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The long-rumoured trade of Chris Kreider to the Anaheim Ducks finally came to fruition yesterday. I had a fantasy breakdown of that trade here.

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In a postseason that has seen so many great comebacks, the Edmonton Oilers delivered another one in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final as they took a 5-4 overtime win in Florida to even the series and send it back to Edmonton at two wins each.

Florida started this game absolutely swarming Edmonton, as Matthew Tkachuk scored a pair of power-play goals and Anton Lundell added another tally in the final minute of the first period to send the Panthers to a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes. That chased Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner from the net as he was pulled after allowing three goals on 17 shots. That he faced 17 shots in the first period should tell you about how dominant Florida was.

There was no quit in the Oilers, though, as they got second-period goals from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (PP), Darnell Nurse, and Vasily Podkolzin to even the game 3-3.

The fun didn't stop there as Jake Walman scored on a bomb of a slap shot with under seven minutes left in the game to push the Oilers to a 4-3 lead. Things only got wilder from there as Sam Reinhart scored with the goalie pulled and 20 seconds left in the third period to tie the game 4-4. That set the stage for Leon Draisaitl in overtime, who tried to one-hand a pass to Corey Perry but Panthers defenceman Niko Mikkola dropped to block the pass and inadvertently redirected it through Sergei Bobrovsky's pads. It was a bit of a lucky goal, but at this stage of the playoffs, luck matters a lot, and it got Edmonton to an even series.

Draisaitl finished the game with a goal, two assists (one PP), four shots, two PIMs, and two hits. He now has four overtime goals in the playoffs and has four goals and seven points through the first four games of the Final.

Nurse had a stat-stuffing night with a goal, an assist, four shots, three blocks, and two PIMs.

Both Nugent-Hopkins and Podkolzin had a goal and an assist.

Reinhart finished with a goal, two assists (one PP), four shots, and two blocks as Tkachuk wound up with two PP goals, one assist, four shots, and a hit.

Bobrovsky allowed five goals on 35 shots in the loss while Calvin Pickard stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced in relief of Skinner to take the win. Pickard played extremely well for his 51 minutes and it seems had to go back to Skinner at this point.

Game 5 is Thursday night in Edmonton.

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The last three Ramblings have been covering a weakness that each team needs to address from a fantasy hockey angle, and how they can do so in the offseason either via trade, free agency, or by other means. We have already covered the Pacific Division, Central Division, and Metro Division, so today's Ramblings will finish up the series with the Atlantic Division.

As usual, player data is from Natural Stat Trick and other sources will be credited as we use them.

Boston Bruins

A team that finishes tied for last in their conference will have more than one weakness, but as far as defensive issues go, it's a wonder how much can be fixed by having a healthy Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm. There are some other changes they need to make but having those two guys healthy for 80 games changes things a lot, not only for the team but for goalie Jeremy Swayman, too.

Rather, it's the scoring that is an issue. Here is a fun little nugget I pulled at the end of the season:

Since 2007, there have been five non-McDavid/Draisaitl forwards to figure in on at least 45% of their team's goals. Three of them won the Hart Trophy that season, one who didn't was runner-up to one of those winners (Kucherov, 23-24), and the fifth is this season from Pastrňák pic.twitter.com/Am9ymYCG7j

— Michael Clifford (@SlimCliffy) April 14, 2025

This is that list of players to figure in on at least 45% of their team’s goals:

As long as David Pastrnak was on the ice, the Bruins were great on offence. When he wasn't, well, things fell apart.

The Bruins need to sign Morgan Geekie and Mason Lohrei. Contract projections from Evolving Hockey have them earning a combined cap hit between $7.5M-$8M. That would leave the Bruins with about $18M-$19M in cap space to work with, per PuckPedia.

A big problem was the power play. The team finished 29^th by goals-for rate at 5-on-4 with only Philadelphia, the New York Islanders, and Anaheim finishing worse. Their rate of 4.83 goals per 60 minutes was also nearly two full goals per 60 minutes lower than 20^th-place Minnesota (6.82), so there's a lot of improvement needed.

