For the second year in a row the Loons missed the playoffs. Even after a series of transactions that made the team more competitive, it is important to remember that the Loons are still in the midst of a rebuild. 2020 was a complete tear down of an overpaid, aging team. 2021 saw us take the assets that we acquired in 2020 and moved them for established players in their early 20s like McAvoy, Eichel and Farabee. After a strong start to 2021 the team came back to earth. A lack of offensive depth and being toward the bottom of the league in goal differential did us in. Our captain was a -26, our top defenseman was a -17; you just can not win that way.
So what is next for the Loons? "We will continue to stick to our plan - we need to remember that their were successes this year."
Our top priority was staying out of bankruptcy. That was a success - we finished the year +$18m and that is before a $30m influx of cash from expansion, and another $5m or so from a year of perfect lineups and riveting blogs/tweets.
2021 saw us continuously working on making our roster ready for the looming expansion. Many times we had to fight the urge to acquire reinforcements on the back end, only to then risk losing the player for nothing during the expansion draft. I can say that this was another success. This past Sunday we submitted our official expansion lists to the league office - we can only apologize to the Campers and Nuggets. A loss of UFA's Sheahan, Forbort, Pitlick or fringe roster players Vesey, Nosek and Smith will not make much of an impact on 2022.
So what can we expect for 2022? Our best guess is it will be a fight to make the playoffs once again. in 2021 we saw steps forward from out top prospects in Zegras and Boldy. Both should make much greater impacts for the Loons in 2022. For the first time in Loons history we will likely have a 50 goal scorer in Chris Kreider. The blue line of McAvoy, Brodin, Carlo, Hanifin, Lindholm and Carlson should be our stength.
However, it's not all sunshine and unicorns. There will be question marks that will need to be addressed. Will a goaltending tandem of Oettinger and Petersen be good enough? How much will the time he missed hurt Eichel's production? When will Wahlstrom take a consistent step forward? Will the new expansion team's inexperience in the bidding process and the influx of expansion money for established teams make free agency unaffordable?
After a lot of research into the 2022 draft - we decided to pass. Our draft picks went to the gamble that Boeser can rebound and become a top line RW. And our man crush on Beniers took us out of the 2023 draft - so this is the roster that we will live and die with for the foreseeable future. See ya in September
No comments:
Post a Comment