Columbus Blue Jackets

 

Division Projected Order of Finish - 7th

 

Current Lineup Score... 70.2

Division Rank 8th

 

Financial Power Flexibility Score... 14.3

Division Rank 2nd

 

Quality Draft Capital... 8.0

Division Rank 4th (tied)

 

Jesse doesn't have much going for him this season.  In fact, if he moves McMichael, like he appears to be trying to do, I'd probably have him slotted beneath Uncle Richard.  He's totally gutted his team, by design, I imagine, over the past couple years, and seems to be in full rebuild mode.   It's gone fairly well, as he's got many solid young pieces for the future, both up front and on defense.  If he decided he wanted to improve for this season, he'd want to start on his current D-core, though, as that is presently very atrocious.  He's got decent cap, cash, and draft picks, meaning he's stocked up for whenever it's all needed.  I'd say he's only a year or so away, but if he's dangling players like McMichael, he might be targeting the old 15-year Cordell rebuild.  One random tidbit is that he has several veteran goaltenders under contract for multiple seasons, so anyone looking to take a flier on Forsberg, Andersen, or Reimer just needs to slide into Jesse's DMs.

 

Biggest Strength:  Young defensemen

 

 

Carolina Hurricanes

 

Division Projected Order of Finish - 8th

 

Current Lineup Score... 70.6

Division Rank 7th

 

Financial Power Flexibility Score... 15.6

Division Rank 1st

 

Quality Draft Capital... 9.0

Division Rank 2nd (tied)

 

Looking towards the future... which is all we can really do with our two teams today... Uncle Rich, without a doubt, needs to work on shoring up that group of forwards he has.  The back end is in great shape.  Provorov, Parekh, Sergachev, Nikishin etc... What a group!  It was a fantastic selection, but I was shocked when he took Parekh over Catton and Lindstrom in our recent draft.  But never bad to go BPA regardless of position.  Rich has tons of cap space, which makes sense, so expect him to be a bit of a player this summer trying to land some players he can flip later.  He owns all of his high draft picks, plus an extra 2nd next year, so look for him to continue to restock the cupboards.  Unlike a few teams that I believe are a year away, I see Rich closer to 3 years before he's competing again.

 

Biggest Strength:  A great D-core both for the present day and the future