2018-19 Record: 36-32-14 86pts – – 5th Place in Atlantic
Playoffs: Missed
2019-20 Jersey Guide:
Key Additions: D – Anton Stralman, F – Bret Connolly, G – Sergei Bobrovsky, F – Noel Acciari, Coach – Joel Quenneville
Key Departures: F – Jean-Sebatian Dea, G – James Reimer, G – Roberto Luongo, Coach – Bob Boughner
2019-20 Preview:
Going into the 2019 offseason general manager Dale Tallon knew that change needed to happen so the first thing he did was fire head coach Bob Boughner and hire John Quenneville, for whom Tallon worked with in Chicago before coming to the Florida Panthers. The move played dividends as it would help Tallon land one of the top free agents of the summer in goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who was lured by Quenneville’s presence with the club now.
While surprising the Panthers couldn’t land forward Artemi Panarin along with Bobrovsky, Tallon was able to sign forwards Noel Acciari and Brett Connolly who both played in the 2019 and 2018 Stanley Cup Finals, with Connolly winning the Cup in 2018 with the Washington Capitals. Tallon would also sign defenseman Anton Stralman to help add some veteran experience and grit to their blue line.
One weakness though for the Panthers is the number two position in goal. With James Reimer traded to Carolina, and Roberto Luongo retiring, youngster Sam Montembeault will be thrusted into the backup position. Will he be ready, or will Tallon have to make a move to shore that spot up?
2018-19 Record: 35-38-9 79pts – – 7th Place in Pacific
Playoffs: Missed
2019-20 Jersey Guide:
Key Additions: G – Mike Smith, F – Tomas Jurco, F – Markus Granlund, Coach – Dave Tippett, GM – Ken Holland, F – James Neal
Key Departures: F – Ty Rattie, G – Anthony Stolarz, D – Andrej Sekera, Coach – Ken Hitchcock, F – Milan Lucic
2019-20 Preview:
After what was thought to be upward trend for the Edmonton Oilers after making the playoffs in 2017, the following two seasons the Oilers have fallen apart and have not looked like the team that made it two years prior. With all of that said, the Oilers hope that under Ken Holland things can change and start moving in the right direction.
Since starting back in May, Holland addressed a key issue and that was behind the bench. Holland moved away from Ken Hitchcock who took over in November of last season, but as the season wore on showed a lack of interest in the team. Holland would rectify that by hiring Dave Tippett.
Then in free agency Holland would sign goaltender Mike Smith to bring veteran stability between the pipes, and forwards Markus Granlund and Tomas Jurco to help solidify the bottom six on offense. However, Holland would not be done there as he would execute a trade with the Calgary Flames as he would trade forward Milan Lucic to the Flames for forward James Neal, both of which were not living up to the contracts that they signed, and needed a change of scenery.
Key questions that will need answering going into the 2019-20 season:
Is Connor McDavid happy in Edmonton with the changes made?
What will Holland do with disgruntled forward Jesse Puljujarvi who wants out of Edmonton?
2018-19 Record: 32-40-10 74pts. – – 7th Place in Atlantic
Playoffs: Missed
2019-20 Jersey Guide:
Key Additions: D – Patrik Nemeth, G – Calvin Pickard, F – Valtteri Filppula, GM – Steve Yzerman
Key Departures: D – Luke Witkowski, F – Martin Frk, D – Niklas Kronwall, F – Thomas Vanek, GM – Ken Holland
2019-20 Preview:
With the Detroit Red Wings finally moving away from Ken Holland and bringing in Red Wings legend Steve Yzerman as their new general manager their rebuild has finally begun, even if they never have acknowledged that they are.
The Red Wings are going to be going through some more growing pains theses next few seasons, but as we’ve learned with Yzerman when he was with Tampa Bay is that patience will prevail as Yzerman has some messes to clean up from the old regime, and rebuild the organization from within.
There is some good youth on this team, and if Yzerman can unload some of these bad contracts and get some new players in the system it would be a benefit for the organization.
