Hockeywiztalks Hockey Blog

 The Minnesota Wild are currently sitting in first place in the Central Division now and are tied for 1st in the Western Conference. This is quite a surprise considering their team on paper is not that impressive, so there has to be something special about their play on the ice that makes them a powerhouse in the Western Conference under Head coach Dean Evason. In order for the Minnesota Wild to win the Stanley Cup this year, they will have to make a few moves to improve the team. These are some of the issues w/ Minnesota Wild: 1. Lack of a 3rd line center 2. Defensive Depth 3. Lack of offensive depth If there is one issue that the Minnesota Wild do have is that they lack a solid 3rd line center. The lack of center depth will be even more obvious with Joel Eriksson Ek out for an extended period of time. Eriksson EK is their best overall center, and without him in the lineup, they will struggle because he does so much for the team on both sides of the puck. To make up for the loss o...

 The LA Kings are sitting just outside a playoff spot right now, with a 12-10-5 record (29 points) through 27 games this season. Although the Kings have some nice pieces, they aren't quite good enough to be a contender just yet. In this blog, I explain what is wrong with the LA Kings and what they can do to become a contending team. Issues w/ LA Kings: 1. Not enough Scoring 2. No Secondary scoring 3. Best Prospects are Not NHL ready 4. Don't have a successor for Jonathan Quick The LA Kings do not score enough; they have only scored 76 goals this season, which is the 8th least in the NHL. Anze Kopitar leads the team in points with 25 points in 27 games, Alex Iaffalo has 9 goals and 17 points in 27 games, Adrian Kempe leads the team in goals with 11 goals and 16 points in 27 games. Viktor Arvidsson has played in only 20 games, but he has 6 goals and 14 points in those games. Phillip Danault has 14 points in 27 games and is a +5; Drew Doughty leads defenseman in scoring, with 13 p...

 The Philadelphia Flyers have had a brutal stretch recently, having lost 6 games in a row and not registering a win in 10 games. This has caused the Flyers' record to drop to 8-12-4 and has led to the firing of head coach Alain Vigneault. What are the issues with the Philadelphia Flyers, and what can be done to fix them? Issues w/ Philadelphia Flyers: 1. Lack of Goal Scoring 2. Too many wash up veterans 3. Poor Defense 4. Inconsistent Goaltending The Philadelphia Flyers are struggling to score goals this season; only the Arizona Coyotes and New York Islanders have scored fewer goals than the Flyers. Claude Giroux leads the team in scoring with 21 points, followed by Cam Atkinson and Sean Couturier, who both have 14 points apiece. Travis Konecny has 12 points, Derick Brassard has 11 points, Joel Farabee has 10 points. No other players have more than 10 points. Ivan Provorov, Justin Braun both have 8 points, and Keith Yandle has chipped in 7 points. Kevin Hayes and JVR are two import...

 The Boston Bruins are having a subpar start to the season, but there is still tons of time to turn it around this year. This is what is wrong with the Boston Bruins and how can they fix those issues. Issues w/ Boston Bruins: 1. David Krejci's departure has left a massive hole in the lineup 2. Taylor Hall's slow start  3. Lack of Secondary scoring 4. No impact defenseman outside of McAvoy One of the major issues with the Boston Bruins this season is that they do not have a second-line center. The loss of David Krejci was huge, and they never really replaced him in the lineup. Boston signed Nick Foligno, Erik Haula, and Tomas Nosek to fill out the lineup but none of them were able to fill the void that the departure of David Krejci left. Charlie Coyle has been playing as the second-line center for most of the season, and the major issue with that is that he is very inconsistent and is not a reliable source of offense. Taylor Hall is having a slow start to the season, tallying 5...