2018-19 Record: 44-30-8 96pts. – – 4th Place in Atlantic
Playoffs: Missed
2019-20 Jersey Guide:
Key Additions: F – Nick Cousins, D – Ben Chiarot, F – Phil Varone, F – Riley Barber, G – Keith Kinkaid
Key Departures: D – Jordie Benn, F – Nicolas Deslauriers, F – Andrew Shaw, G – Antti Niemi
2019-20 Preview:
Going into the 2019 Offseason the Montreal Canadiens looked to make a splash as on the first day of free agency they gave an offer sheet to Carolina Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho. While the Hurricanes would match the offer, the move made waves around the NHL.
Despite not getting the prize they were seeking in Aho, the Canadiens were able to make some solid moves as they were able to trade away Andrew Shaw to Chicago, and then sign forward Riley Barber who looks to have a promising NHL career once he gets the opportunity to shine. The Canadiens also signed goalie Keith Kinkaid who will be a viable backup to Carey Price.
Biggest focus the Canadiens will need to do is find a way to improve their powerplay which was ranked 30th last season. Unfortunately for them they are still a one unit powerplay with only four key players. That will need to improve greatly this upcoming season.
2018-19 Record: 37-36-9 83pts. – – 7th Place in Central
Playoffs: Missed
2019-20 Jersey Guide:
Key Additions: F – Mats Zuccarello, F – Ryan Hartman
Key Departures: D – Nate Prosser, G – Andrew Hammond, F – Pontus Aberg, GM – Paul Fenton, F – Eric Fehr
2019-20 Preview:
After failing to make the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons the Minnesota Wild did some retooling to their offense when they signed forwards Mats Zuccarello, who adds scoring strength and playoff experience, and Ryan Hartman who provides with a right handed shot that the Wild have a lack of.
The biggest question however, is how long will Bruce Boudreau remain the head coach of the Wild? For the third straight team he has failed to deliver, and has never been the strongest coach when it comes to defense or the playoffs for that matter. Also one has to wonder if in the three seasons Boudreau has been there if he has worn out his welcome. If the Wild don’t do well early this season we could see one of our first coaching changes of the 2019-20 season. Also now with Paul Fenton being fired as General Manager on July 30th after only being on the job 14 months, this could also mean that Boudreau will be on the hot seat with whomever the Wild bring in as their new general manager.
Per the League announcement that was rendered this morning Kuznetsov has been suspended for the first three regular season games of the 2019-20 season due to inappropriate conduct as determined by Bettman after meeting with Kuznetsov in person this past Monday, September 9th.
Kuznetsov will miss games against St. Louis, New York Islanders, and Carolina. Kuznetsov has also informed the League through the NHLPA that he will not be appealing his suspension.
Washington Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov has released the following statement on the National Hockey League's three game suspension: https://t.co/oEZLC66x0x
The NHL screwed up here. This should have been a ten game suspension. While three games is admirable for the inappropriate conduct that Kuznetsov displayed it still does not deal with the bigger issue at hand and that is the League has a cocaine issue and they should have used Kuznetsov to send a message to the rest of the League that they are taking this matter with more seriousness than they are now.
Hopefully Kuznetsov has learned from this ordeal, and when he returns from his three game suspension he’ll be back to being the Kuznetsov that helped lead the Capitals to the 2018 Stanley Cup.
*Updated at 11:05a ET with statement from Evgeny Kuznetsov as released by the Washington Capitals.
2018-19 Record: 31-42-9 71 pts. – – 8th Place in Pacific
Playoffs: Missed
2019-20 Jersey Guide:
Key Additions: F – Mario Kempe, F – Martin Frk, D – Joakim Ryan, Coach – Todd McLellan
Key Departures: F – Brendan Leipsic, G – Peter Budaj, Coach – Willie Desjardins, D – Dion Phaneuf
2019-20 Preview:
Going into the 2019-20 season the Los Angeles Kings will look to bounce back from their worst season in 13 years as they usher in a new era under coach Todd McLellan who will be replacing interim head coach Willie Desjardins who took over back in November.
Outside of the coaching change, they Kings did not do much in regards to the lineup. The biggest moves were the buyout of defenseman Dion Phaneuf, and the signing of defenseman Joakim Ryan.
The Kings need scoring and speed, and without both of those, it could be a difficult 2019-20 season. Only time will tell to see how the Kings turn things around under McLellan.
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.
