Locked on NHL: Power Rankings

it was about time that a power ranking show did some Power [Music] Rankings you're locked on NHL your daily podcast on the National Hockey League part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hello everyone and welcome to this edition of locked on NHL my name is Nick zaris the host of locked on Oilers that is Hunter hodies one of the hosts of locked on Penguins I want to thank everybody who makes lock on NH their first listen of the day locked on NHL part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day and today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more now that the playoffs are over sports are not sportsing like we want them to but this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a booster bonus daily that's right there's something for everyone every day all summer long so visit fanduel.com to get started today's episode very straightforward going back to the traditional Power Rankings format now that we've got the dust settled we've got a general idea about who's going to be playing where next year there are definitely some moves still to be made there's some interesting maybe project free agents available we've broken today's episode up into three segments the first segment we're going to talk about teams where they're either straight up rebuilding or we're not sure what category to put them in the second tier of teams is going to be bubble teams that could be on the outside looking in or could very well make the playoffs and then the final segment we're going to touch on the real Stanley Cup contenders so getting to work opening up my handy dandy note sheet here in this rebuilding tier I think unequivocally you have San Jose you have Anaheim you have the Blackhawks you have the Blue Jackets you have Montreal and you have the Flames I think those are unequivocally rebuilding teams if you want to say Utah maybe if you want to say St Louis maybe but for the most part I would say that bottom crop which is basically the same bottom crop as the last few years but you're adding the Flames to it now if I had to maybe include one more Nick I know they were in the race this past year but the Philadelphia Flyers have said that this is a rebuild that they've been doing under Danny Brier they were ahead of schedule this past season so I think maybe if you do want to include them in that tier I think you can even though again I do think they're going to try and be in the race again this year with mechkov and all that but just wanted to throw it out there as well just because they've legitimately said under the Ria regime that they are re a rebuilding team that's that's very fair I I think the Flyers will be competitive in a way that some of the teams we just mentioned like San Jose like Anaheim Chicago the Blue Jackets they're just not capable of doing that yet so I think the Flyers are kind of in their own little box where they're good enough or at least play well enough that they're not going to be an atrocity you know they're not going to stink up the joint they're not going to have 18 regular season wins by the end of the year like a team might be the the only way out for some of these teams like Chicago s Columbus Anaheim San Jose Montreal the only way out of this self-inflicted rebuilding window is if something pops if something unexpected happens you know if s if for the Blue Jackets per instance have Adam fantelli have like an 80-point season out of nowhere that is something that could get them going if the Canadians and their nine Prospect defensemen fight find the right permutation of six they very well could be a quality competitive hockey team like I think there's a world where Montreal is capable of being close to what the Flyers were last year though it would be more about their defense and Mont ball taking a step forward or if stovsky takes another big step next year as well you know mean ni maybe he's over a point per game player maybe he exceeds expectations even more as an 85 90 point player I think that would also qualify for Montreal especially after they gave him that big extension completely agree with you there for Anaheim I think it's a matter of staying healthy and I don't want to put all of it on John Gibson but it does kind of feel like if the Ducks are going to find the way to hang around with his bad as their defenses their forward group is decent it's not bad it they had injury problems really rough they had really rough injury problems last year no zis for pretty much the entire season Mason McTavish missed a lot of time they were easing in Leo Carlson but I think the Ducks are kind of in a different boat and the I think the Ducks and the sharks are in the same exact boat of you have like three or four young players that I really like but other than that there's not a whole lot here to convince me you have a high ceiling right I mean in the Ducks they had a really good start to the season a couple of years ago where you know they were saying oh the rebuilds over you know we're going to go out here and you know exceed expectations even more make the playoffs but then they kind of came back to reality after the first month month and a half two months of the season and they just went on a couple really bad losing streaks so they need to amass you know some more Talent overall on that team the Gibson situation it continues to be weird Nick I mean I still feel like they need to deal him so they can give Lucas do still some more starts I actually like the way Doo played this past year I think he actually out play Gibson to be honest but just when you look at Gibson's contract I'm just not really sure what team is going to want it right now but we've been kind of saying that for the last couple of years to just because he's been involved in so many trade rumors but I think playing behind that defense defense for another year I don't know man I get nervous just because of how far he's already fallen these last couple of years and I don't want him to fall even more even though the ducks have not really made too many improvements to their defense I think Chicago has an argument for being a little more competitive this year I don't think they're going to be close enough to the bubble where I could put them in that next tier they added some good talent in in July on July one anytime you can add two top six calibra players in berzi and Terra vinan that that's solid and they added an NHL caliber goalie which is the first time they've had one of those in a while I mean brasis isn't a 50 game starter but he can give you 30 starts at a reasonably high level and intend and with Peter morazzi who in theory with a reduced workload should be able to be a little bit more effective I could see the Blackhawks being frisky I don't think they can be good but I think they can score some goals they won't be able to play defense particularly well but they will be entertaining to watch and then the next group Seattle Washington St Louis Calgary I also have in this mix of they're either rebuilding or I'm not really sure Seattle spent a lot of money this summer and it didn't these aren't impact guys you know it would be one thing if you went out and you overpaid and you got marshes show or you got Stam Coast I like Brandon Montour Montour is a three on a good team mour is a three on a good team as in third defenseman you know first pair guy first pair has two guys he's the best guy on your second pair I don't think he's a first pair guy on a good team I think on a look similar to his usage in Florida last year where they finally broke through and won the Stanley Cup because they got the right complimentary partner for him Chandler Stevenson is fine but he's not a play driver and he's not going to dramatically improve the Outlook of your team Calgary very clearly going to take a step back even if it's just the goal tending alone they're going to take a step back going from markstrom who was on the prohiper of being a vzna caliber goalie to going in with Vadar and Dustin wolf who combined to have less than 100 