Hockeywiztalks Hockey Blog

 The Tampa Bay Lightning are the defending Stanley Cup Champions but they haven't exactly had the best start to the season. While Tampa has a good 11-4-3 record; they currently sit in 3rd in the Atlantic Division. What's are some of the Issues with the Tampa Bay Lightning and how should they be fixed? Issues w/ Tampa Bay Lightning 1. Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point's Injuries 2. Not enough Scoring Depth 3. Defense Has Not been good at all 4. Young players have not developed well It's not a stretch to say that Nikita Kucherov is the focal point of the Lightning' offense, and his absence in the lineup is very noticeable especially on the powerplay since his presence requires other teams to pay special attention to him. Kucherov underwent surgery back in late October and was given a timeline of 8 to 10 weeks. The Lightning was able to play well enough without Nikita Kucherov because they still had Stamkos, Point, and Vasilevkiy, however, unfortunately, Brayden Point ...

 The New York Islanders have not gotten off to a great start to the season this year; for a team that went to the Eastern Conference Finals last season, this is surely a disappointing start. What is Wrong with the New York Islanders? What can be done to fix their issues? Issues with New York Islanders: 1. Lack of Goal Scoring 2. Defense isn't as good  3. Team is too old 4. Injuries The New York Islanders are last in the Metropolitan division and have scored the second-fewest goals in the entire league. A big reason for this is the loss of Jordan Eberle to the Seattle Kraken in the expansion draft. Eberle had been a major part of their team and was one of their more reliable offensive players last year. After losing Eberle, the Islanders re-sign Kyle Palmieri and signed Zach Parise to provide depth scoring. The Isles have only scored 29 goals this season, only the Arizona Coyotes have scored fewer goals this season. One of the strengths of the Islanders teams' under Barry Trotz...

 There's are a lot of off the ice controversy surrounding the Chicago Blackhawks, but I wanted to focus on the team on the ice. The 2021-22 Chicago Blackhawks have gotten off to a terrible Start to the season, with a 3-9-2 record; only Arizona has a worse record. This bad start has caused the Blackhawks to fire head coach Jeremy Colliton, and Derek King was named the Interim coach. In this blog, I discuss what is wrong with Chicago Blackhawks and how to fix them. Major Issues w/ Chicago Blackhawks: 1. Offseason acquisitions haven't panned out 2. Defense is flat out bad 3. Dylan Strome's poor play 4. Lack of Depth Scoring The Chicago Blackhawks make a few major offseason moves to improve the team, including acquiring Seth Jones, Marc-Andre Fleury, and Tyler Johnson. They also went out and signed Jake McCabe, Jujhar Khaira, Erik Gustafsson in Free Agency.  The only move that is looking good so far is the Seth Jones move, he has 12 points in his first 14 games, while logging o...

 The Colorado Avalanche haven't had a great start to the season, due to a combination of injuries and because they lost a few key players in the offseason. Let's discuss the issues with the Colorado Avalanche and how to fix them. Issues with the Colorado Avalanche: 1. Loss of Philipp Grubauer, Brandon Saad, Ryan Graves 2. Injuries early in the season 3. Darcy Kuemper's slow start 4. Lack of Scoring Depth 5. Defense is too soft The Colorado Avalanche lost a couple key players in the offseason, which is a major reason why they have gotten off to a mediocre start to the season. Philipp Grubauer signed with the Seattle Kraken and Brandon Saad signed with the St.Louis Blues in Free Agency. Ryan Graves was traded to the New Jersey Devils for a 2021 2nd round pick. To replace Philipp Grubauer, the Avs went out and acquired Darcy Kuemper; Jack Johnson and Darren Helm were added in Free Agency. Injuries played a big part in why Colorado has had a .500 record out of the gate, and whi...

 The Detroit Red Wings have had a terrific start to the season with a 4-2 record, thanks to the arrival of young studs such as Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider, who have added lots of skill and talent to the lineup.   Detroit Red Wings Offseason Moves: 1. Traded for and Re-signed Alex Nedeljkovic 2. Traded for Nick Leddy 3. Signed Pius Suter, Jordan Oesterle 4. Re-signed Jakub Vrana, Filip Hronek 5. Re-signed Marc Staal, Michael Rasmussen, Adam Erne Offseason Review: The biggest weakness for the Detroit Red Wings was goaltending, so they went out and traded for Alex Nedeljkovic, who was in a contract dispute with the Carolina Hurricanes. Then subsequently, re-signed Nedeljkovic to a 2 yr deal worth 3.5 million per season. Nedeljkovic will tandem with Thomas Greiss and should form a solid tandem in net. The Red Wings also acquired Nick Leddy from the New York Islanders. This trade helps the Red Wings take that next step forward, as Leddy is an veteran defenseman, with playoff ex...

The Vancouver Canucks had some lofty expectations heading into this season, but so far they have not lived up to those expectations. It is still early in the season, but by looking at the roster, they don't seem like a contending team. Key Offseason Moves:  1. Bought out Braden Holtby and Jake Virtanen 2. Acquiring OEL and Conor Garland 3. Trade for Jason Dickinson 4. Traded Nate Schmidt; signed Tucker Poolman, Luke Schenn 5. Signed Jaroslav Halak to replace Braden Holtby 6. Locked up Pettersson and Hughes Offseason Review: Vancouver Canucks retooled their lineup quite a bit in the offseason to the point where the team looks quite different than last year. The Cancuks started off the offseason by buying out Braden Holtby and Jake Virtanen, both these players never really worked out on the team. The Biggest splash the Canucks made was acquiring Oliver Ekman Larsson and Conor Garland from the Arizona Coyotes; although the price tag was hefty, the move improves the team drastically fo...

 The Minnesota Wild had a great season last year, but a major reason for that is the cause of the division they played in. Minnesota will be back in the Central Division this season, and will be fighting for a playoff spot with the likes of Chicago, St.Louis, Nashville, Dallas, and Winnipeg. Because of this, the Wild may struggle to make the playoffs this season. Key moves made in the Offseason: Bought out Zach Parise + Ryan Suter. lost Carson Soucy to Seattle Kraken in Expansion Draft. lost Marcus Johansson, Ian Cole to Free Agency. signed Alex Goligoski, Dmitry Kulikov, Jordie Benn, Jon Merrill in Free Agency. Re-signed Joel Eriksson to a long term deal. Locked up Kirill Kaprizov to a 5 yr deal. Re-signed Kevin Fiala for 1yr Offseason Review: Coming into this offseason, it was no secret that the Minnesota Wild need to create cap room in order to sign some of their key RFAs like Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Kevin Fiala. To nobody's surprise, the Wild bought out Zach Paris...