2025-26 Metropolitan Division Preview | #185 SEU
[Music] Welcome back to the Stick Them Up podcast. Brundy, we are I think for us officially out of the off season because this is the first of our four next episodes that we’ll be going over the preview for each of the different divisions in the NHL. You only do that when you’re getting close to it. By the end of this, we’ll be damn near into the preseason. I’m excited. You want to Do you want to kick us off? What are you What are you thinking here? Yeah. Well, first of all, I’m just glad that the offseason’s done. Um, super boring off season absolute garbage. And just ready to get back into NHL games and uh, you know, training camps and, uh, and all that. Everything’s already kind of, you know, um, slowly starting to get underway. We’re starting to see some PTO’s already getting signed. We’re starting to see, you know, um, some players talk about, you know, their expiring deals and and and what’s on the horizon for them. Um, you know, we’re we’re we’re seeing guys, you know, start to focus as well on, you know, towards the Olympics and, um, you know, doing what they can to to make their respective teams for their countries and whatnot. So, everything’s starting to ramp up, but yeah, today here, you can tell by the title. Um, this is the first of our four divisional breakdowns. We’re going to start with the Metro here. Pretty simple. Um, we’re going to go through the teams in order of how they finished in the standings last year. Um, so obviously, you know, we’ll be starting off with Washington, working our way down until we get to Philly at the end. And we’re just going to start with the team. We’re going to see how they did last year and then we are going to predict where we think they’re going to finish in the standings this year only within their division. Um not not leaguewide, right? And then just talk about them a bit. Um so get some good conversations going about teams and uh see if see if our picks are kind of the same, maybe a little bit different. And that’s I don’t think they’re much different. I don’t think there’s any going to there’s any uh different ones that are going to be like, you know, I have them second, you have them outside the playoffs or something like that. Yeah, there’s there’s maybe a couple that could be a bit different, but I think for the most part, we’ll be at least close. But you said we’re going to be starting with Washington, so let’s talk about the Washington Capitals. Yeah. So, the Washington Capitals, um, you know, as we all know, incredible season last year, finishing first in the Metro, 111 points. Um, so pretty simple. Just count down from three and we’ll say where we think they are going to finish here. Three, two, one. Second. Three. You have them second. I have them third. Yeah. I’m I’m I’m I’m a Washington believer now. um after last year after well we both I think had them pretty uh pretty far down in the metro and most people did. Yeah. And they they surprised um a lot of us here. So why not believe in them this year and and adding Exactly. They’re you know they’re they’re already getting some good young talent that is now being injected into the lineup. saw so many guys take a big step last year and if it is Oby’s final year, they’re they’re going to go all in. Even if they’re a bubble team just outside the playoffs, they’re going to be going all in because you you’ve literally only got one more season probably of, you know, Alex Ovetchkin and you probably want to go on a deep playoff run and um you know, try and try and win one more cup with them before before you lose them. And then you probably don’t like like it’s not like Washington’s going to be like, “Oh, we got to do a full-on rebuild now.” Like they’re still going to be a decent team, but it’s going to be a massive identity shift for that team and that they’ll have to navigate that. But for this year, I mean, it’s it’s all in. Like you got to you got to go for it. Yeah. No, 100%. Like it’s funny cuz I’m sure they had some type of identity before OV, but that was kind of before our time. We didn’t really know about them before Ovetchkin and like the team’s been around since the the 70s and their entire franchise’s history is defined by this one player. So, it it will be very interesting to see what happens to them and, you know, kind of who takes that next mantle and whatnot once he’s moved on from them and whether it’s retirement or go back to the KHL or whatever. So, it’ll be really interesting to see. But, yeah, they they just took such an insane step last season out of seemingly nowhere. And it makes sense looking at their a lot of their lineup, but at the same time, you know, they finished what, second in the league, third in the league, something like that. Top top team in the East. Yeah. And they, you know, their their lineup looks good, but it it doesn’t scream that good. So, I I do have them dropping down to third. I do think they still make the playoffs, but it’s it really is crazy how well they did because they weren’t just like, you know, eating out games constantly and stuff like that. Like they were they were dominating play. They were really good. Yeah, they really were. And, you know, it’s it’s a large part to do like, you know, Dylan Stro now, he’s no longer kind of, you know, he’s he’s expected going into this year to be a a point per game player again. You know, he’s shown he can do and that’s kind of where he’s at. that’s expected of him. Alex say Prous, you know, he took a a huge step last year and really surprised a lot of people. Um, Pierre Luke Dwis kind of revitalized his career it looked like after it just kept going downhill. Um, you know, one and done in LA and kind of just getting dumped off to Washington before his no movement clause kicks in. He had a phenomenal year. Um, you’re you’re now going to have Ryan Leonard come in who, you know, I think is going to be one of the better prospects and what’s going to be a great rookie class this year. And a really big one is Jacob Chikin coming in on the blue line. Um, you know, we knew he was going to be good when Washington got him. We knew he was already good. Um, but he really kind of just hit that next level in Washington and really kind of cemented himself as, you know, up there as a as an elite defenseman in the league. And he’s going to be heavily relied on again to, you know, to to be playing up to that that standard again this year. Um, but again, it’s it’s a team that kind of just gets it done by committee. It’s it’s, you know, you’re rolling your lines, you’re rolling your defensive pairings, and um, you know, you know, you’re going to have solid goending um, between Thompson and Lingren, who is a cheap tandem, but also a really good tandem. Yeah. Like very like very arguable to say that that’s the the best tandem in the league really. like they’ve they’re you know it they really looked like it was going to be Charlie Lindren’s net. He looked so good. I think he got uh a fifth place heart vote uh two seasons ago and then they bring in Thompson. It’s like that’s going to make an awesome tandem. I don’t think many people expected Thompson to end up being the starter, let alone a borderline Vzna candidate last year. So he he was in VZNA talks up until the the injury like he was his his name was was right in there up until you know almost the very end of the season right and I think he still ended up being in fourth in voting or like top five at least. So yeah can’t I think I think for his win loss though yeah his win loss record was ridiculous. I know at one point in the season he was like 22 and one and one or something and it’s like that that’s just outlandish. So, and and the thing with Washington also that I think kind of will benefit them um is is you look at this team, right? And you know, there’s a very good chance that this entire team could be getting, you know, a twoe break to rest up and whatnot during the the Olympic break. True. you know, you kind of look at it and maybe, you know, Tom Wilson makes team Canada, but I doubt it because you’re you’re if you’re going to take someone like a Tom Wilson, you’re just going to take Sam Bennett. Yeah. Like that just that makes all the sense in the world. And Jacob Chicken again really good. But does he make you know the Americans blue line? Probably not because of how good it already was last year and how many other great players didn’t even make the team. And I it’s, you know, Logan Thompson’s probably not going to make Team Canada because it sounds like he has allegedly um rubbed some coaches that are on Team Canada the wrong way and they don’t want to deal with him. So, you’re looking at Washington, it’s like, you know, as a Caps fan, it might suck not getting to see uh, you know, your your guys playing in the Olympics, but they’re all going to be getting a pretty nice rest. bunch of other guys are getting banged up and, you know, playing over the course of two weeks and then coming back and getting thrown right into it. So, that’s something that could uh also really benefit them. Yeah. You know, that’s that’s a great point. Like, it’s not it’s not going to be a heavy tournament or anything. Not not near the level that it was with the the four nations because of how, you know, they call it with the Olympics. And it’s a it’s just a bit of a different game the way they have it have it refed. But you know, you’re still out there, you’re still traveling for it. You’re still skating like crazy. They’re going to be trying their hardest and it’s going to it’s going to tire them out. It’s going to still wear on them. So yeah, you know what? That’s a that’s a decent little advantage that they kind of got in their pocket on that end as well. Yeah. Um anything else with the the Capitals? My biggest thing is again it’s just it’s Obie’s last season. So obviously they’re going to go all in and try and um you know have one last magical run and with this team again it definitely is possible. I think there’s you know obviously they could every team could use some extra help but I think Washington especially kind of you know in that middle six. Um could maybe use an extra guy or two. You know, you look at Bilier and you know, we thought what are they doing giving up a second round pick for him, but the action ended up being really good for him. So, if they if they do their due diligence with their scouting and find the right guys that fit into their system, but maybe a little bit more