The Hockey Writers Daily - July 22, 2023
A daily Substack newsletter with all the best content from The Hockey Writers
Welcome to The Hockey Writers Daily
In today’s edition we have Bruins’ prospects & the Providence roster, Oilers’ targets to replace Bouchard, the state of the Red Wings’ goaltending, the latest news & rumors from Philly, and much more.
It would be great if you’d share the THW Daily with your friends and family so that they can subscribe and enjoy everyday.
Here’s the good stuff:.
Bruins’ Prospects Will Benefit From Providence Roster Turnover
After the disappointing end to the 2022-23 season, it was no secret that there was going to be change coming for the Boston Bruins. As it turns out, not only were changes in order for Boston but it also appears for the Providence Bruins in the American Hockey League (AHL).
The Bruins minor league affiliate has sent some players over the last couple of seasons to Boston that have made an impact in the NHL, however, the pipeline between Boston and Providence is not as deep as the Boston front office would like. That has been evident over the last couple of offseasons that saw them sign veterans to round out the roster in Boston, rather than give a youngster or two a roster spot. Sweeney mentioned at his end-of-the-season media availability that they would like to insert some youth into the 2023-24 roster, but with the off-season signings, it appears that it is unlikely that is going to happen.
Nylander On Notice: Maple Leafs and Samsonov Go to Arbitrator
With news that the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ilya Samsonov are headed to an arbitration hearing, one thing is clear, Brad Treliving has drawn a hard line for the organization with their starting netminder and they’re prepared to go through hours of metaphorical hell to get the number where it needs to be.
Considering how seldomly an arbitration case actually gets in front of an arbitrator — the consequences of sitting a player down and pointing out all of his faults can be disastrous –, it’s clear that Toronto’s new general manager isn’t pulling punches to get what he feels is right or best for the organization. The stars of the Maple Leafs, particularly William Nylander might want to be paying attention.
Oilers Have 3 Decent Targets If They Lose Evan Bouchard
The Edmonton Oilers seem to be at a stalemate with one of their top performers last season in Evan Bouchard, as he remains an unsigned restricted free agent (RFA) nearing the end of July. While they are likely awaiting the result of the Ryan McLeod arbitration case, there has to be some growing concern about the possibility of Bouchard receiving an offer sheet.
After an extremely solid postseason for Bouchard, he’s expected to sign a bridge deal with the Oilers in hopes of further proving himself and earning a long-term deal at the end of it. His offensive abilities were strengthened alongside deadline acquisition Mattias Ekholm, and he’ll be entering the new season as a top-pairing defenseman on the Oilers. With that being said, in the rare chance they lose Bouchard either to an offer sheet, or he requests a trade for a bigger payday, here are three targets to try and replace him.
3 Canucks Prospects That Need To Break Out in 2023-24
The Vancouver Canucks strengthened their prospect pool at the 2023 NHL Draft with 11th overall pick Tom Willander and several other intriguing later-round picks. However, they are still toiling at the bottom of the league when it comes to the quality of their farm system. In a recent ranking of drafted prospects by Scott Wheeler of The Athletic, no Canucks prospects appeared in the top 50, but Willander, Aatu Raty, and Jonathan Lekkerimaki were honorable mentions (from ‘Ranking the top 50 drafted NHL prospects: Connor Bedard leads Scott Wheeler’s summer 2023 list’, The Athletic, 7/18/23).
That’s progress, but for the Canucks to transform into a consistent playoff team and hopefully Stanley Cup favorite one day, a few of their top youngsters need to step up and become impact NHL players – and soon. With that said, here are three prospects that need to take a huge step forward this season in their development.
Evaluating the State of the Red Wings’ Goaltending Situation
Things are looking pretty different for the Detroit Red Wings in terms of their goaltending pool after free agency and the draft. Ville Husso remains as the main fixture as two new goaltenders signed contracts and two others departed the organization. As the Red Wings are looking to be more competitive with each passing season, every addition to the roster has a purpose to serve.
It was no surprise that there were a lot of goaltender changes made during the offseason, but some of the new signings have raised some questions. So, what does the upcoming season look like in regard to the Red Wings’ goaltending situation?
Flyers News & Rumors: Frost, Tortorella, Addition by Subtraction
The offseason puzzle looks nearly complete for the Philadelphia Flyers. Rookie general manager (GM) Danny Briere started his first season offseason in the big seat with a bang, and the Flyers have remained at the center of discussions around the league ever since. The players he’s moved were the ones that would’ve been named at the end of the 2022-23 season as the likeliest to leave the organization. Now, he faces the decision of making more changes involving players the organization isn’t so anxious to subtract.
More stuff from THW and around the NHL:
From the THW archives - The Chris Chelios Trade Revisited
From the THW archives - 10 Things You Never Knew About Hockey
From the THW archives - Ottawa Senators: Revisiting the Zibanejad Trade
From TSN - Kraken, Dunn avoid arbitration with four-year, $29.4M deal
From Sportsnet - Guy Boucher returns to NHL, headlines Sheldon Keefe's 'complete' Maple Leafs staff
From the NHL - Who won the offseason? (Video)
We hope you enjoyed today’s THW Daily, and we hope to expand our daily offerings as we develop and experiment with this new platform. Cheers!