Cats-up! Year in review

[yave1964]

  PRESESON OUTLOOK Well they entered the year with it being a quarter century since they had last won a series in the postseason. They have been building something special in Sunrise, they were hopin for a series win, maybe more.

 

FINAL RECORD 58-18-6 122 points first in the Atlantic. Defeated the Capitals in six games before a quick 4 game sweep by the Bolts ended their season.

 

HIGH POINT OF THE YEAR They began the year guns a blazin' going 10-0-1 to start the year scoring 4 or more in 9 of the games outscoring their opponents in that stretch 46-24 and it was on and popping.  The statement high point was a thirteen game winning streak towards the end of the year when the Division title was up in the air between all four near elite teams. Then beating the Caps for the organizations first series win over a quarter century.

 

LOW POINT OF THE YEAR Losing to Two time Champ Tampa carries no shame, it was the way they lost 

 

WHAT WENT RIGHT Huberdeau is as good a candidate as any for the Hart trophy. Ekblad may have won the Norris if he hadnt gotten hurt late in the year. Barkov is the best two way center in the game bar none hands down including anybody-period. Sam Reinhart started slow putting too much pressure on himself but caught fire around the 20 game mark and scored over a point per game. Duclair was one of 4 30 goal scorers. Verhaeghe, Bennett, Marchment were brilliant in secondary roles. Lundell is a younger version of Barkov. Giroux scored 23 points in 18 games after the deadline deal. Weeger may be the most underrated defenseman in all of Hockey, he does it all. Montour and Forsling were fantastic in support roles on the back end. Gudas had a great year with a limited role. Bobrovsky had an amazing bounce back year going an insane 39-7-3 with a 2.67 goals against.  Knight had a few down stretches but went 19-9-3 with a 2.79 goals against.  Andrew Brunette proved to be the right calming influence on a great young team after the Quenneville affair.

 

WHAT WENT WRONG Joel Quenneville became the first coach in NHL history to step down from an undefeated team.

HHornqvist has too many miles on him and is no more than a high priced 4th liner now. Joe Thornton has nothing left in the tank and it was sad watching him being lugged up the ice by younger twice as fast teammates. Olli juolevi came over from Vancouver, did zero in ten games and was donated to the Wings. Matt Kiersted looked way over his head as a rookie defenseman, still a prospect but the bloom is off the rose.

 

FREE AGENTS AND DRAFT PICKS  They have no first for the next three years, no second this year and in two years and no third next year so this team is built to win now and must do so. They have probably a four or five year window.

As for free agents, Giroux was a rental and wont be back, Chiarot was a rental and if they can afford him they want him back, Marchment is likely a cap casualty, Thornton wont be back, likely Acciari wont either. Most played an important role but all can be repalced. The critical one is next offseason Weegar must be signed soon or a bidding war next offseason will put him out of the Cats budget.  Same with Huberdeau. Both are critical to the teams long term success.

 

TOP PROSPECTS They graduated Lundell and Knight so their top two prosects are already playing key roles on an elite team. Grigori Denisenko will likely replace Marchment, the man can shoot the puck, his problem is his defensive game and playing without the puck but you can say that about a lot of young talent. Aleksi Heponiemi is yet another young center with offensive skill, not as good as Lundell but he could easily take the 3C role and be very good in that spot. Sarren noel is a hard hitting 4th liner whose game has yet to translate to the AHL let alone the NHL but they like him. Another young center they like Cole Schwindt can score and play a shut down role a few holes in his game but he can play. They arent deep in the prospect pool but have four or five guys who will fight and push each other for maybe two jobs.

 

STRANGE STAT OF THE YEAR They were near the top with a 21.4 power play pct during the regular season  in ten playoff games against Washington and Tampa who were middle of the pack on the P/K this year they went 1 goal in 26 power plays for a 3.2 percentage, the worst in the playoffs this year and among the worst in a looong time for a team that played 10 games or more. I went back 25 years and gave up, no team in the past quarter century has had a lower power play percentage in the postseason playing ten games or more.

 

OFFSEASON OUTLOOK The Panthers won the division, won a series but the way they were bounced by the Bolts scoring 3 goals in 4 quick games made the year a bit of a disappointment.  It is critical to resign Hubbie and Weegar ASAP but they are still trending the right direction.