Minnesota Wild Franchise (NHL 22 PS4)

[JurassicPuck]

World Cup of Hockey will return for 2024
After years of talks and deliberations, the NHL will have a World Cup of Hockey for the first time since 2016

Jeremy Evans - March 30, 2022

The NHL and NHL Players' Association have reached an agreement to have a 2024 World Cup of Hockey take place in February of next season.

Sportsnet's Elliote Friedman first broke the news in a tweet yesterday:

With this major news, the popular tournament will make it's return after failing to happen in 2020. The 2016 tournament received generally very good reviews and featured some classic moments. We saw Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid join forces on the makeup "Team North America". We saw "Team Europe" defy the odds and make it all the way to the finals before falling to the champion nation of Canada.

With 8 years behind us since then, how will the NHL operate the tournament this time around? Let's break down what rumors have been swirling for next years rendition

Bring Back North America and Europe
As of now, the NHL is reportedly leaning towards bringing back the "gimmick" teams they had in the 2016 version. North America would feature the best of the best under 23 and Europe would have players represent countries in Europe not represented by their own national team. It's not the worst option to bring back what worked last time but it wouldn't pertain to the people that prefer the Olympic / World Championship format that the next option includes

Get rid of Europe and North America, only have Countries participate
A big group of people were against the makeshift teams of Europe and North America and would have much preferred the actual National Teams. This option would split Europe into teams that you would see in a regular olympics, such as the likes of Denmark, Slovakia, Slovenia, etc. It would make the tournament feel more like the Olympics, which is what a lot of people want.

Change the North America criteria to aged 35-and-over
This is the option that has the least amount of traction but is worth mentioning. This option would see the young, fast, exciting North America change their age criteria to 35 and older. It would turn into the wise, experience, veteran team that would have likely their last hurrah's in a tournament. It's an interesting option but one that is unlikely to come to fruition. I think adding a over 35 year old team and maybe replacing it with a team like Czechia, who could join into Team Europe. This would allow the "OG" North America team to remain.


Regardless of how the tournament shapes into come February next season, I'm sure lot's of fan's will just be excited to see NHL players competing for their countries for the first time since 2016.

(Editors Note: How this will work is during February of next season I will create each team's rosters based off who's performing well and taking into account injuries and going from there. I'll simulate a World Cup of Hockey with these rosters outside of Franchise with adjusted player ratings based off of the Franchise ratings.

However I am interested in what you guys would like to see for teams. I gave three options that just came to my head but if you guys have your own ideas I'd love to hear them)

[JurassicPuck]

TSN Pre-Playoff Primer: How the playoffs are shaking up with the season coming to an end
_________________________________________________
By Taylor Gaudet
April 1st, 2023

The last month of the regular season is here and teams are starting to solidify their seeds for the Playoffs. We already have four teams that have qualified which leaves twelve more to go. Every team has under ten games remaining and they'll be fighting for the last remaining spots to make the round of 16. Let's take a look at the Western and Eastern Conference standings, as well as the team's that are already mathematically eliminated:

Western Conference

In the West, the top two seeds in each division are locked up with Colorado and Edmonton expected to take the 1st seeds. Arizona and Vegas hold good leads over the wildcard teams and will likely retain their seeds. The big movement will come in the Wildcard. San Jose sits as WC1 with 82 points and the Jets are right behind them with 79 points, but 2 more games remaining then the Sharks.

Then comes the three team tie of Anaheim, Los Angeles and Calgary. All tied with 78 points, they're season's will all come down to the wire with each of them having at least 6 games left to go. It's possible two out of the three could qualify for Playoffs but it's likely just one of them advances.

We then get to two teams who found themselves in tough spots to snag a wildcard position. Seattle and Dallas are a decent bit back of the cohort of three but do have games remaining on their side, Dallas with 8 and Seattle with 9, respectively. With how they've come alive to end the season, I predict the Kraken will sneak in and secure their first playoff birth in their Franchise's history.

Eastern Conference

Not a single team in the East has secured a playoff spot yet. It goes to show just how hard it's been to be a team in this conference. Different to the West, the biggest movement here will be in the 1-3 seeds rather then the wildcard.

We'll start with the Metro Division where the top three teams in the whole conference are the 1-to-3 seeds. With the Islanders finding themselves struggling recently, the Rangers have overtaken them for the first seed in the division. Add in the fact the Capitals have been the hottest team in the NHL with 10 straight wins and the Islanders better right the ship before they find themselves dropping to 3rd

In the Atlantic Division it's just as tight with 4 points separating the faltering defending champs and the Matthews led Maple Leafs. Situated in between them is the Bergeron-less Bruins who have been able to find success despite the loss of their captain this offseason. It's anyone's guess to who will come out on top in this division.

