Sunday Overreactions: Wild are Cup contenders after Hughes commerce

Another Friday blockbuster.

The Jonathan Huberdeau-for-Matthew Tkachuk swap in addition to the Mikko Rantanen and JT Miller trades have all jolted us from informal Friday night time plans lately, so we most likely ought to’ve seen the large Quinn Hughes deal coming. But only a few noticed Minnesota within the Hughes sweepstakes or would’ve predicted the large haul the Wild gave as much as purchase the previous Norris winner. Minnesota will get a premier puck mover on the again finish and now don’t have any obtrusive weaknesses as they prepared themselves for what might be a gauntlet within the Central division.

The Wild at the moment are legit championship contenders

Hughes might very effectively have been the lacking piece for Minnesota, which hasn’t made it previous the primary spherical in a decade. A primary pair of Brock Faber and Hughes could possibly play half the sport. Add in expertise up entrance like Matt Boldy, Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek, and also you’ve all of the sudden bought a really balanced crew.

Marco Rossi goes the opposite approach and is a tricky loss for the Wild, however consider, Minnesota solely used him sparingly within the post-season final 12 months anyway. Rossi barely performed 11 minutes per sport final spring, because the Wild maybe didn’t belief him to tackle heavy minutes and assignments when the video games mattered most. Zeev Buium must be an important participant sometime, however Hughes is a large improve for the rapid future. The actuality is the Wild pushed all their chips to the center of the desk and gave up what must be some nice future expertise for an opportunity to win all of it within the subsequent couple seasons.

They additionally could have cap area so as to add items subsequent summer time and are the one crew that may have the ability to provide Hughes an eight-year deal earlier than the CBA modifications in September. Minnesota could have a 12 months and a half to persuade Hughes to remain long run and prolong a championship window that now seems to be extensive open.

Make no mistake about, the Wild are in a very robust division trying up at arguably the 2 greatest groups within the league in Colorado and Dallas. That stated, Minnesota ought to really feel fairly good about itself in a seven-game collection towards any of the league’s elite groups. The Wild have already got the Tenth-best energy play within the NHL with out Hughes and including him provides them a practical probability to make {that a} prime 5 unit. Minnesota also can belief Faber and Hughes to play in any scenario and cut up them up if wanted to offer them extra stability. That ought to put them in a superb place when doubtlessly matching up with different division rival duos on the again finish like Cale Makar and Devon Toews in addition to Miro Heiskanen and Thomas Harley.

Hughes can also be becoming a member of one of many few groups with elite goaltending. The Wild are tied for second within the NHL in crew save proportion and lead the league in shutouts, with two goalies taking part in at a really excessive stage. Jesper Wallstedt and Filip Gustavsson have mixed for almost 17 objectives saved above anticipated this season and Wallstedt particularly has been a revelation, main the league with 4 shutouts.

It’s by no means simple to win a championship, however the Wild can maintain the puck out of their web and fill the scoresheet with regularity with the likes of Boldy, Kaprizov and now Hughes. They are higher positioned maybe than ever earlier than in franchise historical past to take a run on the Cup.

Tristan Jarry might push the Oilers excessive within the post-season

After years of mediocre goaltending and being linked in rumours to seemingly each netminder available on the market, the Edmonton Oilers acquired Tristan Jarry on Friday. When he’s at his greatest, Jarry is a transparent improve over Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard, however the problem with the previous Pittsburgh Penguin has all the time been consistency and staying wholesome.

Jarry is coming off a dreadful 2024-25 season, one which included a demotion to the AHL and an .893 save proportion. It’s been a distinct scenario this 12 months, although, as Jarry has bounced again to the tune of a .909 save proportion and 9.8 objectives saved above anticipated. If the Oilers are getting this model of Jarry, it’s affordable to imagine he will help them recover from the hump within the post-season.

Last 12 months’s tough marketing campaign was most likely somewhat overblown for Jarry. He wasn’t nice, however half of his 36 appearances had been truly high quality begins the place he had a save proportion above .900. Jarry additionally completed the season robust, posting 9 high quality begins in his remaining 14 outings. What actually skewed Jarry’s numbers was a small pattern dimension of actually unhealthy video games. The 30-year-old had 10 begins the place he gave up 4 or extra objectives and was pulled early a handful of occasions. Pittsburgh additionally wasn’t giving Jarry a lot assist. The Pens ranked twenty fifth in high-danger possibilities allowed in 2024-25, regularly placing Jarry in lower than ultimate spots.

If we take a step again and have a look at Jarry’s a lot bigger profession pattern dimension, he’s truly been a really stable goaltender. In greater than 300 video games, Jarry has a .909 save proportion and a goals-against common effectively below three. If he can present the Oilers something even within the ballpark of these numbers within the post-season, it’s going to be an enormous win for Edmonton.

Sure, individuals will level to the truth that Jarry has by no means gained a playoff collection, however how a lot of Edmonton’s success within the post-season was due to Stuart Skinner versus regardless of him? Four of the Oilers’ 14 wins final spring got here when the opposition scored 4 objectives, as Connor McDavid and firm needed to outscore their deficiencies in web. Skinner and Calvin Pickard ended up combining for an .888 save proportion within the 2025 post-season, which might have been the worst mark by any Cup-winning crew within the cap period. The lowest save proportion of any Cup-winning crew prior to now 30 years was .902, and the Oilers had been miles away from that.

