever happens Tuesday night in Carolina the Habs won’t be disappointed. They would obviously love to advance but the fact that their young core that is only going to get better has pushed a record setting team to a game 7 is nothing short of great. With their first trip back to the playoffs since winning the cup the team has proved that they know how to win when it matters. Coach John Tortorella has helped this group play it’s best hockey at the most crucial point in the season. It all comes down to one last game 7. Will Tkachuk and Forsberg be able to continue leading this group? Or will the Canes overwhelming depth and star power finally beat these pesky Habs? Good luck to Dustin and his Canes!
Montreal Post-Deadline Look 2020
Montreal had a busy couple of days leading up to the deadline, on Tuesday they acquired star forward Filip Forsberg and vet shutdown defenceman Erik Johnson. Wednesday night they swapped out Johnson for the a more offensive orientated d-man in Mattias Ekholm. Finally yesterday they acquired big bruising defenceman Mark Boroweicki. With these moves can the Habs be considered a contender? No not really, the team’s d-core is pretty solid and Murray is a decent starter but the forward core is lacking talent. So the question might be asked is what was the point of moving out youth when the team is clearly not a contender this year?
“Every move we’ve made over the past month or so was to better equip us for being a contender next season” said GM MacPherson. “We are letting our youth develop one more year and make a run at our 2nd ever GVFHL title. There are only a couple of moves left to complete our vision of how the team should look next year”. Looking at the team this year they are no longer a complete pushover and should make whomever they may get matched up with in the playoffs (if they make it) work for a series win as they have added a lot of talented offensive players like Forsberg and Ekholm, some solid two-way guys like Eller and Martinez, and some bruising vets like Boroweicki and Foligno. Looking at the team next year this is how they project to look
Tkachuk – Forsberg – Strome
??? – Danault – Olofsson
Foligno – Eller – ???
??? – Suzuki – ???
Severson – Ekholm(Loyalty)
Orlov – Shattenkirk
Irwin/Sandin – Boroweicki
Merzenkins
Murray
With 4 forward spots to fill there is still a lot of growth for next years team to endure, but Habs management seems like they have a plan in place to fill these spots and maybe they will make some noise next year.
Habs Acquire Forsberg, Coming Out of Rebuild
It’s been a wild couple of years for the Habs. From winning the cup in 2018 to burning it all down last year to now looking to make it back into the playoffs led by their youth. Today the Habs made a blockbuster bringing in Filip Forsberg from Arizona along with Erik Johnson and some late draft picks in return for top prospects Spencer Knight, Erik Brannstrom, Eeli Tolvanen, 4M and some early draft picks.This move came as a total shock as at the start of the year it was thought only a miracle would get them into the playoffs. Well as of right now the Habs are 4 points ahead of the 9th place Capitals and adding Forsberg to their sputtering offence will likely help the Habs stay ahead of the Caps the rest of the season.
“This move wasn’t made to make a push this season” said GM MacPherson. “This move was made for the future as a lot of our young prospects such as Tkachuk, Suzuki, Olofsson and several others have shown they can play at a pro level. Forsberg just adds an already established young star player into the mix to help with the growing pains. The franchise has lacked a leader since Ovie was traded and now we hope Forsberg can be that leader. We don’t expect him to be as good as Ovie but we think he can be the guy to make or break a playoff series for us”.
With the Habs coming out of a rebuild so fast people might be asking “can this work?” as the Habs only truly tanked for 1 season. The Habs are looking to show the rest of the league that it doesn’t take 20 seasons to do a great rebuild. The Habs hope to model their team the way the Colorado Avalanche have been shaped up as the Avs have been threat to win the cup every year in the leagues existence, which includes 2 trips to the finals and 1 cup. The Habs have their sight on title contention come next season according to reports. With UFA being a gong show there will be a lot of doubters but there were also a lot of doubters that the Habs could even be a top 12 team in the east this year, so anything is possible.
The Engoodening of Dylan Strome
Let’s set the scene a little bit. Your name is Don Maloney, you’re the GM of the newly rebranded Arizona Coyotes. But ownership is breathing down your neck. You haven’t made the playoffs since 2012. You just finished 14th in the brutal Pacific division, when the battle of California wasn’t two hobos dueling in the LA river. You used your last four out of five first round picks on Brendan Perlini, Henrik Samuelsson, Connor Murphy, and Brandon fucking Gormley. You need a slam dunk pick or your ass is canned. So you pimp walk up to the podium and you pick the projected (2nd) best player available, Dylan Strome. He’s tall. He’s great with his stick. He’s got that draft pedigree. Surely this couldn’t go wrong?