on the skilled side, um, you know, I think that could be huge for them and they could definitely make some noise. Do you think anybody on this team has a really good chance or even a bit of an outside chance to win some individual hardware? I think the only one pro I mean I’ll throw Logan Thompson in there for Vzna because I mean he was he he was in it last year and um if he can replicate that it’ll be tough because again a large part of it was because of you know how many wins he was piling up compared to losses. Um and then the other one I’ll throw in is you know Obie for the Rocket because I mean yeah if he didn’t get injured there’s a pretty good chance he he wins it last year right? So, um, I’ll throw Obie in there because, you know, you know, he’s probably going to be sniffing around it. Yeah. You know, he’s going to want it for sure. Yeah, I think those are definitely the the ones that are likely. Chin, their best defenseman, probably not winning the Norris, but yeah, you know what? They got actually, you know what, I do think Pierre Luke Dubois got a couple of Selki votes last year. I don’t think he’s likely, but he’ll probably get votes again, but bit of a dark horse. Barov’s right in there. Reinhardt, Serelli, you know, voters are foaming at the mouth for the opportunity to finally give it to Heir. So, it’s kind of an award that’s kind of locked up right now. It feels like for the next couple years between a group of, you know, four or five guys. They don’t uh unless you’re watching the games, there’s not really a great stat that quantifies defensive play very well and consistently. So, as soon as a guy has a reputation for being good or bad really defensively, that kind of sticks. though. Yeah. If like if Bararkov puts up 85 points next year and is horrendous defensively, if he just is not himself and is just garbage defensively, I would still expect him to win the Selki if he puts up 85 90 points. Exactly right. Like unless somebody puts a writes a hit piece on him like that goes viral about it. So yeah. Yeah. But you know what? Dubois be probably the best season of his career last season. So yeah, it’s worth worth mentioning for sure. Um, next up here we have the Carolina Hurricanes. The Carolina Hurricanes finished second in the Metro last year with 99 points. Braden, where do we have them finishing this year? Three, two, one. First first. Yeah. Yeah, I it’s it’s Carolina’s division. Um, you know, this this season it feels like um mainly because they finally actually added something big to their top six and that being Nikolai who I think fits in very well with what they’re doing. Yeah, they’ve got man this team like we are at the point and I think we’ve been at that point for one or two years now where people are beginning to write them off as yeah they’ll make it to the second or third round and they’ll get bounced whoever they face. Like does it doesn’t matter who gets there, they’ll get bounced in the conference final at the latest. But yeah, man. This team is I don’t want to say bulletproof cuz they haven’t won, but like they don’t have a weak point anymore. Every time they have one, they they really start to lock it up. Like I’m looking at their their forward depth and like it it’s not their forward depth for me. It’s not the defense, but it is the goalending. Um Freddy Anderson when we know he’s health when when he is healthy he’s a very good goalie but has struggled to stay healthy and Kachov is hit or miss you know he could be stellar for you one game but then really struggle the next so I I don’t think it’s enough to hurt Carolina in the regular season as much but come playoff time um I that that’s something that worries me with them but again like this is only regular season we’re talking about year and um if the goal attending is a mess, they can always, you know, address that um mid-season. Yeah, I I frankly think they’re at one of the unique points in in the the team spot and in the players career where I think they could get a lot of benefit out of Freddy Anderson. You’re going to make your money, just stay at home, and when we have some road or some home stints, we’ll play in some of those games. You’re probably going to play 15 to 20 games maybe this season. Kachetkov’s going to take the majority. We’ll find a third stringer to be the backup. Just stay home, focus on being healthy and not regressing like crazy and try and be ready for the playoffs. Like, this is not a team that needs Anderson to get to the playoffs by any stretch. No, but it’s pretty tough to keep a goalie on the shelf for most of the season and be like, “All right, go in there in the playoffs and you know, you want to keep him loose and limber during this season. But if you still play him for four or five home games and like only home games so he doesn’t even have to travel and then you just play him four or five a month throughout the season, you know, keep him fresh enough he can still train all that. But then do you run with only six defenseman on your roster, only 13 forwards or like where do you cut out that extra roster spot? Um, probably cut out extra forward. Just guess. Only take 13. Take 13 forward. It I I get what you’re saying. I understand it. It just it doesn’t make sense because when you go on road trips and whatnot, like the whole we’re just not really in a day and age where we’re going to see teams carry three goalies on their their active roster. Uh, I don’t know. I think I think goending is really the only thing holding this team back and they got young guys at all the position as well. So, but Gold Tank’s holding the thing back, but you’re saying for the team to ride the season with their worst goalie. Yeah, because they’re going to make the playoffs still. But at that point, why wouldn’t you just trade Kachchov and just go get a goalie instead of riding your worst goalie and then being like riding because you can’t go and get a goalie. They can’t go and get a goalie better than a healthy Freddy Anderson. They’re they’re just not available. You just got to ride Freddy Anderson. If he gets hurt, you you pivot. You figure something out. Or you’re just playing straight up in a tandem. Just one and one. just, you know, I don’t care if you know, Anderson, I don’t care if you put up a shut out this game and we’re playing 5 days later. It It’s a tandem. You just go back and forth and then come playoff time, you go with the better goalie. And I I’m assuming it’s probably going to be Freddy Anderson. Um because again, like, yeah, you don’t need to just ride one goalie all season. like you have that luxury of a good enough team like you can just just hop back and forth and you just tell your goalies this is what we’re doing. Look at the schedule so you know what games you’re playing. if there’s an injury then you know we’ll have to shake things up but you guys know and be prepared mentally that you know that you’re playing every second game and it’s because again I think Carolina’s a good enough team and kind of like Washington where you can you can do that whereas opposed to Oh the team absolutely can it’s New Jersey it wouldn’t make sense to yeah cuz five seasons he’s played over half of the games once once 24 games 52 34 16 and 22 like Well, that’s because they get into stretches where they’re trying to ride him for an extended period of time. Maybe it just Yeah, I just Yeah, he’s turning he’s turning 36 in less than a month. Like he’s getting pretty old, you know? Give him a little extra rest. I think it might help. But either way, they’re going to have somebody who’s, you know, even then if it they have to end up with Kachetkov, you know, I think he’s better than a Steuart Skinner like like he’s not he’s a starter. I would say probably better probably better in a tandem, but I would say he’s a I would call him a starter. And this is a very solid team otherwise that they could definitely do some damage. I I struggle to think of a way where this team doesn’t end up first in the Metro. Maybe if Washington or New Jersey really go off, but I kind of doubt it. It seems too solid top to bottom. The forward core, you know, you brought in Taylor Hall last year. He would he fit in perfectly. He was great there. Logan Stano, we we talked about him over the offseason. He’s great. You bring in Nikolai Elers, he’s solid. You still got good pieces in your top six like Aaho, Fetchnikov, Jarvis, you know, and then even in your bottom six, you know, Jordan Stall, Jordan Martinook. The only area of this team that I’m I’m well I guess aside from the goalender I’m a little hesitant. I’m curious to see how it works is who plays with Jacob Slavven. You know in since in the last couple years when he’s kind of really, you know, hit that next level and cemented himself as an elite defensive defenseman. He’s been alongside Brent Burns. Right. This is now the first year where we’re going to see elite, you know, top 10 defenseman in the league, Jacob Slavven, without Brent Burns. And how much did Brent Burns help him? I don’t know. But we’re we’re going to find out because we again, we’ve we’ve kind of yet to um to see that. So, I’m curious to see who plays with with Slavven. You’ve got Nicotin who can maybe be fun, you know, bit more of an offensive guy. Slavven can kind of, you know, put things down on the back end. Um, but again, this team’s so deep that they have so many options that you can do some trial runs and some some testing here and there and 100% figure out what works because you’ve got so much talent top to bottom. Yeah. Like on on Daily Face Off, they’ve got uh some of the lines, projected lines uh that they’re guessing at listed here and they got Shawn Walker, Shane Gostas Bear as the third pairing. That’s that’s pretty solid. Sean Walker is probably a second pairing defenseman on a lot of teams, some teams that are in the playoffs, so it’s a really good group. I think Slavven thrives with that offensively minded defenseman, you know, a Brent Burns type. So, I think uh putting Nicotin with him would be the best idea if as long as it works, you want to trial that for sure since he’s a rookie. But I definitely feel like there’s a good chance they’re going to cuz they’ve been getting a lot of heat obviously for the for the Keandre Miller trade. People were not a huge fan of how much they gave up for him. So I feel like they’re going to try and make it so it’s Miller and Slavven to start the year and I have no idea how that’ll work. Um but I could see that. