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Thankful Series 2020-21

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Detroit Red Wings

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We’ve now made it past Thanksgiving and the holiday season is right around the corner. Like the last few years, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for but this year comes with a bit of a change. Normally teams would have an idea of where their season was heading, coming up on the one-quarter mark with mountains of statistics to analyze. Instead, in this unprecedented year, the season hasn’t even begun. We’ll still take a look at what each group is excited about and what they could hope for once the calendar turns to 2021.

What are the Red Wings most thankful for?

Sweden’s development system.

Detroit as an organization has always been known for its willingness to look outside of North America to find the best players in the world, and while that certainly is no longer an attribute limited to just them, it continues to this day in the team’s drafting strategy. Sweden, in particular, has stood out as a proving ground for the Red Wings eventual picks, with four players picked directly from the Frolunda organization over just the past two years.

That group is led of course by fourth-overall pick Lucas Raymond, who likely won’t be in Sweden much longer, but also includes Theodor Niederbach, Elmer Soderblom, and Gustav Berglund. Other Swedes picked in recent years include William Wallinder, Albert Johansson, and Albin Grewe, all selected with picks in the top 66. When the World Juniors hits the screen later this month, don’t be surprised if you hear “Red Wings draft pick” often when watching a Sweden game.

Who are the Red Wings most thankful for?

Steve Yzerman.

At the head of that draft strategy is Yzerman, who has experienced first hand throughout his playing and managing career the kind of impact international players can have. Though the team hasn’t experienced much on-ice success since he took over from Ken Holland in 2019, it’s hard to argue with the job he’s done so far in the rebuild.

The Red Wings prospect system is packed with high-end talent, they have another six picks in the first three rounds of 2021 and the roster is unencumbered by any expensive, long-term deals. In fact, only Anthony Mantha, who received a new deal last month, is signed through the 2023-24 season. Yzerman can form this roster in whichever direction he chooses, but names like Raymond and Moritz Seider are a great place to start.

What would the Red Wings be even more thankful for?

A breakout from one of their older prospects.

There was talent in the system even before Yzerman arrived, too. It’s hard to know where 21-year-old Michael Rasmussen’s career trajectory is pointed at this juncture after a somewhat disappointing first few years, but if he ever did reach his ceiling (or perhaps break through it with his 6’6″ frame) he could be a dynamic presence in the middle of the lineup.

So too could Filip Zadina and Joe Veleno, the two players Detroit selected in the first round of 2018. Both have immense upside as a top-end sniper and two-way center respectively, but neither has quite followed through on that potential just yet. It’s certainly not time to give up on either one, but if there is a breakout coming the Detroit rebuild could be accelerated considerably.

What should be on the Red Wings holiday wish list?

Even more draft picks.

This train is headed in the right direction, but there might be one last year of pain for the Red Wings with the roster as currently presented, meaning one last collection of picks would do the team good. Darren Helm, Valtteri Filppula, Luke Glendening, Bobby Ryan, Sam Gagner, Marc Staal, Patrik Nemeth, Jon Merrill, Alex Biega, and Jonathan Bernier are all scheduled to be unrestricted free agents after this season—you can bet a good number of them won’t finish the year in Detroit.

It’s not that these kinds of players will bring back a huge package of assets, but every third or fourth-round pick they land for an aging-but-capable veteran means another lottery ticket that could turn into something great. (Don’t look now, but Frans Nielsen, Robby Fabbri, Vladislav Namestnikov, Danny DeKeyser, Troy Stecher, and Thomas Greiss will all be UFAs in 2022 and could face similar fates.)

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Dallas Stars

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We’ve now made it past Thanksgiving and the holiday season is right around the corner. Like the last few years, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for but this year comes with a bit of a change. Normally teams would have an idea of where their season was heading, coming up on the one-quarter mark with mountains of statistics to analyze. Instead, in this unprecedented year, the season hasn’t even begun. We’ll still take a look at what each group is excited about and what they could hope for once the calendar turns to 2021.

What are the Stars most thankful for?

Last season’s Western Conference title.

Yes, ultimately losing in the Stanley Cup Final typically isn’t something to be thankful about but it has changed the perspective of their program in its entirety.  This was a team that had been viewed by many as potentially vulnerable, offensively deficient heading into the bubble with a veteran core that didn’t exactly have a good regular season.  Were they on the way down?

Clearly, the answer was no.  Instead, those players produced at better rates than they did during the regular season when a lot of times, the opposite occurred.  Anton Khudobin stepped up in Ben Bishop’s absence, showing that they have one of the top tandems in the league (another thing they’re certainly thankful for).  Now weeks away from the anticipated start of training camp, the Stars are viewed as a team that’s capable of winning now.  Not many were saying that during the pandemic-induced layoff; their run to the Final shows that this core still has something left in the tank.

