We’ve had plenty of original content here on PHR as we get closer to the NHL roster freeze.
Our Thankful For series continued, with looks at the Ottawa Senators, Montreal Canadiens, Minnesota Wild, and Pittsburgh Penguins. The last few teams will be released this week.
Nate started a new feature, looking at several picks from the 2017 draft. Nico Hischier, Nolan Patrick and Owen Tippett were the first three players to be profiled, an interesting group considering how different their seasons have gone to this point. Hischier has found a ton of success immediately with the New Jersey Devils, while Patrick has struggled through some injury and inconsistency in Philadelphia. Tippett, who started the year with the Florida Panthers, is back in the OHL and was recently overlooked by the Canadian World Junior team.
Zach pondered if the Atlantic Division playoff spots are already decided, just a few months into the season. Though we’re not yet at the halfway mark, Tampa Bay, Toronto and Boston are the only teams in the division with winning records and don’t look like they’ll be getting much competition from the rest. It’s a long season, but it looks like the Metropolitan will have both Wild Card teams this year.
Continuing his tromp through the Atlantic, Zach also examined what exactly has gone wrong in Ottawa since making a trade for Matt Duchene. The good news? They at least included some protection on the first-round pick that was sent to Colorado. If Ottawa ends up at the bottom of the league, they won’t be missing out on their chance to draft Rasmus Dahlin or one of the other top prospects.
I took a look at how contract totals could limit what Minnesota and Toronto can do down the stretch, and how they filled up their last few spots. Injuries like the one suffered by Nikita Zaitsev could really put these teams in tough spots, as they can’t claim anyone off waivers without first clearing a contract.
And, in a week featuring several rumors on goaltenders I examined the weak trade market and risky proposition of handing Aaron Dell a starting job. Just after pointing out that the Scott Darling experiment hasn’t gone swimmingly in Carolina, the goaltender stopped 35 of 36 shots against the Columbus Blue Jackets to secure a victory for the Hurricanes against a division rival. If that Darling can stick around the Hurricanes will be able to put up a fight in the Metro, but his .903 save percentage will need to improve.
We asked our readers to share their input on three different poll questions. The results are in:
Which pending UFA is the most underrated? – Josh Bailey, 25%
Which would you watch first–World Juniors or Olympics? – World Juniors, 67%
Which team will be first to start selling? – Buffalo Sabres, 41%
And, as always I held our live chat on Thursday evening. We got into British hockey leagues, the ongoing honey mustard debate, and the potential of corporate naming rights extending to Seattle.