It’s that time again as we near the beginning of NHL Training Camp our favorite tradition is also once again upon us and that is the new EA Sports NHL game. NHL 20 comes out this Friday, September 13th to all retail outlets, but if you pre-ordered it you were able to pick it up last night like I did.
So everyone knows about the EA Sports NHL franchise so I’m not really going to go over all of the stuff that we do know, but more really talk about the new features, and might possibly go on a rant or two over a couple of things with the game.
So to start something new for NHL 20 we have Alumni Teams, where all 31 teams got an alumni team including the return of the Quebec Nordiques, Hartford Whalers, and Minnesota North Stars. However, as great as this is, there are many missteps as well. For instance some of the rosters are not as exciting as some others are, and there also many notable players missing as well that would be more respectable for their franchise’s alumni team.
For instance, take a look at the Washington Capitals Alumni roster and lineup:
Forward LinesDefense PairingsGoalies (and that totally looks like Doug Gilmour, noy Mike Luit…)Healthy Scratches
So for those who aren’t able to see the lineup here it is (with jersey number and ratings):
#44 Randy Burridge (80) – #77 Adam Oates (89) – #11 Mike Gartner (89)
#57 Danius Zubrus (81) – #21 Dennis Maruk (86) – #17 Chris Clark (81)
#23 Brian Bellows (85) – #10 Bobby Carpenter (80) – #20 Mike Knuble (83)
#5 Rod Langway (84) – #8 Larry Murphy (89)
#34 Al Iafrate (85) – #55 Sergei Gonchar (89)
#9 Brian Engblom (84) – #15 Dmitri Mironov (81)
#1 Ron Low (82)
#31 Michael Luit (82)
Healthy Scratches:
#32 Nick Kypreos (79)
#24* Bob Kelly (82)
#30 Bill Ranford (87)
So first why is Bill Ranford a scratch and not the starting goalie (and yes this lineup is the default by EA)? Also why is Knuble wearing 20 instead of 22, and Pivonka wearing 2 instead of 20? Seems like those are some huge oversights there. For Zubrus wearing #57 so Engblom can wear #9, which he did from 1982-84, that can be forgiven. Also a lack of Dale Hunter, Peter Bondra, and Olaf Kolzig (who has been in past EA NHL games) who are legitimate Capitals legends, and would have been better additions than Craig Laughlin, Chris Clark, and Bill Ranford. On defense I’m pretty satisfied with who we got, but maybe Joe Reekie, Mark Tinordi, or even Sylvan Cote would have been better than Mironov, but it still a solid defense corp.
The Capitals are not the only ones that have this issue with their alumni team, but in the short time I’ve had the game I have not had the opportunity to go over all of the rosters. Overall it’s a cool addition to the game, but how often it will get used will be seen.
As for the World of CHEL, it is a still very fun concept that adds to the replay value of the game, especially with the additions of Threes and Ones Eliminator. Talk about some heavy and fun competition. Hockey Ultimate Team is still my main go to as I get to build the perfect team to my liking.
In regards to gameplay it still has a very solid foundation, but when it comes to penalties it’s still very rough. Tripping is still a main concern for me as in the games I have played so far I have taken about 30 tripping penalties, and atleast 70 percent of them would qualify for embellishment or diving and has been a major flaw for the last few years, and obviously still needs to be fixed.
Overall NHL 20 is a solid and fun game to play with very high replay value throughout the year, and I would recommend it to any hockey fan. We will be Twitch streaming the game from time to time throughout the year on X75 Unsanctioned which you can see live on Twitch.tv/themichaelx75.