Who are the Stars most thankful for?

Naturally, after speaking positively about their veteran core, let’s now go in the exact opposite direction and look at their youngest player in Miro Heiskanen.  There are young defensemen that teams hope can one day ascend to that number one role.  The 21-year-old is two years into his career and is already at that level.  He’s coming off of a stellar postseason where he led the team in scoring and the sky is seemingly the limit.

Dallas is also certainly thankful that he’s still on his entry-level contract that restricts him to a base salary of $925K (including his signing bonus).  It’s rare to have a number one blueliner making less than a million dollars in base pay and it’s the type of high-value contract that has allowed them to keep the core of the team intact for another run in the postseason.  That will soon change as that deal is up at the end of the season but for now, their best defenseman just happens to be their lowest-paid regular.

What would the Stars be even more thankful for?

Further delaying the start to next season.  That may sound crazy but they are down their starting goaltender in Bishop and their top center in Tyler Seguin with both players expected to be out into March at a minimum.  The fewer games they play without those two, the better off they should be in the standings, especially with Khudobin having relatively limited experience as an every-game starter.

What should be on the Stars’ holiday wish list?

More scoring depth.

One way of looking at things is that they scored enough to make their way through the Western Conference in the playoffs.  The glass half-empty viewpoint mentions that they were 28th in the league in offense last season with their goaltending allowing the second-fewest goals that helped keep them in the top half of the conference.  It’s true that they’ve been able to keep their core intact but at the same time, they didn’t really add to it.  There’s room for optimism for some of their younger players to take steps forward and grab a bigger share of the offensive pie but they’d undoubtedly love to add another veteran with a track record of consistent production.

They’ll have LTIR space to play with early on due to the injuries of Bishop and Seguin while Stephen Johns’ availability is uncertain but their cap room when everyone is healthy is minimal so GM Jim Nill will have his work cut out for him to try to add to their attack.  It’d go a long way if he could find a way to do so.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Columbus Blue Jackets

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We’ve now made it past Thanksgiving and the holiday season is right around the corner. Like the last few years, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for but this year comes with a bit of a change. Normally teams would have an idea of where their season was heading, coming up on the one-quarter mark with mountains of statistics to analyze. Instead, in this unprecedented year, the season hasn’t even begun. We’ll still take a look at what each group is excited about and what they could hope for once the calendar turns to 2021.

What are the Blue Jackets most thankful for?

Strong management and coaching.

If someone were to try and choose the best general manager/head coach tandem in the league to build a franchise around, the Blue Jackets duo of Jarmo Kekalainen and John Tortorella may be right up near the top. When Kekalainen took over in February of 2013, the Blue Jackets had experienced just a single winning season in their history. 2009 was their only time in the playoffs and they were swept out of the first round without winning a game.

In his seven full seasons running the front office, the team has put up six winning seasons and reached the playoffs five times. It’s no coincidence that four of those appearances have been since Tortorella took over partway through the 2015-16 season. Time and again when the rest of the hockey world zigs, Kekalainen zags, usually to strong results. Though the duo hasn’t been able to take Columbus to the promised land: “in Jarmo we trust.”

Who are the Blue Jackets most thankful for?

Pierre-Luc Dubois.

While acquiring Seth Jones in 2016 still may be Kekalainen’s most important move, the selection of Dubois later that year may be his most impressive. After Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine were off the board, everyone was expecting the Blue Jackets to select Jesse Puljujarvi with the third selection in the NHL entry draft. Puljujarvi was a consensus top prospect that was supposed to become a premier power forward in the league and to boot, he was Finnish just like Kekalainen. When the Blue Jackets GM strode to the podium and proudly selected Dubois instead, perhaps the hockey world should have been tipped off to what was coming for the eventual Edmonton Oilers forward.

Puljujarvi has struggled and fought his way to 37 points in 139 NHL games, while Dubois has become a legitimate first-line center in Columbus. While his offensive production still lags behind Matthew Tkachuk (selected sixth) and Alex DeBrincat (39th), there’s little doubt that Dubois is one of the most valuable players available from the 2016 draft and was a homerun selection for Kekalainen. The 22-year-old forward is still awaiting his next contract, but he showed exactly the type of player he could be this summer when he led Columbus with 10 points in 10 postseason games while averaging nearly 23 minutes a night.

What would the Blue Jackets be even more thankful for?

A commitment to Columbus.