NHL starts and then St Louis in Washington same kind of deal older expensive not particularly good sure there's probably a way where they can be in the mix for playoff spots but I don't think they have high ceilings either way right I think with Seattle just to go back to a little bit there I would agree what Stevens said Montour yeah I do think on an elite team he's a number three but I I do think that he is very much an impact defenseman he's very good with a puck on his detick has a great shot he can play well in his own zone so I guess I kind of push back a little bit because I do think he's very much an impact player overall I agree with your other teams if I do want to add one more to this I would add Pittsburgh they have not said that they're doing officially said that they're doing a rebuild on the fly but they are I mean just look at the the picks they're getting the trades they're making the signings they're making this is very much a mini rebuild on the fly a big retool if you will I would put Pittsburgh in category as well but I could also see people putting them in the bubble category because some people may expect them to make the playoffs this upcoming year so again agree with your overall teams here but if I had to add one I would probably add Pittsburgh just because of the direction that Kyle dubis is taking them I think Pittsburgh is talented enough where they won't be this bad that's the thing I don't think they're bottom 10 bad I think they're very much in that middle where they're going to be somewhere between 12th and 17th where I could see them being one of the two wild cards if things break right for them if the teams around them aren't that good I could definitely see that being in the cards for them but that's fair I think that's a reasonable estimation Hunter and I are going to take a quick break and then we're going to take some time and we're going to talk about the bubble team so be sure to stick around to this edition of lock on NHL we are all driven by the search for better but when it comes to hiring the best way to search for a candidate isn't to search at all don't search match with indeed if you need to hire you need indeed indeed is your matching and hiring platform with over 350 million Global monthly visitors according to indeed data and a matching engine that helps you find quality candidates fast ditch the busy work use indeed for scheduling screening and messaging so you can connect with candidates faster and indeed doesn't just help you hire faster 93% of employers agree indeed delivers the highest quality matches compared to other job sites according to a recent indeed survey leveraging over 100 40 million qualifications and preferences every single day indeed's matching engine is constantly learning from your preferences so the more you use indeed the better it gets and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at indeed.com lockon just go to indeed.com lockon right now and support our show by saying you heard about indeed on this podcast ind.com loock on terms and conditions apply need to hire you need indeed thank you to everybody who's hanging out on this Thursday edition of lock on any show with Hunter and I so in this middle tier I could see these teams going either way I could see them playing themselves almost all of these teams playing themselves into a playoff spot maybe able to win a round or so or the opposite end of things like we were just talking about in respect to the Penguins who are in this group of I could see them being like the 12th worst team in the NHL or I could see them being a playoff spot so in this group I have Pittsburgh I have the flyers I have the Islanders I have the Red Wings I have the Senators the wild the Jets the Kings the lightning the Bruins the Predators the hurricanes and the Canucks I think this is your middle class and some of these teams are closer to the top you know I think you could say Vancouver Winnipeg Carolina are close to the top of this group close to that cont as one of the contenders I think even though I want to see it two years in a row I that's the thing I want to see it two years in a row because I think Vancouver has the talent for sure but they also had the Talent two years ago and then thatr Demco got hurt and the bottom fell out and they threw poor Bruce bu under the bus because they didn't have an NHL caliber goalie so I want to see it two years in a row I definitely think the Canucks will be a contender because their high-end Talent is so good even if I don't necessarily understand some of the moves they made bringing in De AR and lock re bringing in Tyler Meyers and I I see what they're trying to do but I don't think it's going to make a lot of sense but there's a really thick middle class of teams there are a lot of teams in this group like Carolina Boston Nashville Vancouver Winnipeg that very easily could play themselves into the contender tier there are teams like Ottawa that we've been waiting for them to break through there are teams like the Islanders the Flyers the Penguins Detroit who are right there but they're not really impressive so it's going to be a very meh road to get into the playoffs I think so I would I know you had Washington in the tier below I would actually move Washington up to this tier I think just because they made the playoffs this past year I really like the moves that the capitals made on July one and even before some of the trades they made some of the signings overall and I do think they're going to be very much in contention for a playoff spot again this year they're at least trying to go out with a little bit of a bang before oetkin retires after these like next couple seasons are up so I would put Washington in here overall I did notice you are saving the Devils I think for the final category I would have New Jersey in this category for now don't get me wrong I think New Jersey is going to make the playoffs this year I'm not sold on them as a Bonafide Contender just yet they have the the star forwards obviously Heir Hughes Etc you have douge Hamilton coming back they finally solve the goal tending problem hopefully you have Sheldon ke as head coach who is at least an upgrade over Lindy rough but I would not have them in the contenders category I would have them down here the other teams I think I agree with if I wanted to be maybe a bit nitpicky I would maybe move you know La a little further down the Lous because I'm not really sure what the plan is with Rob Blake right now with some of the moves that he's been making Minnesota I think is kind of fair with this one Carolina you can make an argument for being a contender but I'm also at the point where I want to see it before I can truly believe it when it comes to the hurricane so those are just my overall thoughts I already gave my thoughts about the Penguins they're kind of in that middle where you can make a case for them in the bottom category with some of the RS but you can also make a case for them in this category especially with their high-end Talent mostly still producing really nicely overall yes for sure for sure in that boat and then there are teams like Minnesota Winnipeg I would say the lightning are in that boat as well where I think they have enough high-end Talent where they very easily can be playoff teams but I don't really believe in the depth and I think their path is a little bit narrower than it may have been in years past like objectively trading out Stam Coast for gensel and bringing in McDona to replace whoever the third D was last year that's fine I don't think Tampa Bay is GNA be able to get to that ceiling anymore just because they're pretty much capped out I think Minnesota is kind of in the same boat where they're pretty much capped out and can't improve their team all that much and Winnipeg they had their perfect season last year you know everything that could go right for the Jets last year did and they were eliminated in five games in the first round and they lost Dylan Dello they lost Brandon Dylan they lost Tyler tley they lost