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I think I think they’re going to see which of those two works better. But yeah, this is a team with a lot to look forward to this year. Yeah. And you got a full 82 game season. You know, they’re they’re for sure going to be a lock to make the playoffs. And if you got to spend the first, you know, quarter, third of the season trying things out and figuring what works and figure out the way to shape this team to be dominant, then do it. Because again, you’ve got so much talent, so many guys that you can play around with a bunch of different combinations and probably a lot of them will actually work really well. you once you find those ones that um just click and it’s just working right, you just roll with it until until otherwise. So, um yeah, I feel like Carolina’s just a pretty easy lock for uh number one in this division. Yeah. Um do you think anybody on their team has a a real solid chance at some individual hardware? No. Nope. Straight up no no. Fair enough. Um, the only one is maybe Nicashin for the Calder and I think that’s that’s really about it. But even I feel like that one’s a bit of a a long shot. Actually, I’d say he’s like a he’s like in that dark horse category, I think, because we don’t really quite know what to expect from him, you know, in in North America in general. Not even just at the NHL level, just in North America cuz it was we very we didn’t really get to see too much in the playoffs from him. Yeah, he’s he’s one of those guys that’s like actually a dark horse, meaning he’s like probably in that seven seven to 10 range probably for best odds. Something like that. Not not a guy like you pick the guy outside the top 50 and be like, “Oh, yeah, he’s a dark horse.” No, he’s just not likely to win it. Yeah. Um, uh, two other I’ll throw out just because, uh, I don’t really see him happening, but it’s possible. Uh, Jordan Stall for the Selki. I think he came in second one or two years ago for it. Uh, which was surprising to me back then because I mean he’s even then he was playing third line minutes, but he’s got the votes in the past and they love giving votes to the same guys for the Selki a lot of the time. And Jacob Slavven for Norris. Uh, I don’t know when we’re going to see it, but at some point we’re either going either going to see a new trophy for defenseman that is for points and the Norris transfers to being a defensive thing or we’ll see the Norris continue to be almost the Art Ross of the defenseman world and we’ll see a new defensive trophy. If we don’t see that one of these years, these voters, I swear, they’re just gonna snap and they’re just gonna pick Slavven over Kale Mar when he hits 100 points or something. I I feel like they’ve been they there’s talk more every year. I don’t I don’t see it happening, but you know what? I could see maybe down the road puts up 50 points and is slaving defensively. I could I could see him having a top three finish. Yeah, I didn’t really throw them out there because again, I don’t think we’re at a point yet where the voters are going to do that. So, and and again, you know, you just want to be, but either Macar or Hughes is just undeniable. Well, then it seems like also every year there’s like someone who kind of has a a breakout year and, you know, puts themselves kind of in that that conversation. Like even last year, you know, look at what Bensky did and Jacob Slavven was get or um Jacob Chin was getting lots of talk um about him and whatnot. And so again, maybe one day, but yeah, I didn’t quite Thomas Harley even. He he’s he might very well be the guy this year that is is up in that top five because he just has a breakout year. Um so yeah, that’s kind of why I didn’t go Jacob Slavven. Again, great defenseman, but yeah, for what they give the Norris on probably not. Um, but hey, you know what? I could get on board with it. I’d like to see some some shakeup in terms of that award. Yeah. Who knows? I don’t know at what point in the year they would add a new award. So, maybe maybe halfway through the season they’re like, “By the way, when we hand out the awards, there’s going to be a new one and it’s going to be for best defensive defenseman.” Yeah, I don’t know if they’d announce it in the offseason or before the awards after, but if they do, he’s even if he has a down year defensively, they will give it to him. Like they would want him to be the inaugural winner so bad unless there somebody else was like a clear-cut winner somehow. He He would have to. Yeah, potentially. Potentially. Um should we should keep moving on here. Moving on next to the New Jersey Devils. New Jersey Devils finished third in the metro last year with 91 points. Um I’m kind of down here 3 2 1 third second second again. So you know kind of what I figured we we’d have the same teams at um staying in the top three. Yeah. Um yeah I mean you know the Devils are we we all know that they are a a very good team. We know how stacked their roster is from top to bottom, but holy [ __ ] this team cannot stay healthy for the life of them. Yeah, you’ve got a top 10 player in the league in Jack Hughes for 60 games and that’s it. You’ve got Douggee Hamilton who for the last couple years was like a top 10 defenseman, but you you you can’t get a full season out of him. Um, it’s a very good team that just again just can’t stay healthy. That’s that’s their biggest problem. It’s I can’t even look at this roster and say I don’t like this. I don’t like this. I like everything with this team. They might have the deepest defenseman group in the league. They might have the actually I don’t want to say the best one-wo punch with goalies or or even tandem, but they’ve got their backup on a great contract. there. You could say that with the goalies. Um, yeah, but but holy [ __ ] they just they can’t stay healthy. Like that that’s the their only issue. It Yeah, that’s the long and short of it. Like that’s that is the only only problem. Like they they have great depth. Like their projected fourth line here on Daily Face Off is Paul Carter, Cody Glass, and ify Dadenov. That’s a really good fourth line. Like there’s plenty of teams out there in the playoffs that their fourth line goes out there and you don’t know any of those names. I at least know these players. Like they’re not shoving rookies in just to fill out the roster. So like they’ve got that they’ve got seven or eight NHL caliber defenseman and you know they got guys like Luke Hughes and Simone Neich who are young and probably going to get better this season and Sheamus Casey even he’s still around that he was great last year. Um Blue Q is still currently unsigned is still an RFA. We’re waiting on a contract uh you know for him. Um, is that extension or a contract for this season? Contract for this year. So, he can’t play until he signs. So, yeah. Sounds like he wants a 5-year deal to uh match his brother. And they are they are wanting to go longterm with him. I mean, at the end of the day, you got to get a deal done if you’re New Jersey. You know, we Yeah. Um the the biggest thing I guess for me with New Jersey um is Team Omire’s got to figure it out there. Um you know consistently as well. The big the big trade they kind of made when they were starting to come up and they got him from San Jose and he has not even really he sniff the numbers that he’s put up in San Jose. Um, in San Jose’s career high in goals, 35 goals, 76 points. New Jersey is careerhigh in goals, uh, 28. And last year put up a careerhigh as a member of the Devils, 53 points. This is your highest paid forward. And can’t put up 30 goals, is barely putting up above 50 points. I did I did he he definitely did get better once he was getting more you know power play time especially under Sheldon Keefe and whatnot but even then you know the the numbers are actually fell off this past year the year before 28 goals 52 points and only 69 games last year 26 goals so two less goals 53 points okay he got one more point but also in 11 more games he played in 80 games yeah playoffs did To be fair, they do need somebody to play the games, but yeah, like it’s nice that he was able to stay healthy last year. That was probably the the best part about him. Um, but yeah, again, like your your highest paid forward. Um, again, I’m not saying he’s their best forward, but as the highest paid forward, you you got to do more. Even if it’s a a 30 and 30 for 60, that’s an improvement. You probably still want more, but at least that would be better. 30 and 30, a big physical presence, not bad defensively. You you take that like that’s fine. He doesn’t need to be the best offensive guy on the team. Like going forward, you don’t expect him to be, you know, Jack Hughes is going to be the best offensively, assuming health. Yes, Bratz, so pretty much a lock for second. You’d probably rather have Heir scoring more than him. Like you just need him to be a solid fourth best scoreer on the team. That’s and when you’re getting paid the most like, yeah, go score. And this is two years in a row where he has underperformed for 75 80% of the season. Those numbers you were looking at, those are propped up by a very good march. I I know because I have had him two years in a row in fantasy and he I just keep holding on to this dude and he sucks and he sucks and he sucks and then March hits and he goes nuclear and I’m pretty sure I dropped him at least one of those years right before he went off and somebody else picked him up but you know I mean yeah you know that’s that’s kind of the biggest thing you know you need some consistency yeah and if you know if Hughes can stay healthy and be consistent with that if Douggee Hamilton can stay healthy be consistent with that. Um, you know, Jacob Marstrom is is still a very solid goalie, although he isn’t getting any younger. So, you kind of want to capitalize on this team that you have that is good right now and you still have a good goalie. Um, last year of his contract, too, for for Markstrom. Yeah. you know, and they’re at some point this season, I think they’re gonna they’re going to have to do something on the blue line because, you know, again, right, like you’re you’re gonna have to make room for one of these young guys and and someone’s going to have to go. I don’t know who. Maybe even is one of these the the young guys, but someone’s probably going to be out the door this season at some point. So, there there’s no reason to just hold on to all of them and just see