Here is the Jan. 10 edition of the weekly NHL.com mailbag, where we answer your questions asked on X. Send your questions to @drosennhl and @NHLdotcom and tag it with #OvertheBoards.
Do you see the Capitals as buyers or sellers given how close they are in the Metropolitan Division? -- @Soren17Capitals
Ask me again in a month, because with the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline on March 8 two months away, it's too early to say buyers or sellers with confidence.
It depends on where the Washington Capitals are in the Stanley Cup Playoff race when they come out of the NHL All-Star break and begin a busy stretch leading up to the deadline with 14 games in 31 days. They have nine games to play before their break begins after a visit to the Dallas Stars on Jan. 27, including a home-and-home this weekend against the New York Rangers. They're in the mix, but so is every team in the Metropolitan Division except for the Columbus Blue Jackets. If the Capitals can stay in the mix, they should be buyers. There is only so much time remaining in the Alex Ovechkin era, and they can't waste it if they are in position to be a playoff team, especially because they'll have some money under the NHL salary cap to use, relief they get from having forward Nicklas Backstrom on long-term injured reserve. The Capitals won't be looking for a pure rental, though. They would rather add a top-six forward with term or a player of that ilk who they believe they'd be able to re-sign.
If the Capitals drop in the standings, they have to seriously consider selling. They have Anthony Mantha, Max Pacioretty, Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Joel Edmundson on expiring contracts. Evgeny Kuznetsov and T.J. Oshie have one year remaining on their respective contracts. A selloff this season would be an opportunity for the Capitals to deepen their pools of draft picks and prospects. For example, they do not have a second-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft after trading it to acquire Connor Brown from the Ottawa Senators on July 13, 2022. Brown now plays for the Edmonton Oilers.
The players must prove to their management team that they deserve to be buyers and by doing so it'll bolster their chances of making the playoffs and, potentially, going on a run in the spring. They've done a good job of it so far by staying in a race I did not think they'd be in. Let's see where they are in a month.
What is fueling the Winnipeg Jets' recent success? -- @JimmyBurnsy
Stability is driving consistency. It's amazing how quickly things have changed in Winnipeg.
It wasn't long ago that the Jets looked like the most unstable of the 16 teams that made the playoffs last season. Blake Wheeler was bought out. Pierre-Luc Dubois was traded. There were questions about the futures of Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck with each having one year left on his contract. Would they be traded? Should they be traded? Coach Rick Bowness was talking about the Jets having no pushback against the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference First Round. They won Game 1 and then lost four straight. Was Bowness long for the job? Was general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff? The list goes on.
Now they look like one of the most stable teams in the NHL and a Stanley Cup contender. Scheifele and Hellebuyck eliminated the questions that would have led to a distraction by signing identical seven-year, $59.5 million contracts Oct. 9, guaranteeing their futures in Winnipeg. The Jets needed that, because even if they were having the success they're having this season, there still would have been questions about the futures of Scheifele and Hellebuyck near the trade deadline.
They're balanced. Following Tuesday’s 5-0 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets, nine players have at least 20 points and eight have scored at least eight goals this season.Hellebuyck is having a Vezina Trophy-worthy season. Defenseman Josh Morrissey should be getting Norris Trophy consideration. The Jets are structured and disciplined. They recognized their identity early and have played to it all season. That’s why they have gone a team record 30 straight games without allowing more than three goals in a game, including two or fewer in 10 straight and 17 of 18.
In your opinion, what are some of the reasons why Vancouver and Winnipeg are enjoying good success in the West? -- @MrEd315
See above for the Jets.
As for the Canucks, their success traces to last season after coach Rick Tocchet was hired Jan. 22, 2023. That's when they started to play with speed and play connected. The Canucks finished strong. They went 20-12-4 in 36 games after Tocchet arrived, including 15-6-2 after goalie Thatcher Demko went 11-4-2 with a 2.52 goals-against average. .918 save percentage and one shutout after returning from an injury Feb. 27. Elias Pettersson said in August during the NHL European Player Media Tour in Stockholm that he felt the Canucks would be able to build off their finish because they had confidence in the system and spent nearly half a season learning it. They improved in all defensive categories, including goals against, shots against and penalty kill, without sacrificing their offense.
Fast forward and it's clear the Canucks have built off their second-half surge. Yes, they're getting All-Star quality individual performances from Quinn Hughes, Pettersson, J.T. Miller, Brock Boeser and Demko, but it's beyond that. They play fast, especially through the neutral zone. They're comfortable operating their offense from below the goal line or near the blue line. Hughes is shooting more and, thus, scoring more. He drives them. Their depth is strong. Nils Hoglander, a fourth line forward, scored two goals in a 6-3 win against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Monday.
The Canucks built the foundation for their belief last season. They've built on it this season.
What prospect should I be keeping my eye on if I'm a Blackhawks fan to pair with Connor Bedard? This season is already brutal. -- @geihmtime
If you look at the NHL level, there's been flashes from defensemen Alex Vlasic and Kevin Korchinski, and forward Lukas Reichel this season. Vlasic, 22, a second-round pick (No. 43) in the 2019 NHL Draft, has 10 points (one goal, nine assists) in 35 games and is plus-9 averaging 20:33 per game on a team that is minus-58 in goal differential following a 2-1 loss to the Oilers on Tuesday. That's no small feat. He has size (6-foot-6) and he's rangy. Korchinski, 19, the No. 7 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, is being asked to do something difficult, develop as a defenseman at the NHL level as a teenager. If he's not burned by it, he'll be better for it. Reichel, the No. 17 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, has some flash to his game and should be a top-six forward, though he still needs the confidence to be that. It will take time.
The Blackhawks had four players on the United States team that won gold at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship: forwards Frank Nazar, Oliver Moore and Gavin Hayes, and defenseman Sam Rinzel. Nazar, the No. 13 pick in 2022, had eight assists in the tournament. Moore, the No. 19 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, scored and had two assists. Nazar is at the University of Michigan and projects as a middle-six forward, potentially as high as a No. 2 center. Moore, playing for the University of Minnesota, is a top-six forward. It's too early to tell on Rinzel, who is also at Minnesota, and Hayes, who's in the Ontario Hockey League and was traded to Soo by Flint on Sunday.
The Blackhawks, though, should have confidence that Bedard, Reichel, Nazar and Moore will play in their top six forward group in the coming years, with Vlasic and Korchinski potential cornerstone defensemen. They will have another high pick in the 2024 draft and own the Tampa Bay Lightning's first-round pick. It's top 10 protected, but if the Lightning miss the playoffs that could be another pick anywhere from 11-16, if not an unprotected first-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.
When do you expect the Rangers will make a trade, if they do? -- @Laf4MVP
The Rangers first must determine Filip Chytil's status for the remainder of the regular season before they determine if they can even be in the trade market. Chytil has been out since Nov. 2 with an upper-body injury. The forward is not with the team, having returned to the Czech Republic. The Rangers have referred to it as a reset in his recovery. If it's determined that Chytil will not be able to return during the season the Rangers will have enough cap space to use in a trade to acquire a significant player because of long-term injured reserve relief. Chytil's cap charge is $4.437 million, and they would look for a forward in this case.
If they feel Chytil will be able to return this season then the cap space available will be considerably less to almost nothing, making it hard for the Rangers to do anything more than acquire a depth player on a lower salary unless they move money out, which doesn't seem likely at this point. Everything really comes down to Chytil's LTIR status when determining what the Rangers might be able to do in the trade market.
