We should not have done a podcast this week in hindsight. Operating on little sleep, Colby and Nick discuss the Arizona Coyotes new arena deal, NHL Olympic participation, the Carolina Hurricanes organization woes and more. Next week is a week off for the Down the Frozen River Podcast, so look forward to actually having to talk to your relatives on Thanksgiving instead of listening to us.
Tag: Arizona Coyotes
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November 4 – Day 23 – Friday nights have to improve soon… right?
It’s Friday!
Everybody’s getting off work, including most of the hockey players as there’s only six games going on this evening. The limited action finds its start at the usual time of 7 p.m. with Montréal visiting Columbus (RDS), followed half an hour later by Winnipeg at Detroit (NHLN/TVAS). When those games are complete, you can flip over to Arizona at Anaheim, which drops the puck at 10 p.m. All times eastern.
If the standings are any indicator, the most competitive game of the night should be taking place in Orange County, so we’ll head there.
While it is not major, one aspect of this game that does make it a touch more intriguing is the presence of Jamie McGinn. The left wing started last season in Buffalo, but was traded at the deadline to the Ducks to bolster their forward situation. He scored 39 total points all last season – the best season of his career – but only two in the postseason as Anaheim fell in the Western Conference Quarterfinals.
This off-season, he tested free agency to eventually sign with Arizona. Already this season McGinn has found the back of the net twice en route to a three-point campaign so far.
The addition of McGinn does not appear to be a major solution for the Coyotes, as they are the proud owners of a 4-6-0 record. In fact, goal scoring really hasn’t been the issue for the Coyotes as much as it has been their defense and goaltending.
Already this season in only 10 games played, Arizona has given up 37 goals, a total that exceeds the league average by 10 scores. That responsibility starts with the man between the pipes: Louis Domingue. Before last night’s shootout victory over Nashville, the 24-year-old goaltender had saved only 88.7% of the shots he’d faced for a 3.95 GAA – not numbers becoming an NHL starting goaltender, or at least one that will keep his job for long.
But he is far from the only one to take credit for the Coyotes‘ struggles. Before last night’s game, Arizona‘s goaltenders have been tasked with blocking 312 shots – approximately 35 per game. When the league average is a touch under 29, that’s a lot. Connor Murphy‘s 18 blocks have been good, but more skaters than him and Alex Goligoski need to contribute defensively.
Based on last year’s efforts, the team they’re facing tonight, the 4-5-2 Ducks, would be the perfect team to emulate, as Anaheim‘s 188 goals allowed last season was best in the NHL.
That was last year though. They’ve regressed to the mean so far this campaign, allowing 28 tallies after 11 games. John Gibson has a .911 save percentage to his credit, good for a 2.58 GAA. Gibson does have the luxury of Sami Vatanen playing in front of him, whose 26 blocks are tied for ninth-most in the league, but it could be argued that the top-two blockers for Arizona are doing better than Vatanen and Cam Fowler (13).
Some players to keep an eye on in tonight’s game include Anaheim‘s Gibson (one shutout [tied for sixth-most in the league]) and Arizona‘s Oliver Ekman-Larsson (five goals [leads the team]).
The Ducks are a solid favorite coming into this game with an impressive -208 associated with their name. With a line like that, it is probably unwise to pick against them.
Hockey Birthday
- Howie Meeker (1923-) – Although he is the lone surviving member of Toronto‘s 1947 Stanley Cup-winning team, playing hockey was just the beginning for the nine-year right winger. After a stint as the Leafs‘ coach, the right wing transitioned to the broadcast booth, announcing for Hockey Night in Canada for almost 30 years.
- Michel Therrien (1963-) – This is Therrien’s 11th season coaching in the NHL, and seventh with Montréal. He spent four seasons with Pittsburgh, including leading the Penguins to the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals. His replacement the following season, Dan Bylsma, finished the work Therrien started and led the Pens to their third title.
- Dustin Brown (1984-) – Drafted 13th overall by Los Angeles in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, Brown has spent his entire career with the Kings, already winning two Stanley Cups. Interestingly, although he was signed in 2013 to an eight-year contract, Brown was relieved of all captaincy duties this season after leading the team since 2008.
The Battle of the QEW usually favors the home team, but that was not the case in yesterday’s Game of the Day when Toronto beat Buffalo 2-1.
The Maple Leafs waited only 4:08 before scoring their first goal of the night. Second Star of the Game Mitchell Marner (Tyler Bozak and James van Riemsdyk) takes credit for the tally with a solid wrister. The lone score of the frame, Toronto took the 1-0 lead into the dressing room.
1:50 after returning to the ice, Marner struck again with an unassisted wrister to notch the eventual game-winner. It took that winning status only 4:08 later when Third Star Marcus Foligno (Johan Larsson and Sam Reinhart) buried a backhander to set the score at 2-1, the same score that held the remaining 34:02.
First Star Frederik Andersen saved 42-of-43 (97.7%) shots faced to earn the victory, while Robin Lehner falls after saving 27-of-29 (93.1%).
Toronto‘s first win in the DtFR Game of the Day series pulls the road squads within two points of the hosts, but the home team still has a winning 13-9-3 record.