what happens like Yeah. Yeah, they they got to move somebody. And you know, we’ve talked about this before, but you know, Ducky Hamilton has a no move clause no trade. Peshy, Dylan, and Kovase all have full no trade modified no trade for Seanthaler. And then you got Kalin Addison, Simone Neich, Luke Hughes, Sheamus Casey, who are all on their ELC’s, and you probably want to keep those good young players, but man, you were handing out no trades like candy. Like this this says EA franchise mode all over it. You accidentally gave out no no trade clauses to everyone and now you’re kind of up [ __ ] creek. Yeah, it’s it’s going to be tough. You know, I I I think they’ll find a way to to navigate through it. I’m curious to see how they do it. Um but again, even if you put a guy like Brendan Dylan on waiverss, somebody probably picks him up, right? Maybe good defenseman, four mil a year for two years. You know, if Chicago’s serious about being a contender, they they probably But we know we know they’re not. We know they’re not. They’re they’re tanking more year. Yeah, but they’re they’re kind of trying to pretend that they’re trying to take that step. No, they’re they’re just they’re basically at that point right now where they’re they’re hoping and praying that they land Gavin McKenna. And if they miss out on them, then they’re they’re really in trouble. They’re really in trouble. Um but yeah, even if you get, you know, your your star players that have struggled to stay healthy, again, even if the same thing happens, you only get them for, you know, 65 to 75% of the season, this is still a good enough team to make the playoffs. So, um I’m not worried on that. But again, you know, the biggest things stay healthy New Jersey. And I would like to see a little bit more from team Omar because I think he’s a very skilled player. He has a lot to give and we know what he’s capable of. We just want to see it happen in New Jersey. Yeah. Like he could be a top five power forward in the league. Like he is he he can be that guy. We just need to see it consistently from him. Um for what it’s worth, the Devils did also recently uh sign quite a few guys to a PTO. So they do not have contracts, but they are giving these guys a try to see if they’re going to make the team. uh Kevin Rooney, Luke Glenn Denning, uh Georgie Romanov, and Adam Sheil. So, they’re they’re looking around for a little extra depth. You know, Glenn Denning probably not wasn’t going to crack the Lightning top 12 next year, but he’s still really good in the faceoff dot if nothing else. Kevin Rooney solid taking a flyer on a couple goalies. So, there’s We’ll see if one of these guys maybe gets seven minutes a night from him. Um, in terms of potential awards, I mean, the only ones I I can go with for them is uh is is Jack Hughes for uh a heart if he stays healthy. He’s he’s one of those guys that’s more likely to get a heart than an Art Ross right now. It feels like Yeah, exactly. And I wouldn’t be shocked if he got an Art Ross, but it would be more likely to get a heart because he would be carrying that team a decent bit despite them having this much depth. Yeah. Yeah. Um um I think he’s sure for the Selki. Oh, I guess he sure obviously cuz Yeah. Yeah. kind of the the layup for for that one. Um well, that’s it for New Jersey. We can move on next to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Columbus Blue Jackets finished fourth in the Metro last year with 89 points, just missing out on the playoffs um from catching New Jersey bite. Only two points. Braden, let’s see where we have the Blue Jackets finishing this year. Three, two, one. Fifth. Fourth. You got them in fifth. I got them in fourth. I figured there was a good chance I would have them I would have them one higher. That was one that I kind of suspected. Um, did do you have them making the playoffs in that spot? I do. I have them making the playoffs. I have the team in fifth not. So, I did go for a 44 split this year. I don’t feel great about it because the Atlantic is nasty with talent right now. But, you know what? Maybe it’s just because I want it to happen, but this this Columbus team is finally starting to come into their own and they’ve got, you know, guys all over the place are having career years. You know, Shawn Monahan, that might have been his best year yet. Uh Carl Marenko and Zach Oinsky obviously were huge last season for him. Um, yeah, like even uh he didn’t have a phenomenal entire season, but the limited games we saw him in looks like they got a sneaky good goalie coming up in Jet Greaves. So, I’m I’m very interested to see how this team performs cuz this this feels like one of the most volatile teams in the league this upcoming year. Like they could if they get real good performances, you know, Boon Jenner was out 80% of last year. They get solid solid games out of everybody. I could see them as high as third in the Metro. I wouldn’t be insanely shocked if they drop to six or seven. Yeah, I think the Metro’s a kind of the division that I think is going to be really kind of close in the middle. Um where it’s probably going to be kind of the same thing coming down the stretch of the season where you kind of got teams jumping over each other and all kind of in the fight maybe aside from like one team who’s who’s going to be at the bottom. Um, but it it’s going to be very competitive and I have them finishing um fifth, but I don’t have them like like like that far back. Like they they could have easily been four for me, potentially even third because there’s not there’s not a spot of the team that, you know, you look at and you’re like, I I don’t like that their forward core was was solid last year. It’s young and it’s only getting better. you’re already seeing your, you know, your your foundational pieces that you’re building around take that next step and continue to get better. Zach Rensky is, I think, finally officially cemented himself as, you know, one of the best um defenseman in the game right now. Uh I don’t love the Ivan Prov contract, but contract aside, he is a very solid second pair defenseman. Dante Fabro looked great since coming in. Dent Matechuck is going to be fantastic on the blue line. Jet Greaves, like you already mentioned, like there there’s a lot of things to like with this team. It’s just they’re kind of in that cluster of teams that are kind of like on basically on that same level in the metro. And that’s kind of why it’s a a dog fight between these guys. Yeah. And it even really is spills into the Atlantic. Like the entire East just has quite a few of those teams. You know, you got your you got your top teams, you know, the Panthers, the Lightning, the Hurricanes. They’re probably all making the playoffs. Uh but then you have all these teams fighting in the middle, you know, the Canadians, the Sens, the Red Wings, uh the Caps up until last season breaking out, but the Blue Jackets, depending on how healthy they are, the Devils, like there’s so many of these teams that are just in and around that fight that uh you know, only a certain amount of teams can get in. So, it’s it’s hard to tell with a lot of those middling ones in the East, but Mhm. This team has had enough guys take a good solid step last year and they’re all those guys are young enough that I think I think they make it. Yeah. And I I absolutely wouldn’t be be shocked um if they make it again. You know, it’s kind of a team that just we’re just going to continue to see them grow more and more over the next couple years. There’s not really any air of the team that I’m like I I dislike it. You know, I’m not wasn’t super crazy about the deal, but bringing in Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood right now. It it makes you better in the moment. Um long term, could that end up looking like a bad deal for them? Potentially, but as of right now, it does make them a better team in the moment. And for that, you know what? You got to run with it and be like, you know what? Okay. You know, they’re they’re committed to trying to win now. And um you you got to respect that for a team like Columbus. So yeah, like they’re team I don’t dislike anything here. They’re a team that I feel like if you asked the average hockey fan um and certainly not a Columbus fan, does this team have depth? I I think most people would probably say no or probably not. But like right now it looks like their four their fourth line might end up being Chinoikov, Isaac Lundestrom, and Miles Wood. you could do a lot worse for your fourth line than a guy like Jikov. And I I think he’s there potentially because uh of the contract talks and if he’s going to get traded or not, but even if you he does end up moving up and you know, you move the guy from the third line down, that’s Cole Cinger. He’s still a great player. you know, third defensive pairing of Severson and Good Branson. Like, you know, I don’t think either I don’t think either of them are in danger of getting sent to the AHL like some teams third pairs are, right? Like Mhm. Jes. It’s hard to tell if he’ll be that guy for an entire season next year, but And you know what? I think it’ll be good for Ms. Lickens to be in a tandem, if not a backup as well. I think that’ll if nothing else help his game. I think he’s one of the guys probably give him a little bit of extra fire to go and try and win win the starting job back if he wants to prove he’s a starter in the league and yeah if he still wants out of Columbus like you no teams are calling looking to trade for you if you’re a you’re a backup now right so he’s going to have a little bit of fire to you know try and win the job back and more than anything if you still want out of Columbus you know punches take it out of there yeah he’s he’s one of those guys very similar to Hella Buck for me uh hold your laughter that’s not where I’m going with this um in that he gets really in his own head about things. He’s one of the guys that feels visibly the mental game is all it’s written on his face. Like Mhm. So I think when he’s feeling it, he can he can be up there with some of the best of them, but if he’s not feeling great, he’s average, if not worse. And if he’s feeling bad, you wish you had a better better two goalies. Yeah, I think that that’s that’s a a fair way of looking at it. Um, other than that, with Columbus State, I don’t really have much more to say. Again, I really do like the look of their team. I don’t there’s nothing I actually dislike. You know, you can most