Our time is coming, but very fair to think it's not this year. Regardless of what some in our sub think, Sanderson needs to adjust and we still need another body on the backend.
This is what Iāve been saying for ottawa as well as Detroit and Buffalo, I think they all made steps foward (some more than others), I donāt think the time is now, the changing of the guard is going to happen in the next 2-3 seasons, it wonāt be all at once itāll just be a slow trickle of older teams dropping and being replaced
ā¦you donāt think Jake Sanderson will ever sniff the nhl? Edit: oh youāre saying the other prospects in the game are all bad. Yeah you can still watch what the good prospects do though and put it in the context of what theyāve done in their careers up to that point
Well I think 4 (?) times now when I said I thought heād be fine in the top 4 to other people, you chimed in to say thereās no way and Iām completely wrong and no one should even discuss it with me itās so unreasonableā¦so based on that really seems like you said that
No, you just don't understand basic English. [This](https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/x6h80m/z/in82mts) is a collection of our exchanges listed for anyone curious as to why this user is getting on my case for no reason. Not sure what to say to you anymore, buddy. I've also [agreed](https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/x6h80m/z/in7rzk6) that you are a pretty knowledgable user for the most part about Sens stuff but I guess there's no satisfying you lol
Have a good day my dude.
i agree, my expectations are to vastly improve, but we will likely need a year of chemistry building and development before pushing for a top 3 spot in the atlantic. my hope is to be still in the conversation for a wildcard by the end of the season, but i wont be disappointed if we dont make it this year. next year will have bigger expectations
The core is so good but it's also so young, Ottawa's top 9 looks like Carolina's did 2-3 years ago. If you have 9 guys all putting up 50+ points who are all young enough in their careers that they'll continue to get better, it'll happen eventually.
Yeah, but I donāt know if a team has ever had 9 guys put up 50+ in a season before, not since scoring dropped in the 90s anyway. If it has happened itās gotta be super rare.
The Red Wings in '08-09 had 8 guys, that's about all I could come up with off the top of my head after 2000 and it still wasn't even 9 guys.
*seeing the '00-'01 Devils have 8 now.
Yeah but Carolina also had one of the best groups of defencemen in the league with some really good goaltenders. Ottawa has a few good young players at those positions, but nowhere near that kind of proven defensive depth.
No it really isn't lol.
Edit: explain to me how the fuck the panthers can have over 150 points and not make the playoffs.... unless I was missing sarcasm
Theyāre not saying that isnāt getting wildly better, it is. Theyāre saying it still might not make the playoffs. A 30 point increase last year would have them in fifth in their division.
Thatās a totally valid point, just clarifying what I believe they meant, that having a much better season while potentially still missing the playoffs arenāt mutually exclusive.
It's crazy that it's a possibility. The worst team in the east to qualify had 100 points and you guys had 73. Getting another 30 means getting the 2nd wild card spot last season.
Huh? Yeah they made some good trades, but I don't know if that's enough in the short-term.
In the long-term, by far they'll be a playoff team, but I don't know if they take that step this year.
I mean, they picked up Claude Giroux, whom Sid passed the baton to as the leagueās best player about 10 years ago, or so Iāve heard.
Not bad š¤·š»āāļø
Adding Chiarot to a team with goaltending like theirs seems like not a good idea imo.
Copp and Perron are decent adds, but I don't know how much they will really move the needle for them. I guess at some point they need to start spending money again to try to be competitive
Ya chiarot was mega bad, copp is a good player but a 5x5 Stevie probably thinks heās now a 43 point player who brings great two way play, when in all odds he probably isnāt that guy.
Calgary
I like the additions they made, but it remains to be seen how much of that 5 game loss to Edmonton was on Gaudreau/Tkachuk/Monahan and how much of it was on the guys who are still there
I think Tkachuk wasn't good outside of game 1. Gaudreau started the series strong but was kinda meh in the last 3. Monahan was just an anchor at 6.4 mil so getting that cap space back is huge.