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November 2 – Day 21 – Birds of Prey
As is usual for a Wednesday, we have a light schedule this evening. The action gets started at 7:30 p.m. when Vancouver heads to Montréal (RDS/SN), followed half an hour later by Detroit at Philadelphia (NBCSN/TVAS). Tonight’s nightcap, Pittsburgh at Anaheim (SN1), drops the puck at 10:30 p.m. All times eastern.
In addition to being separate by only three points in the league standings, a specific left wing returns to the Honda Center, where he made a quick pit stop last season before joining his current team.
Carl Hagelin started last season playing for Anaheim. He was drafted in the sixth round of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft by the Rangers, the team for whom he played for four seasons. Following the 2014-’15 season, the Swedish restricted free agent was traded to Anaheim for Emerson Etem and the draft pick that became Ryan Gropp.
It was a trade that simply did not work out for the Ducks. After scoring 130 points over four seasons with New York (.489 per game), he yielded only 12 points in 43 games played (.279 per game) with Anaheim.
Even though the Ducks had signed Hagelin to a four-year contract, he was dealt to Pittsburgh in exchange for Adam Clendening and David Perron, who are now with the Rangers and Blues, respectively.
Hagelin has since shined in Pittsburgh‘s system. In 46 regular season games with the club, he’s already notched 28 points – more than doubling his total in Anaheim with only a few more games played.
And that’s not to mention his efforts during the Penguins‘ Stanley Cup run. He notched 16 points during last season’s playoffs, including the eventual game-winner in Game 3 against Washington in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
So far this season, the 6-2-1 Pens continue their trend of being an offensive-minded team. Led by Evgeni Malkin‘s 10 points, they’ve scored 24 goals this season. Malkin deserves a lot of credit for stepping up – as he always does – while Sidney Crosby was sidelined, as his five goals lead the team.
Pittsburgh‘s true strength is that special subset of the offense: the power play. They’ve been successful on 26.5% of their attempts, the fourth-best rate in the league.
They visit a 4-4-2 Ducks squad that, for the second season in a row, is taking more time than they would like getting their skates under them. And just like last year, their goaltending is playing well to give the offense time to gel.
Before last night’s game in Los Angeles, John Gibson had a 3-3-2 record by virtue of saving 90.7% of the shots he faced for a 2.55 GAA.
Those numbers are far from incredible, but part of his problem is his skaters in front of him. He’s faced 205 shots in eight games, only 52 shots fewer than the average club has allowed to reach net. That sounds like the defense is doing a good job, but that doesn’t account for the 89 minutes that Gibson hasn’t had his mask on, and Jonathan Bernier and Dustin Tokarski have been just as peppered in their limited time. More blue-liners than Sami Vatanen will need to step up if the Ducks want to find success this season.
Some players to keep an eye on in tonight’s game include Anaheim‘s Ryan Getzlaf (eight points [leads the team]) and Pittsburgh‘s Marc-Andre Fleury (six wins [tied for second-most in the league]).
It looks like bets are off again this evening, so Vegas expects tonight’s game to be a good one. I think Pittsburgh‘s offense will be too much for the Ducks to handle to give the Pens a two-goal win.
Hockey Birthday
- Bill Mosienko (1921-1994) – 21 seconds is all this right wing needed to notch a hat trick, and he owns the NHL record for fastest to three goals. He played 14 seasons for Chicago, scoring 258 goals.
- Luke Schenn (1989-) – After four seasons in Philadelphia, Schenn joined Los Angeles last season at the deadline before signing with the Coyotes during this offseason. He notched his first assist of the season last night.
Mikkel Boedker‘s return to Gila River Arena was spoiled by the Coyotes, who won yesterday’s Game of the Day 3-2.
It was the Sharks who scored the lone goal in the first period, compliments of a Patrick Marleau (Melker Karlsson and Tomas Hertl) wrister. 5:53 later, they took their 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
3:42 after returning to the ice, Arizona drew even when Second Star of the Game Brad Richardson (Tobias Rieder and Luke Schenn) buried a backhander. 1:08 later, the Coyotes took the lead with Third Star Lawson Crouse‘s (Kevin Connauton and Ryan White) first goal of the season, a tip-in past Kevin Miller. The eventual game-winner was struck with 8:01 remaining in the second frame when Jamie McGinn (Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Alex Goligoski) pocketed a wrister. That goal set the score at 3-1 heading into the dressing room, favoring the Coyotes.
San Jose did too little too late. They waited to score until 12 seconds remained on the clock. After pulling Miller, Boedker (Joonas Donskoi and Hertl) scored a tip-in to set the score at 3-2, but the Sharks could not complete the comeback in the remaining time.
First Star Louis Domingue saved 39-of-41 shots faced (95.1%) to earn the victory, while Jones takes the loss after saving 27-of-30 (90%).
Arizona‘s win is the second-straight for the home teams in the DtFR Game of the Day series, setting the homers’ record at 13-7-3 with a six-point advantage over the visitors.
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November 1 – Day 20 – The Great Dane
We’re trying out our new DtFR mirror technology. I can only assume that a night with no hockey that aligned with the one night of the year when your neighbors give out free candy has you looking something like this.
Simmer down, kiddo.