Shawn Monahan it's gonna be really hard for the Jets to be in that contenders tier again without multiple additions in season like they had last year and maybe maybe it's ruer mcgr maybe it's vly hola maybe it's somebody who's inhouse because the Jets have slow played so many of their guys maybe there's a path to getting those guys maybe Brad Lambert but maybe two of those three Prospect forwards come in and are able to make an impact and mitigate the losses of a TFI and a Shawn Monahan but based on the way the Jets have used young players historically since going back to Winnipeg I struggle to imagine those guys are going to get big responsibility right away to be in a position to really bolster the team we still have to see if Rucker mcord is even even going to be in the Jets organization by the time the season starts there's been so many rumors about him being involved in trade talks he that deal was supposed to be done around the NHL draft and then it kind of fizzled out and really haven't heard anything about it since now all the GMS are basically on vacation as we're in mid July right now anyway but I agree with you on Winnipeg you know Conor huk he's gonna have to have a god tier season Once Again they're gonna have to get great they're gonna have to get excuse me great production once again out of eers out of Connor out of morresy Etc and I'm just not fully sure if all of that is going to happen like it did this past season again for the Jets I agree agree with you excuse me on Minnesota already discussed La um these middling teams it's going to be really interesting to see if anyone any one of these can be Bonafide contenders if I had to maybe pick one or two that could you know Tampa I I would throw Tampa Bay in there just because of their amazing Top Line vasileski is still a top five goalie in the league even though there's a lot of miles on him yeah their depth isn't that good but I still feel like they're when I look the division right now they're top three overall and I also yes they did lose sergachev that's not good but I still feel like they're at least going to make the playoffs and they can win around if not two if they do get the right matchup overall I feel the same about Boston they improved their Center depth they do have Jeremy Swan who had another great year last year it's going to beting to see how he is as the full-fledged starter now but they'll they'll have at least a shot of being a contender if more things are going right for them during the season and then real quick I know a lot of people are very excited about Nashville being that they spent a lot of money I still don't think that team is particularly good that that's kind of the conundrum here like yes it's unequivocally better adding Marsha show stamp coast and Brady Shay but Brady Shay was a three on a Carolina team where his partner was more impactful defensively than him he's not going to have the luxury of having a Brett pesy to cover up for his defensive mistakes he's not going to be on a dominant possession team where he's not going to be able to get some of his deficiencies masked and Stam Co is I don't want to call him a power play specialist at this point because that's a little disrespectful but a majority of his production is going to come from the PowerPlay and mares show is 33 34 years old and undersized and I know he just had the first 40 goal season of his career this past year but I'm inclined to believe that was more of an outlier Perfect Storm type situation than type of mid-30s Fountain of Youth Joe pavelski type deal I think Nashville will that probably be better in the regular season you know they were in the middle of a really rough stretch there and then they rallied really crazy there from February through early April and kind of Saved their season played their way into the playoffs the Predators will be a fun team but I just don't think they're enough into be in that next TI and then real quick real quick Nashville they're the third best team I think in their division yes I don't know if they can beat Colorado or Dallas in a seven game series if both both of those teams are healthy but they are still they're definitely a Bonafide playoff team I'm just not sure they're going to get the right matchup in the playoffs for them to go on a Deep Run and just real quick as well I wanted to discuss them just for 15 seconds Buffalo is in this category it's put up a shut up time for them Nick we got to see Kevin Adams you are on the clock yes you you very much are if they don't do it this year and I mean break that very long playoff drought you're going to see a boatload of changes both on and off the ice it's time for buffalo to show me something this year them and Ottawa man it I know Ottawa just kind of started over to new GM new coach but same kind of deal with Buffalo I mean if you fire Kevin Adams after this year you're really gonna tell me the new GM wants Lindy Ruff as his coach the I I mean it's just a really weird Confluence of situation and then real quick on the Devils I think the Devils have everything lined up for them to be in the next tier so we're going to talk about them in a second but I do understand the skepticism where they're kind of similar to Carolina in the respect of they always have good underlying numbers but eventually you do need to turn those expected goals into actual goals speaking of the Devils we will address them and a few more teams coming up next so be sure to stick around I love sports I love them so much I never want them to stop but as the playoffs wind down we get fewer games and the sports are not sportsing like we want them to but FanDuel lets me keep the sports going whenever I want all I have to do is open the app and dream up bets anytime I'm in the moon and this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a booster bonus daily that's right there's something for everyone every day all summer long if you were curious and you opened up the FanDuel sports book right now the betting favorite to win the Stanley Cup or the Edmonton Oilers at plus 850 if you think the Panthers are going to go back to back plus 950 if you think Hunters penguins are coming back from the dead you can get the Penguins at plus 5,000 there are a whole lot of interesting team the Devils who we're about to talk about are plus 11 1100 so there's a whole lot to look forward to with hockey not too far in the future so head on over to fanduel.com and start making the most of your summer FanDuel the official sports betting partner of Major League basball thank you to everybody who is hanging out on this Thursday edition of lock on NHL so the contender class I have the Devils I have the Leafs the Rangers the golden knights the Panthers the Stars the Avalanche and the Oilers yeah I think that's perfectly Fair again I would move New Jersey down to the other Cate category ex just because I want to see it to believe it I think they're a Bonafide playoff team not sure on them as a contender just yet as I said a few minutes ago the Rangers are interesting to me heading into this year you know they lose in the Eastern Conference Final Nick I know you wrote a very long piece for your substack right after their season ended about how they need to make a lot of changes to their defense well Nick as of right now I think just going to be bringing back that same defensive group and that kind of scares me just overall I think the Rangers are going to be a very good team this year but I don't think they're going to be PR's trophy level good and I'm kind of at the point with the Rangers where I need to see that they can beat the Elite teams in the playoffs before I pick them to do it you know like a team like the Florida Panthers for example and they need some more of Their Stars I think to show up when the lights get the brightest you know obviously you know cder had his moment against the Hurrican but you know n m is advantage had to show up at times the playoffs our tamy panan has long spurts and I know it's small sample sizes I get it people but it this has been I