Markstrom went from Vezina nominee to near the bottom of the league in 1 year. He’s not that old. His wife was pregnant for most of the season and was reported to have previously had a difficult pregnancy. I think this season was a case of him having a lot to think about, and with the team’s overwhelming possession stats, too much time to think about, and being unable to refocus quickly enough when the other team turned the puck over and quickly raced up the ice on an odd man break. For Markstrom to even return to league average next season would be similar to Huberdeau returning to the form of his record-setting season, because as much as Huberdeau’s scoring dropped last season, he was still an above average forward, whereas Markstrom was among the league’s worst.
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It's a tight race between Markstrom and Huberdeau for me. Both of them dropped off from being elite at their position to among the worst in the league at their roles.
I'm optimistic that both will return to their usual form, even if not their career best. Markstrom because he will have Wolf pushing him for starts and will not be in the same position in his personal life.
Huberdeau because I think he's an exceptional talent who struggled with the trade and then had a coach who was unable and unwilling to adjust for this player's benefit. This is the guy that the powerplay needs to run through and this is the guy who should be getting big minutes and leading the team when a comeback is needed in games. I'm looking forward to Huberdeau proving that he's one of the better offensive players this franchise has ever had. Now it's up to him, but I'll be cheering.
- ignoring the final 2 months of last season where Markstrom played at a much higher level than the start, because obviously he can't play at that level even though he literally finished last season doing so...
I honestly don't think Markstrom ever found his game last year. He had a couple good games right after his kid was born, but I thought he faded again down the stretch. The early part of the season after the winning streak was absolutely horrendous, but even in his "improved" final two months, he was still below average.
I don't think Hubredeau will ever come close to his 115 point season but I do expect he will be closer to the 70-80 point range and don't see anyone else having that high of an improvement.
I actually don't think we will see much difference from Mangiapane, Markstrom or Kadri next season. Last year I think they performed at the level I would expect from each of them.
Kylington a wild card because it would depend on what you consider a redemption arc. If he comes back and is an ok-ish player like he was before is that a redemption story because he didn't play at all? Technically it would be the biggest improvement going from nothing to meh but to me that doesn't really mean much.
Mangiapane’s shooting percentage literally dropped 10% from the season prior. He will bounce back due to regression alone
I honestly don't think Markstrom ever found his game last year. He had a couple good games right after his kid was born, but I thought he faded again down the stretch. The early part of the season after the winning streak was absolutely horrendous, but even in his "improved" final two months, he was still below average.
Markstrom is such a strange goalie.
It seems like if a play was developing that appeared like it was going to be an obvious scoring chance, he would choke at least half the time. He would over commit to one possibility. Almost like if he has too much time to think about it, he would tend to blow it. But in the moment when things happen quickly, he seemed to respond really well.
He also seemed overly aggressive at times and would lose the net, or try to play the puck and get burned.
I still think it could go either way. I think he still has the physical capability to be a good goalie, but mentally he seems shot. Hopefully the management and coaching changes gives him a re-set. I think he can rebound, but there is no guarantee either.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
Think the forwards will bounce back with a new system. Not having to be so defensively sound will help everyone. Sure there will be some breakdowns but what's the point in having depth if you can't outscore the other team with it.
I think Mangiapane is gonna have the biggest bounceback, which uhhhh doesn't look great for Huberdeau, Kadri or Markstrom.
I mentioned it earlier, but this past season, Mangiapane had 17 goals with a 9% shooting percentage. The season before, he had 35 goals with an 18%, and the season before 18 goals (56 games) with a 19% shooting percentage. He wasn't the only one last season who saw a drastic drop in their career normal shooting percentage, but it was probably the most drastic. If he can even get that up part way to his career norm, say 14%, he is probably good for 25 goals again.
For Huberdeau, the Flames have to try to copy what Florida did. Give him sheltered 5-on-5 minutes with good fore checkers that can keep him in the offensive zone as much as possible, and load him up with powerplay time. The problem is that the Flames are going need a top line forward for the 1st line so that other teams want to match their best defensive players against that line and not against Huberdeau's line. Florida had this figured out and it worked well for them.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
I mentioned it earlier, but this past season, Mangiapane had 17 goals with a 9% shooting percentage. The season before, he had 35 goals with an 18%, and the season before 18 goals (56 games) with a 19% shooting percentage. He wasn't the only one last season who saw a drastic drop in their career normal shooting percentage, but it was probably the most drastic. If he can even get that up part way to his career norm, say 14%, he is probably good for 25 goals again.
For Huberdeau, the Flames have to try to copy what Florida did. Give him sheltered 5-on-5 minutes with good fore checkers that can keep him in the offensive zone as much as possible, and load him up with powerplay time. The problem is that the Flames are going need a top line forward for the 1st line so that other teams want to match their best defensive players against that line and not against Huberdeau's line. Florida had this figured out and it worked well for them.
People always say this but Barkov was constantly hurt...Huberdeau did just fine matched up against top players too
play him like any normal coach would...in his proper position with other good players and with lots of ice time
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GFG
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