Anyways, hockey’s one-day vacation has us feeling all types of withdrawals. Thank goodness we get a healthy serving of games today, starting with two at the usual time of 7 p.m. (St. Louis at the New York Rangers and Dallas at Columbus), followed half an hour later by four more (Boston at Florida [TVAS], Carolina at Ottawa [RDS2], Tampa Bay at the New York Islanders [NBCSN] and Edmonton at Toronto). 8 p.m. brings with it two puck drops (Buffalo at Minnesota and Washington at Winnipeg), with Calgary at Chicago trailing by 30 minutes. Nashville at Colorado finds its start at 9 p.m. At 10 p.m. the San Jose at Arizona (NBCSN) game starts, followed 1800 seconds later (that’s 30 minutes, guys) by Anaheim at Los Angeles, tonight’s nightcap. All times eastern.
Short list:
- Tampa Bay at New York: Last year, the Lightning defeated the Islanders in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in five games.
- San Jose at Arizona: Mikkel Boedker spent eight seasons in Glendale before being traded away to Colorado at the deadline last season.
- Anaheim at Los Angeles: You might have heard about this one. They call it the Freeway Face-Off. It’s kind of a big deal.
Eight seasons is a long time, and I don’t feel like we’ll have many reasons to go watch Arizona this season, so I’m drawn to the late game in the desert.
Danish right wing Boedker was drafted eighth overall in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft by the Coyotes. He jumped right into the league that season, scoring 11 goals under head coach Wayne Gretzky, which tied him for sixth-most on the squad.
Boedker’s best campaign with Arizona was in 2013-’14 when he tied Radim Vrbata for the second-most points on the team with 51. But, as has been par for the course for the Coyotes since 2011-’12, it did not yield any playoff action.
Last season, Boedker shed his brick red sweater for a burgundy Avalanche uniform after being traded on February 29. It was all for naught though, as Boedker found himself on the golf course following the regular season for his fourth season in a row.
This offseason he joined a San Jose Sharks who knows a little bit about the playoffs, coming off a Stanley Cup run that fell just a series short a season ago. He has little to show for his work on San Jose‘s second line, notching a lone goal.
The 6-3-0 Sharks have played a more defensive game this season, allowing only 21 goals against – three fewer than the league average. Martin Jones has a .916 save percentage for 2.15 GAA, but he is getting a lot of help from his defensive corps. Four skaters (Justin Braun, Brent Burns, Paul Martin and Joe Pavelski) have 15 or more blocks to their credit, and their efforts have resulted in only 25.2 shots against per game, the second-fewest shots against per game in the league.
The 2-6-0 Coyotes would have to be classified as an offensive club, due to the fact that they definitely don’t play defensive hockey. They’ve scored 24 goals this season – on par with the rest of the league – led by Brad Richardson‘s seven points. That being said, it is Oliver Ekman-Larsson getting a lot of the accolades with a team-leading five goals to his credit.
Some players to keep an eye on in tonight’s game include Arizona‘s Max Domi (six assists [leads the team]), Ekman-Larsson (five goals [leads the team]) and Richardson (seven points [leads the team]) & San Jose‘s Burns (seven assists [tied for third-most in the league]), Jones (five wins [tied for third-most in the NHL]), Pavelski (11 points [tied for third-most in the league] on seven assists [tied for third-most in the NHL]) and Joe Thornton (seven assists [tied for third-most in the league]).
Vegas marks Arizona with a +150 in almost every book, meaning that the Sharks are favored.
I’d say that’s a very safe bet.
Hockey Birthday:
- Al Arbour (1932-2015) – Arbour won eight total Stanley Cups: four as a player (two of which were with Toronto) and four in a row as head coach of the New York Islanders.
- Phil Myre (1948-) – This goaltender played 14 seasons in the NHL for six different teams. Four years after being drafted fifth overall in the 1966 NHL Entry Draft, he was on the 1970-’71 Montréal Stanley Cup winning team .
- Tie Domi (1969-) – A right wing that played 16 NHL seasons as an enforcer, Domi is most remembered for his 11 campaigns in Toronto. Maybe son Max will give him a goal for his birthday.
- Matt Moulson (1983-) – This left wing is in his third season with Buffalo. Two seasons ago he struck 41 points, the second-best effort on the squad that year.
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Sick Hands Sunday – Brayden Schenn and Devan Dubnyk Capture This Weeks Crown With Dominate Preformance’s.
Hello, folks, I’m back at it again with another “SHS” article and I can’t wait to get another article out for the week to the fans out there! This week I have some exciting news for everyone as I am changing up the way I do the weekly article! So as everyone knows the point of the article is to recap and point out the hot player of the week. Well, I thought the goalies should start getting some love too! So I am going to test out the waters and see how this week goes with the goalies added as well!
Schenn skates to the puck in the corner. (Yong Kim / Staff File Photo) This week for the forward part of the article it wasn’t as tight as a competition but it was close. In fact, the two players I narrowed it down to are from the same place, the KeyStone State! Penguins winger Phil “The Thrill”Kessel who notched six points (1G, 5A) in just three games and Flyers center Brayden Schenn who tallied six points as well (2G, 4A) in four games. There were also a whopping eight players tied with five points for second in the week but there are too many to list down below.
