Stocking Stuffers for Atlantic Division teams

It’s almost Christmas!

On Thursday’s edition of the Daily Faceoff Show, Frank Seravalli and Mike McKenna came up with gifts to hand out to a pair of Atlantic Division teams…

McKenna: “A time machine for the Boston Bruins.

That sounds harsh, but that team misses David Krejci, Torey Krug, Tuukka Rask, I’d even throw Zdeno Chara in the mix here. They haven’t been able to replace those players. They’ve been middling, they’ve been OK.

You bring Taylor Hall in and he just hasn’t been good enough for what the team needs. It’s displaced Jake DeBrusk; he’s moved down the lineup and now he’s unhappy and isn’t producing. Hall is tied with Charlie Coyle in scoring with 14 points. Coyle is a good player, but that’s not where Hall needs to be.

The Bruins’ depth isn’t there any longer. For years they were able to find players who filled those spots on depth lines who were developed within. It just isn’t there this year.

I really think this team misses Krejci down the middle, Krug on the backend and they just seem to have lost their way.”

Seravalli: Jakob Chychrun for the Florida Panthers.

The Panthers have given up the most goals among any playoff team in the Eastern Conference. They’ve also scored the second most goals, so that’s helped mask some of that. But you look at their defense and it looks top-heavy to me.

A top-flight player like Chychrun, who, by the way, is from South Florida, could be a tremendous fit. To get a homegrown player, that’s an awesome story, but Chychrun really fits their team, too.

I know people look at him and see -29 this year and wonder how could he help the Panthers’ defense in terms of keeping pucks out of the net? It involves properly slotting the defense core. You can take Radko Gudas off the second pair and move him down and possibly move MacKenzie Weegar back to his correct side.

There’s lots of options, I just think Chychrun would help take the Panthers to the next level.”

You can watch the full episode here…