It Is Important for the Washington Capitals to Start the Second-Half strong

The Washington Capitals have not played a game since last Wednesday night on the road and they lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-3. Washington is currently on a seven-game losing streak. It will be very important for them to end that skid on Friday night at home against the Calgary Flames.

It will be a start of a six-game home stand for the Capitals. Alex Ovechkin will not be available on Friday night because he missed the NHL All-Star Game in San Jose this past weekend due to rest and he has to serve a one-game suspension because of it. Ovechkin has scored 37 goals and recorded 20 assists, in 50 games so far this season. His plus/minus is 9.

This team doesn’t need to continue limping. They have been limping long enough. Of course teams have had cold stretches throughout the regular season, but the Capitals are the defending Stanley Cup Champions and I don’t remember them having bad spells when Barry Trotz was coaching the team the last four seasons before he left due to internal reasons.

Todd Reidren isn’t doing a bad job in his first year as Washington Capitals Head Coach. He has them in second place in the Metropolitan Division with a 27-17-6 record with 60 points. Washington has scored 171 goals so far this season and they have given up 162 goals.

The Capitals are three points behind the New York Islanders for first place in the Metropolitan Division. Barry Trotz is in his first season as New York’s head coach and he is doing wonders with that roster. Trotz doesn’t have a lot to work with and he is making the most out of it.

Washington is just one point ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets and two points ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The truth of the matter is if you are the Washington Capitals, it is very vital for this team to get off to a strong start to the second-half. If they continue to slide, there will be questions as to whether or not this team is suffering from a Stanley Cup hangover.

This team has a lot of players that was on last year’s team. Washington needs to make a trade or two anyways. This team needs another depth scorer.

The first two lines are very good, but the third and fourth lines have been average to below average for this team. Andre Burakovsky has been underachieving this season and it is possible the Washington Capitals could very well trade him at the trade deadline on Monday, February 25.

In 44 games so far this season, he has scored six goals and recorded six assists. His plus/minus is -5.

Depth play will be a big role for this team heading into the second-half of the season. Alex Ovechkin, John Carlson, Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Jakub Vrana, and T.J. Oshie will show up night in and night out.

It is up to the other players to see how far they will go. The defense is also inconsistent and they miss Christian Djoos on the back end. He needed surgery on his left thigh several weeks ago. Djoos has played in 28 games so far this season and he has recorded four assists. His plus/minus is 6.

This is going to be an interesting second-half for the Washington Capitals. They should be back in the postseason for the fifth consecutive season but we will see.

 

– Glenn Kaplan, WTF Sports Intern

 

 

2019 NHL All-Star Game Recap

The San Jose Sharks hosted the 2019 All-Star game and it was chomptastic. It was the NHL’s fourth year doing the 3 on 3   style tournament. The games are two, 10 minute half’s, with a small break in the middle. Coming into this All-Star tourney, the Pacific won in 2016 and 2018 and the Metropolitan won in 2017. The winning division each year gets one million dollars. Now even though that money is on the line, the teams only put forth less than half of an actual game effort, mainly because they don’t want to get hurt. Even with this type of effort, it’s still fun to watch the games best go at it and show off their skills, in front of the passionate, NHL fans.

The first matchup was the Pacific vs the Central. Now the Pacific has a strong foundation of goal scorers, but the goaltending can be hit and miss sometimes, and it showed early. John Gibson from the Anaheim Ducks got the first half start for the Pacific and he was duck roasted early. The Central was up 7-1 halfway through the game and it was pretty much done after that, thanks to some great goaltending from Devan Dubnyk and Pekka Rinne. Also, the Colorado Avalanches Gabriel Landeskog led the way with three goals and one assist. San Jose had their own Sharks line of Joe Pavelski, Brent Burns, and Erik Karlsson, and they produced most of the scoring chances for the team, but it came when the game was out of reach. Karlsson scored twice and almost got a hat trick, but came up short. Central won the game 10-4 and beat the Pacific for the first time in four tries.

