2023-24 Opening Night Roster Tracker

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• @Josh – Thanks for the Depth Chart tab tip on CF! I’ve been using PuckPedia, but another source is always welcome.

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• Man I didn’t realise how far COL has slipped since their cup run – particularly carrying some meh forwards. So many NHL.com writers seem high on them but I can’t see why.

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  • Their D depth is insane and their third line has Tatar

    They are gonna be fine

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  • Their top 4 D is good. That bottom pair is meh. If you want insane D look at Carolina. COL is above average at best. Their bottom 4 F (outside Tatar and Colton) are meh – especially the addition of Wood is BAD. Drouin is a major question mark which leaves 6 good forwards. The Johansen add was really good. Goalie tandem is at or below league average. No way they top VGK, EDM, DAL in their conference. Even LAK and SEA can prob take them in a 7 game series… They aren’t awful, just a massive fall from 2 years ago. Amazing what losing Landeskog and a bit of depth has done to the balance.

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  • I agree with alot of that, but I think you are crazy high on Seattle, Edmonton, and LAK. Vegas won’t be able to keep it up. Dallas and Colorado are likely to be the best in the west in my opinion

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  • Fair enough. I’m not high on LAK but they are trending up. VGK still has a solid roster. SEA I’m not hot on but they proved last year where they measure against COL. They have slightly improved this off-season IMO.

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  • Yea i agree. As a habs fan Drouin has been a huge let down and was a deal i didnt like at the time. That being said when he was drafted 3rd overall he has just wrapped up playing his JR carrer with McKinnon and was a superstar there. Him playing there is a favor to Nate id imagine aswell as hoping to catch lightning in a bottle

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• Tye Kartye? That’s a real name.

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  • He is Taro Tsujimoto’s grand son.

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  • @Darkside

    I watched him in the minors. The announcers pronounced it “Kar-tee-yay” like the jeweler, Cartier.

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• Well, that Preds roster should lead to a top 10 pick at least. :/

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  • @Gbear – There you go again, with those rose-colored glasses! :) What if Brunette does the unthinkable, like coaching ’em up to 8-6 games every night? All right, quit laughing and get those ribs taped up again. My Canucks replay just finished, on to the next one.

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  • @gbear

    If Barry loves defensemen, like Poile did, there’s a real good one, projected to be Top Ten, maybe Top Five. Artyom Levshunov, 6’5″ Belarusian, playing at Michigan State. I watched both of his games this weekend. He’s gonna be very good. Great skater for that size, has offensive chops. Didn’t see him hit anyone, but who cares, if they’re taking hitting out anyway.

    Anyway, enjoy your high pick!

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  • Can’t I have a scoring center instead? Just once? :/

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  • @Mac – Trotz may inadvertently get a top 10 pick while thinking he made the team better. :/

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  • @Gbear:

    “You can never have too many defensemen” – David Poile

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  • @KRB – And also signed, Don Waddell. Peas in a pod, those two!

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  • @Gbear – The GMs version of moonwalking, eh? A lot of movement, but going nowhere fast. ;)

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  • @Mac

    Poile actually said that…on numerous occasions …when he was general manager of the Capitals. It was a running joke, amongst Caps Fans, to look at our woeful offense then, and say “you can never have too many defensemen”

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  • @ KRB – I remember that. It also reminds me of Hitch & Tipp’s mentality of playing zero to minus one hockey. “Scoring by accident”, rather than by design.

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  • @KRB – Almost forgot that Caps fans were inflicted with Poile back in the day. He learned nothing during a 40 year GM career except how to maintain mediocrity.

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  • @Gbear – That is not entirely true. After the “Easter Epic”, he learned how to hide Easter eggs so that *nobody* could find them. Some might still be in trees around his old neighborhood. :)

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  • @Gbear – Even though I was listening to the Bolts’ side tonight, those pesky Cats gave the home team just about all they could handle. For a stretch in the game, I actually thought Andrew Brunette took my hint of playing an 8-6 brand of hockey. After all, GMBT did want to give the fans an exciting experience, even on the road. One game does not a trend make, but they might surprise a few teams in the division. Of course, they could also face-plant into the end boards, as it were, too. Maybe it’ll be the former this year.

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  • Watched the game. Nash did not look good. Sure it was only 1 game… but they looked bad for the one game. Really bad.

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  • Preds have a team that can’t play well enough defensively to win high tempo games and can’t score enough if they play a lockdown game. If they were actually committed to a rebuild, that wouldn’t be so bad. But I have no idea what Trotz is doing. :/

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• I don’t get the Dallas talk. They look like they *could* be goodish enough in a weak division but no chance they win the cup. Zero.

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  • Dallas has that knack of making great decisions on complementary pieces. They always seem to be able to counter an aging core (Benn/Seguin) with smart pickups that produce.

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  • Their top 9 is amazing. How many teams can boast a 3rd line that good? They also have all star G and a serviceable D corp. I rate their chances highly in the West if they dont catch the injury bug. Also proven clutch performers on that team come playoff time.

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  • @aka.nda

    I watch them all the time. They’re my second team. Please actually WATCH some of their games, before you spout an uninformed opinion. Don’t rely on highlights, articles by national writers, who view parts of games, and gut feelings to form an opinion. There’s no replacement for actually viewing games.

    Dallas is very strong. Defense could use an upgrade, but that’s what the trade deadline is for. Their Top Nine is filthy good, and they’ve got prospects like Logan Stankoven, who was Top Five in scoring in the WHL last year, coming along.

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• The power shift in the Atlantic is going to be very interesting the next few season…..with the exception of the Habs.

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  • TBL and BOS are very interesting to me. Are they in or out this post season… a major changing of the guard.

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  • I think they are still this year. But I think 26-27 one of them will drop. FLA will drop before them and either BUF, OTW or DET will take their spot.

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• Not thats its game changing or anything but you dont think Mattias Norlinder beats out barron for habs. I personally like norlinders game better then barrons so far.

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  • Norlinder was assigned to AHL Laval this morning

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  • Yea saw that after posting still dont like it i think he played better then barron and kocevic. Hopefully norlinder goes down and works hard and stays the rumors last year qas the would refuse assigmwnt and go home

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  • As a habs fan id like to see them package 1 of there younger Dmen with a pick or prospect for something.

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• Same its a defense heavy draft this year outside of picks 1 and 2. Barron is not progressing i would move him. Try to find a kid thats has elite talent but is either stuck on the depth chart or isnt progressing. Rumours are byfield and lafreniere are both running out of time and coachs are running out of patience with thwm both

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• When did Eberle go back to Edmonton? And where is Jewish Gretzky?

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  • @wreckage – That was a big oops by @Josh, eh? At least he has the link right, though. And, Eberle is slotted on the top line, too, for his real team.

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