The Chicago Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks started last season behind the eight ball, and I am not talking about the fun kind.
Their team captain, Jonathan Toews, missed all season with chronic immune response syndrome which may have impacted his health and performance for the past few years. According to reports, it seemed like Toews could never fully recover after games, injuries, etc. and needed last season to get his health back on track.
Also, star youngster, Kirby Dach broke his wrist while representing Team Canada at the World Juniors in December. Dach was only able to play the last 18 games of the season. He was fresh off of a 23-point rookie season and hoping to improve upon it going in to his sophomore campaign.
This left the majority of the offense to be carried by a true American legend, Patty Kane, and 23-year-old Alex DeBrincat. Kane finished the season with 15 G and 51 A in 56 games while DeBrincat tallied 32 G and 24 A for a total of 56 points. Those stats are impressive, but when only 1 other guy, Kubalik, was able to break the 30 point mark, you know the team is in trouble.
Furthermore, after letting Corey Crawford walk in free agency, the team started the year with Malcolm Subban who is a career 3rd string player at best. Fortunately, Kevin Lankinen rose to the occasion and stole the #1 spot and showed that he has a bright future. This being said, and despite my argument that Crawford may not be a Hall of Fame goalie, he is still a very good tendy and would have been a clear #1.
But the 2021-2022 season looks very bright for the Madhouse on Madison.
The Hawks should have their captain and number one center returning to the lineup.
On top of that, they were able to move Duncan Keith (more importantly his salary) in a trade that acquired Caleb Jones (a major selling point to get his brother).
By freeing up space in their salary cap, the Hawks have been able to make some aggressive moves in the past week.
First, they got one of the best blue liners in the game right now in Seth Jones. Jones was one of the hottest commodities in the NHL after announcing that he would not be returning to Columbus after his contract.
Then the Hawks were able to trade for reigning Vezina trophy winner in Marc-Andre Fleury for absolutely nothing. While Flower may be another year older, he has proven during his time in Vegas that he is still one of the league’s best goalies. Assuming they are just rumors and he does not get pissed and hang it up, this could be a very powerful goalie duo between flower and backup Kevin Lankinen – Flower, we have all been there, some just at a beer league level. Read this article, settle down, and take the Blackhawks back to the promised land.
While this may not be enough to push them back to the Stanley Cup dynasty they were at a few years ago, adding some depth and Bowman showing his players that he wants to win, may fire up the wily veterans to motivate them for one more shot at the title.
Should the Hawks make playoffs, I would never count out the talents and magic that happens in the city of Chicago. Especially if led by a crew consisting of Kane, Toews, and Flower.
Philadelphia Flyers
The Flyers started off the season red hot and then like the drunk at the bar, they stumbled, face planted, and got escorted out. The Flyers made the 2nd round of playoffs in the Toronto bubble and seemed poised to be a team to reckon with coming out of the East this season. Then they went ahead to finish the season with a 25-25-8 record for 6th place in the East division.
Carter Hart seemed to lose his game at the mid-way point of last year and never was able to find it again. On top of that, backup and mentor, Brian Elliot was unable to step up during Hart’s struggles. Elliot had a 0.889 SV% and 3.06 GAA while Hart managed a disappointing 0.877 SV% and 3.67 GAA. The duo was giving up beer league type numbers and the Flyers often found themselves playing from behind.
Clearly, it does not all fall on the goalies and the Flyers have made some incredible offseason moves.
So far, they were able to trade Jakub Voracek to CBJ for Cam Atkinson. Atkinson should add some depth in scoring as he posted 15 goals and 19 apples on a very bad Columbus team. It will be exciting to see what he can do with players like Kevin Hayes and Claude Giroux around him.
They also moved Philippe Myers and Nolan Patrick for stud defenseman Ryan Ellis. While Ellis is not the high flying, offensive defenseman that you see in guys like Seth Jones, he is a very good, shut-down player. His role will be more focused on keeping the puck out of the Flyers net, which is where the team struggled last season.
On top of that, the team has added veteran defenseman Keith Yandle for a one-year, $900k contract. Yes, Yandle is fresh off of a buyout from Florida, but I would argue that he would be an excellent 3rd pairing defenseman who gets the powerplay time and moves the puck well. For $900k, it is well worth the gamble. I think that Yandle can still get points and he came at the right price. Overall, not a bad move.
The team has also traded Shayne Gostisbehere to Arizona for absolutely nothing. Ghost has been highly criticized for underachieving the past 3 years after having a breakout 65-point season. While you may be scratching your head why the Flyers made this move, it did free up $4.5 million in cap space allowing them to get more aggressive this offseason.
I do not think we are done seeing moves made by the Broad Street Bullies as it seems as though they are in a “win now” type mentality and will continue being aggressive. They have the potential to be a very tough team in the East.