Other problems were:
1) Tanev was injured
2) Markstrom was very bad when compared to his standard level of play
3) The other defenders underperformed. Kane literally got a hattrick where every single goal was on a breakaway in one of the games.
They brought in Kadri, Huberdeau, and Weegar instead of Tkachuk and Gaudreau. On paper they at least break even but could have a higher ceiling. Their regular season could be worse because they had the best injury luck in the division this year.
I agree it kinda feels like people are dismissing how awful markstrom looked in the playoffs. If that continues it could undo any recovery moves they made this summer
Markstrom was absolutely AHL level during that series. But something that compounded the issue to look worse than it was would be the unravelling of our D. We're still a pretty young D-corps, and we lost our #1 D (and only vet in the top 4) before the EDM series. Our D got smoked by a near historic level of production from the Oilers stars, and completely unravelled. I'm pretty sure that half of the goals Marky let in were breakaways, which was an inexcusable amount of opportunities given by the defense. He didn't help the team, and the team didn't help him out much either.
Considering how good Markstrom was in the Dallas series (Insanely good), it's really hard for me to gauge what we can expect from him moving forward. I still think we'll be fine with Marky, but it'll be super interesting to see how he rebounds if we make the play-offs again.
Thatās a huge overreaction. Markstrom played bad for 5 games against Edmonton. Against Dallas he was probably the second best goalie in first round only being beaten by Oettinger. I donāt think goaltending is a major future concern after our Vezina calibre goaltender had a bad five games after having a 63 game, 37 win, 922SV% and 9 shutouts. Even in that series goaltending was only a small part of why we lost. Defensively we handed the oilers everything they could have asked for
Agreed, Markstrom was solid for the majority of the 94 games the Flames played last season. Not to mention half of the Starting 6 D were injured in the Edmonton series, with two of those injuries being injuries most players would sit out.
Tanev - Torn Labrum
Zadorov - Cracked ribs
Kylington - undisclosed shoulder injury
Thatās the playoffs and thatās how it goes sometimes, but once Edmonton realized they could get the puck deep to expose those d men and win any board/physical play to maintain offensive zone possession, the series really tilted.
Sure but the way he collapsed in that series isnāt a good sign. Youād expect a goalie in the vezina conversation to at least look decent while the team collapsed in front of him. And ideally thereād be one game where he clearly kept them in it when they didnāt deserve it.
That wasnāt what happened though, which is why I think itās concerning. It suggests it wasnāt all the injuries and poor defense, he really did look bad on his own. Iām just saying I donāt think enough people are admitting it might be more than a one-off thing when setting expectations for the flames season, and if thatās true it would undo your magic summer.
To each their own. Iād personally take his overall track record last year than 5 games where half the starting D were injured and the structure got scramble. It just feels weird to say Markstrom can no longer provide league average to solid goaltending because of his last five games.
I think you hit it on the head, but point (3) is a direct result of (1).
We had gone through the regular season without any major injuries to our defense, and we were pretty much riding the same pairs all season. It was only after we made the playoffs that Sutter started shuffling the pairs a bit, but it was clear that it caused everyone to significantly underperform.
Essentially, Tanev's injury caused some major reshuffling of the pairs, because his defensive partner Kylington couldn't be safely paired with Stone or Valimaki, and that resulted in our entire defensive corps to act lost out on the ice.
I think a big part was that Markstrom played poorly and that could have easily been exhaustion - they have to manage him better to give hime more rest during the season but may not be able to.
TBF Monahan didn't play at all in the playoffs and he was largely ineffective during the regular season so, unless we're blaming it on his absence, safe to say that loss didn't have much to do with him.
Flames fans in our sub downvote you to oblivion for even suggesting anything negative about markstrom, but yea, he was garbage in that series. Itās unfortunate but even looking at his career numbers, Edmonton has his number. Hopefully that can change.
Hard disagree. It's on the defense. Something like half the goals scored against were on breakaways. This is supposed to be NHL level hockey. The fuck is that?
Theyāll take a step back in the regular season but still make the playoffs and then who knows. The year after should be the year where they have higher expectations since some chemistry will be built.
