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NHL Mailbag: New York Islanders, solving the Central, what ifs, and more

By Dave Stevenson

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA - MAY 03: Tom Kuhnhackl #14 of the New York Islanders pushed the puck up the ice against the Carolina Hurricanes in the second period of Game Four of the Eastern Conference Second Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at PNC Arena on May 03, 2019 in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA - MAY 03: Tom Kuhnhackl #14 of the New York Islanders pushed the puck up the ice against the Carolina Hurricanes in the second period of Game Four of the Eastern Conference Second Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at PNC Arena on May 03, 2019 in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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This week’s NHL mailbag features questions about what ifs, the New York Islanders, offseason winners and losers, solving the Central Division, and more.

It’s summer time, which means there isn’t much NHL news out there. Still, there’s always hockey stuff to talk about. This week’s mailbag should help you get through the summer doldrums. Topics include some “what ifs”, offseason winners and losers, the New York Islanders, the Central Division, and more.

If you’d like to have your question answered in a future mailbag post, ask us on Twitter at @Puck_Prose. Use the hashtag #PPMailbag to make sure we see it. You can also send an email to davestevenson2009@gmail.com, using “Puck Prose Mailbag” as the subject. Without further ado, we’ve got a lot to talk about so let’s get to it.

More from Puck Prose

Early Playoff Predictions

Which playoff teams from this year do you think will miss the playoffs next year? 

History tells us there will be at least one team who everyone thinks will make the postseason, but won’t. There are several teams who stand out to me.

The Winnipeg Jets are the one who jumps out at me the most. Sure, they are overflowing with talent. However, the Jets fell apart last season. They were a paper tiger and the St. Louis Blues tore them to shreds.

What did the Jets do this summer to better themselves? Did they fire head coach Paul Maurice? Nope. Did they make any big trades? While the Jets traded Jacob Trouba, they are objectively worse off without him.

Winnipeg is basically bringing back the same team from last season, minus one of their best defensemen. They still have talent, but they have a small margin of error in what should be a very competitive Central Division.

In the Eastern Conference, the Columbus Blue Jackets are the easy choice. They lost two excellent players and their top two trade deadline acquisitions. Gustav Nyquist is a sneaky good replacement for Panarin. He’s not elite like Panarin, but he has a similar skill set.

Most importantly, the Blue Jackets have questionable at best goaltending. I’m not sold on Jonas Korpisalo or any of their other options. They’re going to need guys to step up in larger roles. This has all the ingredients necessary to miss the playoffs.

Keep an eye on the New York Islanders as well. They finished 21st in goals scored last season and they’ve done nothing to improve their forward group. They’ll be relying on Semyon Varlamov and Thomas Greiss a lot next season. It’s not hard to see how things could go south for them.

If you want a really hot take, here’s one – the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Penguins got swept in the first round and haven’t really improved at all this summer. Sound familiar? It should – this is how the Chicago Blackhawks dynasty fell apart.

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