Quite dramatically in the summer of 2019, the Blue Jackets were forced to say goodbye to Artemi Panarin, Sergei Bobrovsky, Matt Duchene, Ryan Dzingel, and others in free agency. Though the team is still strong and several of the deals signed by those players look troublesome, it still would have been huge for them to sell Panarin on the city of Columbus. It’s not that the Hart Trophy candidate ever spoke badly of the market, but when the bright lights of New York came calling, he left.

After being eliminated from the postseason that year, Kekalainen spoke to reporters including Michael Arace of the Columbus Dispatch about what he wanted, something that some could argue he still hasn’t found:

I think it’s important moving forward that we’re going to have guys that are proud to be Blue Jackets and proud to be living in Columbus and loving it here. That’s really important — that they bleed blue, or whatever you want to call it.

Yeah. The guys that want to be here are going to be here and the guys that don’t want to be here, good luck.

That commitment will be tested soon. After the 2021-22 season, Jones will be an unrestricted free agent and likely the most sought-after commodity on the market if he gets there. Max Domi, Boone Jenner, Dean Kukan, Elvis Merzlikins, and Joonas Korpisalo are all scheduled to hit the market at the same time. Zach Werenski will be an RFA. Will they decide they want to be in Columbus, or will Kekalainen be wishing more good luck?

What should be on the Blue Jackets’ holiday wish list?

Another weapon.

Just over a month ago, Gustav Nyquist underwent shoulder surgery and was given a five-to-six month recovery timeline. That means he won’t be available for a good chunk of this season, taking away Columbus’ second-highest scorer. Sure, Oliver Bjorkstrand looks like he’ll quickly take over that role (if not pass Dubois entirely) but the Blue Jackets need more at the offensive end of the rink.

Specifically, there’s no reason a team that boasts powerplay quarterbacks like Jones and Werenski should be near the bottom of the league in conversion. The Blue Jackets scored on just 16.4% of their man-advantage situations last season, fifth-worst in the league and unacceptable for a team looking to contend in the playoffs. They need to find a go-to option when a penalty is put on the board and there are still some available on the open market (cough–Mike Hoffman–cough). It doesn’t necessarily need to be a UFA mercenary, but something has to be added.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Colorado Avalanche

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We’ve now made it past Thanksgiving and the holiday season is right around the corner. Like the last few years, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for but this year comes with a bit of a change. Normally teams would have an idea of where their season was heading, coming up on the one-quarter mark with mountains of statistics to analyze. Instead, in this unprecedented year, the season hasn’t even begun. We’ll still take a look at what each group is excited about and what they could hope for once the calendar turns to 2021.

What are the Avalanche most thankful for?

The trade market.

Colorado has its fair share of homegrown talent on the roster, but it’s hard to overlook the work that GM Joe Sakic has done the last few years to upgrade the organization through trade. It really started on that fateful November day in 2017 when he finally sent one of the most celebrated players in Avalanche history, Matt Duchene, to the Ottawa Senators. In return, Sakic acquired (among other things) Samuel Girard, who is now a leader of the team’s defensive group, Shane Bowers, who looks ready to compete for an NHL roster spot, and a pick that turned into Bowen Byram who is currently starring at Team Canada’s World Junior camp.

That laid the foundation of what was to come, but Sakic has also landed Ryan Graves, Philipp Grubauer, Andre Burakovsky, Nazem Kadri, and now two others, Brandon Saad and Devon Toews. It’s hard to know how Saad and Toews will work out, but if it’s like any of his other deals, don’t bet on a bust.

Who are the Avalanche most thankful for?

Nathan MacKinnon.

Yes, it’s easy to point to one of the best players in the world and say he’s the reason for the team’s success, but MacKinnon is the reason everything works in Colorado. You can’t go out and acquire a $5MM Saad, or extend Burkakovsky at $4.9MM if MacKinnon is making what he’s worth. That $6.3MM per-year contract gets a lot of press for being undervalued, but maybe not enough is written about how it allows the Avalanche to build the rest of the roster.

MacKinnon will get a huge raise after the 2022-23 season and he deserves it. But for the next three years, the Avalanche can overpay elsewhere to give this roster the best chance of winning.

What would the Avalanche be even more thankful for?

Healthy playoff goaltending.

You only get so many kicks at the can with a core this talented and the team watched one slip through their fingers this summer when Michael Hutchinson was forced into the net. It’s not even that Hutchinson was bad, he posted a .910 save percentage in four appearances, but when it came down to it he couldn’t outduel Anton Khudobin in game seven of the second round.