The second matchup was the Metropolitan vs the Atlantic. This game was pretty even for both halfs and showed some amazing goaltending at times. Henrik Lundqvist showed why he is called King Henrik and Andrei Vasilevskiy put up a good show for the Atlantic at times. Of course it was the Pittsburgh Penguins duo of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin that put the Metro through to the final game. Crosby had two goals and one assist and Malkin put up one goal and one assist. The Metropolitan pulled away late and won 7-4.

The final matchup was between the Central and Metropolitan. This matchup was like the Pacific vs Central duel because the game was over early. The Metro was up 5-0 at the end of the first half and it was once again thanks to some good play by the Penguins, and King Henrik. Crosby scored twice again, Mathew Barzal also scored twice, and so did Cam Atkinson. The Central did score two quick ones to make it 5-2, but the Metro quickly put the idea of a comeback to bed. The Metropolitan would get a few empty netters, win 10-5, and get their second, All-Star game title.

In closing, Sidney Crosby went on to win the All-Star game, MVP award and once again showed off a trophy in front of the Shark fan base. The Sharks fans will forever boo Crosby for winning the Stanley Cup on their ice and they let the boo birds flow again. The fans also didn’t care that their rivals were on the same team and let the Kings, Ducks, and Vegas players know about it as well. At times it felt like a Sharks game, but it was mostly some incredible saves and a few great goals. The All-Star game is like a United Nations for the NHL and everyone enjoyed the talent.

– Michael Garaventa, WTF Sports Intern

The Western Conference Has Become Weak

For the last three seasons, an Eastern Conference team has won the Stanley Cup. Ever since the 2000 Stanley Cup, west teams and east teams have each won nine Stanley Cups. There was no Stanley Cup Final in 2005 because of the season long lockout.

It is quite possible another team from the east wins the Stanley Cup this season. If the season ended today, the match ups in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Eastern Conference would be the Pittsburgh Penguins (25-16-6, 56 points) and the Tampa Bay Lightning (36-9-2, 74 points), the Boston Bruins (26-15-7, 57 points) and the Toronto Maple Leafs (28-15-2, 58 points), the Montreal Canadiens (26-7-5, 57 points) vs the Columbus Blue Jackets (28-15-3, 59 points), and the New York Islanders (26-15-4, 56 points) vs Washington Capitals (27-14-5, 59 points).

The match ups in the Western Conference would be the Minnesota Wild (23-20-3, 49 points) and the Calgary Flames (30-13-4, 64 points), the Vegas Golden Knights (28-17-4, 60 points) and the San Jose Sharks (28-13-7, 63 points), the Dallas Stars (23-20-4, 50 points) vs the Winnipeg Jets (30-14-2, 62 points), and the Colorado Avalanche (21-17-8, 50 points) vs the Nashville Predators (28-16-4, 60 points).

The teams that would have to play on the road in the first-round in the east are much better than the teams that would have to go on the road in the west. Three of the road teams in the west that would have to go on the road has 50 points or fewer. All of the teams that would have to go on the road in the east would have at least 56 points or higher.

The closest team to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the east is the Buffalo Sabres and they are four points behind. Buffalo got off to a hot start and they have skidded recently. Speaking of skids, the Anaheim Ducks having lost 12 games in a row.

Anaheim is some way some how only two points back of the Minnesota Wild for the eighth spot in the west. This is one of the reasons why the west is not that good. The Edmonton Oilers and the Vancouver Canucks also have 47 points.

The St. Louis Blues (45 points), the Arizona Coyotes (43 points), the Chicago Blackhawks (41 points), and the Los Angeles Kings (40 points) can all realistically make the playoffs this season. St. Louis, Chicago, and Los Angeles all fired their coaches at some point this season. The west isn’t strong at all. If these teams were in the east, it would be better luck next season.

If Anaheim was in the east, they would be nine points out of a playoff spot. The Carolina Hurricanes (49 points) would be tied for the eighth spot if they were in the west. The New York Rangers (45 points) would be only four points back of a playoff spot.

The Buffalo Sabres have been better than three playoff teams in the west this season and they wouldn’t even be in the playoffs in the east right now.

Other than the New York Islanders and the Montreal Canadiens, the other six current east teams that would be in the playoffs right now has a legitimate chance to win it all.

