Hockeywiztalks Hockey Blog

 The New Jersey Devils are a rebuilding team right now but if they draft correctly the next two-three years, they will be a contender in no time. This is how the New Jersey Devils should draft in the next few years. Before the 2022 Draft, two trades are made New Jersey Devils trade PK Subban to the Chicago Blackhawks for Alec Regula, 3rd round pick '22 (in a sign and trade). The Blackhawks get a veteran defenseman in PK Subban to help mentor their young players, while the Devils get Alec Regula, a solid defensive prospect and a draft pick. The Devils also trade Miles Wood, and Pavel Zacha to the Vancouver Canucks for Conor Garland, 1st round pick '23. This trade works for both team because the Canucks get two solid role players, who still have room to grow; for the Devils, they buy low on Conor Garland, and pick up an additonal 1st round pick for taking on his contract. At the 2022 Draft, New Jersey Devils trade pick 4 to the Columbus Blue Jackets for picks 8, 14, 46 The Devils...

 The Carolina Hurricanes may no longer be legitimate contenders this year after a rough offseason. This should not be a surprise when you lose your top defenseman, trade away an up-and-coming young defenseman, and then overpay for Jesperi Kotkaniemi. Here are the major moves the Carolina Hurricanes made in the offseason: Traded Alex Nedeljkovic to the Detroit Red Wings for Jonathan Bernier, who left in Free Agency to sign w/ NJ and a 3rd round pick Traded Jake Bean to Columbus Blue Jackets for 2021 2nd round pick (Aleksi Heimosalmi) Acquired Ethan Bear from the Edmonton Oilers for Warren Foegele. Let Dougie Hamilton, Petr Mrazek, Brock McGinn walk in Free Agency. Signed Fredrik Andersen, Antti Raanta in Free Agency. Brought in Derek Stepan, Tony DeAngelo, Ian Cole, Brandan Smith for 1 year. Re-signed Andrei Svechnikov to an 8yr/$62 million contract. Signed Jesperi Kotkaniemi to a 1yr/$6M offer sheet. Offseason Review: While the Hurricane didn't have a terrible offseason, they lost ...

 I'm doing something a little different this week, because tomorrow July 28th is the first day of NHL Free Agency, I thought it would be fitting to make Free Agent Signing Predictions. Side note: I will only making predictions on the UFA signings. Key Free Agents: Dougie Hamilton-NJ (7yrs/63M) The signing of Dougie Hamilton gives the Devils a true number 1 defenseman and gives them great depth on the right side with Hamilton, Subban, and Severson. Jaden Schwartz-SEA (7yrs/45.5M) Jaden Schwartz is a great veteran presence in the locker room and is a really good all-around player. Adding Schwartz would be a huge boost to a new expansion team like the Seattle Kraken. Philipp Grubauer-EDM (6yrs/39M) Signing Philipp Grubauer would give the Edmonton Oilers a legit number 1 goalie, something they are in dire need of. A tandem of Grubauer and Mike Smith would give the Oilers a terrific goalie tandem in goal. Philip Danault-NYR (7yrs/42M) Philip Danault has proven over the last couple of y...

 Taylor Hall is going to be one of the top free agents in 2020 and the Montreal Canadiens are one of the teams that are rumored to be after him. The Thing is that Montreal already has Tomas Tatar and Jonathan Drouin at LW, why would they need Taylor Hall? Well to put is simply, the Canadiens lack a star forward and Taylor Hall would provide that star power up front. If the Canadiens do end up signing Taylor Hall, the Canadiens would need to trade either one of those two players to address other needs on the roster. Before the 2020 draft, the Canadiens make a few trades: Montreal Canadiens trade Tomas Tatar, Max Domi to the Nashville Predators for Eeli Tolvanen, 1st round pick 2020. Nashville Needs skilled wingers with Mikael Granlund and Craig Smith leaving in Free Agency, so adding Tatar and Domi will more than fill that void. For Montreal, the get a young forward in Tolvanen and a 1st round pick. Montreal also trades Jeff Petry, Jonathan Drouin, Ryan Poehling, 1st round pick 2021...

The 2011 NHL Draft was quite strange because the 1st round was faily underwelming and there were still some great star talent in the draft like Nikita Kucherov, Johnny Gaudreau, Jonathan Huberdeau, Gabriel Landeskog, Mark Scheifele, Mika Zibanejad, Dougie Hamilton. *Check out my previous blogs for other Redrafs* 1. Edmonton Oilers-(RW) Nikita Kucherov Original pick: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins The Best player in this draft is Nikita Kucherov, there isn't another player in this draft that has even come close to hitting the 100 point mark, and Kucherov has done in twice and in back to back years. On top of his regular season accolades, Kucherov also has 29 goals and 61 points in 65 playoff games. The Edmonton Oilers will soon have one of the best powerplays in the league that features Nikita Kucherov, Tyler Seguin and Logan Couture. 2. Colorado Avalanche-(LW) Johnny Gaudreau Original pick: Gabriel Landeskog As great as Gabriel Landeskog has been for the Colorado Avalanche...