Who are the most underrated teams and players in the NHL? | NHL Season Preview - video Dailymotion

Peter Klein

The NHL season is right around the corner, but some players and teams aren't getting enough credit. Peter Klein looks at the most under valued teams and players in the NHL this year.   Apple Pod: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/couch-potato-diary/id1564122189 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3QgazeHcSKSteZbBIubcuM Twitter: twitter.com/primetimeklein IG: instagram.com/primetimeklein Facebook: www.facebook.com/Couchpotatodiary Twitch: twitch.tv/primetimepk Email: couchpotatodiary@yahoo.com We Had No Idea: every Wednesday morning,  instagram.com/wehadnoideapodcast

Transcript

00:00It's getting closer, isn't it?

00:09We got, like I said yesterday, we got the young stars classics happening in their various

00:13forms across North America, trading camp discussions are happening, it's all very exciting.

00:19And so the previews continue today, looking at some teams that maybe aren't being taken

00:23seriously enough across the National Hockey League.

00:26Let's start with the undervalued teams.

00:30No particular order to this.

00:32But at number one, it's Carolina.

00:34I did not expect Carolina to be on this list.

00:36Quite frankly, I thought they would be on the other one.

00:38But they finished with 108 points last year, I think.

00:41They might have had more than that, actually.

00:43But they finished well north of 100 anyway.

00:45And their point total from Vegas is 100.5.

00:50The East has gotten a little bit better, I do think.

00:53There are a lot of teams on the come up in the East right now.

00:56And Carolina did lose quite a bit of talent.

01:00They kind of recovered okay, right?

01:02They pick up Walker.

01:04They make a couple other additions.

01:06I don't think this team lost as much as we thought they did.

01:10And so I do think that there is a little bit of sticker shock in seeing, oh my god, those

01:13guys left?

01:14Okay, well that's a problem.

01:16And I think there's a little bit of fatigue with people based on a lack of playoff success

01:21for this team.

01:22But I still think that makes this a value at 100 points.

01:27And so I think Carolina probably gets it.

01:29I still think this is one of the best teams in the league.

01:30I worry about the goaltending.

01:32And so to make a long-term investment on a Carolina is a bit of a scare.

01:36But I have faith that they're, and I also think they have the best coach in the league.

01:41At two, it's Dallas.

01:42They lose Pavelski, but it's another year of development for the kids.

01:46It's another year of development with Jake Ottinger.

01:49They did have a lot go right last year.

01:52And I guess the counterpoint to it's another year of development for the kids, it's another

01:56year on the tires for Ben and Sagan and those gigantic contracts that they have.

02:01They do lose Tanev, which was a really, really smart move, picking him up last year.

02:06He's on his way now to Toronto.

02:08But I still think this is a really good hockey team that has a ton of offensive firepower.

02:12They have, I think, one of the best defensemen and one of the more underrated players in

02:15the league in Miro Hyskinen on their blue line.

02:18I still think this is one of the most talented teams in the NHL, and again, 103.5 points

02:25is a lot.

02:26They're going to have another very good year, but that is a step back from where they were

02:30a season ago.

02:31And I think they can improve upon things out in Dallas.

02:34At three, and honestly, this one, if we were ranking them in terms of who I thought was

02:38the most undervalued, it might be this team.

02:42It's Montreal.

02:43At 76.5, I think they're just quite a bit better.

02:48They go out, they acquire Patrick Lainé.

02:50And I understand there are some concerns about Lainé, and he hasn't been Patrick Lainé

02:54in capital letters in a real long time.

02:56But if I'm right about Montreal getting breakout performances from Slavkoski and Caulfield,

03:00Nick Suzuki is going to be solid.

03:03Gallagher's going to be him for as long as he is healthy.

03:05I don't think that you're going to have, like, I think Dock is going to be able to step up

03:09as well.

03:10I don't think Lainé is going to be called upon to do as much for this team, um, offensively.

03:16Well, I guess that's the only way he's going to be called.

03:19No one's asking him to do a whole lot defensively.

03:21But I do think that he's not going to have to go out there and carry a lot of the load

03:27for this group offensively.

03:28I think he is going to be a very well paid, but I think best case scenario for Montreal

03:33is he is kind of a complimentary type of a guy, and a bit more of a finisher, while you

03:36have some of the young kids kind of flying around.

03:38But I have great faith that you have some pretty good development in some of these kids,

03:44and they take a step forward.

03:45I think that there are going to be some steps taken on this blue line this year.

03:49You do have some concerns about what's happening in goal.

03:52I think they do kind of have to figure out what they have in a couple of these guys.

03:55And also, there have been some things tactically with Marty St. Louis while this team has been

04:01building up that make me concerned about really buying into Montreal this year.

04:09All that is fine when you're doing the rebuilding thing, but now when you're trying to take

04:12that step out of the rebuild category and into the competing for a playoff spot category,

04:18that is when you kind of need those coaching decisions to be ironed out a little bit.

04:22And so Marty St. Louis, I think, has to have his best season as a coach, and a lot of guys

04:26need to have their best year.

04:27But I think that this is a team that can finish over .500, and so I like taking them as an

04:33undervalued team at 76.5.