2018-19 Record: 43-32-7 93pts. – – 4th Place in Central (Wild Card)
Playoffs: Lost in Second Round to St. Louis
2019-20 Jersey Guide:
Key Additions: F – Joe Pavelski, D – Andrej Sekera, F – Corey Perry
Key Departures: F – Brett Ritchie, F – Matts Zuccarello, F – Jason Spezza, F – Tyler Pitlick, F – Valeri Nichushkin, D – Marc Methot
2019-20 Preview:
The Dallas Stars made some small improvements to their roster with the additions of forwards Corey Perry and Joe Pavelski. Both players bring Stanley Cup Finals experience to a team starved to return to the Stanley Cup Finals since their last appearance in 2000. Perry, who won the Cup in 2007 with Anaheim, and Pavelski, who lost in the Finals to Pittsburgh in 2016 while with San Jose, will add veteran leadership to a locker room that still has veteran forwards Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin.
Dallas also features a very young, but strong defensive core that will now feature veteran defenseman Andrej Sekera who will look to make himself a valuable member of the defense that features John Klingberg, Esa Lindell, and Miro Heiskanen.
The lose of both Jason Spezza to Toronto and Mats Zuccarello to Minnesota were disappointing to the Stars, but after the mess that involved Spezza early in the 2018-19 season it was no surprise that Spezza opted to go elsewhere, while with Zuccarello one wondered if he would have stayed if he didn’t get injured and played more games for the team going into the playoffs.
Per the Capitals release, Orpik will assist and work with the organization’s defensive prospects, primarily with the Hershey Bears of the AHL, in his new role. Per the release Capitals General Manager Brian MacLellan had the following to say about the Orpik hiring:
“As a member of our team, Brooks was a tremendous leader and a great role model for our young players. We are excited to be able to bring him back in this new role. We feel he will be a great resource for our hockey staff and our prospects.”
We here at TXHT like this move by the Capitals organization as Orpik was a key piece to the Capitals restructure in culture for the organization, and will be able to share that with the Capitals young prospects as they continue to develop and prepare to make the jump to the NHL. Orpik’s championship pedigree and high level leadership qualities will also assist him in working with the prospects.
We here at TXHT would like to congratulate Brooks Orpik on his new role with the Washington Capitals.
2018-19 Record: 47-31-4 98pts. – – 5th Place in Metropolitan (Wild Card)
Playoffs: Lost in Second Round to Boston
2019-20 Jersey Guide:
Key Additions: F – Gustav Nyquist
Key Departures: F – Ryan Dzingel, F – Mark Letestu, G – Jean-Francois Berube, G – Sergei Bobrovsky, F – Artemi Panarin, F – Matt Duchene, G – Keith Kinkaid, D – Adam McQuaid
2019-20 Preview:
After trading away their future in draft picks to acquire forwards Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel, goalie Keith Kinkaid, and defenseman Adam McQuaid to make a huge playoff push. While they did the unthinkable and swept the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round for their first ever playoff series victory in franchise history, they would fall to the Boston Bruins in the second round and then the departures would begin.
The Blue Jackets lost Duchene to Nashville, Dzingel to Carolina, Kinkaid to Montreal, forward Artemi Panarin to the New York Rangers, goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to Florida, and McQuaid the Blue Jackets did not pursue to re-sign for next season. What was their response? They signed forward Gustav Nyquist. That’s it.
General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen believes they have a strong team, and don’t have any huge holes on their team. On offense they have Pierre-Luc Dubois and Cam Atkinson who definitely top six forwards, and Boone Jeener and Josh Anderson as quality bottom six forwards, but both Nick Foligno and Brandon Dubinsky are getting older and slipping down in the lineup. On defense it’s all Zach Werenski and Seth Jones. Ryan Murray is at best a third pairing defenseman on a good team, as is David Savard. Lastly, and an important question. Is Joonas Korpisalo ready to be the number one goalie for teh Columbus Blue Jackets?
2018-19 Record: 38-30-14 90pts. – – 5th Place in Central (Wild Card)
Playoffs: Lost in Second Round to San Jose
2019-20 Jersey Guide:
Key Additions: F – Joonas Donskoi, F – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, D – Calle Rosen, F – Jayson Megna, F – Nazem Kadri, F – Andre Burakovsky, D – Kevin Connauton
Key Departures: F – Sven Andrighetto, D – Patrik Nemeth, D – Tyson Barrie, F – Alexander Kerfoot, G – Semyon Varlamov, F – Carl Soderberg
2019-20 Preview:
Despite making the playoffs for a second straight season, the Colorado Avalanche did some retooling to their lineup which saw them move on from goaltender Semyon Varlamov, forwards Carl Soderberg and Alexander Kerfoot, and defenseman Tyson Barrie and Patrik Nemeth, and acquire forwards Nazem Kadri, Andre Burakovsky, Joonas Donskoi, and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.