All that is to say Edmonton doesn’t want prime Patrick Roy or Terry Sawchuk in purpose. If Jarry may even give them league-average goaltending or barely under, it will be an enormous step up from what the Oilers have been getting within the post-season. Adding Jarry, who’s signed for 2 seasons after this, is an affordable gamble to make with a purpose to try to maximize each season the place Edmonton has McDavid below contract.

Leafs ought to commerce a goalie to spice up one other space of their roster

It is smart, proper? Trade a participant from a place the place you may have a surplus of expertise to fill one other space of want. With the emergence of Dennis Hildeby, the Toronto Maple Leafs all of the sudden have a humiliation of riches in web. Anthony Stolarz had an unbelievable season final 12 months, main the league in save proportion and rating fourth in objectives saved above anticipated. Joseph Woll might have saved the Leafs’ season when he returned to the crew earlier this 12 months and was unbelievable for a couple of weeks. Now Hildeby has been a revelation with each Stolarz and Woll sidelined, sporting a .923 save proportion in 11 appearances.

With Chris Tanev’s unpredictable return timeline and Brandon Carlo doubtlessly being sidelined for a considerable period of time, Toronto might transfer a netminder so as to add to the blue line or fill a gap within the prime six.

On the floor this looks like a good suggestion, however the issue is can the Leafs actually depend on any of the three goalies? Stolarz and Woll can’t appear to remain wholesome for any affordable stretch and it looks like you’ll be able to’t lean on both of them for greater than a handful of video games in a row. Their energy is in a tandem by alternating video games and preserving them recent and wholesome.

Hildeby might find yourself being sturdy, although we haven’t seen sufficient of him but to make that assumption. He’s additionally on a really low-cost $841,000 contract for the following three seasons — if Hildeby can maintain even something within the ballpark of what he’s delivering now, he’s going to supply the Leafs main worth. Hildeby may very well be an enormous a part of the Leafs’ future.

The Maple Leafs at present have two goalies out of the lineup, which is why Hildeby bought a possibility within the first place, and in the event that they moved somebody, the Leafs might discover themselves in a disastrous spot. So a lot of Toronto’s success relies on high-level goaltending and when you may have a pair of damage susceptible goalies, you actually don’t have the posh of shifting one. The Leafs should hope a minimum of one man is wholesome at any given time and by eradicating one from the equation, they might be in a dangerous scenario.

Was Lafreniere’s 2023-24 season only a mirage?

The former first-overall choose had 28 objectives and 57 factors in a breakout marketing campaign, following that up with a powerful post-season run of eight objectives and 14 factors in 16 playoff video games. Lafreniere took an enormous step again final 12 months although, dropping all the best way all the way down to 17 objectives. Now, he’s pacing for proper round one other 17-goal, 42-point marketing campaign. Those aren’t horrible numbers by any means, however nothing near what you’d anticipate from a No. 1 choose. Perhaps it’s time for the Rangers to discover the commerce market and see if they will purchase a extra confirmed piece for Lafreniere.

Lafreniere remains to be solely 24, although the probability of him popping off for elite manufacturing after six seasons within the league are slim. He’s spent nearly all of his time this season and final with some mixture of Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck or Mika Zibanejad and his numbers have nonetheless been very common. That ought to trigger the Rangers concern that Lafreniere doesn’t have a really excessive ceiling.

New York additionally has a Panarin contract extension to fret about and shifting on from Lafreniere for a less expensive choice and maybe some draft capital would liberate treasured cap area. It’s not like Lafreniere has a large common annual worth with the cap going up, however paying somebody almost $7.5 million per season who struggles to hit 50 factors isn’t ultimate. The Rangers might discover a crew with extra cap area that thinks it may unlock one thing in Lafreniere who’s keen to take his contract. That would liberate New York to re-sign Panarin or doubtlessly re-shape the roster in different methods.

There is a sample rising for the New Jersey Devils with out Jack Hughes and it isn’t good. New Jersey actually struggles with out its greatest participant within the lineup (surprising, I do know), however the extent to which the Devils are sliding may very well be problematic for his or her playoff possibilities. After an important begin that made them appear to be the category of the East, the Devils at the moment are 6-9-0 since Hughes went down, together with a five-game shedding streak the place New Jersey was outscored 20-7. This development goes additional again to final season, the place Hughes suffered a season-ending damage in early March. New Jersey closed the marketing campaign 9/11-1 and barely held onto a playoff spot. Could the identical factor occur once more?

The distinction this time round is Hughes isn’t misplaced for the season and must be again a while within the new 12 months, giving the Devils extra runway to get again on monitor. Plus, the East is actually bunched up proper now and nobody is working away with it, so New Jersey ought to have time to make up floor if it does slide additional with out Hughes out there. Plus, the Devils don’t have an extremely tough December schedule. There are a couple of robust video games in there however additionally they play Vancouver, Buffalo, Columbus and a few others that must be beatable minus Hughes. If they will simply keep within the combine till after the vacations, they need to be OK.