Play hockey God and tell me if there’s a team that’s flying too high right now and going to fall to the ground like Ikarus. Conversely, is there a team in bad shape right now that will rise from the ashes like Phoenix? — @TrishTheMiddle
The Philadelphia Flyers have won five in a row and they are dangerous, but it wasn’t long ago that they were going through a rough patch after a strong start. They were 4-2-1 in seven games, then 1-5-0 in their next six games. And they’ve won five straight since becoming the first team to lose to the San Jose Sharks this season, 2-1 at SAP Center on Nov. 7. I think it will be like this throughout the season for the Flyers. . They will have periods where they look like a playoff team, like the one they are currently playing. They will have periods where they look like a rebuilding team, like the one they went through before heading to Southern California after losing at San Francisco. Jose. They’re right in the middle, which in most cases is not where you want to be. For Philadelphia, though, it’s a good spot this season. The Flyera are a tough team to play against and they are getting contributions from players who could have a long future in Philadelphia like Owen Tippett, Bobby Brink, Cam York and Sean Walker. They are better with the return of Cam Atkinson and Sean Couturier; both missed last season due to injuries. Travis Konecny, Joel Farabee and Travis Sanheim once again prove reliable, and Carter Hart shows he may truly be the goaltender of the Flyers’ present and future. I don’t think they’ll crash and burn like Ikarus, but they’ll probably be hot and cold all season because consistency is hard to come by and Philadelphia isn’t there yet.
Conversely, I am 100 percent convinced that the Carolina Hurricanes will return to their consistently high level of play, which has eluded them this season. Coach Rod Brind’Amour and captain Jordan Staal talked about it after a 3-1 loss to the Flyers on November 15. They responded with a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. “I loved our game,” Brind’Amour said at the end of the match. That should tell you something. He is extremely honest in his assessments of the Hurricanes’ play and if Brind’Amour liked what he saw, that’s a good sign for his team. They’re 10-7-0, including 7-3-0 in their last 10 games, so it’s not exactly like they’re average, but the Hurricanes expect better. There have been too many defensive breakdowns this season. This will change. This is a veteran team that knows its identity. The Hurricanes know what it looks like and what it feels like when they play. Their structure and pressure suffocate opponents. When it leaks, it’s obvious. I firmly believe Carolina will find consistency and challenge for first place in the Metropolitan Division.
At what point does Craig Leipold start to question whether he was right to fully trust Bill Guerin with buyout decisions and have we reached that point? — @nashman92
It doesn’t matter anymore. Minnesota Wild can’t resume buyouts Zach Parise‘sand Ryan Sutterthe contracts. They knew what they were doing when they did it on July 13, 2021, and they knew the dead money on their salary cap, more than $14.7 million this season and next after about 12.7 million dollars last season, would be a problem they would need to address. encounter. All that matters to Leipold, the Wild owner, is whether he trusts Guerin to continue making decisions as Minnesota’s general manager, a position he has held since Aug. 21, 2019. I don’t Haven’t heard anything to the contrary at this stage. to suggest that Leipold does not trust Guerin. And why not ? The Wild have been to the playoffs for four straight seasons. You could argue they should be better than they have been this season, going just 5-8-4 after losing both games they played in Stockholm during the 2023 NHL World Series in Sweden presented by Fastenal, 2-1 in shootouts against the Ottawa Senators and 4-3 in overtime against the Toronto Maple Leafs. They have lost five in a row (0-3-2). They trailed at the start of the third period in 11 of their 17 games (2-7-2). Unlike the Flyers, who, as I said in an answer above, should be OK with being a middling team this season because it’s a step in the right direction, the Wild shouldn’t be d I agree to be a middling team this season because it’s a step in the wrong direction.
Minnesota still lacks a No. 1 center. This is the only problem that Guerin has not been able to solve. The Wild have talent on the wings, and Joel Eriksson Ek is a solid two-way middle six. Marco Rossi is probably best suited now for where he is positioned as the No. 2 center, but Ryan Hartman is not a No. 1. He can play the position and he’s solid, but he’s not a No. 1. But with so much dead money on their cap, the Wild can’t afford a No. 1 center, who also doesn’t become available all the time. Either way, it doesn’t matter because the dead money from the Parise and Suter buyouts is real, and the Wild have to live with it. Despite this, they managed to become a playoff team last season. They did it by defending well and having excellent goaltending. Both have been problems this season. This is what they need to fix.
What are the chances Juuse Saros is it processed before the trade deadline? — @GopredsnhlSeth
Someone will have to explain to me why this is even a topic of discussion? Where is it? Because it’s not something I talk about or hear about a lot. The idea that the Nashville Predators are even exploring trade talks with Saros, their No. 1 goaltender, falls somewhere between ludicrous and ridiculous (Spaceballs reference). He’s a franchise goalkeeper. He is signed through next season for a very reasonable average annual value of $5 million. The Predators do not face a salary cap constraint. They have cap space. They have draft picks; nine in the first four rounds of the 2024 NHL Draft, three first-round picks in the next two drafts. Saros is 28 years old. He played his 300th game on Monday, so he still has a lot of mileage left before he’s close to being on the back nine of his career. Saros is the best player and most important player in Nashville. The Predators will likely attempt to re-sign him on or after July 1. This is 100 percent what they should be doing. Yes, they have Yaroslav Askarov and he could one day become the number one goalie in the NHL, but he’s 21 and he’s not even in the NHL, so trading Saros because you have him is absurd.
