Coach Pascal Vincent has made it a priority to develop these young players the right way, which has meant tough practices, lots of meetings and a few surprise healthy scratches. Yegor Chinakhov missed all of training camp with a back injury and was playing for AHL Cleveland before his recall on Friday. Cole Sillinger hasn’t scored a goal yet and Kirill Marchenko finally got on the board on Thursday after two healthy scratches. Alexandre Texier doesn’t have a point in 10 games. Kent Johnson has really struggled, sitting as a healthy scratch in two games, getting benched in the third period of Thursday’s win over Tampa Bay and getting sent to AHL Cleveland on Friday. Struggling young players: The Blue Jackets won’t truly elevate until their promising corps of young players start to make an impact. Peter BaughĪssessing the Avalanche through 9 games, from goaltending to depth forward ups and downs Columbus Blue Jackets Still, it will be worth monitoring the forward group’s progress in the coming weeks. Concern shouldn’t be too high, especially since the team has a 7-2-0 record. It makes sense that these players aren’t instantly comfortable on a new team. Ross Colton and Miles Wood have shown flashes, but neither has made a huge impact on the scoresheet. Tomas Tatar and Jonathan Drouin have combined for zero goals and five assists in 16 games, and both were healthy scratches Wednesday against St. The depth forward acquisitions: Colorado revamped its forward group over the offseason, and some of the new additions are taking time to get settled. The Blackhawks are trying to figure out ways to get him going. But nine games into this season, he has zero points. Reichel had started producing late last season after coming up from the AHL and appeared ready for a breakout 2023-24 season. ![]() ![]() Lukas Reichel’s lack of production: After Connor Bedard, Reichel was the forward prospect the Blackhawks were most optimistic about heading into this season. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images) Chicago Blackhawks And if the losing continues, they will be forced to sell off assets. They lack the speed to keep up with other teams and aren’t creative enough to dazzle in the offensive zone. The Flames as a whole are in the bottom-five in the league in goals. Elias Lindholm leads the team in scoring with eight points but only has two goals. They have a combined cap hit of $17,500,000 and are fixed to the foundation with no-move clauses. ![]() The lack of dynamism and speed on offense: Nazem Kadri and Jonathan Huberdeau have three goals and nine points combined across 10 games this season. If it can recapture what it was doing early last season, the Sabres could take a big jump in offensive production. Since the second half of last season, the power play has been inconsistent. But the Sabres’ power play was through Thursday the third worst in hockey in terms of conversion percentage and fourth worst in expected goals per 60 minutes. They have even improved their penalty kill to the point where it ranked near the top of the league entering Friday’s game. The power play: The Sabres have started to improve defensively, their five-on-five offense is starting to come alive and they’re getting decent goaltending. They are better suited on the third line. James van Riemsdyk and Morgan Geekie have taken top-six shifts. But with Matt Poitras and Johnny Beecher unexpectedly making the team and making an impact on their respective lines, the Bruins’ bigger holes are at wing - specifically, on Lines 1 and 2. Top-six scoring at wing: The Bruins once believed center was their deficiency following the retirements of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. In short, there’s still room for improvement. Following Thursday’s win over Montreal, in which they gave up the third-period tying goal on the PP but managed to pull out a victory anyway, they were 27th out of 32 teams, succeeding only at a 72.2 percent clip. The penalty killing still needs work: The Coyotes have had a decent start in virtually every category, except penalty killing, which was an issue last season - fifth-worst percentage in the league at 74.3 - and hasn’t been any better this season. ![]() Stephens: With new contract, Trevor Zegras needs to start down a 'runway to stardom' Arizona Coyotes
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