teams in this division kind of poke holes. Where they’re at right now, I I really do like and it’s because they’re in that spot of they’re just continuing to get better and come out of a rebuild, right? So, yeah, it’s just are they going to take that next step and is it going to be enough to get them into the playoffs here? Yeah. Uh especially if a guy like Adam Fantelli, Kent Johnson, if those guys take a big step that that like those guys are both on their on their second line last year and probably to start this next season. But if they both turn into the first line guys we know that they have the potential to be, that could that could break this team wide open and they could be really good. Um yeah. Do you think I’m right there? Do you think any of these guys have a good shot at winning some individual hardware? The only one is is Zach Rinsky. Um for the Norris. Uh Jack Greavves counts as a rookie, but you know, I don’t believe so. No, I think he’s past that um the games threshold. Yeah. Yeah. And frankly, I don’t see him having a much better season than Dustin Wolf just had, even if he was eligible for it. and uh you know guys like Demidov like we might we might see better rookie performances this year than last which is crazy to say given how good it was last year. Yeah, I think that’s I think that’s fair to say but if he is I mean maybe potentially there’s a possibility but I I again does he play enough games maybe but I don’t know too too early to say on that one. Yeah, 100%. Um, but we can move on from there. We can move from New York Rangers to the Rangers. The New York Rangers. So, uh, yeah, the New York Rangers, they finished um, fifth in the metro last year, 85 points. Where do we have them finishing this year? Three, two, one, fourth. Fifth. Okay. Yeah. So just so we had New Jersey and Washington swapped and then we had the Rangers and Columbus swapped and I do have them outside the playoffs in fifth. Uh I have them in fourth. I don’t even have them making the playoffs. Um it’s a strong Atlantic. I it it really is. I think that was a bit more of a heart overhead pick, but I’d love to see Columbus sneak into the playoffs. It’s a fun team. I I when I’m sent to like don’t don’t get it twisted. I’d much rather see Columbus in the playoffs over the Rangers. But, um, looking at the Rangers, you know, I I think having a full season of JT Miller is is going to really help because you were kind of [ __ ] last season with Vincent Troche and then Miko Zabinad. Troche is still great, but Zabinad is kind of really struggled. And now at least having Miller and having that that solid onetwo punch for your centers again is huge. Will [ __ ] took a big step if they actually treat Gabe Bro like a prospect and a human being. Um I think he could be absolutely fantastic for them. Um, and the the biggest reason I I basically put them over Columbus, aside from the goal 10, because, you know, wherever you want to put Shurkin, he’s in everybody’s top three regardless of whether you have them one, two, or three, he’s in everybody’s top three. Um, I might say top five, but the biggest thing is uh is is Gavricov with Adam Fox. Um, I think Adam Fox is still a honestly probably top five defenseman in the league. People are woe on him now. Oh my god. I was seeing a a thread on Reddit the other day like some people are listing out all their top defenseman. Some people got this guy outside the top 20. I’m like, “Okay, like it’s insane.” Just just say you’re a Flames fan and you hate the guy. There’s nothing wrong with that. You’re you’re say Say you’re a Canes fan or say you’re a fan of any team in the metro that has to go up against him four times a season. You don’t It’s like It’s not like you’re sending these directly to Adam Fox when you’re just commenting on somebody’s post, right? Like if you just don’t like his face, you can [ __ ] hate the guy for it. That’s fine. But like like if you just think he’s just bad is crazy. Yeah. And now he is going to have the best defensive partner he’s ever had in the league in Gabber. And I think the sky’s is the limit for a guy like Adam Fox. And I think again he is on that level that he is good enough that he can be a game breaker and potentially sway some games for you. Um, I’m looking at their projected lines and Matt Remp is not on there. That’s a plus because he is you can you can love him if you’re a fan girly and think he’s the cutest guy ever and whatnot, but straight up he is a liability on the team when he’s on the ice. He is the exact same as a Ryan Reeves. He plays five minutes, probably takes two minor penalties, maybe wins a fight because honestly, he’s as big as he is, he’s not that great of a fighter. He’s just big. He’s just he’s got the advantage of being big, but yeah, he’s really not great at fighting. I think he I think he might have he lost more fights than he won last year. So, what what good does he really bring? Not much. No, maybe makes your penalty killers better because they get more reps in, but I don’t I don’t think you necessarily want that in a game scenario. Um, yeah, Adam, that just Gabriov with Adam Fox, I think, is is huge. Um, I’m I’m really I that was probably my favorite signing um of free agency because he is exactly what the New York Rangers needed and he’s going to make Shurken’s life so much easier. um as well both five on five and on the penalty kill. So yeah, and Braden Schneider all Shurkin really needs Shurkin’s numbers were not bad last year. They took a dip from his normal numbers, sure, but I think he was still at least above a 910, which not a ton of goalies were. And he did it on a team outside the players. Yeah. And everybody’s numbers on the Rangers kind of dipped last year. Yeah. It was just kind of one of those those weird years. It’s It kind of sucks that they lost Chris Krider. Um, you know, I think Troche’s solid. You know, Paneran, he’s going to at least be 85 points. Um, JT Miller, especially starting to see that fall off on Paneran. Panaran maybe wants out though and wants to go and try and win somewhere else. Maybe plays his ass off and helps the Rangers at least. Um, laugher. I mean, [ __ ] I don’t even know what to expect out of laughing at this point. Your guess is as good as mine. Yeah, he he could put up 80 points and I wouldn’t be surprised. He could also play 82 games and put up 10 points and I wouldn’t be surprised because it’s so all over the place every year, every game, every shift. Like, it’s it’s it’s one of those guys where it doesn’t feel like it’s a lack of effort that makes it the consistency not there. It’s like it’s it’s just this some secret other option where like he’s out there busting his ass and still it’ll just some seasons just everything that touches him bounces into his own net or everything’s going in. Like I could legitimately like he’s still a first overall pick and was supposed to be an incredible incredibly elite player. I wouldn’t be shocked if he put up 90 points this year and I wouldn’t be shocked if he put up 30. Yeah. Yeah. especially playing with guys like Troche and Paneran who in their own right are kind of volatile right now. You know, Paneran’s been very consistently good for his whole career basically. But, uh, you know, 120 points two seasons ago, last year he went down to 89, you know, everybody’s the whole team went the whole team definitely took a dip. I mean, they won the Presidents that year. Um, so the whole team took a dip, but, you know, he is 33 years old. uh in October he’s turning 34. Like he’s getting to that point. So, you know what? That could be taking a dip. Who knows with Troche? Who knows if they’re playing with Troche? May, you know, you traded for JT Miller. Maybe he bumps up to the first line. Yeah. And it is also worth noting, you know, they they they have Mike Sullivan. Um you know, that is a good point. That is a very good point because they’ve been I’m very curious to see what he can kind of do there. You know, they finally got a new face behind the bench. um a little bit new perspective and um again, you know, a guy that that won back-to-back cups with Pittsburgh. You know, he he knows how to get the job done and get the most out of his players and um help kind of those younger guys or guys kind of struggling take that next step and put them in the best positions because he is kind of a players coach. And that is exactly what the Rangers need because it has just seemed to be such a mess over the past like year and a half that I think it’ll be nice to have a guy like Sullivan there and I think that can do wonders for for some of their guys especially their younger guys. Yeah. And they just need top guys in every position to perform. I’m looking at their uh on cap wages that they got the depth chart feature and it shows their projected lines and their cap hit per line 20 like 300k short of 25 mil on that top line. Uh 20 and a half mil on the second line and then 3 mil and 3.4 mil for their third and fourth. Like it’s so topheavy. Same a lot of the same with the defense. 