The Dallas Stars, the Colorado Avalanche, the Minnesota Wild, and the Vegas Golden Knights don’t have much of a chance to win the west. I understand that Vegas won the west last season but they may very well not get out of the first-round this season.

The San Jose Sharks or the Calgary Flames have a good chance to win the west, but the Winnipeg Jets or the Nashville Predators will be the ones that represent the west in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2019.

The truth of the matter is, the Eastern Conference is better than the Western Conference. It is very possible an Eastern Conference team wins the Stanley Cup again this season and possibly the next few years.

– Glenn Kaplan, WTF Sports Intern

It’s Time for the Philadelphia Flyers to Trade Claude Giroux

The Philadelphia Flyers have been one of the worst teams in the NHL so far this season after making it to the playoffs last season. Philadelphia is in last place in the Metropolitan Division with a 15-22-6 with 36 points. If the season ended right now, they would own the second pick in the NHL Draft.

The NHL Draft Lottery will give them a chance to own the number one pick. C Jack Hughes is going to be the favorite for the number one pick in the 2019 NHL Draft.

The Flyers are only one point ahead of the Ottawa Senators for the worst record in the NHL. Because of that, it is time for Philadelphia to move in a different direction as a franchise and they need to find a trade partner for Claude Giroux before the trade deadline.

Chuck Fletcher became the general manager when Ron Hextall was fired earlier in the season. Fletcher is probably going to be very busy at the trade deadline this season. Wayne Simmonds and Jakub Voracek might be on the way out as well.

As for Claude Giroux, he is 30 and has been the captain for this team for the past several years. The Flyers are not playing with heart with him as the captain. His team hasn’t won a playoff series since 2012 for a reason.

Claude Giroux is a good talent, but he is not a leader and Giroux is not the answer for this franchise moving forward. Even though he will be going to the All-Star Game this season, a team could use him in a top six role as either a centerman or a winger.

Claude Giroux has played in 43 games so far this season. He has scored 14 goals and recorded 33 assists. His plus/minus rating is even.

There would be a few teams that would be a good fit for him. They are the Carolina Hurricanes, the Buffalo Sabres, the New York Isanders, the New Jersey Devils, the Colorado Avalanche, and the Nashville Predators.

He has three years remaining on his contract. The cap hit will be $8,275,000 each season. It is an expensive contract. This is another reason why the Philadelphia Flyers should move on from him.

Philadelphia is most likely going to have to move on from him in the near future anyways and this is the perfect year for them to do it. This franchise could get a lot in return for him.

This is one of the ways to rebuild this franchise. They don’t have many picks in the 2019 NHL Draft and they need to acquire more. The Flyers do have very good prospects in juniors, but they are not ready to make an impact in the NHL right now.

By the time those prospects are ready, Giroux will probably be in the final year of his contract anyways. He wouldn’t be the right guy to mentor them. Claude Giroux needs to be traded to a team thats need him offensively, but they don’t have to rely on him in a leadership role. It would take some pressure off his game and a new scenery for him wouldn’t be a bad thing at this point in his career.

Giroux has played with the Philadelphia Flyers since the 2007-2008 season and he has had five different head coaches in his tenure there.

– Glenn Kaplan, WTF Sports Intern

Erik Karlsson Finally Hitting His Stride With The San Jose Sharks

On September 13th, 2018, the San Jose Sharks added elite defenseman Erik Karlsson to their already good team. The Sharks always put good teams together every season, but always come up short of winning the Stanley Cup. Team teal has only made two big signings in the last 13 years that made a huge impact on the franchise and those players were Joe Thornton and Brent Burns. Thornton brought his size and amazing passing ability. Burns brought a powerful slap shot, hard work mentality, and fun-loving personality. Now with Karlsson, he fills in the missing piece of the Sharks having that extra talent on the roster.

Since 2009, Karlsson has the most goals scored by a defenseman. He is one of the best defenseman in the league because of his scoring ability, power play presence, ability to break up plays on defense, and make other skaters around him better. He had around 20 goals and 50 plus points in his best seasons with the Ottawa Senators.  So when the Sharks picked Karlsson up, they were hoping he would make an instant impact for the team. Well, surprisingly this wasn’t the case right away.

