If everything works out but with Arizona in the mix I think its gonna be split

My guess rn is Bedard to Arizona and Wright to Buffalo

Are the best 4 young young teams in hockey right now going to be the

Because of the franchises/owners, I’m skeptical about Buffalo & Ottawa.

I’m not sure what your criteria is, but Detroit should be in the conversation, most of their guys just haven’t made it to the NHL yet.

I don’t think the Sabres will be in the conversation with those other teams for 2-3 years tbh. I think this is the year New Jersey and LA take a step forward and push for the playoffs, and next year the Sens will join them. Ducks are weird because their D is old af and I don’t like any of their D prospects that much (apart from Drysdale who’s clearly a future #1). They should trade Lindholm and Manson, but if they get picks rather than 20-22yo prospects then it sets their rebuild back a year or two because they’ll just be in the position Ottawa is right now (very nice young forwards, no defense at all), except without a pipeline of guys like Sanderson/JBD/Brannstrom/Thomson (Drysdale is better than at least 3 of those guys, I’d say 4, you could argue Sanderson’s better but even though I’m a Sens fan I disagree, but then Anaheim’s next best D prospects are Zellweger and Lacombe, and I’d take Thomson over both of them). So basically what Anaheim needs to do is trade for D prospects, rather than picks, to join Ottawa in being a fringe playoff team next year (i.e. trade guys like Manson/Lindholm/Rakell to EDM for Broberg, or NYR for Jones, or NYI for Salo, or something like that rather than just 1sts or 2nds). Sabres need to revamp their forwards hard. They have Cozens (who I like as a future top six C, potentially 1C), Mittelstadt (who I’m not a huge fan of, maybe a 3C when they’re good), Quinn/Peterka, who will fill two top 9 RW spots, and Rosen who will likely be a middle six LW. There’s 4 other top 9 spots available, including at least one top line winger and another top six centre, that they need to bring into the fold. Trading Eichel would make this a lot easier, but they won’t have Power full time until next year, and I’d give him at least a year before expecting anything, and two drafts (especially the next two) with poor finishes will set Buffalo up nicely. I do like Dahlin/Jokiharju/Power/Samuelsson as ¾ of the top 4 and the 3LD (presumably) long term, and UPL/Levi are solid goalie prospects so there isn’t much work to do there imo, could use another RD but they can trade for one, or that can be a veteran, or use a 2nd to draft a guy for that. So I’d rank the young teams like:
1. LAK (legitimate wild card potential this year)
2. NJD (fringe wild card potential this year, but unlikely in a tough division)
3. OTT (legitimate wild card potential next year)
4. ANA (legitimate wild card potential in 2 years unless they accelerate by trading for prospects over picks)
5. BUF (legitimate wild card potential in 2-3 years depending on the Eichel haul and how Power does as a rookie)

ARI is like 4-6 years away lol and MTL/NYR have so many veterans I’m not sure if they count as young teams.

Lottery's are tricky yes Buffalo is almost guaranteed one but tanking the following year to get the other may not work the same way

With Arizona also committed to tanking its unlikely Buffalo will get both, could happen but other than Edmonton its a rare occurrence to see a team get 2 #1 OA picks more than twice in a row

I got a feeling we will see the same thing that happened with NJ

Buffalo will win #1 in 2022 or 2023 then win again in 2024/2025, With Arizona winning in-between

So Wright or Bedard will probs end up a Saber, both occurring is unlikely due to Arizona

Did Perlini play with McDavid though?

Evan Rodrigues would be the Habs best scorer if we had him.

What’s up with Buffalo haha

3-0-0

Presidents trophy here they come

They have played 3 mediocre teams and outworked all of them. Not out talented

IMK the sabres team has a lot of their pieces in tact.