16 1/2 mil on the top pairing, 7.3 on the second, 3.7 on the third. Even in net, Shurken’s making 11 12 highest paid goalie we’ve ever seen in the league. And then, you know, Jonathan Quick pretty damn good backup. So, they’re they’re pretty solid in net, but yeah, they need I’m top six of forwards, top four of defense to really show up for them. Yeah, that’s that’s exactly what they’re uh what they’re going to need and we we’ll see what they bring. Um awards Adam Fox for Norris um and Shurken for Vznar kind of the two those are the two big ones. Uh yeah, depending on what version of JT Miller we get potentially Selki but yeah you know yeah you know that that’s one worth mentioning for sure actually. Yeah, it’s it’s definitely possible. And if they had an award for most hits in a season, Will [ __ ] might be up there, but other than that, I think that’s about it. You know, I Panaran could win an Art Ross, but it’s not seeming very likely at this point. Yeah, that’s I didn’t mention because I I I don’t He had 120 seasons ago, so I figured it was worth it. But I don’t see him scoring more than any of the top dogs in today’s NHL. Yeah. Over a full 82. Uh, next up here we have the New York Islanders. The New York Islanders finished sixth in the Metro last year with 82 points. I’ll count it down here. 3 2 1 six. Seventh. Seven. You have them six and I have them seven. Okay. Yeah. Um, interesting. Assuming we both have the same bottom team, the biggest thing between six and seven is Islanders goending clears and it’s not even close between the the the two there. Um, talking about obviously I was going to say the bottom three teams. I mean, so at this point we know Yeah. Whatever order it is, the the final three are the Islanders, the Flyers, and the Penguins. Penguins. Yeah. Islanders tending clears both. And it’s both of them. Both. Not even close. Yeah. Um, yeah. I mean, with the Islanders, I obviously the biggest thing going into the season is going to be what’s the the deal with Matthew Schaefer? Um, is he going to be playing, you know, in the NHL all season long? Is he going to go back to Erie? What’s, you know, the the the road they take with him? Does it come into play where he can go and play in the AHL? Um, I’m very curious to see kind of uh what they do there. Um, Barzel will be healthy and back. Yeah, he not a lot of people seem to talk about that last year, but he did not he did not even like get to play hardly. Like, didn’t he have like 30 or less games? Yeah. Like, yeah, he had 30 games played, 20 points in those games. Yeah. You know, like Anthony’s going to be back. I hope he he bounces back. Um, you brought in Jonathan Juran, who good player, but how is he going to perform outside of Colorado? Not with Nathan McKinnon anymore. He he’s kind of floundered, had a history of floundering without, you know, being with a top guy like McKinnon. And it’s interesting cuz it is easy enough to say, oh, well, who doesn’t put up points with McKinnon, right? But you know, you take any of the other depth guys on Colorado and Drew’s playing better than they would on that top line. Like he he rises to play with those top players, but do they have a guy that is good enough that can just bring that out of Duanne? Uh it’s hard to tell. Maybe Barcel, maybe Horvat’s that guy and he can maybe and you don’t need him to be a topline guy, you know, if he’s a Yeah. If he’s a good second line left winger, you’ll take that. You signed him in free agency. You didn’t pay for him, right? I’m pretty sure they signed him. So, yep. Um, you also have Maxim Shabbanov. Again, back-to-back seasons that the Islanders bring over the, you know, the the the number one free agent from the KHL. Last year was Ciplo. This year, Shabbanov. Both both first names are Maxim. Um, Ciplov is really big and he’s a big monster and Shabbanov is potentially the smallest guy in the league at this point now. And the the skill is there. Curious to see how it works, you know, where they have him in the lineup, who they have him with. Um, and another one I’m excited for is Emil Heinman on the the bottom six on the penalty kill. The only player the Islanders roster player aside from draft picks at the Islanders got back in the Dobson trade. Um, speedy winger, good good two-way guy. I think he’s going to be great probably in a in a fourthline role. Um, but also on the penalty kill. I think we’ll be young. Islander special team was [ __ ] ass last year. Yeah, like go go go look up their special teams last year, dude. It was ass. But like, who cares about last year because they got the first overall pick, so it worked out for them. Uh, yeah, Hineman only 23. Oh, okay. So, he is also expected to get better because I was going to say he’s he’s kind of like a low low-key like a a decent ad into that trade. Like a lot of people are saying add Yeah. Like a lot of people are saying, you know, it’s the draft picks and they always throw in some some dude into these trades to make the numbers work. It’s like no, he like that’s, you know, he’s not lad. He’s not a huge needle mover, but he’s he’s decent younger than Dobson. Um Yeah. And then the blue line, Romanov, good, solid defensive guy, very physical. You got him locked in on eight years. That’s fun. Um, Tony D’Angelo, you kept him. I’m fine with that because I think I thought he was better on the power play quarterbacking than Noah Dobson. And he’s not great defensively, but was Noah Dobson for the most part with Islanders? Not really. So, it’s it’s, you know, would I rather take Noah Dobson or Tony Gangel? probably know a Dobson but not by much and especially I would take D’Angelo looking at what D’Angelo signed for like 2 mil to Dobson’s 9 and a half. I would take D’Angelo at two over like contracts included I would take D’Angelo 1.75 for D’Angelo. So that’s great. Paul hopefully they can um reignite what they had back in the days and uh they can be solid. And then again you’ve got Scott Mayfield and potentially Matthew Schaefer. I think he starts the year and I think he stays there all year. And so I hope you got a number one overall pick on the blue line. Like that’s that’s fun. This isn’t going to be a year where the Islanders are going for the cup. It’s a retool. You don’t have Brock Nelson, but you’ve got great prospects. They’ve got your first and you got you got first as well. So you got two first round picks coming up in a really stacked draft class. And then and then obviously the the big thing like you got Sroken in Vlamov. I don’t know about Vlamov’s health and if he’s not playing you’ve got David Riddick and that’s a solid backup. Yeah, they got big save Dave at some point. Kind of hot and cold but when he’s on he he he could be the best backup in the league on any given night and he doesn’t need to play a lot. Sroken’s one of the few goalies in the league that I think he wants to play 60 games at least. Like he he wants to play a lot of games. So yeah, Riddic is a a great ad just for a little goalending depth. Honestly, like it’s it’s not a bad team, but I mean it’s it’s they’re going in knowing that it’s still part of a a quick retool. It’s gonna be like a two or three year retool and they’re going to come out, you know, once HSN gets up there on the blue line with Schaefer, once Victor Ecklund um makes the team, Cole Eisermanman, Callum Richie, and then your two firsts that you’d use this year like and you still got Horb who’s not like he’s he’s you know kind of in his prime right now. Barcel still decently young. Shabbanov, Cypov, Holstrom, Heinaman. Like maybe you move on from Paul Mary this year. Maybe you move on from Lee Pio, maybe Sikas, and you kind of really enter that next era. Keep going to that. Yeah. So again, are they going to make the playoffs? No. But I think Islanders fans are happy that because they have a direction. I would say what to say about this team if they didn’t have Schaefer. The fact that they jumped up that high and got that first overall pick really is now you have to build towards the future, you know, don’t don’t pretend that you’re still a playoff contender and then just wait for him to join. Like that’s how you end up with what the Rangers are in right now. But yeah, like this this team has a a very bright future. And you know, the way Matthew Dar is building this team, I’m already looking at it and I I think the core that are building here, they’re going to win a cup one day and it’s it’s going to end up being and again like it’s like, oh well yeah, cuz they got the first overall pick. But winning the draft lottery is going to be the moment that everything changed for them because if you didn’t, you don’t have Vic Dan now. You don’t have Hes. You don’t have Matthew Schaefer because you’re keeping Noah Dobson. Yeah, you’re signing Noah Dobson to the 11 mil that he wanted to stick around with the Islanders and you continue to be mid and maybe squeeze into the playoffs as a wild card team. You get bounced first round, you maybe win around, okay, well, you get bounced second round or you just missed the playoffs, so you can’t even jump up to first overall pick. Like, yeah, the fact that they won that draft lottery, um, again, just completely changed their entire direction. Um and again ma bringing Matthew Dar like over a a Ken Holland with what he did in LA already. Um a Burjan like they literally did everything completely perfect in the offseason in my opinion. Like it was tr it’s truly fantastic. And I think as Anders fan you you can be happy if you’re not in the playoffs next year because you you finally have a vision. They got they got the plan where where they’re going. Yeah. And that’s that’s huge. Yeah. And frankly, I think they have enough guys coming up. They have enough the prospects that you’ve mentioned that I don’t know how many more they really need. I would love to see them, you know, like, you know, where where did you have them? You had them sixth. I had them seventh. Let’s say it’s a I don’t know. Let’s let’s be generous and say it’s a 8 to 10th overall pick. Let’s say they do a little bit a little bit better. There’s some teams below them. It’s not a super good pick, but it’s still pretty good. You know, package that with I don’t know if you need to package anything with eighth overall. Something like that is pretty good. Can you go one for one for I don’t know, just pulling a name out of my brain. A Braden Joerger, you know, grab a grab one of those prospects that’s further along. You’d be getting more than Joerger if you’re giving up the eighth, I think, in this draft. Yeah. like grab grab a a young prospect who’s looked at as this guy’s probably going to be pretty damn good. But I think you would use the Colorado use the Colorado first and uh something else maybe and hold on to, you know, if the Islanders do end up with a top 10 pick, you probably hold on to that one. I think you can you can get a a game breaker in the top 10 in this year’s draft. Yeah. But I I like the process you’re on though. Yeah. pro just like moving the pro the prospect of next season up a few years by trading for a guy that’s you know more NHL ready. Yeah. And then he kind of comes in he can come in sooner with you know assuming Schaefer plays this year. If he doesn’t play this year he’s definitely playing next year you know cuz you know I don’t think this team wants to wait too long. But if you do something like that, if you get pieces back for all those older guys, you know, Anders Lee, Paul Mieri, etc., this team could be back in the playoffs in three years. Yeah. Um, so again, it’s going to be a rough year for them, but again, I do like where they’re at right now. I’m very excited to watch Shabbanov play um little guy, but again, the the talent is is is incredible. So, I’m very curious to see how that goes. Yeah, obviously again Matthew Schaefer. Um, great kid, incredible story, and um, a guy I definitely want to see thrive in this league, and I think he’s going to. In terms of awards, is Shabbanov eligible for the Calder, or is he too old? He is 24 years old, so I believe he should still be eligible. Okay, so I I’ll go Shabbanov for the Calder. Um I don’t I again I think Schaefer is going to be decent but I don’t think he’s going to be at that level of you know where um Demodov is going to be this year potenti like I think he’s going to be very good but I don’t think that like the offensive numbers are going to be there and you probably wins a Norris in his career at some point or a couple um but this year you know 18-year-old defenseman yeah it t it’s it’s tough to win a Calder as an 18-year-old defenseman. Yeah, maybe very unheard of if he really is better than people think and he like early in the season like he has to pretty early locks up being the guy who quarterback’s number one power play. I don’t I don’t even know if that’s going to happen but if he does like potential I could potentially see it but it’s definitely an outside shot. Um, and so I’ll go Shabbanov for Calder and I’ll I’ll throw Sroken in there for Vzna because again, you know, we we know he’s one of the best in the league and um the the the potential there. Do I believe that he does? Like no, because I don’t expect Islanders to be a great team, but again, Sroken is a guy that can stand on his head and and win the VZNA this year, but it’s basically kind of like a dark horse, I would say, almost type of thing. type of I think he’s I think he’s a dark horse for the Vzna. