Story by
New Year's resolutions for each Canadian NHL team
- Story by
- New Year's resolutions for each Canadian NHL team
Since most NHL franchises likely didn't bother setting New Year's goals and resolutions, I took the liberty of creating a few on their behalf.
After all, someone has to deliver the hard-hitting hypothetical content, and that someone is me on this fine December 31 afternoon. So, here's a resolution for each Canadian NHL team as the calendar flips to 2019.
Advertisement
"Stop letting Peter Chiarelli do stuff."
It's been a strange three-and-a-half-years in Edmonton since Peter Chiarelli took over as general manager in 2015, to say the least. The team was lucky enough to land its fourth No. 1 overall pick in just six years that summer, bringing Connor McDavid to town in what has obviously been one of the best things to happen to, well, any franchise ever, really.
Unfortunately for basically everyone in Edmonton, the team has not been able to build around its superstar and, not only that, the roster has actually gotten substantially worse since Chiarelli took over. Somehow, the squad has missed the playoffs in two of McDavid's first three seasons and are currently in jeopardy of making it three of the last four.
Advertisement
Calgary Flames president Ken King says there's is no imminent deal for a new home for the team. (CBC)
"Lock up a new arena deal."
The Flames are having one of their best statistical seasons in recent memory and will be trudging through a dog fight down the stretch in hopes of locking up the top seed in the Pacific Division, but Calgary's home arena is falling apart and so too, it seems, is any potential deal to lock up a new downtown arena.
This team needs a new barn and they need it soon, but an ongoing dispute between ownership and the city of Calgary has so far prevented one from being signed, sealed and delivered. If there's one thing the Alberta-based club needs in 2019 it's to put pen to paper and get this puppy done.
Advertisement
"Just make sure 2019 isn't 2018."
The bar has been set pretty low for the Senators and that's good news for the club heading into 2019. You may be wondering if that very public sh*tshow we all just witnessed for the past 12-plus months could be a positive for the franchise as the calendar turns, and the answer is simple: any year is going to be better than 2018. As long as the team doesn't fold or move to another city — which, like, shouldn't happen, probably — the upcoming year should be a win.
If they can just avoid the brutal headlines that consistently plagued this team and their egotistical owner, and let their promising young stars flourish without the off-ice distractions, and maybe settle this ridiculous dispute over a new downtown arena without counter lawsuits, then 2019 should be considered a good one in Ottawa.
Advertisement
Toronto Maple Leafs
"Lock up the core long term."
From the outside looking in, the Leafs seem to be pretty sound organizationally from top to bottom, but that doesn't mean it's all clear sailing for Toronto in 2019.
As we just witnessed with William Nylander, whose wildly publicized contract holdout was eventually settled just five minutes before the December 1 deadline, the Leafs are willing to play hardball in order to lock up all of their young, talented stars long term.
There's no reason Toronto can't be a major player in the Eastern Conference for the next half-decade or more, but the club absolutely needs to lock up Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner to long-term deals that won't completely bootstrap it's salary cap situation. So far so good, I suppose, but how negotiations play out with these two will have a drastic effect on the franchise moving forward (and yes, I am definitely the first person to make this observation).
Advertisement
"Don't change literally anything."
This team was pegged by many, even most, (but not me, obviously) to finish near the bottom of both the Eastern Conference and NHL standings before the campaign started. With a roster full of holes and a few big question marks — including the acquisition of Max Domi and the health and ability of Carey Price — there appeared to be very little hope in Montreal.
Yet miraculously, this squad sits just one point out of being a Top-10 team OVERALL in the NHL, looking poised to lock up one of the East's wild card spots if it doesn't take one of the top three positions in the Atlantic — which it very well could. Whatever the Canadiens are doing, they need to keep it up in 2019.
Advertisement
"Give Boeser and Pettersson the moon."
The Canucks have a pair of absolute superstars right now in Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson, who is likely to be named the NHL's rookie of the year at the end of the season. Whatever the Canucks have to do to keep these guys happy and firing on all cylinders, they absolutely have to do it.
Give them literally whatever they want. I mean anything. Petterson wants a pet tiger for his birthday? Find one, immediately. Brock wants to ride into each game on a stallion while rocking a silk robe? You know that has to go down. Keep these two happy and the Canucks have plenty of goals, and wins, in the cards in 2019.
Advertisement
Winnipeg Jets
"Avoid the Predators."
Whatever they have to do to — and I know there aren't a whole lot of "legal" options available out there to make it happen — the Jets need to avoid facing off against Nashville in the second round of the playoffs. The two best teams in the Central Division also happen to be the two best squads in the Western Conference, but the NHL's ridiculously bad playoff structure means these two behemoths have to clash in the second round — a fate that proved costly for the Jets last season.
Coming off of an absolute war of a seven-gamer last spring, the Predators took everything the Jets had and left nothing in the tank for Winnipeg as they faced the Vegas Golden Knights, who had a much easier path the the Western Conference Final. I Honestly have no idea, barring a miraculous first-round stumble, how Winnipeg can possibly avoid Nashville, but my job is to just make the resolutions, not actually figure out how to follow through with them.
Just like all New Year's Resolutions, you might say.
More NHL coverage on Yahoo Sports Canada:
