With the NHL season upon us, I figured now would be as good a time as ever to check in with one of my favorite hockey writers – Adam Proteau of The Hockey News.
Adam was kind enough to take time out of his busy writing schedule to give us his thoughts on the moves that teams made during the offseason, which teams improved and regressed during the summer, players and teams that could end up having good seasons, and much more.
I hope you all enjoy this!
PH: Which team do you think improved the most going into this upcoming season? Why?
AP: I really like what the Utah Hockey Club has done this summer. You do not really see a team change up this much of their defense corps, but landing Mikhail Sergachev is huge, and John Marino is going to help a lot as well.
I also like what New Jersey has done. I expect they’ll be excellent this year.
If we are talking about the most improved team, it has to be the Predators. First-rate defenseman? Check. Needle-mover on forward? Check (with Steven Stamkos). Above-average secondary scorer? Check (with Jonathan Marchessault).
The Utah Hockey Club is going to be a playoff team in the Central, I think, but the Preds went from a playoff team to a Cup front-runner, so I’d give the most-improved label to Nashville.
PH: Which team (s) do you think regressed going into this upcoming season? Why?
AP: This is a tough one. I think teams like the Islanders and Wild have made the least amount of improvement this summer, but in terms of a team that took a wrong turn with their off-season changes, I think I would have to go with the Kings, an organization I was high on for the past couple years.
I am not the biggest Pierre-Luc Dubois fan, but replacing his cap space and minutes with Tanner Jeannot and Warren Foegele does not strike me as particularly imposing. I do not mind Joel Edmundson helping the ‘D’, but I do think they overpaid for him, but such is life in free agency.
Replacing Cam Talbot with Darcy Kuemper is a lateral move at best. I could be wrong, of course, but I think the Kings are no longer a lock to make the playoffs, and that is all on Rob Blake, who will be squarely on the hot seat if things do not go well.
PH: The Toronto Maple Leafs made some big changes this offseason in hiring Craig Berube as their new head coach and naming Auston Matthews as their new captain. Do you think the Leafs have what it takes to not only win a round in the postseason, but actually go far in them? Why or why not?
AP: I might be in the minority, but I do like what Brad Treliving has done this summer. Chris Tanev is a great addition, and he’ll be making $500,000 less than they were paying T.J. Brodie last year, so that is a huge upgrade.
Same with Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who should be on the final pairing as a significant improvement on what they had last year with Mark Giordano at that spot. I also think the goalie tandem of Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz is far better than the Samsonov/Woll/Jones three-headed beast last year.
Toronto’s offense took a hit with the departure of Tyler Bertuzzi, but I think between Nick Robertson, Easton Cowan and Bobby McMann, they will be able to replace his offense fairly well. Berube will create a culture change, and one for the better.
So yes, I can see them winning a couple playoff rounds this year. Still not good enough to win it all, but let us see what Treliving does in the season in terms of trades.
Everyone knows the consequences for failure will be severe for Leafs management at the end of this season, but there is more than enough talent and balance to this Leafs team to make them better than they were last year.
PH: The New Jersey Devils finally have a legitimate starting goaltender in Jacob Markstrom. Do you think that he makes them a contender this season? Why or why not?
AP: Yeah, I absolutely think New Jersey is a contender this season. Not just because Markstrom showed what he can still do, but because of that new-look defense corps.
Brett Pesce and Brenden Dillon make that group of blueliners arguably the league’s best defense corps, and I also like the addition of Noesen as a nifty little pick-up that can help them push through tight playoff series. And I like Sheldon Keefe as a fresh voice for them.
The rest of the Metropolitan Division should be on notice — the Rangers and Hurricanes are still going to be very good this year, but all roads out of at least the second round in that division are going to go through New Jersey. Tom Fitzgerald is my pre-season pick for GM of the year, followed closely by Barry Trotz.
The Devils are going to impress a lot of people.
PH: I write a lot about the New York Rangers in this space. They were relatively quiet this offseason. Do you think they have what it takes to run it back and perhaps get the Cup Final this season? Why or why not?
AP: I think I was pretty up-front about the Rangers last season — I liked them a lot, and I still do. I do not mind the roster choices Chris Drury made this summer, because ultimately, I think Igor Shesterkin is the best goalie in the game, and he will be playing behind what is still a deep and balanced group of defensemen.
Reilly Smith and Sam Carrick are not bad players, either, but for me, it keeps coming back to their goaltending as their biggest strength, and that is not going to change this year. Shesterkin’s looming need for a new contract is going to result in his best year yet, and while the Blueshirts might not be the best regular-season team again, I would not count them out in the playoffs next spring.
Lots to like in Manhattan.
PH: What are you looking forward to when it comes to this season?
AP: I think I just really enjoy watching the grind of the regular-season. The back-to-back games, the Western road swings, and the way teams adjust to inevitable injuries virtually every club has to deal with.
Of course, there are always the surprise players who ratchet up their games to new levels — someone like an out-of-nowhere rookie, or someone like Zach Hyman, who I love as a person at least as much as a player. It is those individual stories that kind of fly onto the radar to be league-wide stories that I like the most.
People who know Zach Hyman know what a stand-up guy he is. But generally, the more unpredictable a season is, the better. It’s always compelling when people and teams set an example as they battle adversity or try to live up to expectations, and there are always those stories, both at a team level and at an individual level, every year in hockey.
That is way more fun to experience and write about than easy and safe predictions. The NHL is a season-long, heavy-duty game of chess, and seeing what happens from the first move to the final move is always a lot of fun to write hockey opinions on.
PH: Is there anything else that you would like to share with us hockey fans?
AP: Well, I am grateful to those who read my stuff, and I am fortunate to have a platform. And I appreciate your interest.
Hockey has a lot of terrific people, and Patrick Hoffman is certainly one of them. Thank you very much.