04:36Seattle is next at 87.5, and what is one of the lessons that we learned from the accountability

04:41episode that we did?

04:44The worry about the long-term contracts can absolutely be a long-term worry.

04:48But, for one season, that kind of goes out the window.

04:53Do not overvalue your concern about the value of a contract when you are looking at that

04:57player for a year.

04:59And so yes, signing Stevenson and Montour to those contracts, specifically Stevenson,

05:04signing those guys to those contracts feels rather inhibitive long-term.

05:09That being said, also makes this a better hockey team this year.

05:14Stevenson I think is the exact type of a player that this group kind of needed, and they still

05:18have a very good blue line, I think, and adding Montour to that really does help.

05:24There's going to need to be a little bit more scoring on this team, but I think Beneer's

05:27taking a step forward and maybe getting a little bit more out of a Shane Wright.

05:32I think that there is potential for this Seattle team to be a playoff team this year.

05:37And at number five, it's Winnipeg.

05:39The last impression we got wasn't good, but this is still, I think, a good roster.

05:44Connor Hellebuck is still one of the best goalies in the world.

05:47Defensively, Morrissey, one of the best defensemen in the world.

05:51You still have Shifley.

05:52You still have Connor.

05:53You still have, for now, Ehlers.

05:55You still have a lot of offensive talent.

05:57I think they have some very good depth when they made that trade with the LA Kings for

06:04PLD in being able to get guys like Aliafalo to add to guys like Namesnikov and Lowry and

06:11Appleton and all of that.

06:12I think this is a very well-built team that is going to give other teams some problems,

06:16once again, in the Central Division.

06:18And so 95.5 points?

06:20Love it.

06:21I will take that.

06:22I do feel a little bit worried that a few of my undervalued teams, actually all of my

06:24undervalued teams with the exception of one, still have pretty high point totals.

06:29So that could come back to bite me a little bit.

06:31But overall, those are the teams that I think are wildly underrated or undervalued going

06:35into this year.

06:36In terms of players, again, going off the NHL.com fantasy rankings, just quickly, at

06:41five, it's Steven Stamkos, 53rd overall.

06:44He had 40 goals in two of the last three years.

06:47To get a 40 goal guy in, what would that be, like, fourth, fifth round, seems kind of awesome.

06:53And so I think people, there is, I think, a real undervaluing of Steven Stamkos going

06:58on right now.

06:59We talked about it yesterday in people overvaluing the Tampa Bay Lightning.

07:05Going from Stamkos to Gensoul is a step down.

07:07And for Stamkos, yes.

07:09Going from having Kucherov and Point around to, um, Marcheseau, is a bit of a step down.

07:15That being said, Stamkos is still good.

07:18People I think are treating him like he's this old vet who's just going in to just

07:21be the leadership hire for the National Predators.

07:25That is not the case.

07:26This is a guy who can fill up stat sheets.

07:27And so I think he's being undervalued right now.

07:30His teammate, Gus Nyquist, comes in at 4th, at 126th overall.

07:3423 goals last year with Forsberg, and A, Philip Forsberg is an amazing distributor of the

07:39puck.

07:40B, I think now, with Stamkos, with Marcheseau, as a second line, and then whoever you want

07:46to put with them, that is going to get a little bit more of the attention that Forsberg and

07:51Nyquist got last year.

07:53And so you're probably going to get the top defensive matchups on those guys.

07:56And so there is one in the column for Stamkos.

08:00But also, I do think that it's not going to be the sole defensive focus, because that

08:04was it last year for Nashville.

08:06It was Forsberg, it was Nyquist, and that was it offensively.

08:09And then whatever you're getting from the blue line.

08:11But now, with a bit more of a rounded out lineup, you can't just focus on one team

08:17this year.

08:18And so I think Nyquist might be able to benefit from that.

08:20Also, Nyquist is 100% on my I-can't-quit-you guys.

08:22I will always be a Gus Nyquist fan.

08:24At 3, it's Mika Zbinojad, 65th overall.

08:28Point total the last 3 years, 72-91-81.

08:31He fills up a stat sheet.

08:33This is still a very good New York Rangers team, and so I think people are kind of overlooking

08:37him a little bit.

08:38At 2, Adrian Kempe, 44th overall.

08:4128 goals last year, ended up a stretch of back-to-back 35 goal seasons.

08:46Also, I know fantasy isn't just goals and assists.

08:49He had 75 penalty minutes last year for an LA Kings team that likes to kind of go crash-bang-boom,

08:55and so he can do that as well.

08:57And so I think there's a little bit of value with him at 44th overall.

09:00And coming in at number 1, it's Conor Bedard, 50th overall.

09:04We saw last year, with limited teammates, and in a bit of a limited sample size, that

09:09he is the truth.

09:10And yes, he's probably not getting 100 penalty minutes for you this year, blah blah blah

09:14blah blah blah blah blah blah, but I think this is going to be a gigantic step forward

09:18for him.

09:19I think he has better linemates than he had last season, and I think that is going to

09:23rocket him into some gigantic numbers this year for the Chicago Blackhawks.

09:28So those are my undervalued players in the NHL this year.

Who are the most underrated teams and players in the NHL? | NHL Season Preview

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