It's looking like a four horse race for the two wildcard spots with the Penguins and Canadiens holding down those positions. Right on their tails are the Lightning, who have found their groove after a terrible start to the season, and the Senators who have choked away their great start to the season.

Finally on the outskirts looking in are the Devils, Wings, Jackets and Canes. They all have eight games remaining so they still have a shot but it's possible none of these teams get a wildcard spot. Outside of Columbus, it would be very disappointing for any one of these teams to miss so expect all of them to really catch fire in the last stretch of the season.


Eliminated

Chicago Blackhawks
The Hawks really felt the effect of missing Patrick Kane for a full season as they've been at the bottom of the league standings for the majority of the year. The mistakes the management has made over the past handful of seasons is really catching up to them.

Outside of DeBrincat and Dach the forwards are very, very weak. The addition of Dube should help in the long run, he has 9 points in 12 games since the trade, but it's such a drop off after those three. Captain Jonathan Toews is expected to head to free agency this offseason in search of a 4th Stanley Cup, something he won't find in Chicago.

He's spent just two years in the Windy City but Seth Jones's contract is easily the worst in the entire NHL. He has just 19 points this season and sported an atrocious -33. He's still on the hook for a ridiculous $9.5M for the next 8 years. At this point, he's on pace to have his contract bought out sooner rather than later.

Last but not least they had free agent signing Jack Campbell in net who had a rough season but who can blame him playing behind this team? He has a .902 SV% but has faced an average of almost 32 shots a game. No goalie is gonna be successful facing that much rubber.

Chicago will likely have the best odds at a #1 pick this summer and with a player like Bedard in the Draft, the Blackhawks have to be praying the lottery gods bless them this offseason.

Nashville Predators
Such a disappointing season for a team that made so many signings in Free Agency. The Preds brought in the likes of Palat, Trocheck, Pysyk, Zadorov and Rodrigues and, outside of Zadorov, none of them has had even a good season. Palat took a major step back from his 71 points last season with 48 so far this season. Josi has 40 points and has a team worst -30. Saros has been horrible this year with a .897 SV% through 58 games.

It would be very surprising to see Head Coach B. Johnson standing on the Nashville bench next season after a year like this one. At least the team can look forward to adding another prospect to their system after selecting Slavkovsky and Geekie in the 1st round last year.

Buffalo Sabres
They were expected to be bad this season and bad they have been. With just 57 points so far this season they are the third worst team in the league and it doesn't look like that's gonna end up changing based off their 1-8-1 record in their last 10.

This team is one of the youngest of all time with an average age of 24.9 and it showed. This team was exciting and heavily slanted towards offense, much to the demise of the defense and goaltending. Fair dues to Ville Husso for being able to have a .907 SV% with the lack of defense this team plays.

With the amount of young talent and skill on this team, the Sabres are in a good spot. They have the pieces in place but they just need to make sure these young kids stay on the right path. Outside of Okposo this team doesn't have much for leadership so bringing in a few more veterans and having them help these kids would do a lot for this team.

Philadelphia Flyers
While Shane Wright looks like he could potentially win the Calder Trophy for best rookie, the rest of this Flyers team is in shambles. Joel Farabee is on contract for 6 more years but has been asked to be traded. 4th liner Kevin Hayes is still owed over $7 Million for the next 4 seasons. Top defenseman Travis Sanheim's contract expires this offseason where he will become a UFA. Would he really want to come back to this type of team in Philly? At least Carter Hart had a decent season with a .907 SV% and 20 wins. This team has their work cut out for them this offseason.

[studbucket]

I don't know much about hockey. I am not even sure I enjoy hockey that much outside of knowing that it's very hard and impressive to play and that going to games in person is fun.

With that said, I've been enjoying this. I like the way the content and updates are presented and it's hooked me in a way that surprised me.

[JurassicPuck]

Quote: Originally Posted by studbucket

I don't know much about hockey. I am not even sure I enjoy hockey that much outside of knowing that it's very hard and impressive to play and that going to games in person is fun. With that said, I've been enjoying this. I like the way the content and updates are presented and it's hooked me in a way that surprised me.

That's actually awesome to hear! I agree, hockey isn't always the most exciting sport to watch on TV but watching in person is a whole different experience. It doesn't have the appeal of say an NBA but It's been my favourite sport my whole life. I just wish the Franchise in NHL was as in depth and customizable as MyNBA in 2k. Hopefully by NHL 35 we reach the same level as 2K's Franchise equivalent lol

Glad to hear your following along!