I decided to go with Flyers center Brayden Schenn because he dominated all week and couldn’t be stopped. His first game of the week against Montreal he was held off the scoresheet in a tight 2-1 loss but was very effective in the game registering 5 hits. His next game versus the Sabres at home he registered one goal and one assist (both power goals and assists) on three shots on net in a 4-3 come from behind shootout win. Schenn scored the second goal of the game on a beautiful one-timer from the left-hand face off dot. He received a beauty of a saucer pass from Claude Giroux and blasted the shot past Nilsson to bring the Flyers back to 3-2. You can see his highlights down below:
Schenn’s next game in a heartbreaking 5-4 loss to Arizona he, once again, tallied a goal and two assists in a monster game that they should’ve won. He had another power play goal and an assist on 3 shots to the net. Schenn was able to find the puck and put it in the back of the net after finding the loose puck sitting in the slot, diving for it, and poking it in to tie the game at 2 goals apiece. Unfortunately, the Flyers were unable to pull off the win but Schenn had another great night! You can see his highlight down below:
With Schenn’s last game being against the all mighty rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins, you know he and the fans are all wishing for a win. Regretfully, they started out strong but fell 5-4 in the end. Schenn ended with an assist (which you can see down below) which was amazing! Schenn grabbed the puck in front of the net, and of balance, practically almost falling down was able to dish a no-look behind the back pass to a streaking linemate Wayne Simmonds for the tap in goal! As you can see this play took a lot of skill and capped off why I picked Schenn as this weeks Sick Hands Sunday Winner!
Now for the first week of the goaltending section! This week was extremely hard to choose but I was able to narrow it down to three goalies. Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk went 3-0 not allowing a single goal on 94 shots and shut out every team in all three games he started this week against Boston, Buffalo, and Dallas. Obviously, he finished with a 0.00 GAA and 1.000 SV%. Edmonton goalie Cam Talbot also went 3-0 and only allowed one goal on 92 shots against Winnipeg, Washington, and Vancouver. He finished with a .989 SV% and 0.33 GAA. Last but not least, the last goalie I chose was the Blues’ Jake Allen who played 2-1 (one loss in a shootout) also giving up one goal on 54 shots against Detroit, Los Angeles, and Calgary. He finished with a .981 SV% and a 0.48 GAA. As you can clearly see, this is extremely tough to pick because all three goalies played amazing through the whole week.
Devan Dubnyk looks on during the action in his zone. (AP Photo/Jeffery T. Barnes) I decided to go with Mr. Devan Dubnyk simply because of his last three starts, yes you heard me right, all three starts have been shutouts! A 27 save shutout vs Boston (away), then a 38 save shutout vs Buffalo (away), and a 29 save shutout vs Dallas (home). To have two of those shutouts away from home is very hard and he was able to pull it off with ease, so it was easy to nominate him as my goalie winner for the week.
The Honorable Mention goes out to Phil Kessel and Cam Talbot. They both had killer weeks but couldn’t come out on top! I will see you guys next Sunday for another recap of the best player of the week! (P.S. Thanks for Sons of Pens’ Twitter for the GIFS!)
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2016-2017 Projections- ARI and BOS
By: Nick Lanciani
Below are my projections for both the Boston Bruins and Arizona Coyotes as they were before either team played a game (I know the season started already, but I didn’t have enough time in a day to compile all of these exactly as I wanted to because I’m a perfectionist). So without further ado, here are some projected stats.
Keep in mind, every stat is based off of a player’s entire career and may not reflect well with the other stats projected for this current season (a.k.a. goals + assists might not equal the number of points shown in the points category), because again, each stat is forecasted individually.
Italics indicates a player currently with their respective AHL affiliate. Underlined player stats indicate a player on the IR (which, admittedly, I’ll do my best to keep up with, but might not have perfect every time, so forgive me if I mistakenly label an injury or fail to label one entirely).
Also, I don’t mess with predicting anything for rookies until they’ve played a few NHL games, so if you’re looking for how well one of them will do for your team here, sorry. Unlike last season, I won’t be able to update everything after every 10 games, but I’ll try my best to keep things updated after every 20 games (or so). At the very least, I’ll be sure to update things halfway through the season (41 games) on this page and whenever I get around to it for individual player’s based on their performance on Twitter (as exhibited by my Brad Marchand and David Backes related tweets below from Thursday night).
Likewise, I might add more Corsi projections than just Corsi for%.
Arizona Coyotes Projections- Game 0 of 82
Coyotes forwards
Coyotes goalies
Corsi for% projections for Arizona roster skaters
*indicates that the current projection is regarded as unreliable based on previous career performance (in other words, it’s an outlier)
Boston Bruins Projections- Game 0 of 82
Bruins forwards
Bruins goalies
Corsi for% projections for Boston roster skaters
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Realistic Predictions for the 2016-2017 Season
By: Nick Lanciani
Anaheim Ducks
The Anaheim Ducks added Jared Boll in the offseason to help bolster Team USA’s heart and grit rating at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Oh wait. Anaheim also brought back Randy Carlyle as head coach.So basically it’ll be Throwback Thursday everyday this season for the Ducks, since it’ll be ten years since their 2007 Stanley Cup championship with Carlyle and crew. Why not bring back the maroon and jade uniforms while we’re at it?
Arizona Coyotes
Youth is not just prevalent on the Arizona Coyotes roster this season, but in their front office as well, as 27-year-old, John Chayka, was hired as the youngest GM in NHL history.Max Domi and Anthony Duclair do all they can to convince Shane Doan to become the next Jaromir Jagr and maybe then we can start talking about a potential Cup run for the Coyotes. A plethora of defensemen fight for six roster spots and are narrowed down throughout the season, Hunger Games style.
