PLENTY TO BUILD ON
Getting houses in order easier for Canadian teams with young talent in place
From Carey Price’s healing knee to Erik Karlsson’s offensive flair to Connor McDavid’s magical hands, all is not gloom and doom when it comes to the future playoff aspirations of Canada’s NHL franchises.
Indeed, with all seven Canadian teams in the lottery hunt for first-overall draft prospect Auston Matthews, there certainly is room for guarded optimism moving forward.
Having said that, a number of factors will have to align for the Canucks, Flames, Oilers, Jets, Leafs, Senators and Canadiens to get their respective houses in order and avoid the national embarrassment of having zero Canadian teams in the Stanley Cup playoffs, which is the case this spring.
As such, here is a team-by-team scouting report as it relates to the future, including the good, the bad and the ugly.
CALGARY FLAMES
GLASS HALF FULL: With the likes of Dougie Hamilton, Dennis Wideman, Mark Giordano, T.J. Brodie, Johnny Gaudreau, Sam Bennett and Sean Monahan, the Flames have the type of nucleus many NHL general managers would envy.
GLASS HALF EMPTY: Can GM Brad Treliving ink Gaudreau and Monahan to digestible contract extensions over the summer? Both will see their entry level deals worth a base salary of $925,000 run out this summer and Monahan is eligible to be signed to an offer sheet by other teams, which would create an interesting dilemma for the Flames. Between the pipes, Cal- gary’s goaltenders have combined for the worst team save percentage in the league.
QUOTE/UNQUOTE: “Sure we have some good young pieces that act as a starting point. But we can’t hide from the fact of where we are, which is outside the playoffs. And that’s simply not good enough. It’s not acceptable.” — GM Brad Treliving
PROGNOSIS: This team isn’t far from being a contender again, but that will only happen if a solution is found in goal. Cam Ward and James Reimer top the wafer-thin list of pending goalie UFAs, so Treliving must find a creative way to solve the issue. Adding scoring depth up front is also a need.
EDMONTON OILERS
GLASS HALF FULL: They have a generational player in Connor McDavid. They are moving into a new state-of-the-art building. They have three of the most respected hockey men in the sport running the show in the form of president Bob Nicholson, GM Peter Chiarelli and coach Todd McLellan. They once again are a lottery team and will have a shot at one of the game’s top available prospects. There is reason for hope here to be sure.
GLASS HALF EMPTY: The organization’s brutal record of poor drafting after the first round is a significant reason why the Oilers have not been in the playoffs for more than a decade. As for those already on the roster, McLellan has been frustrated at the inability at times of his young talented core to follow a game plan. Meanwhile, the blue-line has been a position of weakness for years.
QUOTE/UNQUOTE: “It’s not about getting out of the bottom and out of the (draft) lottery. It’s about being in the top 16.” — Coach Todd McLellan PROGNOSIS: Former first overall pick Nail Yakupov has not played like one, so the granting of his request for a trade might not bring back the return worthy of a No. 1 selection. Maybe it’s time to break up the offensive core of Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle and Ryan NugentHopkins. Whatever management does, this team will not contend unless the blue-line improves significantly.
MONTREAL CANADIENS
GLASS HALF FULL: Getting 2015 league MVP Carey Price back will be huge for a Canadiens team that was forced to play the majority of this past season without him after he injured his knee in the fall. The injury bug certainly took a chunk out of the Habs, who used 15 different defencemen this season. The foundation of Price, P.K. Subban, Max Pacioretty, Brendan Gallagher and Alex Galchenyuk is one of the league’s most promising. GLASS HALF EMPTY: While there have been rumblings that coach Michel Therrien rubs some of his players the wrong way, he is said to have the full support of GM Marc Bergevin and owner Geoff Molson, creating some potential issues within the dressing room. Even when this team is healthy, goal scoring remains a chore. QUOTE/UNQUOTE: “I’m glad to see that our players are putting in the effort every single night because effort is non-negotiable with me. But I’m not happy about our situation and we’ll evaluate everything at the end of the regular season.” — GM Marc Bergevin PROGNOSIS: If Price is healthy, the Habs make the playoffs. Bergevin shouldn’t settle for just that, however. With Price, Pacioretty and Subban entering the prime of their careers, Bergevin needs to make a big splash in adding significant offence to take advantage of the window of opportunity provided by his core.