[johnstone1987]

OMG Chicago

[JurassicPuck]

TSN Pre-Playoff Primer: Second Edition
Wildcard battles coming down to the wire, four more teams out of contention
_________________________________________________
By Taylor Gaudet
April 8th, 2023

It's been just seven days since our last update but four more teams have already been mathematically eliminated. Let's take a look at what's went down in the past week.

Western Conference

Six teams in the Western Conference have secured their spot in the Playoffs as Arizona and Vegas join the prior four. The top three seeds in the Pacific will almost certainly remain as it is unless Vegas goes winless in their last 3 games and Winnipeg wins their remaining 4 contests.

The Jets leapfrogged the Sharks after going 3-0-1 last week to sit as the first Wildcard spot. The trio of teams (Calgary, Los Angeles, Anaheim) last week that were tied with 78 points failed to gain any ground on their competitors. LA failed to win a game, Calgary managed to win one and Anaheim had a win and an OT loss. Dallas even passed the Kings after winning 3 games and are still in the mix.

It's up to Winnipeg and San Jose now to hold on to the first and second Wildcard's. The Jets are almost a lock to qualify and the Sharks are on the brink. It's in their hands, will they play with their food or bear down and secure playoff spots.

Eastern Conference

The East is so tight of a race that really anything could happen. The Bruins are sliding at the worst possible time as they dropped four games in a row since April 1st and went from second seed to second wildcard.

The Devils and Blue Jackets are almost certainly going to miss but the Senators and Canadiens still have a fighting chance. With 89 and 88 points each, respectively, the two Canadian teams will try and squeak into a wildcard spot with a handful or less games to go.

My prediction here out East is that the Bruins will continue to drop games and will fall out of the wildcard all together. It will make way for either the Sens or Habs to snag the spot. Although I really want to ride with the Senators I'm going to go with the Habs continuing on their hot pace and securing their spot in the Playoffs.


Newly Eliminated

St. Louis Blues
Scoring troubles were the downfall of a Blues team that would have been a playoff team if they could have gotten more offensive contributions from their forwards. They currently have the fourth worst goals per game in the NHL with 2.55.

St. Louis has just one 20 goal scorer in Jordan Kyrou. That's not going to cut it. Kyrou has 21 more points then the second highest scorer on the team, Robert Thomas. Also part of the problem was captain Ryan O'Reilly really taking a step back offensively this season with just 39 points so far through 75 games. His contract expires after this year. Will the Blues be willing to pay someone who made over $8 Million who's offensive skills are waning? He's still one of the best defensive forwards in the NHL but they're going to be hoping he's willing to take a pay cut.

There are some positives to take out of their season however. Three of their five rookies had 25 or more points so far this season. 3rd overall pick Matthew Savoie put up 33 points, 15 of which were goals. Former Capitals pick Brett Leason provided some offense on the right wing with 25 points but having a -16 along with that. Lastly, Jake Neighbours was a physical presence in the Top 9 with 134 hits while scoring 10 goals and 28 points. He's essentially the next coming of David Backes, something the Blues management are very excited about.

Outside of the forwards, the team was pretty good. Torey Krug led the defense with 61 points as of publishing this and Justin Faulk has 31 points with a +23. The other four defenseman were average at best with Bortuzzo being the worst with just 6 points and a -29. Jordan Binnington upped his save percentage to .912 from the .903 he had last season. His 6 shutouts are also a career best for the 29 year old. Finding a better backup goalie should be a high priority after the season Scott Wedgewood is having, going 6-10-2 with a .901 SV%. Joel Hofer in the AHL looks like he could be an in-house replacement. He went 30-23-4 with a .920 SV% for Springfield.

Seattle Kraken
So... my prediction of the Kraken securing a playoff spot didn't quite age to well. Regardless, it was unlikely Seattle was going to make the playoffs this season with the team they had this season. After seeing how this season played out it does look like they do have a starting base for what could be a good team.

The Top 6 forwards are pretty solid. Jared McCann, Matty Berniers and Jordan Eberle were the regulars on the first line and all of them will finish with more then 50 points this season. Beniers avoided a sophomore slump and upped his point total from 36 to 63 so far this season. He will be the future captain of the Kraken, no doubt about it. With Gourde, Schwartz and Iafallo filling out some of the Top 9, this team has the offensive capabilities to be good. It's the defensive side of the game that they struggle with.

The Kraken have just 3 players who aren't a minus and have played more than 50 games (Soucy, Wennberg, Geekie). The goaltending of Philipp Grubauer didn't exactly help with that, going 19-31-7 with a .906%, but backup goalie Chris Driedger was good in the games he played in. He went 15-5-0 with a .918 SV% in 24 games. He's been the starter for the past couple weeks and will likely go into next season as the #1.

