In light of the holiday season, the National Hockey League will be out of commission for the next two days, allowing all of their employees to take part in the winter festivities, whatever they may celebrate. As children write their Christmas letters to Santa, in hopes of receiving all they wish for, NHL fans are writing their own wish-lists, directing it to the attention of the general manager whom is in charge of the team. A change in the front office? A move made internally within the lines or a possible trade? Last Word On Sports takes a peak at your letters and we share with all of you what you’re looking for, this holiday season.
Atlantic Division
For the Boston Bruins; Give Nick Godin’s piece a read HERE
For the Buffalo Sabres; the guy that runs the special teams – both the powerplay and the penalty kill – whomever it may be, needs to be on the outside looking in, after Christmas. It’s hard to say that someone should lose their job during a time of giving, but what exactly has this individual brought to the Sabres? A penalty kill that is good for 24th in the league, and a horrendous powerplay that has an efficiency rate of 9.3% is the biggest reason why the Sabres have fallen so hard this year.
For the Detroit Red Wings; Give Griffin Schroeder’s piece a read HERE
For the Florida Panthers; Respect. The Panthers have seen their fair share of seasons where they struggled and after some quality drafting (Bjugstad, Huberdeau, Barkov, Ekblad), bringing in some good players up front (Pirri, Hayes) and then landing the #1 goaltender they desperately needed when they brought back Roberto Luongo, Florida is looking to return to the playoffs. Their great play this month, that saw them most recently earn a shootout victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins, was a great way to head into the holiday break. When they return to action, hopefully they’ll have the attention of the league and, more importantly, their fans.
For the Montreal Canadiens; Give Tyler Shea’s piece a read HERE
For the Ottawa Senators; Jared Cowen’s progression with the team needs to hit a major growth spurt in January. Averaging top-4 minutes with 18:40 per game, behind Erik Karlsson, Cody Ceci, and Chris Phillips, both his offensive and defensive game have suffered. Posting just 7 points and a -6 rating, Cowen has often been caught flat-footed in the neutral zone, and sometimes beat cleanly on the outside by forwards. The Senators may have rushed him too quickly into the NHL, but it’s now up to him to seize the moment and get his game down pat.
For the Tampa Bay Lightning; The momentum of the Lightning this season has relied solely on their ability to keep the puck in the offensive zone. With opposing defenses adjusting toscoring threats, such as Steven Stamkos and Tyler Johnson, the more scoring threats on the ice the better. The best addition the bolts could add would be an offensive-minded defenseman.
For the Toronto Maple Leafs; The best gift to give to the Maple Leafs this year is a DVD of the Toronto Maple Leafs, only to point out exactly what they are doing wrong. Their style of beating top dogs and dropping the following game to the worst team in the league has plagued Toronto for years. Maybe Tyler Bozak isn’t a first-line center after all. Perhaps Phil Kessel needs to sit a game to snap him out of it. Whatever it may be, the Leafs need to stop playing like, well, the Leafs.
Metropolitan Division
For the Carolina Hurricanes; As good a draft pick as possible. The Carolina Hurricanes are simply a bad team, I think we’ve all gotten the picture. Suffer through the second half of a long, miserable year and come out with a fabulous player like Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel; it’s the silver lining to an otherwise bleak season.
For the Columbus Blue Jackets; No more injuries. The Columbus Blue Jackets have suffered the worst through the first half of this season. At one point, they had as many as eight players sitting out with injuries, most of which were their top-6. It’s a miracle that Ryan Johansen has been able to avoid the injury bug this long, as the Blue Jackets would hit disaster city if their top-line center was put on the shelf for any duration of time.
For the New Jersey Devils; Goals. Goals. Goals. This season, the Devils have just 76 goals, good for an average of 2.11 per game. Their 5-on-5 production is abysmal (50 goals). Mike Cammalleri leads the team with 11 on the season, while Adam Henrique has 9. After that, the next player has 5 and it dips down from there. There’s enough talent in the top-6 to be better than their showing, but the decline in age and the lack of finish has severely hurt the Devils.
For the New York Islanders; All I want for the Isles is some decent back-up goaltending. Jaro Halak has been depended upon way too much and Chad Johnson just isn’t playing well. Do that, and the Isles will be more of a complete team.
For the New York Rangers; The Rangers could use a minor tweak to their defensive squad, particularly a 3rd pairing left-handed defenseman to play with Dan Boyle. Their top-4 is set and their forward group is producing better than expected, with Rick Nash’s 36 points in 34 games leading the way. If they can have all three defensive pairings clicking, the Rangers will be golden.
For the Philadelphia Flyers; Defense. The Flyers’ long-time Achilles heel has been the lack of defense. After offensive-defenseman Mark Streit’s staggering production from the blue line, the numbers drop off and so does the defensive play. Nicklas Grossman has been a nice surprise, but the team needs some reinforcements to lighten the load of Ray Emery and Steve Mason. Perhaps getting Shayne Gostisbehere back from injury could help.