Grubauer and Pavel Francouz should be a good enough tandem to get the team deep into the postseason, but if an opportunity presents itself for an upgrade, or they fail again this season, you can bet Sakic won’t hesitate to make a change. Colorado has an excellent prospect in Justus Annunen, but he doesn’t appear to be anywhere near ready to lead the team to a Stanley Cup. That chance to overpay elsewhere while MacKinnon is still cheap? Here’s a spot that might benefit.

What should be on the Avalanche holiday wish list?

A new contract for the captain.

As much as MacKinnon’s play drives the team on the ice, Landeskog is still the leader for the Avalanche. It seems like so long ago that the Swedish forward became the youngest captain in NHL history (a record that has since been broken by Connor McDavid), earning the “C” at the tender age of 19. Since then he has been a consistent presence for the team through ups and (way, way) downs, eventually reaching a new career mark with 75 points in 2018-19 (just 73 games).

He’ll need a raise on the $5.57MM cap hit that expires after this season, but it’s hard to imagine Landeskog playing anywhere else. Perhaps by handing him a deal a few years longer than most feel comfortable with the Avalanche will be able to keep the cap hit down, but at some point before the start of free agency an extension should be expected.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Chicago Blackhawks

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We’ve now made it past Thanksgiving and the holiday season is right around the corner. Like the last few years, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for but this year comes with a bit of a change. Normally teams would have an idea of where their season was heading, coming up on the one-quarter mark with mountains of statistics to analyze. Instead, in this unprecedented year, the season hasn’t even begun. We’ll still take a look at what each group is excited about and what they could hope for once the calendar turns to 2021.

What are the Blackhawks most thankful for?

The World Junior Championship.

Kirby Dach isn’t a junior player anymore. In fact, he’s barely a prospect at this point, after playing in 64 regular season games and then being one of the Blackhawks’ best players in the postseason. He’ll almost certainly be part of the team’s NHL roster whenever the upcoming season starts. Despite all that, Dach is about to play against the best junior-aged players in the world. The 19-year-old was loaned to Team Canada’s month-long selection camp and is expected to play in the upcoming tournament unless it somehow gets in the way of the NHL season (which appears very unlikely at this point).

Dach didn’t get to play at the WJC last year, he was too busy suiting up for the Blackhawks. It’s not often that a player gets to go back to the tournament after missing it for professional action, but that’s exactly what the Blackhawks chose for Dach while he and the rest of the NHL players wait around for a season that is still uncertain. There’s a very real chance that the young forward is the best player in the tournament, given his experience and success at the highest level. But even if he isn’t, Dach will certainly be able to shake off any offseason rust and should be ready to fire as soon as NHL games start.

Who are the Blackhawks most thankful for?

Dominik Kubalik.

Players like Dach and Adam Boqvist may be the next generation of stars for the Blackhawks, but both cost high picks to bring in (third overall for Dach, eighth for Boqvist). Kubalik on the other hand was just a forgotten seventh-round pick by the Los Angeles Kings that Chicago managed to acquire for a fifth in 2019. He wasn’t even signed at that point and it certainly wasn’t clear that he would be a difference-maker at the NHL level.

But a difference-maker he is. Kubalik burst onto the scene with 30 goals in his rookie season, earning himself a third-place finish in the Calder Trophy voting behind Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes. He was another one of the success stories in the postseason for the Blackhawks with eight points in nine games and earned himself a new two-year contract this fall. If the Blackhawks have any chance of competing in the next few years, it will be because of savvy additions like Kubalik, who cost almost nothing and has now become one of the team’s most important players.

What would the Blackhawks be even more thankful for?

Breakout goaltending.

No one believed the Blackhawks would go with a tandem of Collin Delia and Malcolm Subban in net, but that is what it appears will happen whenever this season begins. Both players have shown flashes of potential, with Subban even a first-round pick in 2012, but neither has had any sort of sustained success at the NHL level. If the playoffs are a realistic target and there isn’t any help coming, the Blackhawks desperately need one of the two to take control of the net and become the kind of mid-career breakout goaltender that Jordan Binnington was for the St. Louis Blues was in 2018-19.

What should be on the Blackhawks’ holiday wish list?

More young defense.

The Blackhawks have a bunch of talented defense prospects, between Boqvist, Ian Mitchell, Alec Regula, Nicolas Beaudin, and others. But there’s no guarantee that any of them realize their potential at the NHL level and with the legendary duo of Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook clearly on their way out, new leaders will have to step up.

In 2019, Chicago traded away Henri Jokiharju in exchange for Alexander Nylander, moving some of their prospect capital from defense to forward. If any of those young defenders bust, that move could be regretted for years. It’s not necessarily more lottery tickets that they should add, but young players that are a little more established to fill out the depth chart.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Carolina Hurricanes

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We’ve now gotten past Thanksgiving and the holiday season is right around the corner. Like the last few years, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for but this year comes with a bit of a change. Normally teams would have an idea of where their season was heading, coming up on the one-quarter mark with mountains of statistics to analyze. Instead, in this unprecedented year, the season hasn’t even begun. We’ll still take a look at what each group is excited about and what they could hope for once the calendar turns to 2021.

