NEWSLETTER
So there’s been a lot going on around the NHL this week. If you missed some things because you’ve been busy watching Connor Bedard highlights, I can’t blame you.
We’ve had some shocking results in the second round. The current scores of the series aren’t all that shocking (well, except for one of them). It’s more how we’ve gotten to where we are that’s been the surprise.
On top of that, we have what appears to be a bit of a roster shakeup on the horizon for the league’s best team (well, from the regular season at least) as well as an unfortunate injury in Colorado. There’s a whole lot to cover this week, so let’s go around the NHL.
Bruins Breakup Coming?
While it won’t be a total overhaul in Boston, some significant roster changes will likely be on the way. The Bruins suffered a shocking first-round series loss to the Florida Panthers after a historically good regular season. Now faced with cap constraints, change is inevitable.
Captain Patrice Bergergon flirted with retirement last season, he opted to stay in Boston on a team-friendly 1-year, $2.5 million deal. Bergeron is again considering retirement this season.
Boston has eight impending unrestricted free agents on the roster, many of which the acquired at the deadline. Tyler Bertuzzi, Dmitry Orlov, and Garnet Hathaway were all deadline deals that are due for fairly large raises. Boston finished the season just $27,000 under the salary cap.
After falling short again and several UFAs due for a raise, the writing is on the wall for the Bruins. Will they move a major piece? Can they get creative and keep their core around for one more run? The Bruins went all in this year and came up short, it will be a fascinating offseason to track in Boston.
Gabriel Landeskog To Miss 2023-24 Season
It’s a really good thing the Avalanche got their Stanley Cup last season. Gabriel Landeskog will undergo a cartilage transplant surgery on his right knee – the same knee that has ailed him since the 2020 bubble season. During a bubble playoff series with Dallas, he was cut badly by a skate leading to a cartilage injury in his knee. Landeskog has been dealing with the injury since.
The Avalanche captain battled with his bad knee in the playoffs last season leading the Avs to a Stanley Cup. During that run he finished with 22 points in 20 games. He had surgery prior to the beginning of the season that was initially supposed to sideline him for 3-4 months, but it ended up being the whole season. While this second surgery will keep him out for next year, Landeskog and the Avalanche hope the more extreme approach will be better for him in the long run.
Landeskog is signed for $7 million per season through the 2028-29 season. The injury will allow the Avs to place him on Long Term Injured Reserve and free up some cap space to work with. Landeskog did leave the door open for a potential postseason return next year, but said, “it’s too early to tell.”
Here’s to a quick recovery for the Avs’ captain.
Second-Round Blowouts
If you look at the series scores, it’s been a tightly contested second round (outside of Toronto – sorry Leafs fans). But if you peel back the curtain and look the scores of the games, we’ve had a ton of blowouts. The first round was a really exciting group of games that saw some instant classics, while round two hasn been rout after rout.
Vegas leads Edmonton 2-1. Game 1 of that series was close, then games three and four were 5-1 blowouts. Seattle and Dallas are tied 2-2. The first two games were close, but the last two were decided by five and three goals. Carolina leads New Jersey 3-1, and every one of those games have been decided by four or more goals. Ironically enough, the only series that has been full of fun, tightly contested games has been Florida and Toronto where the Panthers lead 3-0.
It’s likely an anamoly. Hopefully we get some tighter games to close out the second round. Oh and speaking of Toronto – would moving out of the first round only to be swept by the lowest seed in the conference in the second round be worse than losing in seven to Tampa in the first round?
