On "Daily Faceoff Live," Frank Seravalli and Mike McKenna discuss which bottom-feeder team is closest to turning it around next season.
Frank Seravalli: Let’s talk pot of gold, what’s at the end of the rainbow. Which bottom-feeder team outside of getting Connor Bedard is closest to turning it around next season?
Mike McKenna: You know who I feel pretty good about if I was a fan living in Montreal? I’d be pretty bullish on the Canadiens. Part of this goes to health, if you have Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield all season long if you get Brendan Gallagher back, you get Josh Anderson back, and Kirby Dach, as you go down this list of players who are out. But then you factor in how the Canadiens have been rolling out three defensemen under the age of 22 most of the season Kaiden Guhle, Arber Xhekaj and Jordan Harris. These guys are great prospects and they’re doing a good serviceable job and they’ll only get better Frank. Man, they have killer prospects coming down the line too, Lane Hutson could win the Hobey Baker this year a defenseman from Boston University, he was the No. 62 overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. I don’t know if he will turn pro right make a go at it here but I just look at even the quality of players they have in their room combined with the youthful exuberance that’s starting to come through in terms of prospects. I think they can be a lot better next year if they’re healthy, but I think in 2-3 years from now with the way this rebuild is going, it’s accelerated. Their prospects are doing really well, whether it’s major junior or in Laval, they’ve drafted well and I think that those players who are already there can carry them. Especially guys like Suzuki and Caufield, that’s a dynamic duo.
Frank Seravalli: The Montreal forward group as you mentioned is already made and NHL competitive if they’re healthy. Outside of Hutson, to me, it’s the back end that I really have question marks. As well as their goaltending, you got Jake Allen and he’s a nice stop-gap measure but I don’t know that he’s sort of the ready-made let’s get this team into the playoffs type of netminder.
Frank Seravalli: The team for me that stands out as a non-playoff team most likely to bounce back into contention is the St. Louis Blues. I think they will make a couple of really smart moves this summer utilizing and leveraging some of the picks they got in the trades they made for O’Reilly and Tarasenko. They are going to be right back into a good spot with the young core they have with Jordan Kyrou, Robert Thomas, Torey Krug and that group. It kind of feels like cheating though to say that, they’re not all that far out of the playoff chase even though they’re 13 points back of 32nd place they are still much closer to the playoffs than other teams. They certainly entered the year after a 109-point season last season with different expectations.
Frank Seravalli: So, my real answer is the Columbus Blue Jackets. When you look at not just their forward group they have Johnny Gaudreau, Patrik Laine and Kent Johnson is a special player; they’ve got a bunch of things coming. It’s also their defense core and to me, they’ve got three really good prospects that are going to be bonafide NHL defensemen and which is not really a lot of clubs can boast. On top of that, you look at their goaltending situation, I think they’re in okay shape with Elvis Merzlikins but you also look at Daniil Tarasov moving forward and I think they’re in great shape. Especially if the Blue Jackets can be in that spot and win the Connor Bedard sweepstakes, which they have the best odds for at this time.
You can watch the full episode here…
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