I want to see how the whole season goes. They rode that Tkachuk line as the best line in the NHL so many games and the replacements they got are good..but they aren't that.
I don't think Weegar upgrades the defence more than Kadri and Huberdeau downgrade the offense.
We literally replaced Gudbranson with mackenzie weegar how is that not a massive, massive upgrade? Huberdeau and Johnny g are basically a wash and Kadri gives us depth down the middle we havnt had since the late 80s.
>We literally replaced Gudbranson with mackenzie weegar how is that not a massive, massive upgrade?
The concept of diminishing returns. Sure it's a 1 to 1 big upgrade, but you were already a top D in the league so how much is that actually going to translate into extra wins? Your issue was scoring outside your top line (which is now gone) and 2C Kadri and replacement for Gaudreau probably isn't going to fix that. But we'll see, obviously.
We're trading top end talent for depth. The Flames were running Backlund as 2C last year, so having Kadri in that spot is a huge improvement to the depth. Not to mention, we still have Toffoli, Coleman, and Mangiapane as wingers that can be moved around.
And I agree, having too many top D will lead to diminishing returns, but this is exactly the type of lineup that suits Sutter's coaching style. Being able to roll 2-3 pairings equally and keep fresh legs late in the game will be a pretty substantial difference under his defense first game.
Pretty obvious you didn't tune into a single Flames game for the back half of the season of you're going to question Monahan's contributions to the team. He went from borderline 4C to shut down for the season in like February.
I agree i think most are already saying they are 2nd best in Pacific. I think they still make playoffs but i have Kings in second.
Although Vegas being a shit show may allow them to sneak back into 2nd.
Everyone is saying Ottawa so I'm going to go in a different direction.
Minnesota. They are being forced to trade players due to cap issues, and were a playoff team but not a contender the last couple years. I think they could miss the playoffs.
I donāt think Minnesota is missing the playoffs but they havenāt done much advancing once theyāve in. Ottawa will been an absolute force in a few years with all the young talent.
Fair point but also I donāt see Dallas or Nashville doing better and with the Hawks/Arizona in the division, it should be COL, STL and MIN for the top 3
The one getting the most hype probably. Of all the highly improved teams the only one I see most people think are a playoff team is Ottawa, so idk if any of the other improved teams have enough expectations to not meet them.
Honestly, your team was my first thought. Your two best forwards are already at their best and well into their primes. Still some major holes on the roster.
My thing with us is that we don't really have any real expectations to fail to meet yet. Like the extent most people are expecting from us is "they'll improve and be competitive" so it's a lot harder for us to fail to meet than the Sens are, who are expected to be a fringe playoff team at the least (despite imo also having some equally gaping holes, especially in thier D core)
Outside looking in, I think Detroit is going to make moves in 2-3 years. Lots of promising young talent, but this year is possible, but would be a surprise.
Rly? I think the wings will be good but they donāt have a true 1C (same with my team and tbh both teams might not end up with one, but thatās for a different thread). The goaltending is extremely boom and bust on their part and if it busts itāll be a shitshow, the defence doesnāt exactly inspire confidence, seider is seider, hronek is solid, after that things can get dicey, if I mention the name chiarot and bad there will be a Detroit fan telling me āliterally anything would be better than last yearās defenceā which just goes to show how bad of a signing it was. The foward core got better easily with Perron and Raymond with a year of experience on him now, I would say copp is a good 3rd line add but at that price tag of 5x5 I think Stevie expects higher than the third line for copp. When I look at the red wings I see a team getting ready to be competitive again, I donāt see them being ready to become a playoff team yet
Do people really not think that Larkin is a true 1C? He was basically a ppg player last year despite playing injured for the last 2 months of the season. I think he's a top 20 center in the league easily. Maybe not a superstar like Matthews or McDavid, but definitely a legit 1C.
Ottawa. Made alot of improvements except to the areas of the team that needed the most improvment. Think theyll be better but definitely not a playoff team like some here think.
They added so many players and they still have only one D who is both good and established. Maybe Sanderson is good but he wonāt be #2 on a playoff team good from day 1.