With the addition of Kadri, the Avalanche get a center that will be able to take some of the burden off of number one center Nathan MacKinnon, but he will also give them a bit more of an edge as he plays the agitator very well. Also with Burakovsky and Donskoi the Avalanche will look to them to add some offense to help spread out the scoring amongst the lineup.
The Avalanche, however, will need help defensively as both defenders Erik Johnson (shoulder surgery) and Ian Cole (hip surgeries) could very likely not be ready to play come the start of the season, with Cole slated for a return in December most likely, and will need not only the newly acquired Kevin Connauton and Calle Rosen to step up, but may also need to pick up one more defensemen to help boost them especially if Johnson is not ready to go come the start of the season.
2018-19 Record: 36-34-12 84pts. – – 6th Place in Central
Playoffs: Missed
2019-20 Jersey Guide:
Key Additions: F – Alexander Nylander, G – Robin Lehner, F – Ryan Carpenter, F – Andrew Shaw, D – Calvin de Haan, F – John Quenneville, D – Olli Maatta, F – Zack Smith
Key Departures: D – Henri Jokiharju, F – Marcus Kruger, F – Andreas Martinsen, G – Anton Forsberg, D – Gustav Forsling, F – John Hayden, F – Dominik Kahun, F – Artem Anisimov, G – Cam Ward, F – Chris Kunitz
2019-20 Preview:
Going into the 2019 Offseason General Manager Stan Bowman needed to make some changes to a Chicago Blackhawks team that missed the playoffs and have been on the decline even before that. As part of the tinkering to the Blackhawks lineup it starts in between the pipes as the Blackhawks signed 2019 Masterton Trophy and William M. Jennings Trophy winner Robin Lehner to a one year deal.
Bowman also did some tinkering to the defense as well by trading for Olli Maatta from the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Calvin de Haan from the Carolina Hurricanes with the hopes that they will be able to help the Blackhawks cut down on the goals against which was the second most behind the Ottawa Senators last season. The Blackhawks also re-acquired forward Andrew Shaw from the Montreal Canadiens to give them a net presence on offense. The Blackhawks also signed free agent forward Ryan Carpenter from Vegas, and traded for forward Alexander Nylander from Buffalo to help bolster their offense.
2018-19 Record: 46-29-7 99pts. – – 4th Place in Metropolitan (Wild Card)
Playoffs: Lost in Eastern Conference Finals to Boston
2019-20 Jersey Guide:
Key Additions: F – Ryan Dzingel, F – Brian Gibbons, G – James Reimer, F – Erik Haula, G – Anton Forsberg, D – Gustav Forsling, D – Jake Gardiner (signed 9/6/19)
Key Departures: F – Micheal Ferland, G – Curtis McElhinney, F – Greg McKegg, G – Scott Darling, D – Calvin de Haan
2019-20 Preview:
After being one of the best stories of the 2018-19 season, the Carolina Hurricanes reinvigorated their franchise, along with some excellent “Bunch of Jerks” marketing thanks to Don Cherry, the Hurricanes stormed their way to the Eastern Conference Finals where they would eventually fall to the Boston Bruins.
For the Hurricanes they did some minor tinkering to their lineup. The re-signed forward Sebastian Aho and goalie Petr Mrazek, and then traded for goalie James Reimer, and forward Erik Haula. Then the signing of forward Ryan Dzingel helped solidify their offense in the top six.
The Hurricanes will look to duplicate their success this past season in the 2019-20 season, and they have the ingredients to do so. It’s up to them to continue to grow and evolve their game, and keep skating in the right direction.