Assuming Boston doesn't go after a big-ticket free agent, one name I will throw out there is Teuvo Teravainen. Per tracking data from All Three Zones, the Chicago Blackhawks set up their power play on nearly 55% of Teravainen's entries, considerably higher than the league average of 44%, and in line with names like Jack Eichel and Filip Forsberg:

In Boston, none of the Bruins' top-4 power-play forwards cracked the 50% mark on power-play setups off zone entries. Teravainen can help the Bruins get their PP the control they need, and that's a big step forward to recovering their power-play prowess.

Buffalo Sabres

Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli has JJ Peterka at the top of his trade candidate list in a 'change of scenery'-type of deal. We need to be very clear here: there is a lot of evidence that Peterka is one of the top offensive players under the age of 25. For example, Evolving Hockey's Goals Above Replacement model has him at the top of that age range over the last two seasons on a 60-minute basis:

Peterka's goals and assists per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 over the last two years compare to two of the most highly regarded forwards in that age range:

And the tracking data has Peterka profile similarly to a multi-time Cup winner and four-time 40-goal scorer who was just on Team Canada at the Four Nations Faceoff:

Whatever people may think of Peterka, the notion of him being one of the top offensive players under the age of 25 is a reasonable position. Trading him would leave a huge hole on the wing that Buffalo would hopefully fill in the trade return, but it's far from a guarantee.

There needs to be a big improvement on the blue line. Rasmus Dahlin had great defensive numbers at 5-on-5 but things fell apart when he was off the ice (remember they lost 13 straight games at one point, and he was injured for eight of them). We will have to see what comes back in a trade for Peterka or Bowen Byram (or both?) but adding a solid defensive defenceman would really help here. Signing someone like Brian Dumoulin would at least help patch things over in the non-Dahlin minutes.

Detroit Red Wings

While the Red Wings have a lot of gaps to fill, there is clearly a need for genuine puck movers on the blue line. It is great to have Moritz Seider and a burgeoning Simon Edvinsson, and they will keep getting better, but Detroit was 1 of 7 teams whose defencemen were below average by rate of zone exits, percentage of zone exits with possession, and percentage of exits failed at 5-on-5:

The lone bright spot on that list is New Jersey, and notice they had a much higher percentage of zone exits with possession. In that area, Detroit's blue line was dead last in the league. There is more than one reason why they finished 30^th in 5-on-5 goal scoring, but this lack of puck-moving doesn't help. The team has a couple of nice defence prospects, but if they want to take a step forward as a franchise, they need even more than that.

In free agency this offseason, there isn't a lot, and assuming Aaron Ekblad re-signs with Florida, there is even less. Signing Dmitry Orlov could help, but they may have to make a trade. This is where I think Noah Dobson makes a lot of sense. He won't have to play number-1 minutes thanks to Seider and can really focus on the offensive side of the puck in a second-pair role. It might cost them a hefty price in a trade, but if they want to get serious about pushing for a playoff spot, such prices are necessary.

Florida Panthers

PuckPedia has the Panthers with $19M in cap space. They have each of Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad, and Brad Marchand as unrestricted free agents. At best, two of those three are returning, and maybe only one. With the team trading for Seth Jones during the season, I wonder if that's the indication that Ekblad is the one not returning. Even in that case, signing Bennett and Marchand wouldn't leave much cap room for the Panthers to work with, so it'll be cheap signings or trades to fill out the depth.

A team with as much recent success as the Panthers doesn't have a lot of weaknesses, but I wonder if they don't try to go find a backup goalie who can take upwards of 30 starts. Sergei Bobrovsky turns 37 years old in September so they may want to limit his starts even more than they did in 2024-25 (he started 54 games, down from 58 the year prior). Jake Allen makes a lot of sense, but maybe they just bring back Vitek Vanecek for cheap and tell him if he signs for three years, he has a chance at a starting gig once Bobrovsky's contract runs out at the end of next season.

