E.8 Jan 2

Welcome to the 1st 2022 edition of What's Hot and What's Not. 
Today's edition will include a take on the latest trades,  one of the hottest team in the league and 
we'll find out how important Mika Zibanejad is to his team.

What's Hot:  Philadelphia Flyers

Although the Islanders have a perfect record of 10-0-0 in their last 10, the longest undefeated stretch in regulation belongs to the Flyers,  they havent lost after 60 in 13 games.  It's amazing that after not losing in regulation during a span that covers 1/3 of the season, Philly still sits only 4th in the metro, a testament to how strong that divsion is. 

This team is very well balanced, the veterans are leading the team, depth is contributing nicely, and both goalies have solid numbers.  The only area that really needs improvement is the PK,  they currently sit 11th worst with a 78,91 efficacy.  Maybe newcomer Lars Eller will help in those situation.  Look for this team to battle for the metro title with the islanders and hurricanes.    

What's Not: Zibanejad's injury

Edmonton came out of the gate flying and looked like a team that could challenge for the president's trophy and the stanley cup, couple weeks later,  the real battle might be for a playoff spot.   The strong central division isnt helping,  with so many strong teams, the most probable way for the oilers to make it in will be from the 2nd or 3rd in the pacific.   

The biggest issue lately has been scoring, with the roster's strength back on defence with the likes of Hedman,  Doughty and Parayko, there isnt much up front to light up the lamp on a consistent basis.  And then Zibanejad gets injured.  He still leads the team in scoring with 31 pts even after missing 10 games.  Tag along his 55% winning faceoffs rate, its obvious that he's the main reason on why this team has been struggling.   The oilers only managed 3 wins in the last 10, losing to weak teams like the devils, the blue jackets and the kraken.   The good news is that Mika is day to day and should be back any day now.  Let's see if the Oilers can regain their early season success once he's back in the line up.

What's Hot:  Trades

What a great holiday gift, for 3 straight days,  we were blessed with 3 solid deals. 

Dec 29th - Newcomer GM Wilson shipped out Markstrom for a bundle that includes nyi's 1st.  The rangers get a solid goalie prospect for the future in Primeau,  a young rfa to fill a roster spot, a most probable last 1st that can maybe be used to move up the draft and still well rated Khudobin, who can be moved for more goodies.  Markstrom's AAV of 12M was most likely the biggest factor in Gm Wilson not being able to land a significant piece.     Vegas had plenty of cap space so fitting Markstrom was an easy task,  with that, secure a top goaltender for the next years. 

Dec 30th -  Vancouver speeds up their rebuild and add Konecny.   Gm Brisson made it known that when it was their turn to pick with the 9th overall, that they didnt want to take this player but he was the best available so felt like they had no choice.  When GM Guertler came with the offer of Konecny for Guenther,  it was just too logical to pass.  On the flyers end, with the depth they have, moving a 2nd/3rd liner to acquire a top 10 talent is a no brainer.   On the canucks side,  we have a team with plenty of high end prospects and will likely add another in the next draft,  shipping out Guenther for a top 6 forward whose still only 24 made sense.  Konecny's contract was a major selling point, he can be extended after the current 3 years to the same amount (roughly) as he's making right now.  Expect him to be a top 6 forward for Vancouver for a very long time.

Dec 31 - CBJ moves on from Monahan. After acquiring Monahan a couple years earlier for 2x 1st, dylan cozenz and dennis cholowski (ouch) by the previous gm,  It was the right time for Gm Villeneuve to move on from Monahan. Making 7m and having a bad year in the nhl, he doesnt have much going for him.   He's also due for an extension which will be costly via dchl cash.   Now all this being said, Monahan is still a solid player, well rated this year and can help St-louis make the playoffs. He's also 27 years old so he can still find that form he had before.   This deal, as of today, looks alright. it'll surely be revisited in the future.   

Thanks for tuning in and Happy new year.
You stay classy, Dchl