What are the Hurricanes most thankful for?

Stable(ish) ownership.

Yes, Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon does have something of an “out-clause” in his ownership agreement, but as Sara Civian explained in a mailbag for The Athletic last month, it’s not really something for fans to worry about. Dundon has been great for Carolina overall, even if his methods have sometimes garnered negative attention from national media. The team is sitting in a strong position on the ice and he has given the front office the ability to spend right to the cap, even in this financial climate. The Hurricanes got everyone signed and will be paying Sebastian Aho more than $10.5MM this season thanks to his huge, signing-bonus laden contract.

The test will really come next year, when the team will enter negotiations with budding superstar Andrei Svechnikov on his next deal. After a brutal 2020, ownership all over the league will be tightening purse strings to try and balance things out. Will the Hurricanes be able to lock him up to an expensive, long-term deal? So far they’ve shown no sign of slashing player payroll, with more than $80MM committed to this season.

Who are the Hurricanes most thankful for?

Jaccob Slavin.

At a time when those finances are so tight, one can only marvel at the contract that Slavin is under. He’ll enter just the third season of a seven-year deal signed in 2017 that carries a $5.3MM cap hit, already an incredible bargain for a top-pairing defender in his prime. But because there was a potential threat of a lockout this year, Slavin’s deal is actually structured to have its lowest salary in 2020-21. He’s owed just $3.9MM for this season, giving the team a little more flexibility in a depressed economic climate.

Of course, it’s easy to point to him and say “good and cheap,” but that may undercut just how valuable Slavin has been on the ice for Carolina. The 26-year-old scored 36 points in 68 games this season, all while continuing to be an incredible defensive player and logging more than 23 minutes a night for the Hurricanes. Those impressive numbers earned him a fifth-place finish in Norris Trophy voting, while the incredibly-low total of ten penalty minutes landed him fourth in the Lady Byng vote. Slavin is just entering the years in which defensemen are usually at their best, meaning he could have even more to give on the ice. Locked up for the next five years, he was recently listed as one of the most valuable assets in the league by Jonas Siegel of The Athletic.

What would the Hurricanes be even more thankful for?

A Dougie Hamilton extension.

Because Slavin is so effective at such a reasonable price and the Hurricanes have some money coming off the books after this season, a Hamilton extension is a realistic possibility. GM Don Waddell explained last month that he hoped to reach a deal before this season got underway, though it is not clear if that will actually happen. Even if it doesn’t happen immediately, a new deal for Hamilton would lock in what is one of the most impressive defensive corps in the league long-term. Slavin, Brady Skjei, Jake Gardiner, and Brett Pesce are already signed for at least three seasons, while Haydn Fleury is on a cheap two-year bridge deal and Jake Bean won’t have arbitration rights. Of that group only Gardiner has reached his 30th birthday.

The question is whether or not Hamilton even wants an extension and whether he’d be looking for a long-term deal. The 27-year-old was on track to challenge for the Norris this season before he was injured (he still finished seventh in voting) with 14 goals and 40 points in his first 47 games. An analytical darling for years, Hamilton looked like he took another step offensively and was ready to show he is one of the most effective defensemen in the entire league. The threat of a shortened or even canceled season will be frustrating for both him and the Hurricanes, who are set to part ways without an extension of some sort. Hamilton carries a $5.75MM cap hit for this year, but that number is sure to increase on his next contract.

What should be on the Hurricanes’ holiday wish list?

A long-term answer in net.

James Reimer and Petr Mrazek are not it, simply. They’re both NHL goaltenders and shown an ability to put up very good numbers at times—they combined for a .931 in eight postseason games—but neither one has been consistent enough to hang a long-term extension on. With the strong roster the Hurricanes have put together, a legitimate top goaltender could potentially put them over the edge. They showed interest in Frederik Andersen earlier this summer and could potentially circle back if he hits the open market in the offseason, but what they really need is a younger option that can grow with the core and really put his stamp on the crease.

