Making the cut
Along with Saad and Donskoi, they also need to replace bottom-six forwards
Matt Calvert
, who retired July 22, and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, who signed a two-year contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning on July 28. Sampo Ranta is a contender to replace one of them after the 21-year-old made his NHL debut last postseason, playing two games against the Golden Knights. Ranta, who was a third-round pick (No. 78) in the 2018 NHL Draft, scored 31 points (19 goals, 12 assists) in 31 games as a junior at the University of Minnesota and seven points (four goals, three assists) in 14 AHL games before being called up.
Darren Helm, who signed a one-year contract July 29 after spending his first 14 NHL seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, could slot in as the fourth-line center. A defensive specialist, Helm likely will be used to kill penalties; he averaged 1:51 of shorthanded ice time per game last season.
Most intriguing addition
Kuemper will look to bounce back from two straight injury-plagued seasons; he missed nearly 10 weeks with a lower-body injury in 2019-20. When healthy, he was one of the best goalies in the NHL over the past three seasons. Since 2018-19, among goalies who have played at least 100 games, he is second in the NHL with a 2.35 GAA (
Tuukka Rask
, 2.30), and his .922 save percentage is tied for second with Andrei Vasilevskiy (Robin Lehner, .923). The 31-year-old is in the final season of the two-year contract extension he signed with Arizona on Oct. 2, 2019.
Biggest potential surprise
Mikhail Maltsev, acquired in a trade with the New Jersey Devils for defenseman Ryan Graves on July 15, has good size (6-foot-3, 198 pounds) and speed, and he showed some scoring touch as a rookie last season with nine points (six goals, three assists) in 33 games. A versatile two-way forward who can play left wing and center, Maltsev's production could improve playing for Colorado, which led the NHL in scoring last season (3.52 goals per game).
Ready to break through
Bowen Byram, who was selected with the No. 4 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, is expected to see more playing time after injuries limited him to 19 games last season. The 20-year-old defenseman is a smooth skater and made strides in the defensive end last season, and although he had only two assists, Byram has shown he has natural instincts offensively -- he scored 52 points (14 goals, 38 assists) in 50 games with Vancouver of the Western Hockey League in 2019-20. Byram could pair with veteran Erik Johnson, who missed all but four games last season with an upper-body injury.
Fantasy sleeper
Francouz (fantasy average draft position: 165.5) is expected to back up Kuemper, who's an elite fantasy goalie option. Given Kuemper's recent injury history, Francouz could be Colorado's starter for stretches of the season and, at worst, will be an efficient backup for one of the strongest teams in the NHL, a role he excelled in when healthy two seasons ago. -- Rob Reese
Projected lineup
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Alex Newhook -- Nazem Kadri -- Andre Burakovsky
Tyson Jost -- J.T. Compher -- Valeri Nichushkin
Mikhail Maltsev -- Darren Helm -- Logan O'Connor
Devon Toews -- Cale Makar
Ryan Murray -- Samuel Girard
Bowen Byram -- Erik Johnson
Darcy Kuemper
Pavel Francouz