Hockeywiztalks Hockey Blog

 Here are the major trades that occurred before the trade Deadline on March 2: Jan 30:  New York Islanders acquire forward Bo Horvat from Vancouver Canucks in exchange for forwards Anthony Beauvillier and Aatu Raty and conditional 1st-round pick in 2023 NHL Draft. Feb 5:  Seattle Kraken acquire defenseman Jaycob Megna from San Jose Sharks in exchange for 4th-round pick in 2023 NHL Draft. Feb 9:  New York Rangers acquire forward Vladimir Tarasenko, defenseman Niko Mikkola from St. Louis Blues in exchange for forward Sammy Blais, defenseman Hunter Skinner, conditional draft picks.  Feb 17:  Maple Leafs acquire forwards Ryan O'Reilly, Noel Acciari in 3-team deal with St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild; Blues acquire Mikhail Abramov, Adam Gaudette, 1st-round pick in 2023 NHL Draft (from Toronto),  3rd-round pick in 2023 NHL Draft (from Ottawa), 2nd-round pick in 2024 NHL Draft (from Toronto) and Wild acquire 4th-round pick in 2025 NHL Draft (from Toronto)...

 Here are some Centers you should drop: Ryan O'Reilly Ryan O'Reilly is having a dreadful season so far, putting up just 9 goals, 15 points, 2 PPP, along with 315 Faceoff wins and is a -26. The only value O'Reilly has now is faceoff wins and with his +/- being so bad, it almost offsets how good his Faceoff wins is.You would be better off finding other players that can fill up the faceoff win category. Kevin Hayes Kevin Hayes started off the season fairly well, but in the last month of the season, he only has 3 goals, 8 points, 4 PPP, 35 FW, 37 SOG, and is a -4. He has also been dropped in the lineup to play on the wing along with Scott Laughton and Wade Allison, which will be a massive hit to his fantasy value because he won't be taking as many faceoffs as before. Ryan Strome Ryan Strome is having a horrid start to the season, with only 8 goals, 14 assists, 2 PPP, 57 SOG, and 241 Faceoff wins so far this season. Strome doesn't stand out in any particular category and...

 The St.Louis Blues are a team that is stuck in no man's land; they aren't nearly good enough to be legit contenders, yet they aren't entirely bad enough to be a lottery team. So the most logical thing to do is to move a couple of veteran players and build from the draft. This is how I would rebuild the St.Louis Blues. At the 2022 Trade Deadline, two major trades are made: St.Louis Blues trade Vladimir Tarasenko to the Carolina Hurricanes for Nino Niederreiter, Ryan Suzuki, 2023 2nd round pick. If the Hurricanes make the playoffs, the 2nd round pick becomes a 1st round pick. This is a great team for both teams; Carolina gets a top 6 scorer to play on the first line with Aho and Svechnikov, while the Blues get a top 6 forward in Nino Niederreiter, a solid prospect in Ryan Suzuki, and a draft pick. The Blues also trade David Perron to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Nick Ritchie, Joseph Duszak, 1st round pick '22. St.Louis retains 1 million of David Perron's contract. Si...

 The Columbus Blue Jackets drafted terribly from when they entered the NHL to 2013, they have many chances to draft franchise changing talent but they opted instead to draft players that would turn into the biggest bust in recent memory. In this blog, i redraft the Columbus Blue Jackets for a decade and try to turn them into a contending team. 2003: 4-Ryan Suter over Nikolay Zherdev 49-David Backes over Dan Fritsche 103-Joe Pavelski over Kevin Jarman 168-Dustin Byfuglien over Marc Methot The Columbus Blue Jackets draft 2 stud defenseman in Ryan Suter and Dustin Byfuglien as well as an elite scorer in Joe Pavelski and a very solid top 6 forward in David Backes. 2004: 8-Cory Schneider over Alexandre Picard 46-Brandon Dubinsky over Adam Pineault 59-Alex Goligoski over Kyle Wharton 133-Kris Versteeg over Petr Pohl Columbus drafts a very good starting goalie in Cory Schneider along with a solid two way defenseman in Alex Goligoski, a solid two way center in Brandon Dubinsky and a nice r...

The 2009 NHL draft was highlighted with superstars such as John Tavares and Victor Hedman but there were other great players taken later in the draft, such as Ryan O'Reilly, Tyson Barrie, Mattias Ekholm, Anders Lee and Mike Hoffman. If the 2009 draft was redrafted, the landscape of the NHL would be very different. *Check out my previous redrafts on my blog* 1. New York Islanders-(C) John Tavares Original pick: John Tavares New York Islanders still select John Tavares, as he is clearly the best player available in the draft. From the first game with Islanders to his last game with the club, he was dominant, and carried a mostly pedestrian team 3 times. Tavares still managed to put up 272 goals and 621 points n 669 despite never playing with another star player on the Islanders. 2. Tampa Bay Lightning-(D) Victor Hedman Original pick: Victor Hedman Tampa Bay Lightning still select Victor Hedman because he is still head and shoulders the 2nd best player in the 2009 ...