The Hockey Writers Daily - August 1, 2023
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Welcome to The Hockey Writers Daily
In today’s edition we have the Metro Division getting better for next season, the Golden Knights options for replacing Reilly Smith, the Hurricanes projected forward lines, an Avalanche prospect pyramid, and much more.
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Here’s the good stuff:.
Metropolitan Division Only Got Better in 2023 Offseason
Though some teams still have work to do this offseason, most have completed their big moves. With that, we can start looking at each division and how everyone stacks up versus each other. First up is the Metropolitan Division, which should be among the most competitive in the NHL in 2023-24.
Blue Jackets’ 3 Most Tradeable Defensemen
The Columbus Blue Jackets have a rare problem: they have too many NHL defenders in their organization. It was the opposite problem for general manager Jarmo Kekalainen last season as their barren blue line was exposed after top defenseman, Zach Werenski, was out for the season. Once he was lost, the rest of the defensive corps were always punching above their weight class and it led to one of the worst defensive seasons in franchise history.
Golden Knights Have 4 Good Options to Replace Reilly Smith
As any NHL executive knows, things are never really that easy. For as fortunate as the Golden Knights are to be returning so many members of a Stanley Cup-winning roster, questions still linger over whether the roster boasts sufficient forward depth and whether Adin Hill and Logan Thompson can fulfill all goaltending requirements for a full season. And that’s to say nothing of the looming prospect of a Cup hangover.
Those issues, however, are expected to play out over time and won’t have any real answers until well into the season. A more immediate focus centers on the absence of Pittsburgh-bound Reilly Smith. The Vegas original has been a top-six mainstay since day one and leaves a pretty significant void to be filled on the second-line wing.
Carolina Hurricanes’ Projected 2023-24 Forward Lines
The roster is beginning to take shape for the Carolina Hurricanes, and lineups are being envisioned. Don Waddell did everything he could to add to this team and made critical additions to the forward group. The depth of this roster is profound, and this forward group is well-balanced. After looking at the defensive pairings, here is what the forward lines could look like entering the 2023-24 season.
Flames’ Kylington a Complete Wild Card Heading Into 2023-24
With all the chatter on the Calgary Flames surrounding the futures of players like Elias Lindholm, Mikael Backlund, and Noah Hanifin, Oliver Kylington has turned into an afterthought. The 26-year-old also happens to be entering the final year of his contract and is hoping to perform well enough in order to get a raise from his current $2.5 million salary.
What remains to be seen is whether or not he will be capable of doing that. Kylington appears to be working very hard to get back into game shape but could be rusty given that he hasn’t seen game action since the 2021-22 campaign. He remained in Sweden for the entire 2022-23 season due to a personal matter.
Colorado Avalanche Prospect Pyramid 2023-24
The Colorado Avalanche are coming off a disappointing season that saw them battle through numerous injuries before getting bounced in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs by the upstart Seattle Kraken. The good news is that the Avs lifted the Cup the season before in 2022.
Colorado would like to get closer to 2022’s result instead of a repeat of last season, and they’ve made some moves to do it. The issue is that none of those moves were done through the draft. The Avalanche had two first-round picks in this year’s NHL Entry Draft, but that is as many as they’ve had in the previous three drafts combined. Colorado had only two picks in 2022, but neither were before the sixth round. There is still some potential there in the likes of Jean-Luc Foudy and Sean Behrens, to name a couple, but the overall group is pretty thin.
More stuff from THW and around the NHL:
Toronto Maple Leafs - News & Rumors: Treliving, Amirov, Clune & Robidas Island
Edmonton Oilers - Goaltending Depth Chart for 2023-24
NHL News & Rumors - Bruins, Capitals, Wild, Flyers
From TSN - Wild sign G Gustavsson to three-year, $11.25M contract
From Sportsnet - Canada blows lead, drops opener to Finland at Hlinka Gretzky Cup
From the NHL - Inside look at Anaheim Ducks
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