Cam Ward was that once, leading the team to a Stanley Cup as a rookie in 2006 and locking down the position for the next decade. But even Ward had his struggles and only played in one other postseason run. In a perfect scenario someone like Alex Nedeljkovic, the 2019 AHL Goaltender of the Year would be able to take a step forward and force himself onto the roster, but the Hurricanes may potentially have to look externally for their next netminder.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Buffalo Sabres

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It’s Thanksgiving this week in the United States and the holiday season is right around the corner. Like the last few years, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for but this year comes with a bit of a change. Normally teams would have an idea of where their season was heading, coming up on the one-quarter mark with mountains of statistics to analyze. Instead, in this unprecedented year, the season hasn’t even begun. We’ll still take a look at what each group is excited about and what they could hope for once the calendar turns to 2021.

What are the Sabres most thankful for?

A deep forward group.

No longer are the Sabres putting all their hopes on youngsters. The team is suddenly loaded with established players who have proven themselves. To go with Jack Eichel, the team has added a number of key additions to go with solid playmakers as the team now boasts Eichel, Taylor Hall, Eric Staal, Sam Reinhart, Jeff Skinner, Victor Olofsson and a number of other players who can thrive in bottom-six roles like Kyle Okposo, Cody Eakins, Dylan Cozens, Casey Mittelstadt, etc. The depth at forward is a major improvement for a team that needs to score and this team should have that quality of depth that should be able to give Buffalo a chance to earn their first playoff appearance in nine years.

Who are the Sabres most thankful for?

Taylor Hall.

With the pandemic flattening out the salary cap for the foreseeable future, there weren’t too many long-term offers for Hall, the top free agent of the 2020 free agent class. Instead, Hall looked for a short-term deal from a team with extra cap room and surprised quite a few people when he picked the Sabres, due to the chance to play next to Eichel for the year.

The addition of Hall, totally enhances the team’s top-nine as he immediately will slot into the top line next to Eichel and will finally get a chance to play next to an elite center, something he hasn’t had in quite a number of years. The hope is that Hall can find his game from two years ago when he was the Hart Trophy winner with the New Jersey Devils, leading them single-handedly into the playoffs. If he can do that for the Sabres, Buffalo should have a legitimate chance to break their nine-year drought and Hall will establish himself again as the top free agent for 2021 in hopes of landing that big-term deal.

What would the Sabres be even more thankful for?

A return to form of Jeff Skinner.

After posting a 40-goal season in 2018-19 and signing a eight-year, $72MM deal, things never panned out after that for Skinner, who struggled mightily with just 14 goals and 23 points in 59 games last season. The forward was a disaster and found himself spending quite a bit of time on the third line trying to find his game. With seven years at $9MM AAV, the Sabres have to hope that Skinner will be able to bounce back and become that fixture on the second line that they were hoping for. The talent is there to surround the goal-scoring forward, but the team needs for him to execute, otherwise the team will be stuck with a player and a contract that they don’t want.

What should be on the Sabres’ Holiday Wish List?

The Sabres may be in need of help in goal. The Sabres have a solid offense and defense, but their goaltending could be what’s holding them back. The team can hope that Linus Ullmark is ready to take the starting load this season. He did produce impressive numbers with a .915 save percentage in 34 appearances, but is he the answer in net? Unfortunately, top goaltending prospect Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, might not be ready for another couple of years, meaning the team may need to find a way to bring in a more proven goaltender that can handle big minutes.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Boston Bruins

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It’s Thanksgiving this week in the United States and the holiday season is right around the corner. Like the last few years, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for but this year comes with a bit of a change. Normally teams would have an idea of where their season was heading, coming up on the one-quarter mark with mountains of statistics to analyze. Instead, in this unprecedented year, the season hasn’t even begun. We’ll still take a look at what each group is excited about and what they could hope for once the calendar turns to 2021.

What are the Bruins most thankful for?

Their proven veteran core.

Up front, their top line is still among the best number one units in the entire league and accounted for just over 47% of their goals last season.  While that’s an indictment of their secondary scoring, it also shows how dominant the trio of Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak, and Patrice Bergeron has been.  It’s a line that just gets the job done nightly although they won’t all be available for the start of next season.  Once they’re all healthy though, watch for them to pick up right where they left off.

That veteran core also includes goaltenders Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak.  The pair have formed a very strong tandem the last two seasons and with a schedule that figures to feature more back-to-backs, few teams will be better equipped for that than the Bruins whose goaltending should once again be near the top of the league.

Who are the Bruins most thankful for?

Pastrnak would be an easy choice here as the young sniper on the rise to stardom but at this point, they may be most thankful for Marchand.  Over the years, he has emerged from being an agitator who could contribute in a secondary role to a legitimate star (who can still agitate from time to time).  Not all top liners take a regular turn killing penalties but he does which has led him to average more than 19 minutes per game in each of the last four years.  He has averaged over a point per game in that span as well.  For all of that, they’re paying a price tag that some 50-point players were getting in free agency not long ago at $6.25MM.  Better yet, he’s locked up at that rate through 2025.  Marchand has been a fixture in Boston for more than a decade and with that contract, he’ll continue to be one for several years to come.