For the Pittsburgh Penguins; Another top-6 winger would look really nice right about now. Imagine waking up on Christmas morning, unwrapping the biggest gift under the tree, and it’s Taylor Hall. The next present you unwrap is a note to inform you of what you just gave to obtain him, and suddenly, Christmas is ruined. It will take a lot to get a top-6 winger to the Penguins, be it Hall or Chris Stewart, if Pittsburgh wants to push for another Stanley Cup, they’ll need to expand their offensive gun-power some more, and create a better dynamic on all four lines.
For the Washington Capitals; Patience. Bringing in Barry Trotz as the new head coach completely changed the dynamic of the team. Unlike Peter Laviolette with Nashville however, the Capitals are taking a while longer to adjust their game. The team is still giving up goals in bunches, but it’s improved. The additions in Brooks Orpik and Matt Niskanen have not helped the way the team had hoped, but over time, things could change.
Central Division
For the Chicago Blackhawks; The Christmas break itself is a gift to the Blackhawks. Brad Richards is currently banged up and not playing, while rest for old bones with Marian Hossa and Michael Rozsival goes a long way. Two days of no hockey will benefit the veterans on the Blackhawks, and starting the second half of the season with a breath of fresh air can only make a dangerous team even more lethal.
For the Colorado Avalanche; A complete re-do of the 2013-14 season. Last year, the Avalanche were gifted with a Vezina-caliber season from Semyon Varlamov matched with a high shooting percentage, which propelled the team to make the playoffs. This year, Varlamov has been sidelined with injuries, and the team has come crashing back down to reality. Lucky for them, Calvin Pickard seems to be doing just fine between the pipes.
For the Dallas Stars; Depth, both on offense and defense. The team is giving up too many goals and while they sit in 13th for goals for, the depth after Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, and Jason Spezza is poorly spread out. Perhaps a trade or two to solidify the top-9 and defensive situation could solve a few of the issues at hand, but until then, the Stars will continue to slide in the rankings.
For the Minnesota Wild; The Wild powerplay is quite the weakness on the team, ranking 26th at a 13.9% conversion rate. A boost from this, and better production out of Thomas Vanek in the goal scoring department (5), should top the Christmas list for Wild fans.
For the Nashville Predators; The Predators don’t need anything. In fact, they should send a gift basket to their general manager, and a thank you note to the Hockey Gods. All of their transactions in the off-season have paid off, Pekka Rinne looks like Pekka Rinne and Laviolette has done a tremendous job with the team. Rookie Filip Forsberg looks to be a favorite for the Calder Trophy as well.
For the St. Louis Blues; Consistency in goal. With the injury to Brian Elliott, the Blues turned to Jake Allen, who could not get the job done. This forced their hand, and thus, Martin Brodeur made his way back into the NHL. Yet there is still that level of uncertainty. Apart from that, Paul Stastny could use a shooter on his line to create more offense, spreading out the production past the deadly first line.
For the Winnipeg Jets; Play Michael Hutchinson more. Nothing on Ondrej Pavelec, who has a 10-8-5 record with a .913 save percentage and a 2.34 goals against, but Hutch has proven that he is indeed clutch. 8-2-2 on the season, his numbers up until now have been outstanding (.944 save percentage and a 1.67 goals against). If the Jets lean more towards Hutchinson, they’ll stand a better chance at winning hockey games.
Pacific Division
For the Anaheim Ducks; Keep doing what they’re doing. Much like the Predators, the Ducks don’t need any presents this year. Just steady the course and continue to play the way they have and they’ll continue to see success behind the leadership of head coach Bruce Boudreau.
For the Arizona Coyotes; Bring back the old Mike Smith. Really, where did he go? It was a couple of years back that Smith was considered one of the favorites to be Canada’s goalie at the Olympics. Now, just a shell of his former self, Smith has seen his starting job increasingly drift away from him with each performance he puts on, allowing Devan Dubnyk to seize the opportunity and lead Arizona onto the ice. While Dubnyk has been good thus far, the team’s success will eventually hang in the balance of how Mike Smith rebounds.
For the Calgary Flames; Time and patience. At this point in the season, the Flames are exceeding expectations. A few minor tweaks can be made with ice-time management, and perhaps the re-calling of Michael Ferland could provide the energy that has since gone away with his departure. Otherwise, Bob Hartley and company should be proud of what they have achieved so far this season.
For the Edmonton Oilers; The Oilers need to do some simple things. Fire everybody. Impeach Darryl Katz. Trade dead weight. Keep their first round pick, and maybe Santa will reward them with Connor McDavid.
For the Los Angeles Kings; The usual road warriors seen in the playoffs and in the past have been absent so far this season. The Kings are 4-7-5 away from Staples Center, something that definitely needs to change in time for Lord Stanley’s tournament in April. Some consistency from the team until then would bear well for the defending champs.
For the San Jose Sharks; The Sharks could use some help in the depth departments to really solidify their bottom roles. A 4th line center and third pairing defense could be the re-tooling needed to give the Sharks that extra boost, and it wouldn’t cost them much in return. Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton could use a puck possession and retrieval player on their line as well.
For the Vancouver Canucks; Give Markus Meyer’s piece a read HERE.
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