Boston Bruins
Big and Bad are Backes. Wait, that’s not it. The Boston Bruins added David Backes, Riley Nash and Dominic Moore to their group of forwards this offseason all while seeming to forget that they still need another top-4 defenseman (let alone an entire defense).Like most years of Boston sports (okay, with the exception of the last fifteen years), the Bruins will probably narrowly miss the playoffs again, much to the dismay of their hardcore fan base that still goes to every game like it’s their job. Or am I confusing them with the guys on the roster? At least 63 + 37 = 100.
Buffalo Sabres
So the Buffalo Sabres look to do things this year. That’s a thing, I’m pretty sure. Major loss? Chad Johnson left the team via free agency and went to Calgary. Major gains?They brought in Kyle Okposo and everything else remained pretty much the same, so they should probably be on the outside looking in again, unless they become the new Ottawa Senators (forged by youth and a backup goalie that takes over from February through their early first round playoff exit in April).
All kidding aside, the Sabres remain hopeful. Meanwhile, Rasmus Ristolainen finally got paid (at a discount, none the less— Flo from Progressive would be happy).
Calgary Flames
What did the Calgary Flames do this offseason? They got some goaltending. Brian Elliott was acquired via a trade with St. Louis and Chad Johnson came over from Buffalo in free agency, so that’s two new goalies for a total of about half as many goalies that the Philadelphia Flyers have played in the last twenty years (though Calgary is starting to catch up).Johnny Gaudreau is still unsigned, so that could be problematic, since he’s like, Calgary’s entire offense. At least, that’s what the fake Kanye West account told me— just kidding, he finally signed the other day. Given the state of the Western Conference, it’s safe to say they won’t be flaming their competition in the standings.
Carolina Hurricanes
Biggest additions: Lee Stempniak, Viktor Stalberg and Teuvo Teravainen (so basically just Teravainen, if you’re playing along with the rebuild at home). Matt Tennyson was also brought in on the blue line via free agency from San Jose, so there’s that.Hurricanes fans, take solace in the fact that the Columbus Blue Jackets exist in your division, because at least Carolina won’t finish last with an improved New Jersey Devils team (minus their defense) looking to jump ahead of the Hurricanes in the standings.
Chicago Blackhawks
2013, 2015— shoot, this year’s Stanley Cup Final is in an odd numbered year, isn’t it? Well, forget all of the season predictions, congrats to the Chicago Blackhawks. They’ll probably just insert some prospect alongside Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, Artemi Panarin, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook or someone and be fine.I mean, that’s been the formula since 2010 anyway. Win the Cup, trade a bunch of people because of the salary cap over the next offseason or two, win the Cup again and do it all over again. The only problem is, the Blackhawks have got the toughest division, so they’ll probably still make the playoffs, at least.
Colorado Avalanche
The Colorado Avalanche added two Bourques to their team (Gabriel Bourque and Rene Bourque) so they’re obviously hoping to double their efforts of their 2001 Stanley Cup championship with legendary defenseman Ray Bourque. What’s that? They’re not related? Nice try Joe Sakic.While the Av’s were perfect in the preseason, sadly none of it counted and they’ll start 0-0-0 just like everybody else. New head coach, Jared Bednar, won’t be dismantling any stanchions this year, so that’s good news, glass between the benches at Pepsi Center.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Zach Werenski made the team, so now they’ll have a defense. Oh, sorry, didn’t you there Ryan Murray, Seth Jones and Jack Johnson. But all kidding aside, these guys just need to stay healthy— I’m looking at you Sergei Bobrovsky.Their group of forwards kind of have it going on. But sadly, this isn’t the year for the Columbus Blue Jackets, unlike the rest of the teams in Ohio it seems. Also, how it is possible for Werenski, a player from Michigan University, to not get run out of Ohio? I’ll wait.
Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars have the same goaltending tandem of Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi, the same core group of forwards primarily in Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn and an improved defense with the loss of Kris Russell.Somehow every year, this band of veterans impresses the hockey world by combatting speed and skill with heart and grit (minus some of the grit). But just like last year, they probably still won’t figure it out in the playoffs between their two goaltenders and fail miserably (in the eyes of Stars fans).
Detroit Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings added Steve Ott (grit), Thomas Vanek (heart) and Frans Nielsen (actually, kind of good), this offseason to their group of forwards that doesn’t include Pavel Datsyuk for the first time in like, forever.Datsyuk was traded to Arizona at the draft after he announced his retirement from the NHL to go play in the KHL back home before ultimately wrapping up his professional hockey career. And with that, so ends the Red Wings playoff appearance streak this season. But at least Petr Mrazek will be their number one goalie, right?
Edmonton Oilers
Rogers Place looks pretty cool. Milan Lucic Bruinsinizes the team. Peter Chiarelli traded Taylor Hall to the New Jersey Devils for Adam Larsson. And that is all. Just kidding, Chiarelli also traded Nail Yakupov to the St. Louis Blues for practically nothing (so just like the Hall trade).Connor McDavid was named captain and the team got worse. Kris Russell was added to the defense and Eric Gryba was not re-signed, then PTO’ed, then signed to a new deal with Edmonton, then probably placed on waivers. Sounds like things are business as usual for the Oilers.