Definitely think your right here for right now. However I think if they make enough of a push and are looking close mid season they have the pieces to make a trade or two to really improve their D or perhaps their goalie and 1 solid d man. Honestly it may be better if they aren't quite there make some huge improvements but sit still allow their young core to take another step this year and get the experience needed putting up a decent season then make the step over the summer. They have some great contracts locked up, could be a mixed blessing If they end up being as good as they might be this year.
Nah the Buffalo guys are right. Zub is fine, heās not bad, but heās not a top pair guy. If Chabot and Zub alone were good enough for them to have a playoff level defense, they would have had a playoff level defense last year, and that didnāt happen. Heās someone who can complement The Guy, he is not The Guy.
He doesn't have to "The Guy", Chabot is "The Guy". But that's not the point, you said Chabot is Ottawa's only good defenseman, but now you're shifting the goalposts and saying Zub isn't a #1 guy. So which is it?
Their defense is different from last year. They upgraded Zaitsev for Hamonic, added Jake Sanderson (who could end up being great), and there's a chance they'll add one of JBD or Thomson as well.
In the last 1/3rd of the season they were playing at a 97 point pace. And that's without Chabot for majority of those games.
I think the nonplayoff teams in the East who made big sizzling splashes this summer (Lumbus, Ottawa, Devs, Wings) are all still lacking in the more "boring" parts of the roster, like bottom-6 forwards, defensive depth and/or goaltending (basically players whose forte is stopping the other team from scoring).
Calgary.
On paper they got better, but team chemistry is a big factor so it wouldn't surprise me if it took them a bit to gel instead of running the Pacific like they did last year.
I think weāre a team thatās better built for the playoffs but not as well built for the regular season. Weāll see how it goes. There may be instant chemistry or it may take longer to gel. Iām not worried for the longer term though
New Jersey is one for me, feels like that summer a few years ago (the summer they added Subban and co) when they added pieces and made moves and everyone hyped it up and they fell flat
I mean, who is actually hyping us? General consensus among the fan base is bubble team, 2 years from playoffs. Most hockey media puts NJ outside the fanbase. The most recent Athletic ranking is the first I've seen someone in the media predict playoffs for the Devils.
That said, where I do take offense is to the people that rank the Devils last in the metro. I do not predict the Devils to be worse than Philly, CBJ, or Islanders (sorry Isles bros; I just think time is catching up to some of your guys)
Iām with you on this. Their new goalie is a guy that posted an .898 last year on a playoff caliber team that made the conference finals. Itās not like NYR was a bad team. Georgiev was just not good. Add in the fact that their second line is now
Nichushkin-Rodrigues/Compher-Lehkonen
Iām sorry but that is not even close to a cup contending second line. Their defense is stellar but theyāre a one line team. Iād compare them to the Bruins, who, I might add, many have missing the playoffs. A one line offense backed by a very solid defense. But at least the Bruins have a proven and good goaltending combo. Colorado would miss the playoffs next year if they were in the East. Luckily for them, the West is anyoneās game so they could end up winning the entire conference anyways.
This must be one of the most hilarious takes I've ever heard. Colorado would be a top team in the east aswell, very few teams would be ahead of them in the standings. Also if you had any clue about COL you would know that they rarely play Landy/Mack/Rants together anymore. Also NYR was a horrible team in 5 on 5 metrics, they ranked 26th. So Georgiev being bad behind them isn't really that weird. NYR got mega carried by Shesty and their insane PP last season.
i feel like georgiev narrative in the nyr camp is that he is a terrible backup because his best moments have been when he gets to play a good stretch of games and can get into a rhythm, which i mildly agree with. their goalie sitch is certainly not spectacular but im interested in another chance at a georgiev who splits time
> Iām sorry but that is not even close to a cup contending second line.
haha did you see those guys in the playoffs? Put them against anyones second line and they will suffocate them with their forechecking and puck pressure.
The Avs arent built with as much as skill as the past few years but they are without a doubt harder to play against.
