This is an intriguing team. Their D is mediocre at best and very subpar at worst. Nurse sucks at defense, Russell's still overpaid, Bear isn't ready to carry a d-core and he'll literally never be of that caliber, Barrie can't do cr*p in his own zone, Jones is a bottom pairing caliber d-man and they didn't replace Benning's defensive presence. Larsson's good and all but he can't defend on his own. Losing Klefbom really hurts.
Their goaltending also didn't improve and this is a major red sign for me. Koskinen is very good and underrated but Smith isn't an NHL caliber goalie at this point which leads me to my x-factor for them: Koskinen NEEDS to play well and most importantly perhaps, to stay healthy. If he does, the team has a chance at reaching the playoffs. If he doesn't, then forget it.

Also I like the adds of Turris and Kahun and I believe Yamamoto will continue to develop into a great top 6 forward. It will also be interesting to see what Puljujarvi can do.

Here's how I'd construct the lines:
Kahun-McDavid-JP
RNH-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Ennis-Turris-Kassian
Khaira-Haas-Archibald

Nurse-Bear
Jones-Larsson
Russell-Barrie

Koskinen
Smith

@Timmah007
@CD282
@ConnorMcHellebucyk

Pls do not quote this post, press «reply» instead

I think you're being a little harsh in your criticisms.

- Smith isn't great and wasn't my choice for backup, but he did post a 19-12-6 record last year which was pretty much equivalent to that of Varlamov (19-14-6), Korpisalo (19-12-5) and Grubauer (18-12-4). To say that he "isn't an NHL caliber goalie at this point" is simply not factual.
- Nurse "sucks at defense" is, once again, not factual. He's not Chris Pronger, but he's been playing 1st pairing since he was 22 and that's something.
- "Russell's still overpaid" and that has exactly zero to do with his ability as a player to impact the team, which is what you should be focusing on here.
- "Jones is a bottom pairing caliber d-man" - this is highly debatable. He hasn't had much chance to prove himself yet, but he's better defensively than guys like Vince Dunn or Anthony DeAngelo who many think are gods. When Klefbom was injured last year Jones played 2nd pairing with Larsson and did very well.
- "Larsson's good and all but he can't defend on his own." He'll likely be paired with either Jones or Russell, both of whom are mobile and decent defensively.

This team isn't perfect, but with all their offensive depth they shouldn't have any problem outscoring their mistakes most nights.

I think your being really tough on the blueline.
Nurse bear played over 20 minutes a night last season and did so very well.
Jones larsson I thought looked good together complemented each other very well.
Russell Barrie is just a decent pairing. Russell gets crapped on a lot around here but I’m a fan do like his game and if he can provide Barrie opportunities to join the attack that’s basically putting 4 forwards out at once can be a cycling nightmare.
Loosing klef sucks no doubt about that but even tho I’m a massive klef supporter I have never seen a time we can afford to sit back without him like we can now. Don’t think it will be nearly as noticeable as in the past.
The forward additions will help a lot basically added a completely new third line in kahun turris jp all surprisingly decent defensively but offensive minded players which should help keep the puck on the other end of the rink more than with sheahan as 3c. I think this team is a real contender personally.

Play Kahun with Drai, and RNH with McD.

Russels spot is Bouchard’s to lose imo.

Overall I think your roster is pretty accurate. I like Puljujarvi on the first line (he has a history of success with McDavid) but I don't think he lands there until later in the season or maybe even next year.

The key thing for Edmonton is their newfound offensive depth. The Oilers have 5 new faces in their top-9 compared to 2019 opening night, for instance. Here are each Canadian team's top-9 coupled with last year's scoring rates (points per game):

Edmonton: 7.69 total
Draisaitl: 1.55 P/GP
McDavid: 1.52
Yamamoto: 0.96
Nugent-Hopkins: 0.94
Kassian: 0.58
Neal: 0.56
Kahun: 0.55
Ennis: 0.53
Turris: 0.50

Toronto: 6.72 total
Matthews: 1.14 P/GP
Marner: 1.14
Tavares: 0.95
Nylander: 0.87
Hyman: 0.73
Mikheyev: 0.59
Thornton: 0.44
Kerfoot: 0.43
Spezza: 0.43

Winnipeg: 6.40 total
Connor: 1.03 P/GP
Scheifele: 1.03
Laine: 0.93
Wheeler: 0.92
Ehlers: 0.82
Stastny: 0.54
Roslovic: 0.41
Copp: 0.41
Perreault: 0.31

Vancouver: 6.05 total
Miller: 1.04 P/GP
Pettersson: 0.97
Boeser: 0.79
Horvat: 0.77
Pearson: 0.65
Gaudette: 0.56
Virtanen: 0.52
Sutter: 0.39
Ferland: 0.36

Calgary: 5.60 total
Tkachuk: 0.88 P/GP
Gaudreau: 0.83
Lindholm: 0.77
Monahan: 0.69
Backlund: 0.64
Leivo: 0.53
Mangiapane: 0.47
Ryan: 0.43
Dube: 0.36

Montreal: 5.33 total
Tatar: 0.90 P/GP
Gallagher: 0.73
Danault: 0.66
Tofolli: 0.65
Suzuki: 0.58
Drouin: 0.56
Armia: 0.52
Lehkonen: 0.39
Byron: 0.34

Ottawa: 4.42 total
Dadonov: 0.68 P/GP
Tkachuk: 0.62
Brown: 0.61
Tierney: 0.52
Batherson: 0.43
Galchenyuk: 0.41
Anisimov: 0.41
White: 0.38
Paul: 0.36

I think this is accurate, let me know if I've missed anyone. Winnipeg is vastly underrated by most commenters and Edmonton's top-9 has the best offensive depth in the division by far.

Very true and well put together. One guy on Edmonton I think is going to surprise a lot of people is Neal. Unlike most I really like the guy. Last season starting in the top six from what I saw his biggest issue was unlucky 5-5 more than a lack of skill or mobility. Yes he’s not the faster skater by any stretch but he can get around fine. This season I could see him starting up there again but land on the third line hopefully while jp is still there I really believe Neal turris jp would be a fantastic combination and will see dramatic improvement in 5-5 numbers across the board. That line would have a bit of everything while seeing very little tough competition.