Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports
Why Your NHL Team Rocks: Chicago To Columbus
Chicago Blackhawks
Blackhawks fans should be excited because they’ve witnessed their team win three Stanley Cups in 10 years. Back to the present, while Chicago lost quite a few guys due to salary cap space, they still have their core. Brandon Saad was supposed to be a part of it, but Marco Dano should replace him in that regard. If he doesn’t, look for Teuvo Teravainen to do so. It took a while for Coach Q to trust Teuvo, but once he did, Teuvo rewarded him for it. Chicago still has the best core in the NHL in Corey Crawford, Duncan Keith, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa. As long as Chicago has those five guys and the best GM around, nobody should be counting them out.
Colorado Avalanche
Your head coach is Patrick Roy. He’s a player’s coach who picked a fight with Bruce Boudreau in his NHL head coaching debut. How could you NOT be excited about your team when that guy’s your coach? Colorado has some pretty underrated forwards. Blake Comeau is a guy to watch as he looks to prove that Colorado did not make a mistake by signing him. When healthy, he acted as a band-aid to the Penguins offense in 2014-2015. Nobody talks about Matt Duchene nearly as much as they should. He’s a darn good forward. So is Gabriel Landeskog, who apparently had an “off-year” with 59 points. I’ll take that from my captain. Jarome Iginla and Alex Tanguay, despite getting older, are still productive players and still fun to watch. Semyon Varlamov is a franchise goaltender. Their most underrated player? Tyson Barrie. He had one of the quietest 53 point seasons from a blue liner that I can remember and more importantly, he helped carry my fantasy team while Kris Letang battled concussions.
Columbus Blue Jackets
First things first: your team’s Twitter account is the best NHL team account by far. Even if the Jackets lose 82 games, your favorite NHL team can chirp its opponents better than anyone. Blue Jackets fans should be extremely excited because they have a forward group that is really scary. Nick Foligno is a very good player and should remain productive even if his shooting percentage falls. Ryan Johansen has redeemed himself and has become beloved by Columbus after a near-fallout due to contract negotiations. Brandon Saad could be the guy that puts Columbus over the top. Brandon Dubinsky is quickly rising on my list of “NHL players who are the hardest to play against” because not only is he good, he’s a pest and he stands up for his team. Sergei Bobrovsky is about as good of a beat as anyone not named Carey Price to win the Vezina in 2015-2016.
Next: Dallas Through Edmonton