think I think I think a trend excuse me for a couple of years now with that Rangers score so I'm curious to see how that team in particular is this year Bonafide playoff team they'll be top two to three in the Metro but are they a true true Contender I'm kind of I want to see it before I can believe it a little bit I guess too the uh the Spin Zone already started I'm going to quote you from the athletic yesterday according to a league Source there's at least been one conversation between Chris jury and Jacob trouba in the last few weeks and while there were surely Fen mending on the team's part for the rumors that were out there trouba is a pro and he knows how to handle situations for the good of the team without letting his own emotions get in the way okay I mean nothing about his ability as a hockey player but I'm glad he's I'm glad Everyone likes him uh swapping out gustofson for Zack Jones that's definitely something to keep an eye on I like Riley Smith for what he is but don't think he's meaningfully making mik zabad or Chris krider that much better is he better than Blake wheeler or Capo kako sure but is he that much better I don't think so uh Vegas they've got a few actual question marks in their lineup for the first time in a few years going into the year with Alex Holtz and Victor Olson like penciled in to their top nine that's real that's a real question mark and like I like Olson based on the season he had in Buffalo like four years ago we had like 28 goals playing with eel so I kind of see it I think Florida the only argument against them is it's really hard to go back to back and they did lose some Talent Edmonton I think has the best forward group on paper at least to start this season I think Dallas is right there with them as far as most talented forward group and then Colorado you know they've got the two two of the five six best players in the world that's the argument for them I think the Leafs are kind of at their inflection Breaking Point point where they're too good to be in the tier below because if it clicks it's obviously going to be very good but based on 30 1967 what is that 50 something years ago it's hard to believe they're going to be able to do it again so there's a lot to chew on in this segment but I think I think this is a strong group and other than I think all of these teams other than the Devils at least who I have in this group and maybe Edmonton probably got worse in all honesty you know Dallas loses pavelski the Panthers lose Montour and tereno the golden knights they lose mares show the Rangers lose a couple depth guys the Leafs are going to lost a couple depth guys other than the devils and then Colorado obviously losing n chushin these teams all kind of had a brain drain yeah and in Colorado's case we do have to keep saying they're hoping to get landeskog back for the start of the Season at least that's their goal and if he does come back and you know at least plays relatively well I think that improves their ceiling overall too I I think with Vegas they're definitely worse heading into next season but that core they have in place is still so damn good and I'll keep saying it on the show I don't think they're done yet I think they're working on something in the shadows that is how Vegas operates you know they always have a big move coming I think they're going to do something big before the season starts just because yeah it would scream Vegas to me when it comes to that so we all know how their owner is he hates losing he's does not like it at all I know every team is like that but especially Vegas they were probably very pissed off the way they lost that Series in the first round I think they're going to have something to prove this upcoming season where I discussed New Jersey Toronto it's I'm kind of in the same category Nick I'll believe it when I see it when it comes to this team you've won one playoff series in this core four era it's time to do something more than that they've won one playoff series since 2004 we're going on 20 years they've won one playoff series and it's not for a lack of good teams they've had some good teams and they just have not gotten the right bounces and when you go to seven games against a good defensive team like the Bruins those bounces aren't usually going to go your way uh real quick Oilers and Dallas I think the argument for Dallas is their defense is a little bit better and their is better and they can get by only playing one and a half defensive pairs um whichever one of those teams you prefer I think tells me a lot about what you value especially based on how they went head-to-head in the conference final and what ended up being the determining factor and we've generally seen that that the high-end Talent wins that time of year the elite players are what separates the good from the great and McDavid had a really good Conference Final dry Sidle played injured not nearly as much as you needed from him you know there's a real argument if you got a little more at a dry CLE they probably win the Stanley Cup in all honesty but I feel like Dallas and Edmonton are the two best teams going into the season at least on paper and we'll see you know that's why we play the games but at least to start I have Edmonton first I have Dallas second in My overall power rankings for the entire league that's fair I think with Edmonton this is the best I think forward group they've had of the McDavid dry sadle era I love the Jeff Skinner move I think can have a big bounce back with Oilers very cheap contract very low risk as well you put him in a top six middle six role really nice job there Victor arvidson I think that's also a really nice move by the Oilers and also I think uh Jeff Jackson should just be the full-time GM at this point with the moves that he was making after the season ended he's done a really solid job with the Oilers arvidson can also play your top six and your middle six I like that Dallas yeah they lost pelski yeah they lost tth but I still think this is a very deep team overall they have a lot of very high impact forwards obviously not at the level that Edmonton has with McDavid dry sidol hman new Hopkins but you know rupe hins Jason Robertson you know Tyler s and Jamie Ben we can go down the list you know as well but I think when I look at the West right now my top three teams to start the year in in no order Edmonton Dallas Colorado I think those are my top three teams in the Western Conference you can interchange them any way you want and I'll throw Vegas probably in number at number four just for real quick give me your top three in the East top three in the East I'm gonna go Florida the Rangers and I I will go the Devils for number three I I still need to see it before I can believe it but I will go New Jersey number three right now with the moves they made and just how healthy they are heading into the season right now I think that's fair I would agree with both of those top threes I think Vegas very easily can play themselves into top three in the west that'll do it for this week's edition of locked on the locked on NHL power rankings make sure you are subscribed wherever you get your podcast if you're on Apple or Spotify please throw the show a festar review if you're watching over on YouTube hit the Subscribe button hit the alarm Bell so you get a notification whenever a new episode goes live give us your power rankings let us know who you think the top five teams are going into this upcoming season you leave a funny comment we'll read it next week Hunter and I we'll talk to you guys then