Florida Panthers
James Reimer signed as the backup goaltender to Roberto Luongo for the Florida Panthers this offseason, so if you’re a fan of the 2013 Toronto Maple Leafs or 2011 Vancouver Canucks, maybe Florida is your team (until games actually matter in the playoffs).Jason Demers and Keith Yandle were two major additions to the Panthers blue line, while they managed to finagle Jared McCann out of Vancouver in exchange for Erik Gudbranson. So basically, the Panthers are poised to dominate the Atlantic Division once again in the regular season. Can I get a Jaromir Jagr for the Hart Trophy to with it?
Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings most recently added Devin Setoguchi to their batch of forwards, so that summarizes everything about their offseason. Props to Setoguchi for making a comeback in the NHL. Shouts to the Kings for having a cool arena by the way. I stopped by there in August.Drew Doughty, Jonathan Quick and Anze Kopitar all won awards last season, so that should have some indication of how they’ll do this season. They’ll probably make the Western Conference Final and have to play the Chicago Blackhawks again, won’t they?
Minnesota Wild
The Minnesota Wild added Eric Staal to their roster this offseason and most recently (and more important than Staal), Teemu Pulkkinen.Chris Stewart returned to the Wild organization after a trip around the league (or so it seemed) and everything else pretty much remained the same.
So if you’re a Minnesota fan, first, good luck surviving the winter (as usual). Second, nobody knows how the Vikings are doing it, but they’re doing it. And third, the Wild aren’t going to be that great this season, so pick one of the first two options to bandwagon, if you would please.
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens traded P.K. Subban. That is all.But seriously, how could you, Montreal? Other than that, Alexander Radulov, Andrew Shaw and Shea Weber are all part of the team now, while Carey Price will miss the first game with the flu and Mike Condon got claimed off waivers by Pittsburgh. Looks like the team’s all yours, Al Montoya.
Nashville Predators
The Nashville Predators acquired P.K. Subban this offseason. What were the Montreal Canadiens thinking?The Preds are letting their forwards develop and made their defense significantly better by getting rid of Shea Weber for Subban. Now if only Pekka Rinne would return to vintage Pekka Rinne form, then this could the year for Nashville. Then again, they’re in the same division as Chicago in an odd numbered playoff year, so…
New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils restructured their forwards with the additions of Taylor Hall, Beau Bennett, Vernon Fiddler and P.A. Parenteau, but they still lack a defense (mostly). Brandon Gormley, Ben Lovejoy and Kyle Quincey are notable (somewhat) additions to the blue line in the Garden State.Andy Greene remains one of the strangest trivia questions when someone asks you “who is the current captain of the Devils?” And Cory Schneider is still a highly underrated goaltender that somehow manages to survive without a team in front of him. But at least New Jersey is gearing up for the underdog of the year status.
New York Islanders
The New York Islanders added a lot of veteran presence to their noticeably Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum-less organization (yes, I took a shot at Barclays Center, there). Jason Chimera, Andrew Ladd and Dennis Seidenberg are now members of the Islanders and well, at least Seidenberg’s contract is only for a year.As long as Jaroslav Halak plays like he did at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey (minus the final loss to Canada) and stays healthy, John Tavares and crew could lead this team further in the playoffs than in recent memory. Time may be winding down on their Cup contention clock, since Tavares is looking for an extension and well, everyone else on their roster is getting older.
New York Rangers
If winning the Jimmy Vesey sweepstakes counts for anything than the New York Rangers are winners. But they probably won’t be winners of much this season. Granted, they could make a playoff run (or miss it altogether), the same tune rings true, Henrik Lundqvist cannot be a team on his own.Josh Jooris and Mika Zibanejad are big name additions to the offense. Okay, so they’re just names added to the roster. Nick Holden is new to the Blueshirts blue line and well, they’re still an aging defense. Best of luck to the youth in the New York, like Vesey, Jesper Fast, Oscar Lindberg, Kevin Hayes and others for getting to play more than one position this year on the same shift.
Ottawa Senators
Chris Kelly is back with the Ottawa Senators this season after playing 11 games last year with the Boston Bruins and recovering from a broken femur. Derick Brassard was acquired from the Rangers in exchange for Mika Zibanejad and Bobby Ryan switched his number from 6 to 9 (get your mind out of the gutter, Internet).Otherwise, the Senators remain virtually the same. On the outside looking in, but probably raising a few eyebrows for their late season surge. They’re still waiting on their youth, which is at least working better than it is for their counterparts in Ontario, the Toronto Maple Leafs (who, although contrary to popular belief, might actually be better this year).
Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers already appear to be in midseason form, what with Radko Gudas‘s six-game suspension and their apparent preference for Steve Mason as their number one goalie, as usual.Boyd Gordon and Dale Weise are additions (though, can you really call them that?) and Travis Konecny and Ivan Provorov made the team from training camp (and the last couple of years of drafting), so the Flyers appear to be a middle of the pack team again this year.
Additionally, they’ll face off with the Pittsburgh Penguins in this season’s Coors Light NHL Stadium Series game at Heinz Field on February 25, 2017 as part of the league’s 50th season celebration of the 1967 expansion. So yeah, that’s all I got for Philadelphia.
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins have virtually the same team from Game 6 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Final and look to defend their championship title without Sidney Crosby for at least game one of an 82 game regular season schedule.New goaltender, Mike Condon, could make things interesting when comes time to decide between Marc-Andre Fleury and Matt Murray before the 2017 expansion draft, since he could likely become Murray’s backup.
