Not much can be added to that but there are some rare/different things happening.
Al Arbour came here in 1974 with nothing close to Barry Trotz current resume so it makes it a must-watch camp for every fan. Torrey was not where Lamoriello was in 1972 so very high management expectations.
It's tough with Lee, Eberle, Nelson on UFA years, but almost all teams have this issue, and if they are in a playoff spot those players will need to be retained, even at the cost of losing them for nothing.
Some players will regress, some will step up (hopefully Kovar or some prospects) the players Lamoriello added created a numbers game where NHL players will not make this roster unless there are trades/injuries. Systems & coaching take time, it does not happen day one & will likely take months as we want to see the trends improve later.
Absolutely there is a lot talent here, and Lee/Barzal are star players. I have no doubt if Pulock starts like he finished, they have a star on defense.
You will not see last season again on defense, that was entirely on historically inexperienced coaching. Halak had them eight over in November, five over in January facing mountains of shots, so a team that should have had 20-25 wins, finished with 35 wins.
Bottom line, an expansion team went wire to wire in first place, advanced to the Stanley Cup finals, and easily could have won the cup, anything can happen.
Off the ice, no team has played in two buildings for this duration, it will be a major distraction, in a facility with 1972 revenue streams, they will likely not even have the lockerooms ready by December based on April-August construction for Barclay's campus, and the same 1972 ice plant is waiting.
Hartford had the full ice redone last summer, it took months, and a dig to the foundation.
Barclay's being in a lame duck fan situation will make the fans who started going there stop for good, and Nassau fan support sooner or later will be awful as it's been since 1989, unable to sustain a franchise.
Cuomo will make sure Dolan breaks ground on his arena above anything else, using our team any way possible as pawns to make that happen. Once it does Dolan would perfer his 2013 Coliseum bid with his Wolfpack as anchor tenant, it's not NYI building but the updated paperwork does claim it's 18,000 for hockey, not the 16,500 written earlier.
Regardless it will be a construction zone for a generation, player will have stay at Marriot, as Coliseum becomes a construction zone also.
I hope all sides can see they need to be at Barclay's in the end as a NYC arena is constructed with existing rail access starting at Shea or Sunnyside Yards without Dolan.
30 NHL teams play in a city or have made clear they must relocate to one to stay in business. One team wants to be their rivals tenant, in a location with no people, and no real rail access.
There are no tracks for overflow trains to that area, no direct access, and reality is to go off on a spur to that location would take longer than going to Barclay's until 2032 at the earliest.