What would the Bruins be even more thankful for?

A top-four left-shot defenseman.

Between the departures of Torey Krug (St. Louis) and Zdeno Chara (unsigned free agent), the Bruins have lost over 41 minutes per game from the left side of their back end and a lot of offense.  Management showed that they believe that Matt Grzelcyk is ready for a larger role when they handed him a four-year, $14.75MM deal last month.  But he hasn’t played in that role before and neither has anyone else in the organization – John Moore is more of a depth option while their prospects are still largely untested at the NHL level.  Boston is in good shape on the right side led by Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo but they’d feel a whole lot better with a proven option on the left to go with them.

What should be on the Bruins’ Holiday Wish List?

Beyond that top-four left-shot defender, the Bruins could also stand to try to upgrade their secondary scoring some more.  Craig Smith was a nice addition but knowing that Pastrnak will miss time (and potentially Marchand), they’re going to take a step back offensively in the early going.  They’re one of the few teams that’s willing to spend and still has a bit more than nominal cap room remaining.  Can they afford a top-six forward?  Not as things stand but if they strike out on adding a defender, a middle-six winger that’s looking to try their luck on the open market again next season would certainly help their chances and really give them three lines capable of producing when everyone is healthy.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Arizona Coyotes

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It’s Thanksgiving this week in the United States and the holiday season is right around the corner. Like the last few years, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for but this year comes with a bit of a change. Normally teams would have an idea of where their season was heading, coming up on the one-quarter mark with mountains of statistics to analyze. Instead, in this unprecedented year, the season hasn’t even begun. We’ll still take a look at what each group is excited about and what they could hope for once the calendar turns to 2021.

What are the Coyotes most thankful for? 

New management.

2020 has not been good to the Coyotes. The team was docked draft picks for improper prospect testing, had their general manager leave the team right before the postseason began, and then watched Taylor Hall—who cost three prospects and two high draft picks—leave in free agency only to sign a one-year deal in Buffalo, a team that has had even less on-ice success in recent years. Then what was left of their scouting department, running the draft without input from their new GM, selected a player that was immediately in the middle of a public relations firestorm, with the team eventually renouncing his rights. The Coyotes would end up with just four players from the 2020 draft, none selected higher than 142nd.

It was just blow after blow to an organization that seemed to be headed in the right direction after securing new, stable ownership last year.

Now, thankful for Bill Armstrong finally taking the reins of the front office, the Coyotes have a long way back. Armstrong has already made an important move, even if it did fly somewhat under the radar in NHL circles. The Coyotes secured the employment of Darryl Plandowski, who had served as assistant director of amateur scouting in Tampa Bay. Plandowski is very well-respected across the industry as a leading scouting mind and hopefully will be able to turn around a department that had caused catastrophic penalties for the organization, not to mention the fact that out of the last four Coyotes drafts (not including 2020), only Jakob Chychrun, Clayton Keller, and Barrett Hayton have actually made it to the NHL. Armstrong and Plandowski have a ton of work to do.

Who are the Coyotes most thankful for?

Jakob Chychrun.

It seems clear now that Keller isn’t going to become the franchise-leading, game-changing offensive presence that the Coyotes hoped they were going to get when they selected him seventh overall in 2016. It’s not that Keller is a bad player, far from it. But since scoring 65 points in his rookie year and finishing third in Calder voting, he hasn’t taken any real developmental steps—even seeing his scoring totals go down in each following season. Keller is only just beginning an eight-year extension signed last September, which will carry a $7.15MM cap hit through the 2027-28 season. Even if he does get back on track and improve his offensive totals, that deal doesn’t leave a lot of chance for excess value.

But all is not lost. The Coyotes had another first-round pick in 2016, this time 16th overall. That’s where they selected Chychrun, who, despite dealing with injury, has developed into a legitimate force on the blueline. Now four years into his NHL career, Chychrun looks like he will be a horse for the Coyotes as an all-situations defender that can log huge minutes. He averaged more than 22 minutes a night in 2019-20, reaching a new career-high in goals with 12 and points with 26 despite playing in just 63 games. Unlike Keller, Chychrun’s long-term deal, this time signed in 2018, looks like a steal for the Coyotes moving forward. Not only does he carry just a $4.6MM cap hit through 2024-25, but the deal is also heavily back-loaded, meaning Chychrun will only actually earn $3.3MM in salary this season. With the financial environment so uncertain, value like that is hard to come by in the NHL.

What would the Coyotes be even more thankful for?