Karlsson struggled the first two months of the season putting up just 2 goals, 13 assists, and a -9. Also, the Sharks were playing on and off hockey to start the season and weren’t living up to the hype that everyone in the NHL put them at. It’s almost like Karlsson was putting too much pressure on himself, as the rest of the Sharks stars were thriving. Fans at games were starting to get a little worried with the lack of production, but still hopeful that he could turn it around. Then once Karlsson blasted his first goal of the season in November, he would start to find his stride.

In December, Karlsson scored 1 goal, picked up 16 assists, and had a plus/minus of 11. He started to break up more plays on defense, got better on the power play, and didn’t go to the sin bin as much. Now he is back to his all-star status and his recent production earned him a spot in the NHL All Star game. He also got the Sharks player of the month award. In his latest game, he helped the Sharks beat the NHL best Tampa Bay Lightning 5-2. He had 2 assists, 2 plus/minus points, and a power play point. Now that Karlsson is putting points up at will, team teal will start to thrive in the second half.

The San Jose Sharks are in a tight division race in the Pacific and all their stars are have good or possibly career years. Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture, and Timo Meier have been lighting the lamp at a fantastic pace. The Burns and Karlsson effect is coming to play as they have been on a crazy points pace over the last ten games or so. The goaltending Martin Jones and Aaron Dell have been below average from what Sharks fans are use to seeing, but Jones is looking a little better as the second half starts up. All in all, Karlsson makes the defense whole and full of talent, the team has one more elite, scoring force at the blue line, and above all, the guy competes at a high level night after night. Only time will tell if this guy is the guy that puts the Sharks over that Stanley Cup bump.

– Michael Garaventa, WTF Sports Intern

Alex Ovechkin will miss NHL All-Star Game to Rest

Washington Capitals center Alex Ovechkin was elected by the fans to be the captain for the Metropolitan Division in the All-Star Game at the end of January in San Jose. Ovechkin announced today that he will miss the All-Star Game due to rest. He wants to rest up for the second-half of the regular season. This is not the first time an NHL player has done something like this.

Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks skipped out on the All-Star Game in 2016 because he was sick. The NHL decided to suspended him one game because he didn’t participate in the festivities.

Alex Ovechkin will be forced to either miss the game before the All-Star Break or the game after the All-Star Break. The last game for the Washington Capitals before the break will be against the Toronto Maple Leafs on the road on Wednesday January 23. The first game for the Washington Capitals after the break will be at home on Friday February 1 against the Calgary Flames.

Ovechkin has played in 38 games so far this season. He has scored 29 goals and recorded 16 assists so far this season. His plus/minus is +13.

A lot of NHL fans will probably be upset that he won’t be participating in the festivities on All-Star weekend, but this move makes a ton of sense for him. The Washington Capitals won the Stanley Cup last season and Ovechkin wants to rest up in order to go on another deep playoff run.

They have a very good chance to win back-to-back Stanley Cup titles this season. He should not be criticized for this move, although people will criticize him anyways. Alex Ovechkin has always participated in All-Star Weekend throughout his NHL career. He has been there several times.

With Ovechkin not playing in the All-Star Tournament, Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins will most likely be the captain for the Metropolitan Division. If it is not him, it could be Taylor Hall of the New Jersey Devils, Mathew Barzal of the New York Islanders, or Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Playing in a 3-on-3 tournament is taxing for your body. Another possible reason why Alex Ovechkin decided not to play in the All-Star Tournament is because of a long flight to the west coast. Travel is tiring for players and it isn’t easy.

Ovechkin will be resting for at least week and possibly longer. This will be good for him because he will be recharged when the break is over. Alex Ovechkin is one of the best players in the game.

The All-Star Tournament is one of the best things about the NHL season. Alex Ovechkin feels like their are things more important to him this season than being with other NHL All-Stars on All-Star Weekend.

I think if the All-Star Tournament was not on the west coast, I think he would have participated. Traveling to the west coast by airplane usually takes six hours and it could possibly be more. Whether you agree with his decision or not to skip it, it should be respected at the very least.