it was about time that a power ranking show did some Power [Music] Rankings you&#39;re locked on NHL your daily podcast on the National Hockey League part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hello everyone and welcome to this edition of locked on NHL my name is Nick zaris the host of locked on Oilers that is Hunter hodies one of the hosts of locked on Penguins I want to thank everybody who makes lock on NH their first listen of the day locked on NHL part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day and today&#39;s episode is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more now that the playoffs are over sports are not sportsing like we want them to but this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a booster bonus daily that&#39;s right there&#39;s something for everyone every day all summer long so visit fanduel.com to get started today&#39;s episode very straightforward going back to the traditional Power Rankings format now that we&#39;ve got the dust settled we&#39;ve got a general idea about who&#39;s going to be playing where next year there are definitely some moves still to be made there&#39;s some interesting maybe project free agents available we&#39;ve broken today&#39;s episode up into three segments the first segment we&#39;re going to talk about teams where they&#39;re either straight up rebuilding or we&#39;re not sure what category to put them in the second tier of teams is going to be bubble teams that could be on the outside looking in or could very well make the playoffs and then the final segment we&#39;re going to touch on the real Stanley Cup contenders so getting to work opening up my handy dandy note sheet here in this rebuilding tier I think unequivocally you have San Jose you have Anaheim you have the Blackhawks you have the Blue Jackets you have Montreal and you have the Flames I think those are unequivocally rebuilding teams if you want to say Utah maybe if you want to say St Louis maybe but for the most part I would say that bottom crop which is basically the same bottom crop as the last few years but you&#39;re adding the Flames to it now if I had to maybe include one more Nick I know they were in the race this past year but the Philadelphia Flyers have said that this is a rebuild that they&#39;ve been doing under Danny Brier they were ahead of schedule this past season so I think maybe if you do want to include them in that tier I think you can even though again I do think they&#39;re going to try and be in the race again this year with mechkov and all that but just wanted to throw it out there as well just because they&#39;ve legitimately said under the Ria regime that they are re a rebuilding team that&#39;s that&#39;s very fair I I think the Flyers will be competitive in a way that some of the teams we just mentioned like San Jose like Anaheim Chicago the Blue Jackets they&#39;re just not capable of doing that yet so I think the Flyers are kind of in their own little box where they&#39;re good enough or at least play well enough that they&#39;re not going to be an atrocity you know they&#39;re not going to stink up the joint they&#39;re not going to have 18 regular season wins by the end of the year like a team might be the the only way out for some of these teams like Chicago s Columbus Anaheim San Jose Montreal the only way out of this self-inflicted rebuilding window is if something pops if something unexpected happens you know if s if for the Blue Jackets per instance have Adam fantelli have like an 80-point season out of nowhere that is something that could get them going if the Canadians and their nine Prospect defensemen fight find the right permutation of six they very well could be a quality competitive hockey team like I think there&#39;s a world where Montreal is capable of being close to what the Flyers were last year though it would be more about their defense and Mont ball taking a step forward or if stovsky takes another big step next year as well you know mean ni maybe he&#39;s over a point per game player maybe he exceeds expectations even more as an 85 90 point player I think that would also qualify for Montreal especially after they gave him that big extension completely agree with you there for Anaheim I think it&#39;s a matter of staying healthy and I don&#39;t want to put all of it on John Gibson but it does kind of feel like if the Ducks are going to find the way to hang around with his bad as their defenses their forward group is decent it&#39;s not bad it they had injury problems really rough they had really rough injury problems last year no zis for pretty much the entire season Mason McTavish missed a lot of time they were easing in Leo Carlson but I think the Ducks are kind of in a different boat and the I think the Ducks and the sharks are in the same exact boat of you have like three or four young players that I really like but other than that there&#39;s not a whole lot here to convince me you have a high ceiling right I mean in the Ducks they had a really good start to the season a couple of years ago where you know they were saying oh the rebuilds over you know we&#39;re going to go out here and you know exceed expectations even more make the playoffs but then they kind of came back to reality after the first month month and a half two months of the season and they just went on a couple really bad losing streaks so they need to amass you know some more Talent overall on that team the Gibson situation it continues to be weird Nick I mean I still feel like they need to deal him so they can give Lucas do still some more starts I actually like the way Doo played this past year I think he actually out play Gibson to be honest but just when you look at Gibson&#39;s contract I&#39;m just not really sure what team is going to want it right now but we&#39;ve been kind of saying that for the last couple of years to just because he&#39;s been involved in so many trade rumors but I think playing behind that defense defense for another year I don&#39;t know man I get nervous just because of how far he&#39;s already fallen these last couple of years and I don&#39;t want him to fall even more even though the ducks have not really made too many improvements to their defense I think Chicago has an argument for being a little more competitive this year I don&#39;t think they&#39;re going to be close enough to the bubble where I could put them in that next tier they added some good talent in in July on July one anytime you can add two top six calibra players in berzi and Terra vinan that that&#39;s solid and they added an NHL caliber goalie which is the first time they&#39;ve had one of those in a while I mean brasis isn&#39;t a 50 game starter but he can give you 30 starts at a reasonably high level and intend and with Peter morazzi who in theory with a reduced workload should be able to be a little bit more effective I could see the Blackhawks being frisky I don&#39;t think they can be good but I think they can score some goals they won&#39;t be able to play defense particularly well but they will be entertaining to watch and then the next group Seattle Washington St Louis Calgary I also have in this mix of they&#39;re either rebuilding or I&#39;m not really sure Seattle spent a lot of money this summer and it didn&#39;t these aren&#39;t impact guys you know it would be one thing if you went out and you overpaid and you got marshes show or you got Stam Coast I like Brandon Montour Montour is a three on a good team mour is a three on a good team as in third defenseman you know first pair guy first pair has two guys he&#39;s the best guy on your second pair I don&#39;t think he&#39;s a first pair guy on a good team I think on a look similar to his usage in Florida last year where they finally broke through and won the Stanley Cup because they got the right complimentary partner for him Chandler Stevenson is fine but he&#39;s not a play driver and he&#39;s not going to dramatically improve the Outlook of your team Calgary very clearly going to take a step back even if it&#39;s just the goal tending alone they&#39;re going to take a step back going from markstrom who was on the prohiper of being a vzna caliber goalie to going in with Vadar and Dustin wolf who combined to have less than 100 NHL starts and then St Louis in Washington same kind of deal older expensive not particularly good sure there&#39;s probably a way where they can be in the mix for playoff spots but I don&#39;t think they have high ceilings either way right I think with Seattle just to go back to a