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, we’ll we’ll roll with that there. Um, next up we have the Pittsburgh Penguins. Ready to do the Pittsburgh Penguins here? I’ll count it down here. Three, two, one, eight. Yeah. Yeah. Did you even second guess the Penguins? No, I I did a little bit. I I thought about putting the Islanders below him just because is Crosby’s team going to be last, but the the the not um eight and didn’t even think twice is they’re already not a super great team. Goending is a a huge question mark of how that’s going to be. And the biggest thing is Eric Carlson probably is traded this season. Uh Brian Rust is just rumored all the time to be traded. He could potentially be gone. Ricard Raquel constantly rumored. Like I think at least two of those guys are probably traded this season and Pittsburgh is actively you know trying to tank because how fitting would that be if you know you’re at the tail end of Crosby’s career and then boom, oh here you go now you got Gavin McKenna. You can Gavin McKenna can live with him like like Crosby did with Lemieux like Yeah. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I I just think eventually Pittsburgh is going to sell off. I don’t even hate the look of their team right now, but like it it it it’s just not deep enough. The blue line’s not deep enough. The goalending is Kven on their second line. Vill Koven is going to be playing with Mulan and Anthony. I’m 21 years old rookie. See what happens. They just Yeah, they just don’t have a lot of guys there, you know. Matt Dumba, Owen Pickering on the third pair. That’s that’s pretty that’s pretty rough. Yeah. Yeah. Again, it’s you know, Pittsburgh’s at that point now where you you won your cups with your guys. Um you’re I don’t know if they’re going to trade Mulan or if they’re just going to let him retire after the season as a Penguin. Um what’s going to happen with Chris Latang? You know, I think Crosby’s sticking around. He doesn’t sound like he wants to go anywhere. you’re you’re kind of just riding off into the sunset of your your main core you won your cups with and eventually you’re just kind of preparing for that inevitable rebuild and maybe you kind of get a early jump on it if you start selling off you know your your your your Carlson’s your Raquel’s your rusts I think man only signed a one-year deal if he stays healthy you know you can maybe get something for him and it didn’t work out quite that way for Calgary, but maybe it does for Pittsburgh. Um, you got decent pieces like Thomasino, Tommy Novak. I really like Ruter McGordy. I think he’s going to play the the full year in the NHL finally. Yeah. So, you you’ve you’ve got some decent young pieces, but like you you don’t have any of those guys that you kind of build your your team around long term type of thing. like you don’t have your Crosby’s, your Malcolans, your Latang on the blue line type of thing. Yeah, those of the future are not there yet. And even in the net, you know, Tristan Jarry leaves a decent bit to be desired. Backup Archer Celovs, who knows? He was incredible in the playoffs in the AHL last season with the Canucks, the Abbottzford Canucks, but anytime he went up to the NHL level, it didn’t work out for him. So, he might end the season in the AHL. He might end this season as the NHL starter. So, it’s hard to tell with him, but yeah, like there’s not a whole lot really to say with Pittsburgh. Like, you know, it’s kind of going to be the same with a lot of the teams that are that we’re talking about that are Well, actually, maybe not cuz like there’s some teams in like whoever finishes last in like the Atlantic’s not like a bad team. Whoever finishes last in the Pacific. Well, actually, maybe. Well, depends how Buffalo does, I guess. We already know I’m on the Buffalo A and so I wasn’t including Buffalo at the bottom. Um but yeah, with Pittsburgh again, you know, they’re kind of the only team that’s hard on the decline. You know, some teams are kind of like down, others are kind of slowly on the decline, but it’s a quick turnaround. Like Pittsburgh is going to have to do they’re expecting a down tear down rebuild. These guys are looking for a full rebuild. And you know what? Is your team gonna be good going forward? Not in the foreseeable future. Does the outlook look good? No, you also got to watch Crosby. You got to watch Malin. You got to watch Leang for their whole careers. Like, you also got three cups out. You got three cups. Yeah. Like, you know, I’m I’m fairly often saying that I don’t feel feel very bad for Red Wings fans going through this crappy time now because they had decades of playoff entries and cups and individual awards all over the place. Like I you have to suck for a solid decade for me to start feeling sorry for you. And you guys got to watch Crosby at his best all the way through. So yeah. And even when you when you watch. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. And he wants to stay, which is pretty cool. Like does it does it suck that you’re not going to get to bring in a new guy and rebuild the team a bit with that? Sure. But n 99 out of a 100red Penguins fans are going to say I’d rather have Crosby retire as a Penguins lifer. They wouldn’t trade it. 100% 100%. Yeah. Um I’d love to say Crosby wins an award this year. Uh like a major award. I I don’t see anyone on this team winning anything. I would love to be like Crosby, but it just not happening. Not Not now. You know what? I will throw in Crosby for the Selki if his defensive play is really good. He produces a lot. If they get a bit of a storyline going because you know how there’s always storylines, right? Some writer in early November will put out a thing saying, “Hey, this guy’s had really good numbers. Watch out for him.” And the rest of the year, everyone’s kind of watching them. And if his numbers look good enough when you search him up on Hockey DB, they’re like, “Yeah, I buy it. Sure.” Because yeah, but I tried to push the the Ovetchkin for the Ted Lindsay narrative last year and you said I was dumb for that. So he got a heart trophy vote, didn’t he? I don’t care about the heart. I had him picked for the Ted Lindsay. Yeah. Well, he can’t have that one. I don’t I don’t give two shits about the heart trophy. Um yeah, really for Pittsburgh and not not much to not much not not much to say. It’s it’s it’s going to be a tough year. Um, but again, hey, you know what? Again, like you said, Crosby, you got three cups out of them. Go watch your [ __ ] highlights. Exactly. Yeah. Uh, and last here to wrap up the Metro Division, we have none other than the Philadelphia Flyers. Um, if you’re good at math, if you’ve been listening all the way through and paying attention, you know how this is going to go. The Philadelphia Flyers in three, two, one, seven, six. Oh, I should all say Flyers did finish eighth in the uh in the division last year with 80 points. They were they were actually tied with Pittsburgh. So, they’re both at 80 points, but Pittsburgh gets a tiebreaker. Um but yeah, I got I got the Flyers finishing seventh this year. Um neck and neck with the Islanders, but again, like I said before, the Islanders just have that that go they the edge in the in goalending. Yeah, I I had the Flyers uh one above the Islanders just because, you know, they definitely do not have the edge in goalending, but they have better goalending than last year with looks like the tandem’s probably going to be Ursen and Vladar. And then they do have uh uh Fedatov in there. Uh if he can take a step, we’ll see if that happens, but maybe they’ve got a savior on the way in the crease. I don’t know. We’ll see. Carter Hart could show up. could see like that. If he shows up and plays like he did before he he was suspended and everything, this team looks a lot different all of a sudden. Huh. Yeah. If they have a if they have an elite or borderline elite goalie, all of a sudden it’s like, okay, cuz that forward core is is it cupwinning? No. Is it bad also? No. The defense is definitely leaves something to be desired, especially in depth. But, you know, they brought in Trevor Ziggress. That really helps the forward core. If that helps Jamie Ddale as well, if that just if just pure vibes and they’re not playing for Tortoella anymore. So, very true. Rick Rick Tocket hard coach, but that needs no Torella. Yeah. Like yeah, Tit is a lot of people say he’s like kind of the second biggest hard ass in the league only to Tordella, but you know, how often did we hear of Tet, you know, having issues with individual players, right? Like not much. Phil Kessle was getting traded out of Pittsburgh and they said, “Where do you want to go?” And he said, “I’m only going to Arizona because I I want to play for Rick Tocket.” Like Kle can love and play for Rick Titet. Anybody can. Yeah. Dude, there was mad several guys told him he couldn’t drink Coke on the bench and got pissed like if he can play for a Tucket, anybody can. Yeah. And and