NHL Stars Facing the Biggest Question Marks in the 2016-17 Season

The big part of the NHL offseason is complete, leaving a trail of massive stories that thrilled fans over a frantic two-week period surrounding the entry draft and free agency. At this point in the summer, we have time to review those moves and identify roster pressure points across the league. 

Some of the NHL's biggest stars were traded this summer, and great hope and expectation has followed them to new cities. Other stars were retained despite personal or team disappointment and are going to be counted on to deliver major improvement in 2016-17.

Here are the 10 NHL stars facing the biggest question marks entering the 2016-17 season.

Marc-Andre Fleury

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The Question: Can Marc-Andre Fleury win the starting job back for the Pittsburgh Penguins?

 

Analysis

It was a bizarre season for Marc-Andre Fleury. His game tracker via The Hockey News shows plenty of missed games due to concussions and—later in the year and through the playoffs—the performance of rookie Matt Murray.

 

Conclusion

Through the long history of the NHL, there are relatively few occurrences of this type. The Penguins are wise to hold onto Fleury for the coming season, as Murray has very little on his NHL resume. Making major decisions on small sample sizes is dangerous work, especially in regard to goalies.

Should Murray play at last season's levels, fans could be seeing Fleury in a Penguins uniform for the last time this winter. It is anyone's guess as to how this battle turns out, but no NHL team would employ a goalie making over $5 million a season, per General Fanager, as a backup.

Claude Giroux

Tom Mihalek/Associated Press

The Question: Can Claude Giroux lead a young Philadelphia Flyers team even deeper into the playoffs in 2016-17?

 

Analysis

Giroux is a brilliant offensive player and the Flyers' best hope in the opposition's end. During the offseason, he underwent hip and abdominal surgery, as reported by CSNPhilly.com.

If he can come back healthy this fall, the Flyers may have enough to push deeper into the playoffs next spring. General manager Ron Hextall has been drafting defensemen heavily in the last few summers, and some of those young men are close to being NHL-ready.

 

Conclusion

Philadelphia hasn't been past the second round of the playoffs since 2010, when the team made the Stanley Cup Final.

The young defense is coming, and many—like Ivan Provorov and Travis Sanheim—will make their NHL debut this year. It is a stretch to suggest they will be able to help enough to push the team past the Eastern Conference powers (the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals).

That day may be coming, and Giroux is young enough (28) to be part of the good times when they arrive.

Taylor Hall

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The Question: Can Taylor Hall drive the New Jersey Devils into the playoffs?

 

Analysis

Taylor Hall is one of the best even-strength offensive forwards in the game today. New Jersey fans have to be excited about his offense—Hall ranked No. 11 in points per 60 minutes at even strength this past season, per Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com—and there isn't a team in the NHL that needed more of an offensive boost.

 

Conclusion

Hall was never able to guide the Oilers into the playoffs, but the Devils are a much better defensive team. The challenge for Hall and the coaching staff will be finding chemistry with the other Devils forwards, and an early guess for a linemate is Adam Henrique—his teammate in junior with the Windsor Spitfires.

New Jersey acquired a true offensive gem in Hall, and he is likely to have a very strong season.

Auston Matthews

Dmitri Lovetsky/Associated Press

The Question: Can Auston Matthews have an impact rookie season for the Toronto Maple Leafs?

 

Analysis

Matthews is a fascinating prospect in that he has a wide range of skills and legitimate pro experience entering his NHL career. He could be used on a prominent line during the season—as early as opening night—and might get a chance to post impressive offensive numbers.

 

Conclusion

Mike Babcock likes to coach complete players—that means full effort with and without the puck. Matthews is such a player, and the fit appears from the outside to be close to perfect. Fans should expect Matthews to be brought along as quickly as his skills dictate, and one of the most interesting items to observe will be this young man's progress in 2016-17. 

Connor McDavid

Paul Vernon/Associated Press

The Question: Can Connor McDavid lead the Edmonton Oilers into the playoffs?

 

Analysis

McDavid is a brilliant offensive player—reflected by his better-than-a-point-per-game pace as a rookie. An injury cost him 34 games, the Calder Trophy and a chance to help his team improve in the standings. A generational player like McDavid will always be chasing someone's previous pace, and in this case, Sidney Crosby—who led his team to the playoffs as a sophomore—is the obvious comparable. 

 

Conclusion

The Oilers have been a flawed team for over a decade, but they have made improvements in goaltending and defense over the last two summers.