 

– Glenn Kaplan, WTF Sports Intern

Storylines to Watch For in 2019

With 2018 ending in a few days. it was another dramatic year in the NHL. The Washington Capitals won the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history back in June. The Vegas Golden Knights made a run to the finals in their first season as a franchise. There were other memorable moments in the NHL in 2018. What are some story lines to keep an eye on heading into 2019?

The first headline coming into 2019: Will Washington repeat as Stanley Cup Champions? By the way it is looking right now, they will be the number one seed in the Metropolitan Division for the fourth consecutive.

Don’t think for a minute that the Pittsburgh Penguins won’t throw everything at them. Pittsburgh wants that championship back and if they meet four the fourth consecutive postseason, more drama will be in store.

The second headline coming into 2019: Will the Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1967? Even though they have not won since then, they are second all time in Stanley Cup championships with 13.

Toronto is loaded with offensive talent in John Tavares, Zach Hyman, Mitchell Marner, Kasperi Kapanen, William Nylander, Patrick Marleau, Nazem Kadri, and Morgan Reilly. Will Frederik Andersen be able to come up huge between the pipes for them?

The third headline coming into 2019: Can anyone stop the Tampa Bay Lightning in a playoff series? They are by far the best team in the NHL so far this season with a 28-7-2 record with 58 points. Tampa Bay has offensive weapons all over the ice, solid defense, and one of the best goalies in the game in Andrei Vasilevskiy.

The fourth headline coming into 2019 is how many Canadian teams will make it to the Stanley Cup Playoffs? If the season ended right now, there would be five Canadian teams in the playoffs.

They are the Winnipeg Jets, the Calgary Flames, the Edmonton Oilers, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Montreal Canadiens. I think Winnipeg, Calgary, and Toronto will be in the playoffs this season.

I think Montreal is going to fall off at some point. Edmonton has been buying into Ken Hitchcock’s system, but will they keep it up? I am not sold on them reaching the postseason. The Ottawa Senators and the Vancouver Canucks will most likely miss the postseason again.

The fifth headline coming into 2019 is will the Buffalo Sabres sustain this success? A lot of people expected them to be very competitive this season, but they weren’t sure if they were going to be a playoff team. I didn’t predict them to be a playoff team, but I predicted them to be a lot more competitive and challenge for a playoff spot.

Buffalo is exceeding those expectations right now. If the season ended today, they would be the number three seed in the Atlantic Division and the Buffalo Sabres would face the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first-round of the postseason. Their record is 21-11-5 with 47 points.

The sixth headline coming into 2019 is will the Columbus Blue Jackets trade away goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky? He will become a free agent at the end of the season and is now 30 years old. Columbus is currently in the number two spot in Metropolitan Division right now.

As long as this team keeps winning, I don’t see him being traded away this season. They might be afraid to lose him for nothing, but Sergei Bobrovsky gives them a better chance to win it all this season than Joonas Korpisalo does.

Korpisalo is the future starting goalie of this team and he is 24 years old. His record so far this season is 5-2-2 with a .885 save percentage and a 3.54 GAA. Bobrovsky’s record is 16-10-1 with a .913 save percentage and a 2.68 GAA, along with two shutouts.

 

– Glenn Kaplan, WTF Sports Intern

 

Edited by Scott Edwards

 

New Jersey Devils Struggling; They Should Stick with John Hynes

The New Jersey Devils made it to the postseason last year as the second wild card team in the Eastern Conference. They were ousted in five games against the Tampa Bay Lightning, but it was the first time since the 2011-2012 season New Jersey reached the postseason.

The Devils were hoping to take their game to another level this season and it has been nothing but a major disappointment. Their record is 11-14-7 with 29 points and New Jersey is in last place in the Metropolitan Division. They are nine points back of the New York Islanders for the third spot in the Metropolitan Division.

The New Jersey Devils have scored 96 goals so far this season and they have given up 118 goals. New Jersey fans can blame General Manager Ray Shero all they want to for not upgrading the roster this offseason and the truth of the matter is, this team has no goaltending.