A seller’s market at the trade deadline.

The Coyotes made the postseason this year and have their sights set on it again, but it’s plain to see that this iteration of the team will have a hard time actually contending for a Stanley Cup. However, they may be able to build a new wing for their prospect cupboard if they decide to sell off some assets at the deadline. Derek Stepan, Alex Goligoski, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Jason Demers, Jordan Oesterle, Ilya Lyubushkin, and Antti Raanta are all pending unrestricted free agents, and though many of them have big cap hits, the actual salary owed by deadline time will be relatively low. If Armstrong plays his cards right, he could potentially add a massive wave of draft picks and prospects to the organization, provided there is a market for this group of veterans (and he’s willing to sell).

What should be on the Coyotes’ holiday wish list?

Draft picks.

There are good prospects in the Arizona system, make no mistake. Hayton is already ready for primetime and Victor Soderstrom is among the handful of best defensive prospects in the league. But you can’t just punt on an entire draft class unless you’re already one of the elite teams in the league. Not only did Arizona come away from this draft without any sure-fire NHL prospects, but they don’t have their first or third for the 2021 draft either. There’s no way the organization will be able to climb the NHL ladder with that kind of gap in development, meaning they need to find a way to add picks this season. Whether that’s through selling off expiring deals or even potentially trading their captain, it’s imperative for Arizona to get back into the early rounds.

Last year’s Thankful series can be found here.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Anaheim Ducks

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It’s Thanksgiving in the United States and the holiday season is right around the corner. Like the last few years, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for but this year comes with a bit of a change. Normally teams would have an idea of where their season was heading, coming up on the one-quarter mark with mountains of statistics to analyze. Instead, in this unprecedented year, the season hasn’t even begun. We’ll still take a look at what each group is excited about and what they could hope for once the calendar turns to 2021.

What are the Ducks most thankful for? 

Extended training camp and European leagues.

This isn’t a contending year for the Ducks, who should be more focused on the development of their young prospects than anything else. Teams in that situation are probably incredibly frustrated with the status of junior leagues across North America, with young players like sixth-overall pick Jamie Drysdale unable to play in the OHL so far. Drysdale will get a chance to play at the World Juniors (after his quarantine) but many other youngsters are still waiting on their first competitive action since March.

The Ducks, as one of the teams that did not take part in the summer’s postseason bubble, are expected to receive an extra week of training camp when things finally get going. That will be quality development time for their young players, just like the time they’ve spent overseas in the interim. Lukas Dostal, who is now returning to North America, played 11 games for Ilves in Finland this fall, posting an incredible 10-1 record and .960 save percentage. While other prospects are just begging for ice time, he’s been refining his game against professionals.

Who are the Ducks most thankful for?

Ryan Getzlaf.

As we head into what will be a shortened season, Ducks fans can’t help but think about the fact that Getzlaf is in the final season of that massive eight-year, $66MM deal he signed in 2013. Now 35 and already missing Corey Perry, his partner in crime for more than a decade, the time for Getzlaf in Anaheim is winding down. But everyone that has cheered for the big centerman over the years is thankful for what he’s done for the franchise, constantly providing an anchor in the middle of the lineup and elevating his teammates on a nightly basis.

Though Getzlaf isn’t the 91-point superstar that once was or even the uber-confident youngster that helped the Ducks to a Stanley Cup championship, he’s still a strong leader and easy player to cheer for. While the organization grooms their next wave of leaders, give a thought to Getzlaf who will one day be the focus of a heated Hall of Fame argument (even if he might eventually miss the call).

What would the Ducks be even more thankful for?

A breakout performance.

While the team has a ton of young high draft picks in the system, they’re still waiting for a real breakout from someone. Like when Getzlaf jumped directly into the league with 39 points in 57 games as a rookie, the Ducks need someone to show they’ll be the next superstar in Anaheim. Troy Terry, Max Jones, Sam Steel, Isac Lundestrom, Trevor Zegras, Benoit-Olivier Groulx, Max Comtois, and on and on, someone needs to step up and become the next face of the franchise.

What should be on the Ducks’ holiday wish list?

Minor league and junior seasons.

If the opportunity isn’t there at the NHL level right away, the Ducks are going to have to hope that the AHL and Canadian junior leagues are able to hold seasons. Remember it’s not just Drysdale that the Ducks drafted in the first round this year, but Jacob Perreault, who is currently waiting on his OHL season to begin. The 27th-overall pick has already signed after scoring 39 goals and 70 points in 57 games last year, but wasn’t invited to Canada’s WJC camp and is too young for the AHL.

If it’s a development year, there need to be development leagues playing.

Last year’s Thankful series can be found here.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

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