Hockeywiztalks Hockey Blog

The Nashville Predators were another team that had a surprising campaign in the 2023-24 season under rookie head coach, Andrew Brunette and managed to make the playoffs before losing in 7 to the Vancouver Canucks. The upcoming offseason is a massive one for the franchise as they have a huge decision to make regarding Juuse Saros, and whether or not they want to give him a long-term extension or not; if they choose to not offer him an extension, he could be traded for a massive haul, allowing 22-year-old Russian Goalie, Yaroslav Askarov to take over the reins in net.  The Nashville Predators have 10 picks in the 2024 NHL Draft. 2024 NHL Draft 22-Andrew Basha (LW/RW) 53-Matvei Shuravin (D) 55-Alexander Zetterberg (C) 59-Carson Wetsch (RW) 87-Joona Saarelainen (C) 94-Jack Berglund (LW) 99-Mikhail Yegorov (G) 119-Ben Danford (D) 214-Karl Sterner (RW) The Nashville Predators drafted a collection of solid prospects to improve their prospect pool, including Andrew Basha in the 1st round, and

 The Vancouver Canucks' 2023-2024 season was a successful and surprising campaign because they were not expected to be major contenders initially, however, the Canucks exceeded expectations by winning their division and making a significant playoff run. Vancouver Canucks won the Pacific Divison title and managed to defeat Nashville in 7 games even though they were playing without Thatcher Demko and moved onto to play the Edmonton Oilers in the second round, but they would ultimately fall short in Game 7. After the success of last season, Vancouver should look to improve the team in the offseason, but they only have so much cap space to fill many holes on the roster. Vancouver Canucks buyout Ilya Mikheyev ; Buyout will leave a 1.55 million cap hit until 2028. A three-team trade is made between the Vancouver Canucks, Boston Bruins, and Carolina Hurricanes Vancouver Canucks get rights Jake Guentzel Boston Bruins get rights to Elias Lindholm  Carolina Hurricanes rights to Jake DeBrusk,

The Calgary Flames just missed out on the playoffs again in the 2023-24 season, and finished the season with a total of 81 points, a 38-39-5 record; they like a few other teams in the Pacific Division seem like they are going through a rebuild and it might take a few seasons of losing before they are back in the playoffs. The first order of business is moving Jacob Markstrom, who has become disgruntled with the trade rumors, and they have to do everything in their power to get the most in return for their number 1 goalie. GM Craig Conroy will be a very busy man from now and the draft as they try to work out a deal for the Swedish netminder. If the Calgary Flames play their cards right this offseason, they will be building a very good team for the future. Before the 2024 NHL Draft, the Calgary Flames make two trades Calgary Flames trade Jacob Markstrom, Matthew Coronato, 1st Round pick '24 (from VAN) to the New Jersey Devils for Alexander Holtz, Jonas Siegenthaler, Akira Schmid, 1st

The New Jersey Devils the playoffs in the 2023-24 season after making it into the second round of the playoffs last season, and finished the season with a total of 81 points, a 38-39-5 record; With Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier in the midst of their primes, the New Jersey Devils really need to start to buckle down and put together the pieces for a contending team. The good news is that the New Jersey Devils have the benefit of having the 10th overall pick, which they could move to acquire a netminder, and they also have plenty of cap space to add other players as well. This coming offseason is a big one for the New Jersey Devils front office because after striking out on a netminder last offseason, the pressure to acquire a netminder this offseason is immense for GM Tom Fitzgerald, who might be on the hotseat if he can't find a way to fix the mess. Before the 2024 NHL Draft, the New Jersey Devils make two major trades New Jersey Devils acquire Jacob Markstrom, Matthew Coronato, 1st

The Pittsburgh Penguins just missed out on the playoffs again in the 2023-24 season, and finished the season with a total of 88 points, a 38-32-12 record; With Crosby and Malkin another year older and Letang and Karlsson also getting up there in age, the window to win another cup is quickly closing for the Pittsburgh Penguins. To make things even more complicated, the Penguins will only have 12.9 Million in cap space to fine tune their roster, so they can make another playoffs run. Unlike most other teams that missed the playoffs, the Penguins are not trying the rebuild, in fact they  might have to be ultra aggressive in the offseason to surround Crosby with the personnel he needs to make another run at the Stanley Cup.  Before the 2024 NHL Draft, two trades are made: Pittsburgh Penguins acquire the rights to Chandler Stephenson from the Vegas Golden Knights for 4th round pick '24. The Penguins also trade Ryan Graves, Samuel Poulin, Jonathan Gruden, 1st round pick '25 to Ottawa

 The St. Louis Blues just missed out on the playoffs again in the 2023-24 season, and finished the season with a total of 92 points, a 43-33-6 record; St. Louis is one of those teams that has no direction, as they are stuck with a lot of aging players with bad contracts and are stuck in mediocracy unless they can find a way to move some of those contracts. Moving forward the Blues' primary goals should be trying to unload their bad contracts to gain picks and cap space and retool through the draft.  St. Louis has 8 draft picks in the 2024 NHL draft, this is who they should select. 2024 NHL Draft: 16-Michael Hage (C) 48-Spencer Gill (D) 56-Carson Wetsch (RW) 81-Timur Kol (D) 94-Hagen Burrows (LW) 113-Felix Lacerte (C) 145-Dawson Cowan (G) 209-Jan Golcic (D) 211-Maxim Velikov (RW) Though no big names jump out at you, this group of prospects is pretty solid and could play a vital role on the team a few years down the road. Retooling the Prospect pool is a long process, but the crop of