Keith Kinkaid is a good backup goalie to have. He has shown he can play in this league, but Kinkaid isn’t a full-time starter. His record is 11-9-6 with a .902 save percentage and a 3.00 GAA, along with three shutouts. If Keith Kinkaid wasn’t the number one goalie, those are good numbers to have as a number two goalie.

The reason why he must be pushed into the number one role is because of how injury prone Cory Schneider is and he also can’t stop anything his way anymore. Schneider’s record is 0-5-1 with a .852 save percentage and a 4.66 GAA.

The bad news for the New Jersey Devils is that they are struck with Schneider for the next three seasons after this one. He will be owed $6 million each season and Cory Schneider is 32 years old. He also has a no trade clause in his contract.

The Devils have no choice but to see what 22-year-old MacKenzie Blackwood could do in net. He was a second-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft. Blackwood made his NHL debut in relief in Tuesday night’s 7-2 loss at home against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He made eight saves on 10 attempts. MacKenzie Blackwood has a lot of potential to be very good for this team and New Jersey needs to hope he is the number one goalie of the now and the future.

Blackwood will either start on the road on Thursday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets or at home on Friday night against the Ottawa Senators. Maybe Head Coach John Hynes will start him on Thursday night and if he likes what he sees, then maybe he will go back to him for two straight games.

Hynes is not the problem with this team. They may not be playing great, but there is a longer-term plan in place for this franchise. The New Jersey Devils are still a very young team led by Taylor Hall and Nico Hischier.

Hall has scored eight goals and recorded 24 assists so far this season. His plus/minus is -8. Hischier has scored eight goals and recorded 13 assists so far this season. His plus/minus is -2. When Travis Zajac is fourth on the team in points with 19, it is a red alert for this franchise because they have a personnel problem and not a coaching problem.

The Edmonton Oilers, the Chicago Blackhawks, the St. Louis Blues, the Los Angeles Kings, and the Philadelphia Flyers all fired their coaches this season. The only team that is benefiting is the Oilers and it could benefit the Flyers later on. Firing John Hynes would only make matters worse for the New Jersey Devils and not better.

New Jersey has prospects in juniors and in the AHL that will make an impact in the immediate future. They will have a ton of cap space this offseason to sign players.

Artemi Panarin, Anders Lee, Matt Duchene, Jeff Skinner, Jakob Silfverberg, Carl Hagelin, Erik Karlsson, Andrej Sustr, Tyler Myers, Sergei Bobrovsky, and Semyon Varlamov should be some the free agents they eye on this offseason. They should also try and trade for Vladimir Tarasenko from the St. Louis Blues, but the New Jersey Devils may not have what St. Louis wants.

The Devils might be struggling, but it could ultimately be good for the long run because they will be getting another draft pick if they continue to struggle. I don’t expect John Hynes to be fired anytime soon and it wouldn’t be surprising if he was the coach at the start of the 2019-2020 season. Hynes started coaching this team in the 2015-2016 season. He was brought in to work with young players.

– Glenn Kaplan, WTF Sports Intern

 

Edited by Scott Edwards

Teams that would be a good fit for Vladimir Tarasenko

The St. Louis Blues missed the playoffs last season. They are in danger in missing it again this season. Their record is 11-14-4 with 26 points and St. Louis is currently in sixth place in the Central Division. Because of their horrific start, it is possible the St. Louis Blues will trade some of their super stars including winger Vladimir Tarasenko.

He is 27 years old and Tarasenko is in the prime of his career. He is an elite goal scorer and many teams could use his services. In 29 games so far this season, Vladimir Tarasenko has scored nine goals and has recorded 11 assists. His plus/minus rating is -13.

Tarasenko has four more years remaining on his contract and he will have a $7.5 million cap hit. Which teams could trade for him?

The first team that comes to mind is the New York Islanders. Mathew Barzal does not have a go to scorer on the first line right now. Tarasenko would fit in that scheme perfectly. It would also be a reason to convince players like Anders Lee and Jordan Eberle to stay after this season. The Islanders have the prospects to trade for Tarasenko. He would do very well in a system coached by Barry Trotz and they are in position to make the playoffs this season.

