Contenders, Hopefuls And Rebuilders
from Matt Porter of the Boston Globe,
Where the league stands after the dust settled (tiers in alphabetical order):
Contenders
Boston — Lots of depth up front. Still not sure if they’re better, given Krejci loss.
Carolina — Made up for the Alex Nedeljkovic loss by adding Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta. If they’re healthy, that’s a strong tandem. Replaced Dougie Hamilton with Tony DeAngelo, yet another reminder that hockey is a business, no matter how hard a team’s PR staff works.
Colorado — Lost a Vezina finalist (Philipp Grubauer to Seattle) and may have gotten better in goal. Darcy Kuemper, ex- of Arizona, is an upgrade.
Florida — A dangerous team. Still hasn’t signed Aleksander Barkov, but folks there are convinced it’ll get done.
NY Islanders — I suppose they’re in this tier? Lou Lamoriello has done nothing publicly of late.
Philadelphia — Cam Atkinson and Ryan Ellis were solid pickups, and maybe Keith Yandle has something left. None of it matters if Carter Hart (unsigned) doesn’t rebound.
Pittsburgh — Love its chances in the Metropolitan Division if Ron Hextall can send a few assets to Chicago for Marc-Andre Fleury. Can’t waste another year of Sidney Crosby-Evgeni Malkin with subpar goaltending.
more contenders plus hopefuls and rebuilders plus more hockey topics......
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