little bit there I would agree what Stevens said Montour yeah I do think on an elite team he&#39;s a number three but I I do think that he is very much an impact defenseman he&#39;s very good with a puck on his detick has a great shot he can play well in his own zone so I guess I kind of push back a little bit because I do think he&#39;s very much an impact player overall I agree with your other teams if I do want to add one more to this I would add Pittsburgh they have not said that they&#39;re doing officially said that they&#39;re doing a rebuild on the fly but they are I mean just look at the the picks they&#39;re getting the trades they&#39;re making the signings they&#39;re making this is very much a mini rebuild on the fly a big retool if you will I would put Pittsburgh in category as well but I could also see people putting them in the bubble category because some people may expect them to make the playoffs this upcoming year so again agree with your overall teams here but if I had to add one I would probably add Pittsburgh just because of the direction that Kyle dubis is taking them I think Pittsburgh is talented enough where they won&#39;t be this bad that&#39;s the thing I don&#39;t think they&#39;re bottom 10 bad I think they&#39;re very much in that middle where they&#39;re going to be somewhere between 12th and 17th where I could see them being one of the two wild cards if things break right for them if the teams around them aren&#39;t that good I could definitely see that being in the cards for them but that&#39;s fair I think that&#39;s a reasonable estimation Hunter and I are going to take a quick break and then we&#39;re going to take some time and we&#39;re going to talk about the bubble team so be sure to stick around to this edition of lock on NHL we are all driven by the search for better but when it comes to hiring the best way to search for a candidate isn&#39;t to search at all don&#39;t search match with indeed if you need to hire you need indeed indeed is your matching and hiring platform with over 350 million Global monthly visitors according to indeed data and a matching engine that helps you find quality candidates fast ditch the busy work use indeed for scheduling screening and messaging so you can connect with candidates faster and indeed doesn&#39;t just help you hire faster 93% of employers agree indeed delivers the highest quality matches compared to other job sites according to a recent indeed survey leveraging over 100 40 million qualifications and preferences every single day indeed&#39;s matching engine is constantly learning from your preferences so the more you use indeed the better it gets and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at indeed.com lockon just go to indeed.com lockon right now and support our show by saying you heard about indeed on this podcast ind.com loock on terms and conditions apply need to hire you need indeed thank you to everybody who&#39;s hanging out on this Thursday edition of lock on any show with Hunter and I so in this middle tier I could see these teams going either way I could see them playing themselves almost all of these teams playing themselves into a playoff spot maybe able to win a round or so or the opposite end of things like we were just talking about in respect to the Penguins who are in this group of I could see them being like the 12th worst team in the NHL or I could see them being a playoff spot so in this group I have Pittsburgh I have the flyers I have the Islanders I have the Red Wings I have the Senators the wild the Jets the Kings the lightning the Bruins the Predators the hurricanes and the Canucks I think this is your middle class and some of these teams are closer to the top you know I think you could say Vancouver Winnipeg Carolina are close to the top of this group close to that cont as one of the contenders I think even though I want to see it two years in a row I that&#39;s the thing I want to see it two years in a row because I think Vancouver has the talent for sure but they also had the Talent two years ago and then thatr Demco got hurt and the bottom fell out and they threw poor Bruce bu under the bus because they didn&#39;t have an NHL caliber goalie so I want to see it two years in a row I definitely think the Canucks will be a contender because their high-end Talent is so good even if I don&#39;t necessarily understand some of the moves they made bringing in De AR and lock re bringing in Tyler Meyers and I I see what they&#39;re trying to do but I don&#39;t think it&#39;s going to make a lot of sense but there&#39;s a really thick middle class of teams there are a lot of teams in this group like Carolina Boston Nashville Vancouver Winnipeg that very easily could play themselves into the contender tier there are teams like Ottawa that we&#39;ve been waiting for them to break through there are teams like the Islanders the Flyers the Penguins Detroit who are right there but they&#39;re not really impressive so it&#39;s going to be a very meh road to get into the playoffs I think so I would I know you had Washington in the tier below I would actually move Washington up to this tier I think just because they made the playoffs this past year I really like the moves that the capitals made on July one and even before some of the trades they made some of the signings overall and I do think they&#39;re going to be very much in contention for a playoff spot again this year they&#39;re at least trying to go out with a little bit of a bang before oetkin retires after these like next couple seasons are up so I would put Washington in here overall I did notice you are saving the Devils I think for the final category I would have New Jersey in this category for now don&#39;t get me wrong I think New Jersey is going to make the playoffs this year I&#39;m not sold on them as a Bonafide Contender just yet they have the the star forwards obviously Heir Hughes Etc you have douge Hamilton coming back they finally solve the goal tending problem hopefully you have Sheldon ke as head coach who is at least an upgrade over Lindy rough but I would not have them in the contenders category I would have them down here the other teams I think I agree with if I wanted to be maybe a bit nitpicky I would maybe move you know La a little further down the Lous because I&#39;m not really sure what the plan is with Rob Blake right now with some of the moves that he&#39;s been making Minnesota I think is kind of fair with this one Carolina you can make an argument for being a contender but I&#39;m also at the point where I want to see it before I can truly believe it when it comes to the hurricane so those are just my overall thoughts I already gave my thoughts about the Penguins they&#39;re kind of in that middle where you can make a case for them in the bottom category with some of the RS but you can also make a case for them in this category especially with their high-end Talent mostly still producing really nicely overall yes for sure for sure in that boat and then there are teams like Minnesota Winnipeg I would say the lightning are in that boat as well where I think they have enough high-end Talent where they very easily can be playoff teams but I don&#39;t really believe in the depth and I think their path is a little bit narrower than it may have been in years past like objectively trading out Stam Coast for gensel and bringing in McDona to replace whoever the third D was last year that&#39;s fine I don&#39;t think Tampa Bay is GNA be able to get to that ceiling anymore just because they&#39;re pretty much capped out I think Minnesota is kind of in the same boat where they&#39;re pretty much capped out and can&#39;t improve their team all that much and Winnipeg they had their perfect season last year you know everything that could go right for the Jets last year did and they were eliminated in five games in the first round and they lost Dylan Dello they lost Brandon Dylan they lost Tyler tley they lost Shawn Monahan it&#39;s gonna be really hard for the Jets to be in that contenders