McDavid will emerge as the emotional leader of this year's Oilers—the club traded Taylor Hall to address defense—and Edmonton will push close to a playoff position in the spring. How close the team gets depends a lot on luck and other things out of McDavid's control, but the bet here is that he has an impact season.

Rick Nash

Jay LaPrete/Associated Press

The Question: Can Rick Nash deliver another impact season for the New York Rangers?

 

Analysis

Rick Nash played just 60 games in 2015-16 and finished in a tie for seventh in scoring among his fellow Rangers. His cap hit is $7.8 million, and there are two more years on his deal, per General Fanager. Across the NHL, there are few contracts that offered so little for so much a year ago.

 

Conclusion

Consistency is an issue for players once they reach 30. Nash, now 32, tallied 26 goals 2013-14, 42 in '14-15 and 15 last season. If he can play the entire season, it is reasonable to expect a spike in goals—but the cap hit is enormous, and even 26 goals would be considered a disappointing return on investment.

Nash is one of the truly talented scorers of his generation, but the time where he could be counted on for 30 goals is gone. The Rangers have received two quality seasons in the four Nash has played in Manhattan, and the odds of seeing him score 30 again this coming campaign are probably 50-50.

Tuukka Rask

Charles Krupa/Associated Press

The Question: Can Tuukka Rask save the Boston Bruins' playoff hopes?

 

Analysis

Rask has seen his save percentage dip sharply over the last three seasons—from .930, to .921, to .915 last season—and .915 was the NHL average for goalies in 2015-16. Boston has been making curious trades, and the foundation of the team is aging, but Rask is a well-paid goalie who needs to be better than league average.

 

Conclusion

Rask is 29, and goalies often see their skills erode around 30 or shortly thereafter. Boston and Rask badly need a rebound season from their star goaltender, and the team should be better this season overall. Rask has had a heavy workload in recent seasons—64 games a year ago—so the Bruins might be wise to reduce his minutes in an effort to elevate his play.

Steven Stamkos

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The Question: Can Steven Stamkos stay healthy and lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Stanley Cup?

 

Analysis

Stamkos played only one playoff game during the spring as a result of a blood clot issue, according to Corey Long of NHL.com. Stammer would play in only one more game for the rest of the year. He was also headed toward free agency before re-signing with the Lightning. Mike Zeisberger of the Toronto Sun had the story in late June.

 

Conclusion

Stamkos had an unusual year, and Tampa Bay was unable to win the Stanley Cup without him. Freshly signed, and hopefully back to full health, this could be the best chance to win it all for both player and team. If he can play all 82 games in the regular season, and return to his sniper ways for the playoffs, the Lightning could win the second Stanley Cup in franchise history next spring.

P.K. Subban

Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

The Question: Will P.K. Subban help the Nashville Predators make it to the next level?

 

Analysis

One of the truly shocking trades of recent seasons saw the Montreal Canadiens deal P.K. Subban to the Predators for Shea Weber. Two impact defensemen swapped one-for-one, with both teams looking to take that next step as Stanley Cup challengers.

Subban is an outstanding defenseman, one of the truly elite in the NHL offensively. His defense is strong but lacks consistency, and that will be the challenge in Nashville.

 

Conclusion

The Predators have traded away two substantial defensemen in the last year (Seth Jones being the other), so there could be a period of transition for Subban and the group. Nashville plays in the toughest division in the entire NHL, and getting past the Chicago Blackhawks, St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars will be a difficult task.

By playoff time, the team and Subban will have had a chance to adjust, and his dynamic style could be the key to going deep in the playoffs next spring.

Shea Weber

Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

The Question: Can Shea Weber make Montreal Canadiens fans forget about P.K. Subban?

 

Analysis 

One-for-one trades of impact players are extremely rare, but fans of the Canadiens and Nashville Predators were witness to a blockbuster this summer. Weber is not similar to Subban—he is less creative but also more reliable—but he is a bona fide big-minutes defender who will help his team win games.

 

Conclusion

The big risk for Montreal is age—Weber turns 31 in August, Subban is 27—so the long-term view of this trade will likely favor Nashville.

However, Weber should be a substantial player in 2016-17, and if Montreal can pair him with a nifty puck-mover he should flourish. Canadiens fans will no doubt rally behind Weber in the moments after one of his howitzer shots finds the net on the power play.