So there is a nice long thread going on over at the HF Boards concerning this team, and if it has improved or not. My personal opinion was that we will likely be a team that has about the same record as we did last year, but will be far more entertaining to watch. The thread is an excellent read, as there are opinions that pretty much run the gamut of possible stances on the question.
I did wonder though, how would last years team compare to this year team if we go by numbers put up last year.
Essentially our line for most of last year looked like this:
Avery (15) - Gomez (16) - Shanahan (23)
Dawes (14) - Drury (25) - Callahan (8)
Hollweg (2) - Betts (2) - Orr (1)
Prucha (7)
Staal (2) - Rozsival (13)
Tyutin (5) - Girardi (10)
Mara (1) - Strudwick (1)
Malik (2)
Granted Sjostrom, Backman, etc did play a bit in there, but for the most part, that was the lineup you saw for most nights, or some combination of those players. Those players account for 200 of our 205 goals last season. Now, let’s compare a likely lineup for next season, using last seasons totals, shall we?
Naslund (25) - Drury (25) - Prucha (7)
Fritsche (10) - Dubinsky (14) - Callahan (8)
Sjostrom (12) - Betts (2) - Voros (7)
Rissmiller (8)
Orr (1)
Staal (2) - Redden (6)
Girardi (10) - Rozsival (13)
Kalinin (1) - Mara (1)
Pock (0)
Now this is assuming Pock scores zero goals, Prucha has another terrible season, and we carry an extra forward. Still, with those numbers this group puts up 208 goals, and you can assume pretty safely assume another 5 goals scored from fill ins, Pock, etc. So an expectation of 213 goals isn’t that far off the mark. And I for one expect the defense to actually improve as well. Interestingly enough, a rise to 213 goals (from 205) would bring us from 25th in the league in goals for up to 20th, definitely an improvement.
Clearly this is all just offseason musing, no real weight can be put on any of this, but it would seem, from the numbers at least, that this team has either improved, or at least stayed about the same.
