Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
Why Your Favorite NHL Team Rocks: Blues To Maple Leafs
St. Louis Blues
Yes, the T.J. Oshie trade was not that smart. However, as a Caps fan, you’re getting a good player back in Troy Brouwer. Not only is he a good player, he’s an awesome dude who is very fun to root for. He’ll likely be in the role that the Caps should have used him in (checking line wing). That role fits him perfectly as a defensively responsible forward. He’ll fit in well with the Blues penalty kill and power play. Also, the Blues have one of the best shutdown lines in the NHL in David Backes, Alex Steen and whoever the lucky guy is who gets to play with that duo. Vladimir Tarasenko is one of the best scorers in the NHL. Ken Hitchcock is a coach who is smart enough to realize that giving your best offensive players lots of offensive zone starts is a really awesome idea. The Blues blue line is one of the best in the NHL.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Lightning fans have so many reasons to be optimistic and excited. They have the best forward group in the NHL, bar none. Nikita Kucherov, Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat form the “Triplet Line”, which is one of the most unique shutdown lines in the NHL. It’s basically a shutdown line that gets heavy offensive zone starts. While they get heavy offensive zone starts, they face the toughest competition. It’s weird, but it works perfectly. Steven Stamkos is probably the best goal scorer in the NHL not named Alex Ovechkin. Viktor Hedman should be talked about a lot more. He’s a dark horse Norris candidate. Anton Stralman is an analytics darling boy who is starting to win over even the staunchest of critics. Andrei Vasilevskiy is awesome.
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs are finally undergoing a full rebuild. The best part? It’s getting done the right way. The Leafs are one of the worst teams in the NHL. They plan on fixing that through the draft, which is brilliant. That’s probably the best way to get better. However, the draft is a crap shoot. How are the Leafs working around that? By getting as many draft picks as they can. In a roundabout way, they’re sort of buying draft picks. They gave Mark Arcobello, P.A. Parentau and Shawn Matthias (among others) one year deals. They’ll be flipped at the trade deadline for, you guessed it, draft picks and prospects. Speaking of prospects, the Leafs have quietly assembled a nice group of guys. Nazem Kadri and Jake Gardiner are two of the most underrated players in the NHL. I fully expect that to change this season.
Next: Vancouver Through Winnipeg