San Jose Sharks
Just like the Penguins, the San Jose Sharks roster remains virtually untouched since their loss in Game 6 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Final, which kind of makes you wonder, did anyone remember that there was an offseason?Matt Tennyson jettisoned to Carolina (I was dying to juxtaposition those words), where he was now sent down to the Charlotte Checkers. Roman Polak went back to Toronto and honestly, that was probably for the better for San Jose. Aaron Dell is the new backup to Martin Jones and would someone just let Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau win a Cup this year? I mean, if Phil Kessel can, then surely those guys can too.
St. Louis Blues
The St. Louis Blues will be consciously uncoupling with Ken Hitchcock at the end of the season in his farewell to coaching tour. Mike Yeo has already been named as his replacement and has begun barking out orders at practice, similar to his meltdown in Minnesota (though I have not confirmed that).They lost David Backes to free agency, because the salary cap exists and good luck to the front office in St. Louis to try figure that one out in the next few years. Meanwhile they added Nail Yakupov for virtually nothing, though in their defense, they already had their own Yakupov in Magnus Paajarvi on their roster, so maybe this time they can make it work.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Nikita Kucherov and the Tampa Bay Lightning finally agreed to a three year bridge deal extension, so Lightning fans rejoice, your fountain of youth is still intact for now. Steven Stamkos stuck around for eight more years and GM Steve Yzerman can now take the next six months off until the playoffs when he has to start worrying about how far his team will go and what to do with Ben Bishop and Andrei Vasilevskiy.The Bolts look like geniuses here, for having developed their players well over the last few seasons and will more than likely dominant the Atlantic Division with their in-state rivals, the Florida Panthers. Sadly, Tampa probably won’t win the Cup because the Blackhawks exist and that whole 2013, 2015, 20??? pattern exists.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Auston Matthews.(Colby told me to just write that. I think it works).
Vancouver Canucks
Loui Eriksson joined fellow Swedes, Daniel and Henrik Sedin in Vancouver this offseason. So in other news, Team Sweden, feel free to send the Canucks some of your jerseys, because after looking at the rest of the roster, I’m sure they don’t want to be associated with whatever Vancouver’s front office is doing.Vancouver added Erik Gudbranson. At the cost of Jared McCann to the Florida Panthers. Actually, from the sound of it, it wasn’t a cost at all. The Canucks hate youths. Millennials ruin everything. Best of luck to you Ryan Miller and Jacob Markstrom.
Washington Capitals
The Washington Capitals acquired Lars Eller this offseason, so that’s good, but they also signed Brett Connolly via free agency (so that’s bad). But let’s be honest, the Capitals will probably make the former 6th overall pick better than he’s ever been. Or at least playing on a line with Alex Ovechkin, T.J. Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov or Nicklas Backstrom will probably help with that.So basically, the outlook for Washington is this: they’re a good team, they’ll do well, Braden Holtby is elite and they’ll win a lot. Maybe a Cup run is in their future.
Winnipeg Jets
Patrik Laine was selected 2nd overall at this year’s draft by the Winnipeg Jets, Blake Wheeler was named captain and Winnipeg finally moved on from Ondrej Pavelec (by sending him to Manitoba).What’s that? Jacob Trouba is still a RFA? He wants to be TRADED? Forget all of the good storylines going for the Jets, the Trouba dilemma overshadows everything especially after Rasmus Ristolainen re-signed with the Sabres and began the end of the stare down between Ristolainen, Hampus Lindholm and Trouba as to which RFA defenseman would make a move first. So Kevin Cheveldayoff, who are you going to trade Trouba to? Asking for a friend. No, but seriously, he doesn’t want to miss playing time.
*Honorable mention* Las Vegas _____ Knights
Honestly, somebody just name the team already. I want to start working on coming up with a uniform in NHL 17’s Franchise Mode for you, Bill Foley.
President’s Trophy Winner
If you’re Canadian, this doesn’t matter. If you’re American, good luck. Oh, you meant the President’s Trophy, as in “the team with the best record at the end of the regular season in the NHL”? Well, probably can’t go wrong with the Washington Capitals for that one, unlike their other Washington counterparts that have marred records.
1st Place in the Atlantic Division at season’s end– Florida Panthers or Tampa Bay Lightning, basically the entire state of Florida
One of the teams in Florida will win the Atlantic Division, that’s really all I know.
1st Place in the Metropolitan Division at season’s end– Pittsburgh Penguins
It’s no cakewalk, but Matt Murray and Marc-Andre Fleury live up to that “two is better than one” mantra (sorry Jaroslav Halak and Thomas Greiss).
1st Place in the Central Division at season’s end– Nashville Predators
It doesn’t really matter who clinches the Central Division this season because they’re still going to lose in the 2nd or 3rd round of the playoffs.
1st Place in the Pacific Division at season’s end– Los Angeles Kings
Winning the division isn’t everything. Just ask the 2015-2016 Anaheim Ducks and the late 2000s/early 2010s San Jose Sharks. Unfortunately what this means for Los Angeles is that they’ll be out in seven games in the first round.