The second team that comes to mind is the New York Rangers. They are going to through a complete rebuild, but they don’t have a true go to goal scorer. He would be the guy that could change this franchise around. New York has been drafting better lately and it would be interesting to see what they would give up.

The third team that comes to mind is the New Jersey Devils. They were just in the playoffs last season and New Jersey didn’t make enough changes to the roster to improve. Can you imagine a first line of Taylor Hall-Nico Hischier-Vladimir Tarasenko? Ray Shero needs to make a move because they are in danger of missing the playoffs once again this season, even though they need help on defense and goaltending.

The fourth team that comes to mind is the Detroit Red Wings. They have a ton of young prospects in their system, but would St. Louis ask for Filip Zadina? If they ask for him, Detroit should hang up the phone immediately. If they don’t ask for him, I would definitely think about it because they are playing better, but they need that veteran and goal scorer inside the dressing room.

The fifth team that comes to mind is the Colorado Avalanche. Colorado is really good, but they might be relying too much on the top line. Tarasenko would provide scoring depth on this team in a top-6 role. They might have to give up prospect defenseman Cale Makar, who was the fourth overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft in order to get him.

The sixth team that comes to mind is the Edmonton Oilers. They have no depth on the roster and can you imagine getting Connor McDavid a legit goal scorer on his line? That could be really run and the culture has changed in Edmonton under Ken Hitchcock.

 

– Glenn Kaplan, WTF Sports Intern

 

Edited by Scott Edwards

Auston Matthews is a Superstar

The Toronto Maple Leafs were really bad the year before they drafted center Auston Matthews in the 2016 NHL Draft. He is only 21 years old and Matthews has lived up to the hype as a number one pick.

He made the playoffs in the first two seasons as a member of the Maple Leafs and they are most likely on their way to the postseason for the third straight season. Matthews has not won a playoff series yet in his career, but this is the year it most likely to happen.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have a Stanley Cup or bust mentality this season. They sit in second place in the Atlantic Division with a 20-8 record and 40 points so far this season. The team has a goal differential of plus 29 and it is tied for the best in the NHL with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Toronto has scored 102 goals as a team this season and Auston Matthews has scored 15 of them. He also has recorded eight assists. His plus/minus is 3.

Matthews scored two goals, including the game-winning goal with under three seconds remaining in overtime to lift the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 4-3 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night. For the sixth time this season, he has scored at least two goals in a game. Auston Matthews has only played in 14 games this season and he missed over a month because of a shoulder injury.

Matthews has played in only three games since returning from his injury and he has scored five goals and recorded two assists in that span. His plus/minus in that span is 4.

Auston Matthews has shown no signs of rust ever since returning and he has been a dominant player. This is why the Toronto Maple Leafs are so dangerous.

Matthews is also very lethal on the power play and he also has the ability to take over a game. Auston Matthews has that killer instinct mentality.

He can either be the first or second line centerman. Having players like John Tavares, Mitchell Marner, Kasperi Kapanen, Nazem Kadri, Patrick Marleau, and Zach Hyman around help Auston Matthews out.

He will not be the kind of player that Connor McDavid is, and McDavid was the number one pick the year before Auston Matthews. Matthews is already a super star in this league no doubt, but Connor McDavid is another level compared to him.

He is more of a shoot first center and Connor McDavid is more of a past first center. Auston Matthews won the Rookie of the Year award for the 2016-2017 season. He scored 40 goals in his rookie year and he scored 34 goals last season. Matthews is on pace to score over 30 goals again this season.

He has recorded 29 assists in each of his first two seasons. His plus/minus in his rookie year was 2 and last year it was 25.

In the postseason in his rookie year, Matthews scored four goals and recorded one assist. His plus/minus was 2. In the postseason last year, he only scored one goal and recorded one assist. His plus/minus was -4.

Auston Matthews will have a chance to redeem himself most likely in the postseason. For the Toronto Maple Leafs to make a deep playoff run, he will have to continue playing like a superstar.

 

– Glenn Kaplan, WTF Sports Intern

 

Edited by Scott Edwards