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In: Central Division
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The Colorado Avalanche roster has seen better days. With season ending injuries to goalie Semyon Varlamov, and defenceman Erik Johnson; the Avs’ playoff hopes now rest on the young shoulders of Nathan Mackinnon and slighty less young Jonathan Bernier. This has some Avs fans in a panic: Great. Awesome. It's over https://t.co/pcsJ4JBbha — Carl Landra (@CarlLandra) March 31, 2018 Is it over, Carl? Is it? With just a handful of games left in the regular season, the Avs are still in the fight for the playoffs, but only just. Colorado, St. Louis and Anaheim are separated by just a few points and the difference betweenRead More →

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In: Central Division, General, NHL
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Amateur Scouting for the NHL is far from an exact science despite improvement in player rankings over the past decade. Technology continues significantly impact player evaluation across the board, providing access to talent outside of North America. If Pavel Datsyuk were draft eligible in 2018, he would be a top-three prospect. Potential first overall selection, Rasmus Dahlin, would have fallen through the cracks back in the 90’s. Scouting staffs have nearly unlimited access to upcoming talent and it continues to drive Central Scouting reports. The Draft Pick Even with advances in talent evaluation, did Nashville Predators’ GM, David Poile, expect the impact that Viktor ArvidssonRead More →

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In: Atlantic Division, Central Division, Metropolitan Division
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Taylor Hall. Nikita Kucherov. Nathan MacKinnon. These three are currently the front runners to win the Hart Trophy this season as the league MVP. But who will win it? Chace, Joe and Carl make their case for each. Taylor Hall (by Chace McCallum) The NHL’s Hart Trophy goes to the”player judged most valuable to his team“. This is an important caveat in Taylor Hall’s MVP case. He has fewer points per game than Nathan Mackinnon and Nikita Kucherov, his biggest opponents. This likely knocks Hall out of the most outstanding player debate, however in terms of value to their team, it’s Hall and it’s not close.Read More →

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In: Atlantic Division, Central Division, General, NHL
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Growing up in the Buffalo area exposes one to every opinion on tanking for the best draft odds. The local media shares contrasting views as the Sabres were in last place, for two consecutive years. As Buffalo is close to last in the NHL again, the debate is ongoing. The 2015 race for 30th achieved the desired result: a franchise center. Before you comment; yes, Jack Eichel is a franchise center despite the suckfest that is the Buffalo Sabres. Lacking significant improvement since then, certain media claims that tanking leads to a losing culture. Just look at Twitter and notice the heated discussions about theRead More →

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In: Central Division
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Welcome back to the third edition of deadline deals. A series where I break down what I think is best for each team as they approach the trade deadline. Today’s focus is on the Central division as we move out West! If you missed it, you can check out the Metro and Atlantic editions! #1 Chicago Blackhawks: The Hawks find themselves in a position they really have not been in years. A team really on the outside looking, with slim shots at the playoffs. MoneyPuck currently has them at a 20% chance at playoffs. With no Corey Crawford for maybe the rest of the year,Read More →

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In: Central Division, Metropolitan Division, NHL
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At this point of the season, the playoff picture is all but clear. Some teams aren’t going anywhere but some teams. have all but cemented their spots and other teams won’t go down without a fight. The teams that are in a position to lose their seat and the teams still clawing away to make the playoffs, all need a little tweaking if they want to get/stay there. New York Rangers 6th in the Metropolitan division, one point behind the Islanders who hold the second wild card spot, but the Rangers still have one game at hand . Second last in the NHL for SA/GPRead More →

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In: Atlantic Division, Central Division, Metropolitan Division, NHL, Pacific Division
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Welcome to the newest series on the 4th Line! This is a series where I will be looking at the top 5 draft steals. Now these won’t always just be the 6th and 7th rounders of a draft. My aim here is to find some of the best players of the draft that weren’t taken where they should have been. This means there may be late first rounders, or second rounders included. With this in mind let’s start our first draft, 2010! Honourable Mention – Petr Mrazek, Round 5, 141st Overall: I am giving Petr Mrazek an honourable mention here because finding a possible starterRead More →

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In: Central Division
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Nathan MacKinnon was picked 1st overall by the Colorado Avalanche in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. He posted 78 and 75 points for the Halifax Mooseheads in the QMHJL, but showed a lot of potential and upside. Picked in front of names like Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Drouin, Seth Jones, and Sean Monahan; MacKinnon had been rumoured to be a superstar for years now. How could he not? His rookie season he put up 63 points, and showed elite levels of offensive flash. He then struggled to find the net as much in his next 3 years, but MacKinnon finally looks like the superstar the Avs haveRead More →

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In: Atlantic Division, Central Division, Metropolitan Division, NHL, Pacific Division
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If I was to build an NHL team from scratch, I would start by looking at centers. It’s a tough position play and maybe the hardest to acquire. So today let’s dive into my top 10 centers in the NHL which I ranked using 3 main variables. The first is power-play prowess, which is how well players produce weighted points and shots on the power-play. The second is their offence which considers their ability to drive play offensively, produce points, and draw penalties. The final is their defense, which is a mix of their shot and expected goal suppression, ability to not take penalties, winRead More →

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In: Central Division, NHL, Pacific Division
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The Holidays are almost here, and I have decided to switch up from my regular thoughts on the Sens. I am focusing on ranking teams 1-15 on how likely it is they win the Stanley Cup. “Technically” speaking no teams are eliminated from playoff contention yet. So for this edition I will be ranking all 15 teams in the Western Conference. If you missed the East you can check it out here! Teams With No Chance These are the teams that just don’t have a chance of making playoffs, let alone winning a cup. 15. Arizona Coyotes This seems like a very easy one. CurrentlyRead More →