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Forever Archived 2015-2016 Stats
By: Nick Lanciani
So I’m in the process of changing up how I’ll present some projected stats this season and moving forward (for now, at least). Having said that, there’ll be a few changes to the way this page works. For starters, it’s no longer a page, technically speaking, but I’m sure you don’t want to be bored with website construction stuff. This season I will be tracking two teams, the Boston Bruins (predictably) and the Arizona Coyotes (because they follow us on Twitter, so it’s like we’re best friends and I’m doing them a favor). Also, if John Chayka sees this, then maybe he should hire me. Please. Someone. Hello?
With the increasingly large swath of data that I have to trudge through and the many things I have going on in life currently (like looking at Corsi Twitter data for a content analysis using grounded theory— you bet it’s a lot of fun), it’s looking like I will only be able to update the projections after every 20 games or so, instead of after every 10 games. I’d love to project stats for every player in the NHL someday, but alas…
I’ve already completed projections for one of the two teams mentioned above and will be finishing the other team up by the weekend, so I’ll retroactively post how both teams are supposed to perform this season after the first couple of games have been played.
For now, I’ll leave you all with a memory of the golden days of how I did things just last season.
How I used to run my projected stats…
Using Microsoft Excel I display just how much I don’t have a life on this page. After every ten games or so, I update my projections for every player currently on the Boston Bruins, compile the results on one document, and then display my findings here for you to determine if someone’s doing well or not. As an armchair GM you can always wish that someone would get traded, but maybe now you’ll have something to back those demands up.
I would have tried to compile projections for every team in the NHL this season, however, I simply do not have enough of time currently to commit to that. Hopefully sometime this summer I’ll have a few more teams up here.
I will update the Bruins projections after every ten games and leave all of my findings for your viewing pleasure and so you can make your own analysis as the season progresses.
(Just click on the chart for slightly improved quality).
2015-2016 Season Projections
Boston Bruins Projections After 80 of 82 Games Played
Boston Bruins Projections After 70 of 82 Games Played
Boston Bruins Projections After 60 of 82 Games Played
Boston Bruins Projections After 50 of 82 Games Played
(my data after 50 games played deleted itself :,( sorry for the inconvenience)
Boston Bruins Projections After 40 of 82 Games Played
Boston Bruins Projections After 30 of 82 Games Played
Boston Bruins Projections After 20 of 82 Games Played
Boston Bruins Projections After 10 of 82 Games Played
Boston Bruins Projections Before the Start of the 2015-2016 Season
All career numbers are taken into account in the determination of the projected outcome. In determining projected Corsi for% I average the player’s current Corsi for% with their remaining projected Corsi for%. For S%, I average a player’s current shooting percentage with their remaining S% projection, therefore, the S% typically will not reflect what one would get from dividing the projected goal total from the projected shot total for each player.
Players listed in italics are currently in the AHL with the Providence Bruins. A player that is currently on the injured reserve is reflected by an underline and an “IR” notation in the Games Played column. For players that have yet to play an NHL game with the Bruins this season, I made my best projections based on their career statistics and if they happened to miraculously play in all of the remaining games this season for Boston.
Also, please note that for goaltenders in this chart, I have not determined how to reflect projections accurately- other than basing all numbers on if the goalie played in every game remaining in the season. For a more accurate representation, I anticipate to use similar playing time from the 2014-2015 season to project the 2015-2016 season sometime, however I am in the process of transitioning all goalie stats to another page on this site.
And finally, the numbers for goalies probably won’t always add up right (if you’re analyzing the numbers that much), because again, I haven’t learned how to predict the unpredictable- goalies are weird anyways. Until I figure out how to deal with goaltenders in their own special way, I have a rather generic preview of how they might do.
As I mentioned above, I’m in the process of transitioning Nick’s Net into a page dedicated to goalie stats and projections for every goalie in the NHL, so I might just pull all goalie notes from this page in the near future.
– Nick Lanciani
P.S. For a look at the process, here’s a glimpse of the Excel spreadsheet I work with.
*Corsi% denotes Corsi for%
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Down the Frozen River Podcast #37- 2016-2017 Season Preview: Metropolitan Division
The Down the Frozen River crew fills you in on all of the biggest offseason moves in the Metropolitan Division and previews how each team in the division will do in the upcoming 2016-2017 season. Also discussed, Zach Boychuk and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey Final thoughts.
We recorded this on Friday and Monday, due to scheduling and technology issues, so Boychuk got released from his PTO with the Arizona Coyotes in the meantime. We’re all upset by that, but maybe now the prodigal son can return to the Charlotte Checkers (please sign him guys) and/or hang out with us in Charlotte. Hit us up, Mr. Boychuk.
Join Colby, Frank and Nick as they discuss several of the Metropolitan Division’s offseason’s biggest acquisitions and other tidbits of information. As always, stayed tuned for weekly coverage of the latest news and notes around the NHL every week on the Down the Frozen River Podcast.
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Down the Frozen River Podcast #36- 2016-2017 Season Preview: Pacific Division
The Down the Frozen River crew fills you in on all of the biggest offseason moves in the Pacific Division and previews how each team in the division will do in the upcoming 2016-2017 season. Also discussed, a general disgust for Team USA’s World Cup exit and who the crew thinks will make the Championship game.
Join Colby, Connor, Frank and Nick as they discuss several of the Pacific Division’s offseason’s biggest acquisitions and other tidbits of information. As always, stayed tuned for weekly coverage of the latest news and notes around the NHL every week on the Down the Frozen River Podcast.
Down the Frozen River 
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