Losing a big playmaker like Hubey is gonna hurt production. Would not be surprised if the point totals of most of their big guys go down and through past examples when a team loses a big playmaker often we see decreases in offense.

But man the real concern should not be up front but at the back end as man Florida's Dcore be questionable rn

The depth up front
The defence
The goaltending

All are question marks . Goaltending should be okay tho. Unless Knight is the next Samsonov

Knight in general still needs time. At times he looked great, other times he got murdered and embarrassed. That Bob contract to me held Florida back and thank **** for that. As imagine if they didnt have 10mill backup. Would not be surprised if the goaltending numbers drop (not do well) along with the offense and defense.

Sammy to me felt like a rush story with 0 support. They threw him in the deep end and he never quite adjusted. Should have had a vet goalie as his partner to continue teaching him/mentoring him. I got a feeling hes gonna be a feel good rebound story but who knows. Good news for Knight is Bob is a vet goalie so at least he has someone to teach him

Hornqvist for Zaitsev? It does leave Florida with an extra year, but the cap savings this season allows them to get below the ceiling once Duke gets put on LTIR. And presumably Sjalin gets sent down and Eric Staal gets signed to league minimum (or they call up a random AHLer to fill in the missing forward hole).

May I suggest Karlsson and Reimer for Bob and something? That could help both teams

That's dreadful for FLA imo. Zaitsev is so bad.

That helps no one - I’d rather just hang on to Karlsson

Bennett’s production is 100% going to drop without Huberdeau - but without Huberdeau he’s proven he is still effective.

Verhaeghe has solidified himself as a high end top 6 wing, It’s unlikely he’ll regress

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been critical of Balcers and honestly most of it is deserving but Balcers; I agree - is screaming bounce back potential. I dont think it will be anything crazy, but realistically I can see Balcers and White turning into comfortable and legit 3rd line calibre players (Balcers may not stay on one line, that’s his thing though).

More so than white, Balcers is a multi tool. He’s been able to play up and down a bad sharks lineup and be serviceable. If he can get a few bounces and some fire on a competitive team helps he could come into form. And followed by White it’s a good couple of bets.

I think Florida may struggle but it’ll be more fun to watch Florida/ Ottawa/ Boston/ Buffalo/ Detroit duke it out.

The problem with Florida and was they could only generate offense off the rush last season. Tkachuk for Huberdeau makes sense because Tkachuk is better and more well rounded offensively. They still need to fix the defense but the offense will be better

I think Balcers will have a better season than white, he has 20 goal, 45 -50 pt potential

Idk man. Didn’t think he had that potential when I saw him play. He was always a bottom 6

So Gudbranson lead to Gaudreau signing with the CBJ....

For those still wondering how the Gaudreau signing actually went down… pic.twitter.com/sxB3rt4WFn

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) July 26, 2022

I mean it kind of is, but it’s so expensive to move cap these days. A 5mil winger that is worth every penny and then some only returned a 3rd+4th. One of the best goal scorers in the league, fairly compensated at 7mil, cost a young RHD to move. Florida has no 1sts left. The only way they got out from under Hornqvist is either by trading Samoskevich (pretty much their only relevant prospect outside the NHL at this point), or by taking a cap dump back. And for it to be a cap dump at a lower number (required for them to be cap compliant), it’ll probably need to be someone with an extra year. At least Zaitsev plays defense, which is a position they need more than a winger.

This should apply to Ottawa too. The cap difference between these two is only 800k for one year, and $4,5M in favor of Ottawa the another.

I could MAYBE see a deal of Hörnqvist for Zaitsev+Ostapchuk+2nd, but honestly I don't see the need for FLA here. Zaitsev does not help them in the slightest, he's worse than what they've already got.