tier again without multiple additions in season like they had last year and maybe maybe it&#39;s ruer mcgr maybe it&#39;s vly hola maybe it&#39;s somebody who&#39;s inhouse because the Jets have slow played so many of their guys maybe there&#39;s a path to getting those guys maybe Brad Lambert but maybe two of those three Prospect forwards come in and are able to make an impact and mitigate the losses of a TFI and a Shawn Monahan but based on the way the Jets have used young players historically since going back to Winnipeg I struggle to imagine those guys are going to get big responsibility right away to be in a position to really bolster the team we still have to see if Rucker mcord is even even going to be in the Jets organization by the time the season starts there&#39;s been so many rumors about him being involved in trade talks he that deal was supposed to be done around the NHL draft and then it kind of fizzled out and really haven&#39;t heard anything about it since now all the GMS are basically on vacation as we&#39;re in mid July right now anyway but I agree with you on Winnipeg you know Conor huk he&#39;s gonna have to have a god tier season Once Again they&#39;re gonna have to get great they&#39;re gonna have to get excuse me great production once again out of eers out of Connor out of morresy Etc and I&#39;m just not fully sure if all of that is going to happen like it did this past season again for the Jets I agree agree with you excuse me on Minnesota already discussed La um these middling teams it&#39;s going to be really interesting to see if anyone any one of these can be Bonafide contenders if I had to maybe pick one or two that could you know Tampa I I would throw Tampa Bay in there just because of their amazing Top Line vasileski is still a top five goalie in the league even though there&#39;s a lot of miles on him yeah their depth isn&#39;t that good but I still feel like they&#39;re when I look the division right now they&#39;re top three overall and I also yes they did lose sergachev that&#39;s not good but I still feel like they&#39;re at least going to make the playoffs and they can win around if not two if they do get the right matchup overall I feel the same about Boston they improved their Center depth they do have Jeremy Swan who had another great year last year it&#39;s going to beting to see how he is as the full-fledged starter now but they&#39;ll they&#39;ll have at least a shot of being a contender if more things are going right for them during the season and then real quick I know a lot of people are very excited about Nashville being that they spent a lot of money I still don&#39;t think that team is particularly good that that&#39;s kind of the conundrum here like yes it&#39;s unequivocally better adding Marsha show stamp coast and Brady Shay but Brady Shay was a three on a Carolina team where his partner was more impactful defensively than him he&#39;s not going to have the luxury of having a Brett pesy to cover up for his defensive mistakes he&#39;s not going to be on a dominant possession team where he&#39;s not going to be able to get some of his deficiencies masked and Stam Co is I don&#39;t want to call him a power play specialist at this point because that&#39;s a little disrespectful but a majority of his production is going to come from the PowerPlay and mares show is 33 34 years old and undersized and I know he just had the first 40 goal season of his career this past year but I&#39;m inclined to believe that was more of an outlier Perfect Storm type situation than type of mid-30s Fountain of Youth Joe pavelski type deal I think Nashville will that probably be better in the regular season you know they were in the middle of a really rough stretch there and then they rallied really crazy there from February through early April and kind of Saved their season played their way into the playoffs the Predators will be a fun team but I just don&#39;t think they&#39;re enough into be in that next TI and then real quick real quick Nashville they&#39;re the third best team I think in their division yes I don&#39;t know if they can beat Colorado or Dallas in a seven game series if both both of those teams are healthy but they are still they&#39;re definitely a Bonafide playoff team I&#39;m just not sure they&#39;re going to get the right matchup in the playoffs for them to go on a Deep Run and just real quick as well I wanted to discuss them just for 15 seconds Buffalo is in this category it&#39;s put up a shut up time for them Nick we got to see Kevin Adams you are on the clock yes you you very much are if they don&#39;t do it this year and I mean break that very long playoff drought you&#39;re going to see a boatload of changes both on and off the ice it&#39;s time for buffalo to show me something this year them and Ottawa man it I know Ottawa just kind of started over to new GM new coach but same kind of deal with Buffalo I mean if you fire Kevin Adams after this year you&#39;re really gonna tell me the new GM wants Lindy Ruff as his coach the I I mean it&#39;s just a really weird Confluence of situation and then real quick on the Devils I think the Devils have everything lined up for them to be in the next tier so we&#39;re going to talk about them in a second but I do understand the skepticism where they&#39;re kind of similar to Carolina in the respect of they always have good underlying numbers but eventually you do need to turn those expected goals into actual goals speaking of the Devils we will address them and a few more teams coming up next so be sure to stick around I love sports I love them so much I never want them to stop but as the playoffs wind down we get fewer games and the sports are not sportsing like we want them to but FanDuel lets me keep the sports going whenever I want all I have to do is open the app and dream up bets anytime I&#39;m in the moon and this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a booster bonus daily that&#39;s right there&#39;s something for everyone every day all summer long if you were curious and you opened up the FanDuel sports book right now the betting favorite to win the Stanley Cup or the Edmonton Oilers at plus 850 if you think the Panthers are going to go back to back plus 950 if you think Hunters penguins are coming back from the dead you can get the Penguins at plus 5,000 there are a whole lot of interesting team the Devils who we&#39;re about to talk about are plus 11 1100 so there&#39;s a whole lot to look forward to with hockey not too far in the future so head on over to fanduel.com and start making the most of your summer FanDuel the official sports betting partner of Major League basball thank you to everybody who is hanging out on this Thursday edition of lock on NHL so the contender class I have the Devils I have the Leafs the Rangers the golden knights the Panthers the Stars the Avalanche and the Oilers yeah I think that&#39;s perfectly Fair again I would move New Jersey down to the other Cate category ex just because I want to see it to believe it I think they&#39;re a Bonafide playoff team not sure on them as a contender just yet as I said a few minutes ago the Rangers are interesting to me heading into this year you know they lose in the Eastern Conference Final Nick I know you wrote a very long piece for your substack right after their season ended about how they need to make a lot of changes to their defense well Nick as of right now I think just going to be bringing back that same defensive group and that kind of scares me just overall I think the Rangers are going to be a very good team this year but I don&#39;t think they&#39;re going to be PR&#39;s trophy level good and I&#39;m kind of at the point with the Rangers where I need to see that they can beat the Elite teams in the playoffs before I pick them to do it you know like a team like the Florida Panthers for example and they need some more of Their Stars I think to show up when the lights get the brightest you know obviously you know cder had his moment against the Hurrican but you know n m is