U got Ollofson, Rosen, Quinn, Peterka, Skinner, as top 6 wings.
Cozens is a top 6 center could be a 1C but probably a good 1C Great 2C. I think Cozens is a 2 way center, more like Barkov ish than say Matthews or McDavid. Mittelstadt I think is going to surprise this year a be a good 2C, and Tage Thompson has been a surprise this year who could also become a top 6 center has all the intangibles but needs to reach it. We have Asplund and Routsalainen to round out the bottom 6 center core, they are perfect 2 way scoring threat and great at defense. Have a lot of other wing prospects that could make the jump though if we get lucky, Weissbach, Kisakov, Poltapov, ... For defense Dahlins a bonafide number 1 probable top 5/3 dman in a couple years, u got Jokiharju on his right side who's severely underrated. Him and Makar are the only 22 year old dmen not on ELC. Power is legit, Ryan Johnson seems ok, Sammuellson seems to be a bottom 6 dman. Sabres lack RD so hopefully we can trade Eichel for some RD talent if possible. Goalie we got UPL and Levi, Portillo if he makes a jump.

Bryson is very underrated. Solid 2nd pairing D. I wonder if he’s in the Sabres plans.

Montreal isn't mediocre but they sure as hell are playing like they are

Montreal isn't mediocre but they sure as hell are playing like they are

How good is this?
DeBrincat-Crosby-Tkachuk
Iafallo-Zibanejad-Labanc
Nichuskin-Turcotte-Kyrou
Frederic-Paul-Sutter

Toews-Theodore
Edumundson-Weegar
Simek-Stecher

Hellebuyck
Halak

Is this a cup winning team?

Yikes what’s your analysis of how the Habs played vs the Sharks

Yikes what’s your analysis of how the Habs played vs the Sharks

Montreal isn't mediocre but they sure as hell are playing like they are

Losing 2/3 of one of the best lines in hockey is a big reason for the Habs slow start

Losing 2/3 of one of the best lines in hockey is a big reason for the Habs slow start

My assessment of the team’s problems right now:

Forwards
Problem: A lack of chemistry and even luck with the forwards. Few people are gelling, and I’m sure everyone going cold at the same time is also a factor.
Solution: Mostly just wait it out and hope things work out. Toffoli, Anderson, Gallagher, Hoffman, and likely Dvorak should be good for at least 20 goals each barring massive drop-offs, so it’s not like this team won’t score. You can’t force chemistry, and there’s not much Ducharme can do other than continuing to throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks.

Defense
Problem: Officiating and the loss of Joel Edmundson. Our D was not good in the regular season last year. They did get a lot better in the playoffs, which was partially because of the more lax officiating (specifically Chiarot & Weber). Weber isn’t here anymore, but Savard hasn’t brought anything positive in contrast to Weber’s regular season, and Chiarot is losing effectiveness, putting us at a deficit. Now that we’re without Edmundson and our 2nd pairing is ineffective, the D corps is a mess.
Solution: When Edmundson returns that hopefully returns the top pair to being a part of the team that can be leaned on. But still, for the D to improve in the regular season or even get to the heights it reached in the playoffs, Romanov needs to grow into more than he was last year and Chiarot/Savard need to provide something similar at least to what Chiarot/Weber provided last year.

Goaltending
Problem: We aren’t as good without Carey. It hasn’t affected the outcome of any of the games, but we’re worse without him.
Solution: Wait until Carey is back. Maybe we trade for a cheap backup if that isn’t close enough.

Power Play
Problem: The 2nd unit was never good last year. Up until the addition of Hoffman last night, it was lacking a trigger man. The 1st unit (which has now been shaken up) seems to be dealing with everyone just going on a cold streak. Caufield has been snake bitten. Also, no one can replace Corey Perry’s impact in front of the net.
Solution: Hoffman should hopefully make the 2nd unit dangerous. The absence of Weber will prevent the 2nd unit from just being a time-waster. The rest is similar to the forwards, they need to work on chemistry and hope people break out of their slumps.

Intangibles
Problem: There’s a possibility that this team has mental hurdles with all of the players that they have lost over the summer or aren’t currently with the team.
Solution: ?

^ a good analysis of our situation