Re: An NHL Expansion Story: Deep in the Heart of Texas
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Re: An NHL Expansion Story: Deep in the Heart of Texas
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Re: An NHL Expansion Story: Deep in the Heart of Texas
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Re: An NHL Expansion Story: Deep in the Heart of Texas
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Re: An NHL Expansion Story: Deep in the Heart of Texas
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Re: An NHL Expansion Story: Deep in the Heart of Texas
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Re: An NHL Expansion Story: Deep in the Heart of Texas
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Re: An NHL Expansion Story: Deep in the Heart of Texas
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Re: An NHL Expansion Story: Deep in the Heart of Texas
Nice signing there with Big Buff. Although he is no doubt at the twilight of his career in 2022/23, he should bring some impressive muscle to your blue line. I've always hated/loved playing against him, its always a roll of the dice as to who might get injured as a result of being on the wrong end of his forearms.
& is it Henrik Sedin Jr ? lol (pick 104)Comment
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Re: An NHL Expansion Story: Deep in the Heart of Texas
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Re: An NHL Expansion Story: Deep in the Heart of Texas
Once again, we go around the league to look at all 32 teams and discuss where we think they sit half way through the season. This episode’s focus will be the Houston Huskies who, in four seasons, has more history than many of the other franchises with three visits to the Stanley Cup Finals and one win. The team regularly is in the top ten of the power rankings to start the season.
However, this year was a little different. Houston had a huge piece they needed to secure in AJ Likens, who ended up going from a entry level contract paying $875k per year to multiyear deal at $6.85m. Add this to the team’s desire to re-sign Nikita Scherbek ($5.6m) and pick up Dustin Byfuglien in free agency ($4.45m), there was little left to re-sign goalie Phillip Grubauer to an extension and he was allowed to walk. Houston would initially go with Jonas Johansson as their initial backup, a decision that would have a significant impact on the early season.
Houston would see a number of significant injuries early in the season, to include Jordan Eberle (8 games), AJ Likens (2 games), Rourke Chartier (5 games), Georg Dreiber (8 games), Thomas Hickey (8 games), and Anton Lindholm (2 games). This did give some rookies look at the ice, to include Dimitri Shirokov (1 game, 2 assists), Brian Cousins (1 game), and Cale Fleury (5 games). Th simulateous injuries to Likens, Eberle, and Chartier forced management to call up Left Winger Georg Dreiber from Arlington. At twenty years old, Dreiber has garnered a lot of interest across the league, with pundits predicting his ceiling from as high as 1st Line Elite to AHL top six.
Then came the big goalie controversy. Sergei Bobrovsky was getting done as the lead netminder (in 28 games played, he is 20-5-3 with a 92.6% Sv% and a GAA of 2.05) but Johansson as backup was not (seven games played, 0-7-0, 83.4% sv% and 5.17 GAA). On December 13, GM AW decided to finally place Johansson on waivers (which he passed through) and assign him to the Eagles. He also recalled Goalie Evan Cormier to backup Bob. In two games, the 25 years old has posted a 0-1-1 record with a 87.9% Sv% and 3.59 GAA.
The Huskies did not start out as strong as they had hoped. In the first twenty games, the team was 12-8, with four of those loses coming on starts from Johansson. Though the team did improve once Cormier came in to back up, they still aren’t clicking like the coaching staff had hoped. The Huskies sit in the first wildcard spot in the Central Division. If the playoffs would break out today, they would face the Vegas Golden Knights, who only sit three points ahead of them, atop the Pacific Division. They sit eight points behind division and conference leader, the Dallas Stars, with a game in hand.
THE GOOD: Once again, Houston sits in a playoff spot and has four points on the first teams looking in (Nashville Predators). Ironically, two teams in the Pacific have less points than Houston, which reminds us of the concerns many in the NHL have about the current playoff format. With nearly the entire team healthy (Nick Bonino remains on injured reserve) and if we can learn anything from the last four seasons, Houston tends to finish very strong in the final half. And although Cormier has played only two games and isn’t exactly going to break any records, he is still playing better than Johansson and will likely improve as he gets used to the NHL speed.
A couple players are having career years. Nico Hischier is first on the team in goals (18), assists (34), and points (52), and is currently tied with St Louis’ Vladimir Tarasenko for first in the NHL for points. He is followed closely behind by Artemi Panarin with seventeen goals, 31 assists, for 48 points. He also leads the team in +/-. Sergei Bobrovsky is having another of his excellent years, sitting third in save percentage (92.6%), second in goals against average (2.05), and tied for first in wins (22) for all goalies that have played at least twenty games.
There is also some good news on the team stats side. Houston sits fourth in the NHL for goals for per game (3.11). Even more amazing, Houston sits first in powerplay percentage, having an unheard of 31.6% conversion rate, which is good for 42 powerplay goals this season (six more than the next team). In their last ten, the team has gone 7-2-1.
Another plus that won’t help the team this year but will soon is their amazing depth in prospects. Houston is ranked number three in the NHL for their farm system, with nine potentially elite players unsigned. They did sign two very highly regarded prosepcts this offseason: left wingers Georg Dreiber and Oscar Danielsson. Although Danielsson is earning his time in the AHL, Dreiber was called up to the big club after eight games when Eberle went down. Although he was only supposed to be in Houston until Eberle or Chartier recovered, his play was good enough that he was retained on the NHL roster.
THE BAD: Once again, there is little to no defensive scoring, though it has improved since last season. Byfuglien leads the defense with nine goals, while Jared Spurgeon leads with assist (19) and points (21). Hampus Lindholm leads in powerplay goals with five. The concern is that only one defenseman (Lindholm) has a positive plus/minus (+1), though this is somewhat skewed by the large number of powerplay goals. Hickey leads in the negative department with a -5 in 33 games. Houston sits 25th in the NHL in goals against per game with a 3.11. Ironically, even though the defense is a combined -14, they are still a +8 in goals differential for the season.
Forwards do not fare any better. AJ Likens, after signing that $6.85m/7yr contract, is siting with a -8 +/- and Yanni Gourde sits with the worst at -10. Ander Lee has only seven goals and six assists for 41 games while Gourde has only six goals and seven assists in 41. Scherbek who just signed a five year/$5.6m contract, has a total of nineteen points. As it stands, the team will only have four +20 goal scorers this season, the worst year so far in the their history.
I’ve already said enough about backup goaltending so I will not beat that dead horse.
What do the Huskies need to solidify this team? First and most obvious is a solid backup goaltender. It is too soon to see if that is Evan Cormier but, if it isn’t, this team could be in deep trouble if Bob goes down. The team is also light at bottom six centers. Defensive depth has been exposed with injuries. A first line right winger would be nice but not essential. But, with just over $2.5m in cap space, it is unlikely that will happen this season. However, with Joe Pavelski’s retained $2.550m coming off the books at the end of the season, this may change in summer.
Do the Huskies make trades at the deadline? Unlikely as it will have to be a hockey trade and the other team will need to take back some cap.
Do the Huskies make the playoffs? I am not going to make this mistake again. I said a definitive “NO!” last season and they went to the Stanley Cup Finals. However, not wanting to jinx the team, I will say “NO!” again.
Do the Huskies win the cup? Why not. Anything can happen in the second season.Comment
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Re: An NHL Expansion Story: Deep in the Heart of Texas
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