OTTAWA SENATORS
GLASS HALF FULL: When you have the best offensive defenceman of this era in Erik Karlsson, you are blessed with one of the league’s top building blocks. In Mark Stone, Bobby Ryan, Clarke MacArthur, Kyle Turris, Mike Hoffman, Zack Smith and Mika Zibanejad, the Senators have seven forwards who have each registered 20-goal seasons in their careers. GLASS HALF EMPTY: With Dave Cameron axed, the Senators will have had more coaches — eight — than any other NHL team in the salary cap era. Speculation that former Hull coach Claude Julien might be a candidate was muzzled when the Bruins announced this week he would be staying in Boston. Whichever candidate takes over, there must be a push to tighten up Ottawa’s porous defence. QUOTE/UNQUOTE: “Nobody is safe when you have a year like we just did. The status quo would just get us there again next year and this team cannot survive not making the playoffs.” — Owner Eugene Melnyk PROGNOSIS: The Senators have the talent to get back to the Stanley Cup dance but at some point the coaching carousel has to stop. The blue line certainly needs to be bolstered. Don’t be surprised if the Senators kick tires on potentially dealing Mike Hoffman if they can’t re-sign him.
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
GLASS HALF FULL: Thanks in part to Lou Lamoriello’s wheeling and dealing, the Leafs will have 12 picks in what scouts are calling a very deep draft this June. During their second-half auditions with the parent club, prospects such as William Nylander showed flashes that they can be impact players down the road, while 2015 first-round pick Mitch Marner has flourished in his final season of junior hockey. GLASS HALF EMPTY: While those who see the world through blueand-white glasses will tell you otherwise, this rebuild still is in its infancy stages. Goaltending remains a question mark, with the jury still out as to whether young Garret Sparks can be a long-term solution between the pipes. While their prospects have shown potential here, coach Mike Babcock is on the mark when he says there still will be plenty of “pain” to endure moving forward. QUOTE/UNQUOTE: “As far as having the patience to do what’s needed to be done? Yeah, you have to have the stomach in order to get through it in a place with this much passion.” — Team president Brendan Shanahan PROGNOSIS: The utopian summer for Leafs Nation would be one in which Toronto wins the draft lottery and snaps up Matthews, then inks local boy Steven Stamkos, a pending UFA, several days later. Locking up Morgan Rielly to a sixyear contract is a coup for Lamoriello. The jury is out on the six-year pact given to the ever-unpredictable Nazem Kadri, however.
VANCOUVER CANUCKS
GLASS HALF FULL: In Bo Horvat, Jake Virtanen and Jared McCann, GM Jim Benning has a nice young nucleus to build around. Whether Jacob Markstrom is the long-term answer in goal remains to be seen, but there certainly is potential there. GLASS HALF EMPTY: If the Canucks have finally opted to go the rebuild route as president Trevor Linden recently hinted rather than trying to win now, where do the Sedin twins and goalie Ryan Miller fit into the puzzle? If Benning does decide to completely tear it down, it is quite feasible that those three players won’t have much left in the tank by the time the Canucks are contenders again. QUOTE/UNQUOTE: “Our future is about drafting and developing. To get out of this situation, that’s where our focus lies. We have to be patient.” — Team president Trevor Linden PROGNOSIS: Dating back to his days as assistant GM with the Boston Bruins, Benning showed that he is one of the top talent evaluators in the sport. But going the quick-fix route isn’t going to be a long-term solution, especially in a Pacific Division that features heavyweights like the Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks.
WINNIPEG JETS
GLASS HALF FULL: Former firstround draft picks Mark Scheifele, Jacob Trouba and Nikolaj Ehlers all have the potential to be stars down the road, while prospects such as Josh Morrissey and Nic Petan are waiting in the wings. Winnipeg’s cache of up-and-coming talent is so promising, The Hockey News projected Winnipeg to win the Stanley Cup in 2019. GLASS HALF EMPTY: Due in part to limited financial resources, a lack of depth remains a key issue with the Jets, especially when it comes to third- and fourth-line talent. Special teams ranked near the bottom of the league, a recipe for disaster for any NHL team. Having plopped from a Cinderella 99-point playoff season a year ago to one of the league’s bottom feeders this time around certainly is cause for concern. QUOTE/UNQUOTE: “We had to develop a core here of players that could drive the team for quite a while. And we’ve got some good young players that have come in and done that. There’s some growing pains that go through that. To be quite honest with you it’s probably going to continue.” — Coach Paul Maurice. PROGNOSIS: If some of their young resources develop as anticipated, the Jets could indeed be a force down the road. One player to keep an eye on is goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who has shown the makings of a future star. Keeping Dustin Byfuglien in the mix is a sign that there are players who, given the choice, will embrace Winnipeg as a place to play. At the same time, there isn’t going to be an influx of free agents flocking to the Jets en masse, so the majority of talent will have to be developed from within.