Chinook Season Preview (Part two):

Why they should make the Stanley Cup Playoffs

Few teams possess the talent, speed, skill and depth of the Chinook. Pastrnak and Gaudreau give them two elite goal-scorers. Giordano and Carlson are a strong pair on defense, and Price remains one of the top goalies in the League.

Why they could miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs

The Chinook appear likely for a postseason berth unless they have to deal with a lot of
major injuries that would challenge their depth. The bottom 2 lines would need to
increase their productions.

Breakout candidate

Tkachuk. The 22-year-old will be in the lineup to open the season and is expected to
expand on his production (44 points) last season. Tkachuk has emerged as an
extremely valuable player for the Chinook. He plays a very complete two-way game,
especially given his age, but the thing that elevates both Tkachuk and his teammates is
that he’s such an incredible pain in the ass to play against. At a very young age, he’s
already emerged as the league’s top agitator.

On the hot seat

Panarin. With his 14 million contracts. Panarin needs to up his production this year to
prove then he is worth the contract or things will goe south really quick.

Quotable

"I think last year was good practice for this year. Going into last year, we had a big
target on our backs, and that hasn't changed this year. I think you look around our
division, and you see every team added a lot, every team got better, and I think our
conference is going to be a lot tougher. It seemed like every free agent that was picked
up came into our conference."  -- Captain Mark Giordano

Bold Predictions:

1. Johnny Gaudreau will lead the CCHL in assists
2. David Pastrnak hits the 50 goals mark
3. Panarin will be traded before the deadline
4. Chinook and Musicmen will have at least 5 trades with each other this season

Chinook Season Preview (Part one):

One last triumph for the financially strapped Chinook

At a glance

2018-19 record: 43-34-5, 91 points, 4th in Corfield Conference, 11th overall standing

2019 Kehler Cup Playoffs: lost to the Dayton Musicmen in seven games in Corfield Conference First Round.

Additions: F: Derek Ryan, Matthew Tkachuk, Bobby Ryan, James Neal; D: Sami
Vatanen, Scott Harrington

Subtractions: F: Henrik Sedin, Tyler Bozak, Jason Pominville, Mikael Backlund; D:
Alex Pietrangelo

The defending champion Calgary Chinook performed well below their expectation with
91 points and got within one win of advancing to the second round of playoff last season
and will have much of the same lineup to try and get over the hump this season.

General manager Eugene Yip was successful in retaining the Chinook core with
contracts for forwards Panarin and O’Reilly, and defenseman Mark Giordano. With
Panarin signing for a whopping 14 million per year contract, the Chinook need to find
ways to fix the financial problem with the projected balance well below the league
average this season. “There’s not much we can do. “said Eugene “Salaries have
inflated exponentially for the elite players in the league over the last few seasons. We
have to find ways to stay competitive. You can’t have four good lines in today’s CCHL
with this trend of increasing salaries.”

That core has been together for the past three to four years but much of it is fairly
young, including Barkov, 24, Gaudreau, 26, forwards Aretmi Panarin 27, Ryan O’Reilly
27, David Pastrnak, 23. Newly acquired Matthew Tkachuk in the offseason is only 22
and will be a big part of the core this season.

“This season would be our last season challenging for the cup. Big changes are coming
regardless of the outcome, it is just sooner or later depending of our performances.”
Said Yip.

Eugene said he expects more scoring and better power-play production out of the
Chinook this season with Barkov, Gaudreau, O’Reilly, Pastrnak and Tkachuk all having
career years in the NHL and Giordano winning the Norris trophy with his close to point
per game production.

Nino Niederreiter, 27, scored 12 goals last season and will be asked to produce more
playing on the bottom two lines. Veteran two-way forwards Jakob Silfverberg and
Defensemen Kris Letang also will be asked to do more offensively.

An Inside look at the Sudbury Miners - 2019-20 CCHL Season Preview

CANADIAN PRESS (Sudbury, ON):

Making the playoffs was a bonus for this young, growing core. With another year of experience,
Sudbury continues to trend upward but there will still be some growing pains and the added pressure
from the fan-base to build on last season’s success. Are these young Miners up to the task??

Kehler Cup odds: 35-1

Key Additions: Evgeni Malkin, C; Nicklas Backstrom, C; Ivan Provorov, D; Jake Muzzin, D

Key Departures: Wayne Simmonds, W; Anthony Mantha,W; Christian Dvorak, W

The Sudbury Miners ended their 2018-19 season with a 42-28-12 record, good for 5 th in the
Canosa Conference and in the process, locked up their first playoff berth in franchise history. Despite
getting bounced in 5 games by the Springfield Isotopes, the Miners were very pleased with the season as a whole. Many of their young players took a step forward gaining valuable ice-time and experience as they chased a playoff berth. But, now pressure begins for the Miners. With the unexpected playoff berth, the Miners are now seen as playoff contenders instead of a rebuilding franchise. This rabid fan-base will not be as patient when it comes to a lack of playoff success.

UP AND COMING PLAYER TO WATCH

Highly touted winger, Timo Meier is looking to build upon his first full season in the CCHL. He
has the offensive skills and creativity to become one of the Miners most productive players. He is slated to start on the first line with the newly acquired Evgeni Malkin, and the hope is that these two skilled players can lead the Miners attack. It is not unreasonable to expect 30 goals from Meier this season.

WHAT A SUCCESSFUL 2019-20 SEASON WOULD LOOK LIKE

At this point last year, if you would have asked their fans, most would have probably been
happy with a .500 season. But, given their unexpected results from last year, it seems that simply
contending for the playoffs this year may not be enough. This fan-base is hungry for a winner. Winning a playoff round, or maybe even two while continuing to develop a younger talent base, would have to make one think that the season would be a success. Remaining at status quo doesn’t appear to be a favourable option.

BIGGEST REMAINING QUESTION

Ideally, the hope in Sudbury is that their young players can continue to grow and develop with the help of some veteran off-season acquisitions. If that happens, Sudbury stands to improve upon last year’s record, and with a little luck may even taste some postseason success. But what if they don’t or worse, they regress? If that is the case, then the fans can expect another sled-dog fight to make the postseason in the Nickel City.

PREDICTION: 3rd in Canosa Conference.