Colorado:

1. Landeskog - MacKinnon - Rantanen
2. Lehkonen - Newhook - Nuchushkin
3. Meyers - Compher - O'Connor
4. Cogliano - Helm - Sedlak

Florida:

1. Verhaeghe - Barkov - Tkachuk
2. Duclair - Bennett - Reinhart
3. Lomberg - Lundell - White
4. Cousins - Luostarinen - Balcers

A couple of top six heavy groups that are a little thin in the bottom six. Obviously I very well may be jumping the gun with the Avs, as there is good reason to believe they aren't done with their off-season just yet

Florida for me. Lundell, Luostarinen and Balcers are all great pieces to fill out your forward lines and I don't see any equivalents in the Avs bottom six.
It's very close between them though, Lehkonen - Newhook - Nichushkin is a stupidly good 2nd line.

Florida though please move Lomberg from line 3 to line 4, no way is Florida playing a grinder with Anton Lundell

Assuming Hornqvist is a cap dump casualty?

Avs lines are accurate with the exception that Nichushkin plays #1 RW and Rantanen 2nd line. Could be one of the kids (Kaut, Olausson, Ranta) instead of Sedlak, or a UFA (with O'Connor sticking on 4th line) but it's fine for now.

With that said Avs lost Kadri and replace him with Newhook (est. 60% replacement). Lose Burakovsky and replace him with Lehkonen (est. 80% replacement). Lehky upgrades defensively over Burky ( and has chemistry with Rantanen) while Newhook is a downgrade so that's a wash.

Meyers replaces Newhook on the 3rd line which is a wash since he steps in as a mature 23 year old two way guy.

Panthers lost Huberdeau, Marchment and are missing Duclair for a big chunk. Not counting Giroux since he was a deadline add and not there all season.

Tkachuk replaces Huberdeau but Balcers/Cousins/White can only replace 40-50% of Marchment. The loss of depth leaves Lundell with a weaker supporting cast on the 3rd line unless Noel or Denisenko takes a big step.

Given all that I'm going for Avs due to chemistry, top line dominance, and playoff performances.

That 2nd line depends on Newhook honestly

Rather put Cousins there instead?

id expect the avs to add a forward with their $3m cap space.

Yeah, have to assume Hornqvist will be a cap casualty. Also, Kaut is a bust

I made note of that in case you missed it

i did miss that

I’d add Balcers to the 3rd line, Florida might try to run 3 equal lines but I’d have Balcers and White in good spots for them to possibly shine, become the new Verhaege, Bennett or Duclair

That's not a bad proposition I suppose, although I don't think Lomberg or Cousins is able to play RW

I'm think they accrue space until the deadline. $3 million all season will turn into nearly $20 million at the deadline.

If you believe they can hold onto 1st place in the central with the roster as currently constructed, that doesn't sound like the worst idea

With the 2 Tankers in our division for sure

Okay, but what about Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis, Dallas, and Winnipeg? Sure the Avs don't feel at least a little threatened by any one of those 5?

I don't think the Avs care about being #1 seed or winning the division; just making the playoffs comfortably.

St. Louis lost Husso and Perron and still have a "meh" blueline; so I think we still rate higher than them in my mind.

Minnesota is always a tough opponent; strong defense and deep forward group with young stars coming up. MAF being healthy all year is a concern but I like Gustavsson also. They could very well challenge for the Central Division crown.

Nashville is a good sleeper team; I like their off-season and Tomasino should crash the top 6 and help them with scoring depth; but they are a notch or two below the Avs level

Minnesota strong defensively? Last I checked, their PK last season wasn't very good

Agree that St. Louis's blueline is very much overrated. Krug, Faulk, and Parayko being signed long-term are storm clouds on the horizon

The Wild weren't healthy at D last year in the regular season.

With Spurgeon healthy along with Brodin, Dumba, and now a full year with Middleton as their top 4; Kulikov-Goligoski-Merrill as their 5-7 blueliners and Brock Faber and Carson Lambos as prospects they have a very good group.

Ah, so the key is to stay healthy. Not enough people talk about how ugly that Spurgeon contract is going to be in a couple more years...when the buyout penalties subside