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Biggest surprises of the off-season? |
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Follow me on Twitter @ToddCordell
In this edition of the hotstove, we share our thoughts on the biggest surprises of the off-season.
Todd Cordell
The Artemi Panarin-Brandon Saad definitely caught me off guard. Artemi Panarin fit like a glove in Chicago alongside Patrick Kane on the top offensive line and I figured they'd remain together for a long, long time.
Saad led the Jackets in scoring in 2015-16, then finished 2nd in goals and 3rd in points on a 50 win team in 2016-17 so I didn't think he'd be going anywhere, either.
It was one of the rare trades that a) comes out of nowhere and b) involves two teams trading high-end NHL talents.
Another big surprise for me is what the Colorado Avalanche have done this off-season. Even if they were planning on tanking next year to put them in a good spot to come away with Rasmus Dalin or Andrei Svechnikov, I expected quite a few changes. We haven't really seen that.
They were one of the absolute worst teams I've seen in my lifetime, and their biggest addition this off-season was Colin Wilson. I like Wilson, but he's 27 and has registered *more* than 35 points once in his career so he's not going to move the needle much.
Peter Tessier
There have been a few surprises this off season, some big some small but the most interesting to me came with the trading of Hjalmarsson out of Chicago.
While it's no secret that the Blackhawks have cap challenges and have steadfastly adhered to their core players as the base of the team, not seeing Hjalmarsson as one of those earlier on an then his subsequent trade is bizarre. By many metrics he is a foundation player for any team but earlier cap decisions with the roster have made him a casualty, at least it should in the eyes of Blackhawks fans.
This move is somewhat similar to when Chicago jettisoned Frolik but probably with more impact being felt. Keith was never going to go and Seabrook's contract is scary but would finding some way out of that deal by salary retention not be more appealing than trading a younger and better player?
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