Vancouver loved him. The players loved him there. Yeah. So, if they can if they can bring those vibes in, you know, Sean Couturier can stay healthy and be back to bit of himself a little bit. They got guys like Mechov Zas I think is going to have a really good season. He was buried in depth in gonna be a good year for Zegris. Yeah, he was buried in depth over there and they he was playing for Cronin as well, a not great head coach over in the in Anaheim. So, I think he’s going to have a lot of opportunities. Kknney looked last year. I think Travis Kknney is one of the most underrated players in the league. I was just going to say the same about Owen Tippet. Like Owen Tippet super solid. They they could definitely use a little more center depth in having Noah Kates and Christian D’vorak as their second and third center, but not terrible. Maybe Ziggress is your your second line center. Yeah. And then you move maybe D’vorak to the third line center. Maybe even just the wing if you want to keep Noah Kates there as your third line center. Um cuz then you still got good piece like you’ve got Bobby Brink down there. Tyson Forester Deloreier is one of the toughest dudes in the league. Garnet Hathway in his own right is also up there. Like yeah, I don’t know who Rodrigo Abolles is on their fourth line listed here, but uh never heard of him. He’s got some real tough guys surrounding him, so that’s cool. Yeah, like that’s it’s got to make you feel a little bit bigger. I mean, Travis Sanheim, Beast, York, probably going to be way better without Rick Talk there. Jamie Drazdale like you mentioned probably, you know, a little bit better at least just based on the pure vibes of of Zegris being in town with him finally. Um Nick Nick Cer solid. Zamula solid. No Jolson, but that’s not including Bristolan in here. So true. It’s it’s it’s a decently good team. It’s the goalending that that scares me a bit. And the the the center depth is isn’t crazy. Um but again like if if Zegris is a 65 to 70 point guy, if Meechov’s point per game could back to full form, connecting doing his thing, Tippet, uh Sanheim, you know, Dresdale York, like this is a team that that could contend for a playoff spot. The goalending is the one air that I’m worried about. But like if they’re if the team is playing so undeniably good and the goalending is just [ __ ] them, Briier’s going to go out and he’s he’s going to go out and grab a goalie. He’s going to pull the trigger and make a move to go out and get someone because he’s not going to watch his team play great and bust their ass all year, but just get [ __ ] by bad goalending. Yeah, he’s he’s a pretty active GM that is always in the mix and everything. Um, which is kind of exciting to as a Flyers fan. So, if the team is playing good enough, but the goalending is not there, he will make the goalending better. Yeah. But if the team’s playing like ass and the goalending is playing like ass, he’s not going to do anything. He’s going to be like, you don’t need to. Let’s just let’s ride it out and maybe Carter Hart will get reinstate and he’ll come back or something. But if Carter Hart can’t come back, but the team’s playing good, he he would beef up the goalending if needed. Yeah, just for the sake of it, um, since we already saw earlier in the episode that, uh, Jacob Marstrom is on his last year of his current contract for the Devils, do you think they bring him back? The Devils? Yeah, I think if he plays good enough. Yeah, I thought he was phenomenal in the playoffs. He was their best player in the playoffs. And when he was healthy last year in the regular season, he was great, too. So, if they bring him back, they’ve already got Jake Allen on a great deal, locked up for another four or five years. I think he has a no trade as well. Then they they just got a guy like Nico Daw sitting there as an RFA just hanging out as a third stringer. He probably fits a timeline for a team like the Flyers. Real nice. Yeah. I don’t know what the trade would look like. Maybe a poke round in Buffalo. I mean, UPPL fits their timeline, but also Deon Levi does. You’ve got UPL signed long term. You’re you’re going to have to make a decision eventually there probably. Yeah. It’s also something to consider. So, you know, they got options. Yeah. And that’s all without a guy like Porter Marone, who I believe is committed to college this next season. Yeah. I think Michigan State, so something like that. And he’s gonna be phenomenal. Like he he’s he’s a Philly guy. He just screams Flyers hockey. Um yeah, man. I mean, the Flyers are are in a decent spot for a team that never really got that, you know, super super high um top end, you know, draft pick. Um they’ve managed to put together a pretty nice squad and they’ve had the luxury of, you know, Mechov falls to them, Marton falls to them. Like sometimes that’s all you need. You just need the the the third or second best prospect in the draft to fall to you at six or seven. Get it twice. Sometimes that’s all you need. Um and they do also have I do like that team. Random guy that I’m just going to shout out that’s down in their system as well. Uh Nikita Grabbankin looks like he might be pretty decent. I forgot that they picked him up at one point. Yeah, got him in the the Scott Lton deal. So So could could be something for them too. Yeah, they have a most teams have like too many centers that they’re forcing to play wing. This team has a lot of wingers, like just wingers that they need to learn center. So, you know, maybe this was like the absolute dream location for a guy like Zegris who kept getting shoved to the wing but wanted to play center. Like here, he’s going to be surrounded by wingers. So, yeah, that might be perfect for him. And also, uh, Zris, he is an RFA, but he is in a contract year. He’s due for an extension any time now, probably after the season once they show he shows what he does here. So, guys playing for their money always seem to perform better. It’s also very true. Most definitely. Um, awards, nothing here. Maybe Couturier, but again, I don’t see the offensive numbers being being high enough to compete with other guys in there. great defensively, but again, you you need the offensive numbers kind of in there. And like he’s he’s not going to put up more points than even Celli. Yeah. Right. And then that’s like, oh, then there’s Heir, Reinhardt, Barov, like Yeah. It’s it it’ll be tough for them to have anyone getting much uh consideration for it. Yeah. Yeah. Like it’s it’s too early and there’s nobody there’s nobody surrounding him to even say a guy like Meechov for anything. Yeah, maybe maybe in the future, you know, there’s lots of guys that got the [ __ ] Awards, but right now probably Yeah, as soon as next season they could even have a you know, Porterone could come in and he’ll be at least in the conversation for uh the Calder assumably, but yeah, sounds like he’s a guy that makes noise when when he when he shows up for sure. Um, but that is it for our 2025 26 Metropolitan Division preview. Um, yeah. I mean, if it might be the weakest division, which is crazy to say cuz I there’s a good chance that’s still the Pacific, but it’s very top. There’s a chance that it could it could be the Metro. Yeah. Yeah. Carolina, New Jersey, and Washington all looking real good. They got some middle guys like Columbus and the Rangers. And then uh Flyers Islanders Pittsburgh. They’re all uh pretty rough right now, but at least most of them are looking to get better and one of them had Crosby, so that’s pretty good, too. Yeah, exactly. Right. Um but that is it for this episode. Uh we hope you all enjoyed. If you want to talk hockey, if you want to let us know your thoughts on our picks, predictions, or anything like that, um you can do so through any of our socials. Links to all of our socials are in the description across all episodes, across all platforms and we have video. We are on YouTube. Um yeah, full on video. So if if you want to, you know, put some uh what’s the saying? Faces to the voice or voice to the face or some put name to the face or something. Yeah, put a face to the name. Something like that. Some [ __ ] like that. Um, we are on YouTube though and you know if you want to talk hockey there through the comments, you are more than welcome to do so and engage with other hockey fans, whatnot. But Braden, that is it for this episode. But before we go, I must ask you for your final thoughts. Final thoughts. Uh, what do you think? Do you think that Crosby has a chance at any hardware this season? Uh, I said he might be able to pull off a Selki if he has a really good year and gets a bit of a narrative going. Bundy doesn’t think so. Actually, also, no. Yeah, he of course he does. Okay. He’s He’s going to He’s going to win an award. He’s going to win something. Oh, gold medal at the Olympics. Oh, yes. I love it. There we go. So, right. So, he is he is winning something. Actually, he is winning something. He will have hardware. He will have hardware this season. I love it. Might be the last thing he wins in his career, but I mean, hey, that’s that’s not a bad thing to to win is your last thing. Yeah, before the the draft lottery if you count that as a win for him. Yeah, I think it would be. He gets to mentor the next generation, the next generational player. Um, but that is it for this episode. Once again, hope you all enjoyed and as always, we’ll see all of you lovely people out on the ice later this week.
We are officially on the road to the 2025-26 NHL season as we are now a month away from the regular season. Which means it is officially time for our divisional previews for the upcoming season. In this episode we are previewing the Metropolitan Division as we look at each team and give our thoughts on them heading into the upcoming season. So if you’re a fan of a team in the Metro then this episode is for you, and if you’re a crazy hockey fan in general then this episode is also for you.
Stick ‘Em Up Socials:
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/seuhockey/
Twitter – https://x.com/SEUHockey
TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@seuhockey
Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/@StickEmUpPodcast
Bluesky – https://bsky.app/profile/seuhockey.bsky.social
Chapters:
0:00:00 – Intro
0:02:35 – Washington
0:13:20 – Carolina
0:24:35 – New Jersey
0:38:00 – Columbus
0:46:50 – New York Rangers
0:56:10 – New York Islanders
1:06:35 – Pittsburgh
1:16:15 – Philadelphia
1:26:10 – Outro