Montreal Canadiens

It was great that Montreal got to the postseason, but there are a number of improvements to make, and for us fantasy fanatics, secondary scoring has to be up there: The team scored 94% more goals per 60 minutes of 5-on-5 play with the duo of Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield on the ice (3.79) as they did when they were off the ice (1.95). Here is how that percentage gap in goal scoring with each team's top forward duo on and off the ice at 5-on-5 compares to the second-round playoff teams in the East:

A full season from Ivan Demidov will help a bit, but they need even more, and a second-line centre should be a priority.

Since the end of the first round, the name that has made a lot of sense to me for Montreal is Ryan O'Reilly. He is getting older (going into his age-34 season) but has just two years left on his contract at $4.5M per season, that contract doesn't have trade protection, he would only need to play 17 minutes a game behind Suzuki, and it gives them a proficient left-handed centre to complement the right-handedness of Suzuki and Jake Evans. It would at least help them bridge the gap until they find a long-term option, and he can help boost the scoring of the team's middle-6 wingers.

Ottawa Senators

If nothing else, the Senators need some more creativity at 5-on-5. They were a bottom-5 team for scoring at that strength, heavily relying on power-play success for goals. Even if they finished 30^th by shooting percentage, it isn't just bad luck as the tracking data referenced earlier has the Senators with very low rates of playmaking ability at 5-on-5 this season (some passing metrics highlighted in green):

Replicating the power-play success will be hard, but they can be a playoff team if they do that again. To take a step beyond just making the playoffs, they need more from their 5-on-5 play, and that is something that would benefit both them and fantasy managers.

They might not want to go back to the Sabres well, but if JJ Peterka really is available, that is a name the Senators should be highlighting. The package going back for Peterka would be hefty, likely starting with Drake Batherson and Ottawa's 2025 first-round pick, but if the team truly wants to improve their 5-on-5 scoring, it may be worth it.

Tampa Bay Lightning

The Lightning are in a tough spot. As it stands, they have 19 players signed for next season. They need to re-sign Gage Goncalves and Evolving Hockey's projection for him being two years at $1.5M per season, which would leave them with about $4.3M for three roster spots. In other words, a big-name free agent is out of the question, and even a medium-name free agent is too expensive. If they truly want to improve any part of the lineup, it'll have to be via trade. The problem there is that if they want to free up cap space, the only players making over $1M next season and without trade protections are Brandon Hagel (which they won't do) and JJ Moser. Moser is the second-youngest member of the blue line, so that might not be wise, either.

This is a case where any improvements (they do need more scoring from the bottom-6) are likely going to be internal. It will be getting a full, good seasons from Oliver Bjorkstrand and Yanni Gourde, some growth from Conor Geekie, and hopefully Goncalves carries over a very good (if very brief) playoff showing.  

Toronto Maple Leafs

With all the upheaval expected with the forwards, it's the blue line that needs improvements. After the ousting in the second round of the postseason, I looked into the tracking data of the Toronto defencemen, and they didn’t excel in any area we associate with puck moving or shot creation:

Morgan Rielly, for all his other faults, is still a good puck-moving defenceman. Chris Tanev and Jake McCabe are solid in some aspects of that role. Philippe Myers has his moments but he's going into his age-29 season and has yet to play more than 50 games in any campaign. Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Simon Benoit had poor years in a lot of puck-moving metrics. In other words, maybe half the blue line can be relied upon to be decent puck-movers. That isn't good enough.

The problem, of course, is that the whole blue line is signed for two more years. Tanev and Rielly have full no-move clauses, McCabe has a no-trade clause, and Ekman-Larsson has a 16-team no-trade list. They aren't going to move on from Carlo or Benoit so soon, either. In that sense, there won't be any changes coming from the defence group, so any improvements from a puck-moving perspective will have to come from a group where four of the top five defencemen are over 30 years old. The improvements will come from the coach and players, not from the general manager.