He had similar 5v5 goal rates to these players

Zibanejad : 12 goals (1100 TOI)
Couture : 11 goals (1028 TOI)
Balcers : 10 goals (800 min TOI)
Boeser: 9 goals (1026 TOI)
Dubios : 9 goals (1192 TOI)

His underlying numbers show a solid two way impact and that his linemates couldn’t finish the chances he creates. He has a solid chance at breaking out with better players

The difference is Ottawa isn’t near the cap lol. They would like to be rid of Zaitsev, but Florida HAS to get rid of Hornqvist, or they won’t be compliant. Maybe Ottawa throws in something small if they’re feeling generous, but Ottawa could realistically bury Zaitsev for a year and buy him out next summer. I’m pretty sure Florida doesn’t get access to another buyout window, and like I said, they’re in a bind where they’ve got to dump salary somehow, and the only way they can do that without sacrificing someone off their active roster that is actually good (like Verhaeghe or Montour or something) is by swapping Hornqvist for a lesser cap dump. Or by sacrificing Samoskevich, who I personally wouldn’t want to trade if I’m Florida (at the very least he’s the type of asset that should be used for improving the roster, ideally in a Coleman-esque deal for a guy under contract for 1.5 more years for cheap at the TDL).

🚨🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🚨
🚨🚨Hottest Takes Incoming🚨🚨

I’m not waiting on these two schmucks


Atlantic
1st - Toronto Maple Leafs (incoming presidents trophy curse?)
2nd - Tampa Bay Lightning ⚡️
3rd - Ottawa Senators????
—
Metro aka Bloodbath
1st - Carolina Hurricanes (the other presidents trophy curse?)
2nd - New York Rangers 😴
3rd - Washington Capitals 😴
—
WC
Columbus Blue Jackets 💣💥
Detroit Red Wings 👀 (yzerplan, fans said, Stevie willed it)
Missed the Cut:
New Jersey
Florida
Pittsburgh
Boston

In the void, 0-82???
Philly


Central
1st - Colorado Avalanche 😴
2nd - Nashville Predators 🤡
3rd - Minnesota Wild 👍
—
Pacific
1st - Edmonton Oilers 🤠
2nd - LA Kings 🤮
3rd - Calgary Flames 🤠
—
WC
Vancouver Canucks (Elias is alive!)
San Jose Sharks 🤡 (Quinn’s leading us to victory baby)
Missed the Cut:
Dallas
St Louis
Seattle

In the void:
Vegas

It's really tight with FLA but I don't think they HAVE TO move Horny. They need to do some moves that's for sure but should they acquire a D-man then they need to include him, cuz they can't add any cap.

CBJ was in the situation what you described and they had to make a choice between bad and worse options, and they chose to deal Bjorkstrand cuz they didn't want to lose any futures. FLA is not in this situation yet.

Florida out of playoffs is a hot take, but man would MTL fans be happy with that.

Also I don't stand for this Dallas slander. Sharks over them is a joke.

A little high

3rd line upside


Hmmm those underlying numbers tho are quite deceiving - as I wouldnt say Balcers created much in terms of anything. Great player but I wouldn’t say he suffered from his lines - he’s generally paired with upper echelon of SJ (Eklund, Barabanov, Hertl, Couture, Meier). Pretty sure like 50% of his ice time is with Hertl, Couture, Meier, Barabanov and then he ended the year stuck to Gregor, Bordeleau (an awesome line that was).

Balcers peak imo was with Gregor and Bordeleau. Young fast and tenacious (guys who don’t care about size to get into the hard areas). Balcers is just a poor man’s Barabanov who at times looked like a ghost.

I hope he does well in Florida.

🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡
Call me a clown.

All aboard the Quinn and Grier train, try the kool aid 🚂🚂

His microstats are solid as well. I don’t think it’s a hot take to think he’ll hit 20 goals. He put up 11 in 61 games last season and he should see an increased role in Florida

Rudolfs Balcers has signed one-year contract with the Florida Panthers. Balcers is pretty good 3rd line forward. Very good signing by the Panthers in our eyes. pic.twitter.com/d0hqFXBoVD

— Andy & Rono (@ARHockeyStats) July 14, 2022

I’m starting to think Lou and Nill are the same person.

His two biggest FA’s and Klingberg (who will most likely not come back) are yet to sign.

Theory in why Klinger and Kadri haven’t signed: Lou and Nill will both wait till September to announce it.

Based on the Toews not wanting to play on Chicago's rebuilding team

Prediction Toews is gonna end up on the Jets.

Chicago will retain 50% and Wpg will send assets

Toews plays out his final year with his home team and Chicago gets assets

And then next year he signs a 1 year deal with Tampa