And let me just take this moment to say that, despite passing on the #3 rated Noah Hanifin, the Yotes did nothing*wrong* here. Strome was even ranked 7th by one list, but there was still nothing about himthat screamed “bust.” I mean, you can’t score a league leading 129 points on accident. They desperately needed a first line center because they had Sam Gagner playing 20 minutes a night. Strome’s numbers were insane. Honestly, I thought I was going to come here and lay some snark on the Yotes scouts for not seeing that Strome’s play was artificially inflated by playing on the same line as McDavid. There were plenty of doubters after the pick was made, too. But Dylan said, “Fuck the haters.” And he dunked on the OHL. Again. As captain of the Erie Otters, Strome secured 4th place in the scoring race, tallying 111 points. One year out, Arizona fans were boarding the hype train for the second coming of Ryan Getzlaf. I mean, I don’t really know what went wrong, if anything. Because when Strome joined the pro roster for Arizona, he tallied just one point in his seven-game cup of coffee in the NHL. But then he kept disappointing. The next, he split his time between Tucson and Glendale, scoring 6 points in 20 NHL games.
And then, the tipping point was reached. John Chayka yote (see what I did there? Yote? past tense of yeet but also the nickname for the t-forget it.) He yote Strome to Chicago in exchange for forward Nick Schmaltz. The hockey world was surprised. This was a textbook out-of left-field trade, and people were praising Chayka for even getting a roster player for Strome. But then, something kind of incredible happened. Strome started scoring. Like, at a point per game pace. And he kept it going for the rest of the season. Dylan Strome finished the year having scored 51 points in 58 games for Chicago. and this year, he’s scored 31 points in 48 games. So… what the hell happened? We can speculate. maybe if Chayka had been more patient with him and he was able to mesh with Tocchet’s system then we wouldn’t be having this discussion. Or maybe this is a case of a player needing a change of scenery or in quality of teammates before they can start performing to their potential. Either way… while Strome isn’t a bust, Arizona ultimately got shortchanged.
Isles Acquire Kucherov, Pair Him with McDavid
The New York Islanders went all in to acquire Nikita Kucherov as a linemate for Connor McDavid. The Isles will pair the top 2 NHL point producers together to start the 2019-2020 season, with Tomas Hertl expected to play on the left side. To add another top superstar to a team that has seen their window open as a Stanley Cup contender, New York had to go for it and start gunning for cups.
The trade sent Elias Lindholm, Alexandre Texier, Andre Burakovsky, and two 1st rounders to the Dallas Stars in exchange for Nikita Kucherov and Travis Sanheim. Moving Lindholm plus everything else after the season he just had was tough, but that was a breakthrough year and there’s no guarantee he will repeat it. Texier is a great prospect that was hard to part with, but it saved the Isles from having to add Quinn Hughes which was a non-starter for New York. Burakovsky wasn’t going to be on the Islanders top 12 forward roster and had to move to clear cap space. The two 1st round picks are both going to be lower picks and were expensive to give up, but considering what came back, became acceptable.
In Kucherov, the Islanders get a superstar who just won the NHL Art Ross Trophy and the Hart. He’s signed for a very cheap $5.5 million for the next 3 years at which point the Islanders will loyalty sign him for at least another 2 years. Pairing his 87 SC rating and 94 PA rating with McDavid’s 88 SC rating and 94 PA rating and adding Hertl’s 83 SC and 78 PA is going to be the best line in the league. Adding Sanheim in the deal at the end was what pushed it over the top for NY, as he could play in the top 4 as soon as this year and is only 23.
This is not a one line team either, they did not sell the farm in this deal. Having Darcy Kuemper in goal (80 OV), Matt Barzal and Brendan Gallagher on the 2nd line, Jason Zucker, Ilya Kovalchuck, Chris Tierney on the third line, and Seth Jones, Keith Yandle, and Brett Pesce on the blueline give this team talent, speed, and depth in all areas. Add in top prospects like Quinn Hughes, Joel Eriksson Ek, Adrian Kempe, and others, this team is setting up to be a Stanley Cup contender for many years to come.
What’s next for the Islanders? They are still looking for another scoring winger as well as an offensive defenceman, so moves will still be made.