advantage had to show up at times the playoffs our tamy panan has long spurts and I know it&#39;s small sample sizes I get it people but it this has been I think I think I think a trend excuse me for a couple of years now with that Rangers score so I&#39;m curious to see how that team in particular is this year Bonafide playoff team they&#39;ll be top two to three in the Metro but are they a true true Contender I&#39;m kind of I want to see it before I can believe it a little bit I guess too the uh the Spin Zone already started I&#39;m going to quote you from the athletic yesterday according to a league Source there&#39;s at least been one conversation between Chris jury and Jacob trouba in the last few weeks and while there were surely Fen mending on the team&#39;s part for the rumors that were out there trouba is a pro and he knows how to handle situations for the good of the team without letting his own emotions get in the way okay I mean nothing about his ability as a hockey player but I&#39;m glad he&#39;s I&#39;m glad Everyone likes him uh swapping out gustofson for Zack Jones that&#39;s definitely something to keep an eye on I like Riley Smith for what he is but don&#39;t think he&#39;s meaningfully making mik zabad or Chris krider that much better is he better than Blake wheeler or Capo kako sure but is he that much better I don&#39;t think so uh Vegas they&#39;ve got a few actual question marks in their lineup for the first time in a few years going into the year with Alex Holtz and Victor Olson like penciled in to their top nine that&#39;s real that&#39;s a real question mark and like I like Olson based on the season he had in Buffalo like four years ago we had like 28 goals playing with eel so I kind of see it I think Florida the only argument against them is it&#39;s really hard to go back to back and they did lose some Talent Edmonton I think has the best forward group on paper at least to start this season I think Dallas is right there with them as far as most talented forward group and then Colorado you know they&#39;ve got the two two of the five six best players in the world that&#39;s the argument for them I think the Leafs are kind of at their inflection Breaking Point point where they&#39;re too good to be in the tier below because if it clicks it&#39;s obviously going to be very good but based on 30 1967 what is that 50 something years ago it&#39;s hard to believe they&#39;re going to be able to do it again so there&#39;s a lot to chew on in this segment but I think I think this is a strong group and other than I think all of these teams other than the Devils at least who I have in this group and maybe Edmonton probably got worse in all honesty you know Dallas loses pavelski the Panthers lose Montour and tereno the golden knights they lose mares show the Rangers lose a couple depth guys the Leafs are going to lost a couple depth guys other than the devils and then Colorado obviously losing n chushin these teams all kind of had a brain drain yeah and in Colorado&#39;s case we do have to keep saying they&#39;re hoping to get landeskog back for the start of the Season at least that&#39;s their goal and if he does come back and you know at least plays relatively well I think that improves their ceiling overall too I I think with Vegas they&#39;re definitely worse heading into next season but that core they have in place is still so damn good and I&#39;ll keep saying it on the show I don&#39;t think they&#39;re done yet I think they&#39;re working on something in the shadows that is how Vegas operates you know they always have a big move coming I think they&#39;re going to do something big before the season starts just because yeah it would scream Vegas to me when it comes to that so we all know how their owner is he hates losing he&#39;s does not like it at all I know every team is like that but especially Vegas they were probably very pissed off the way they lost that Series in the first round I think they&#39;re going to have something to prove this upcoming season where I discussed New Jersey Toronto it&#39;s I&#39;m kind of in the same category Nick I&#39;ll believe it when I see it when it comes to this team you&#39;ve won one playoff series in this core four era it&#39;s time to do something more than that they&#39;ve won one playoff series since 2004 we&#39;re going on 20 years they&#39;ve won one playoff series and it&#39;s not for a lack of good teams they&#39;ve had some good teams and they just have not gotten the right bounces and when you go to seven games against a good defensive team like the Bruins those bounces aren&#39;t usually going to go your way uh real quick Oilers and Dallas I think the argument for Dallas is their defense is a little bit better and their is better and they can get by only playing one and a half defensive pairs um whichever one of those teams you prefer I think tells me a lot about what you value especially based on how they went head-to-head in the conference final and what ended up being the determining factor and we&#39;ve generally seen that that the high-end Talent wins that time of year the elite players are what separates the good from the great and McDavid had a really good Conference Final dry Sidle played injured not nearly as much as you needed from him you know there&#39;s a real argument if you got a little more at a dry CLE they probably win the Stanley Cup in all honesty but I feel like Dallas and Edmonton are the two best teams going into the season at least on paper and we&#39;ll see you know that&#39;s why we play the games but at least to start I have Edmonton first I have Dallas second in My overall power rankings for the entire league that&#39;s fair I think with Edmonton this is the best I think forward group they&#39;ve had of the McDavid dry sadle era I love the Jeff Skinner move I think can have a big bounce back with Oilers very cheap contract very low risk as well you put him in a top six middle six role really nice job there Victor arvidson I think that&#39;s also a really nice move by the Oilers and also I think uh Jeff Jackson should just be the full-time GM at this point with the moves that he was making after the season ended he&#39;s done a really solid job with the Oilers arvidson can also play your top six and your middle six I like that Dallas yeah they lost pelski yeah they lost tth but I still think this is a very deep team overall they have a lot of very high impact forwards obviously not at the level that Edmonton has with McDavid dry sidol hman new Hopkins but you know rupe hins Jason Robertson you know Tyler s and Jamie Ben we can go down the list you know as well but I think when I look at the West right now my top three teams to start the year in in no order Edmonton Dallas Colorado I think those are my top three teams in the Western Conference you can interchange them any way you want and I&#39;ll throw Vegas probably in number at number four just for real quick give me your top three in the East top three in the East I&#39;m gonna go Florida the Rangers and I I will go the Devils for number three I I still need to see it before I can believe it but I will go New Jersey number three right now with the moves they made and just how healthy they are heading into the season right now I think that&#39;s fair I would agree with both of those top threes I think Vegas very easily can play themselves into top three in the west that&#39;ll do it for this week&#39;s edition of locked on the locked on NHL power rankings make sure you are subscribed wherever you get your podcast if you&#39;re on Apple or Spotify please throw the show a festar review if you&#39;re watching over on YouTube hit the Subscribe button hit the alarm Bell so you get a notification whenever a new episode goes live give us your power rankings let us know who you think the top five teams are going into this upcoming season you leave a funny comment we&#39;ll read it next week Hunter and I we&#39;ll talk to you guys then

Transcript for:Locked on NHL: Power Rankings

Transcript for:
Locked on NHL: Power Rankings