The defense really needs some work. There is no other way to put it. The top 4 of Vince Dunn, Troy Stecher, Jamie Oleksiak and Brett Kulak were all a -15 or worse. Adding a top four two-way defenseman would do wonders for this squad. We'll see what they decide to do during the offseason.


Carolina Hurricanes
For the second straight season the Hurricanes will fail to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Change is needed in Carolina. With the talent this team has they should easily be qualifying for a playoff spot. The team has allowed just 2.64 goals against per game this year (3rd best in the league) so defense is not the issue. The blame clearly falls on the lack of production from what should be their "star" forwards in Aho and Svechnikov.

Being payed a combined 16 million dollars, you have to expect more from the Finnish and Russian duo. Aho has seemingly regressed at the age of 25 after 3 straight seasons of, what will likely be, less then 60 points. In 2021 he was a point a game player but hasn't been able to replicate that in the two years since. Then we look at Svechnikov who has struggled to take that jump to the status of a star player. He has 68 points through 78 games but at the age of 23 and finishing his 5th season in the NHL this year, the Hurricanes had to have expected he would take a bigger jump thus far in his career.

Maybe it's not fair to only blame these two guys. It's looking like just 6 forwards will finish with more than 30 points this season. The severe lack of point production from the forwards is the overall problem in Carolina. What at least softens the blow from the forwards struggles is the trio of defenseman on the backend who have a better offensive output than most of the forwards. DeAngelo, Pesce and Slavin have 77, 52 and 34 points each, respectively. Without them the Hurricanes would easily be the worst offensive team in the NHL.

The plan in the offseason is obviously to improve the team up front but how their going to go about that is unclear. Will they have the guts to move one or both of their top-end forwards? Or will they pray those two regain their form from years past and try and improve the team depth? GM Don Waddell has his work cut out for him this summer and depending on how it goes, it could eventually cost him his job if he's not careful.

Detroit Red Wings
The Red Wings really revamped their roster this offseason but it didn't quite pay off in year one as they fail to make the playoffs once again. The pressure is now on for GM Steve Yzerman to bring back some crucial free agents this summer.

It starts with Captain Dylan Larkin who has spent 520 games in a Red Wings uniform and as an RFA it's unlikely to change. But how much money will the 26 year old be looking for in this contract? He's made $6.1 Million the last five years and is reportedly looking for an AAV anywhere from 7 to 9 Million. He's spent part of this season injured but still has just 46 points through 69 games. That's not someone you want to give 9 bags too. He was however a point a game player back in 2022 with 85 points in 82 games. Which Larkin will Detroit be getting if they decide to re-sign him?

Larkin is just one of the fish Yzerman has to fry. Tyler Bertuzzi, Andrew Copp and Tyson Jost are all due fresh contracts. Will all four of these Wings be back next season? With just $13 million in cap space this summer it's impossible to bring back all of them without making some moves to offload some players on the roster.

They may have just shot themselves in the foot after the massive contracts they gave last offseason

[JurassicPuck]

Quote: Originally Posted by johnstone1987

OMG Chicago

They have been AWFUL this season and I can't say I'm sad to see it happening after everything that came to light about the organization. Here's hoping lottery luck doesn't bless them and they fall out of the Top 3 in the Draft.

It will be interesting to see where Captain of the Blackhawks Jonathan Toews will go this offseason after his contract expires. Will he choose to finally leave Chicago and join a team in search of another Stanley Cup? Or will he go the Stan Mikita route and decide to stay in Chicago for his entire career?

Toews isn't the only important upcoming free agent for the Hawks as Alex DeBrincat will become an RFA. He's 25 years old and has 45 points so far this season, although is also a eye gouging -40. He's a former 40 goal scorer who has seen his scoring ability dry up these past few years. Will a team be willing to send him an offer sheet this summer in hopes of improving their Top 6?

[SENS_AK27]

Quote: Originally Posted by JurassicPuck

They have been AWFUL this season and I can't say I'm sad to see it happening after everything that came to light about the organization. Here's hoping lottery luck doesn't bless them and they fall out of the Top 3 in the Draft. It will be interesting to see where Captain of the Blackhawks Jonathan Toews will go this offseason after his contract expires. Will he choose to finally leave Chicago and join a team in search of another Stanley Cup? Or will he go the Stan Mikita route and decide to stay in Chicago for his entire career? Toews isn't the only important upcoming free agent for the Hawks as Alex DeBrincat will become an RFA. He's 25 years old and has 45 points so far this season, although is also a eye gouging -40. He's a former 40 goal scorer who has seen his scoring ability dry up these past few years. Will a team be willing to send him an offer sheet this summer in hopes of improving their Top 6?

Former OHL Teammate of McDavid. I wonder if the Oilers take a stab at him.