Connor Bedard has confirmed what all observers have been saying for a number of years.
He’s an exceptional player.
His performances at the World Junior Hockey Championship have sparked conversation. It was clear to those who first saw him in action that the National League was about to welcome a gifted man.
The question: Which team will win the lottery?
In Chicago: we dream. In Columbus: same. And can we dream in Montreal? Without doubt.
Every day we analyze the probabilities. The abacus determines which team will approach a concession player.
It’s obvious that the Canadian’s repeated absences are making him react. Suddenly, the team finds itself in an interesting position, especially as it could claim “two lottery tickets” if the Florida Panthers, who were behind in the race for a pass to the Spring Tournament, ever get more and more bogged down.
The 2023 vintage is enough to make the teams in the league sweat. We believe that if we obviously make the right choices, the top five players selected could quickly advance to the National League.
And for an organization that decides to facelift, as is the case with the Canadian, it’s very attractive.
So with March 3rd, the deadline for completing player transfers, we’re risking some surprises.
In Vancouver, we’ll await the outcome of the Canucks journey before making a decision on whether to make a major shift toward a franchise relaunch.
In St. Louis, Doug Armstrong is a very wily general manager and finds himself in an unexpected situation. The prospect of missing the playoffs needs special consideration given that Ryan O’Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko have been on the sidelines for several weeks.
There are deals that could make the deal market even more interesting.
While general managers had received word from Gary Bettman a few months ago that the salary cap could rise to $86 or $87 million starting next year, now the league and commissioner come out to cool decision-makers’ zeal with claims that we possibly stick with an increase of just one million.
It changes everything!
Roy notices
Meanwhile, among the Canadian’s leaders, we’re delighted with the exceptional performance of Joshua Roy, who excelled at the World Cup of Junior Hockey. His versatility has earned him praise from the Canada team’s coaches.
He went with intensity, he fulfilled all the tasks entrusted to him. He completed a perfect pass to the gold medal goal. In short, one can imagine that he climbed several notches in the decision-makers’ assessment…
Damage !
Kaiden Guhle has to go for two months. Maybe more. A shame as he was the best defender on the team and it has to be admitted that this injury will certainly not help the Canadian from the trough he is mired in at home.
Sean Monahan will be out for another two weeks so interested teams will have to wait and see if he can help them at the end of the season.
And are the rumors true that the Oilers are eyeing Mike Matheson?…
And Slafkowski?
Juraj Slafkovsky is going through difficult times that some say are worrying. Obviously, the mistake made by the Canadian’s rookie on Thursday only raises questions.
Shall we give him a metro ticket to Laval? Should he have participated in the World Cup?
I still believe that the Canadian’s decision makers made the right decision.
Concern in Denver?
The Colorado Avalanche has suffered five straight losses. Should we be worried in Denver?
I don’t think Joe Sakic and Chris MacFarland will hit the panic button. Nathan MacKinnon is back, the other injured are about to be recruited.
In the case of Gabriel Landeskog, no date has been given for his return, and neither has Josh Manson and Bowen Byram, two key defenders in the formation.
The problem is that in the Central Division, the Stars win, so do the Jets and the Wild. Will we try it with a smoking gun? We are looking for a center player…
Pac is back
Good. Max Pacioretty is finally back. Six shots on goal, over 16 minutes of play and minus one difference.
The Hurricanes suffered a 5-3 loss to Jusse Saros, who stopped, get that, 64 of 67 shots made by Rod Brind’Amour’s troops.
Only one Hurricanes player failed to woo the Nashville Predators goaltender. You will never Gess. Jesperi Kotkaniemi…
Sidney Crosby hit the 20-goal plateau Thursday night in Las Vegas, but his team is in free fall.
Three wins in the last 10 games, two points from qualifying for the playoffs. The New York Islanders are now ahead of the Penguins and in the Eastern Conference the Buffalo Sabers and Detroit Red Wings are tough opponents…
Alexander Ovechkin burns. He scored his 29th goal of the season on Thursday night, his team is 7-1-2 in their last 10 games and in the coming days the Capitals can add Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson. Defender John Carlson is making progress but it’s unclear when he will be able to return to action. We had our doubts about the Capitals, but Charlie Lindgren, the Canadian’s former organization goaltender, was instrumental in the team’s success…