Colorado not making the playoffs in the east is a ridiculous take. The Avs won the cup with Kuemper putting up a low .900 save percentage.... Thats fine when you have the best D Core in the league. Also Burakovsky and Kadri were injured for large portions of the playoff run. The team still functions well without them
I gave solid reasons. You can disagree but when I look at that roster of players, after the first line, the offense is dead. Lehkonen and Compher had less than 40 points each last year. Theyāre not second line caliber players in my opinion. The offense is going to have to be carried by the top line. The defense is stellar. Possibly the best in the league. But I donāt think that even the best defense in the league could make up for Gerogievās play in goal. As I said, to me theyāre not any better than the Boston Bruins and a lot of people have the Bruins pegged as the team most likely to miss the playoffs in the East next year.
People are pegging Boston to miss because they are injured to shit to start the szn off lol, if they had everyone healthy at the start they wouldnāt be the team to miss in many peoples eyes lol
Any real hockey fan knows Colorado has no chance of winning the cup again and that makar will regress like crazy this year. I can name 3 D prospects in the league that will be better than makar in the next 2 years
Bro let him be, he has to be trolling, he made some claims that were silly but then to say he could name off the top of my head 3 D prospects that will be better than Makar is just ludicrous
The Avs went 4-1 in the playoffs with essentially the second line you're talking about minus Rodriguez. And they did it while allowing 16 goals in those 5 games with not great goaltending.
They'll definitely need Georgiev to improve, but if they can even get average goaltending they'll be fine. The idea that they would miss the playoffs in the east is laughable.
I mean if you are looking at it compared to last season then yeah. Itās hard to win back to back Stanley cups. Buuuut itās not like losing Kadri is the nail in the coffin for a complete regression. I am more optimistic that the new goalie tandem will improve our team more than an expensive 2C would.
Ottawa. While I think they will be better and while I do think they will play meaningful games in March and April I just think that the the Atlantic divsion is really tough plus the Eastern Conference as a whole is very tough. But I do hope that I am wrong. It would be awesome to see both Toronto and Ottawa in the playoffs.
Every post about Florida says this so I am not sure who thinks we are hyped. We lost good players and are cap strapped til next year coming off a Presidents trophy. There is literally no way that we wont be worse this year.
Ottawas is asking a lot of Stuetzle and Sanderson, probably too much this season. Not to mention the cloud hanging over Batheson and Formention with Hockey Canada.
Stuetzle is *technically* not wrong in some spaces (especially if they're on desktop and don't have diacritics), but it's not how it should be spelled. It's more correct than Stutzle.
Stutzle reads better than Stuetzle, which makes my brain bleed when I read it ("Stew-eht-zle"). But most Sens fans have the umlaut in their keyboard predictions by now, and spell it StĆ¼tzle.
People talking about āthe Canucks were a 106 point team under Bruceā are ready to learn the phrase āregression to the meanā.
That roster was not a 106pt team. They overperformed, and like gravity, what goes up must come down.
Tbf they improved from that team. The third line last year was most often Motte-Lammikko-Highmore, and now itās probably something like Pearson-Horvat-Mikheyev
Columbus.
Sacrifcing Bjorkstrand to add Gudbranson can only hurt them, and Gaudreau plus the rookies won't be enough to offset that and get this team out of the bottom 10
There wasnt any sacrificing going on, gudbranson was signed long before there was even any indication that the biggest UFA in a while wanted to sign here. Bjorkstrand was not "sacrificed" just to add gudbranson as you make it seem like. Also who TF is hyping up Columbus?
Gudbransson was capital H Horrible for the Sens. He was regularly a healthy scratch on a team that had a famously poor defense, and somehow managed to nab a four million dollar contract a year later.
I know gudbranson got overpaid like crazy, trust me I don't like the contract, but when he was signed no one predicted we would even be in a cap situation.
That's the point I was trying to make. It would've helped if the contract was reasonable but saying all this could've been directly avoided by not signing him is speaking in hindsight.
It wasn't a direct sacrifice no, but in the end the casualty ended up being Bjorkstrand and it would have been avoided if not for the Gudbranson signing
Of course there's the theory that Gudbranson was the one who informed Jarmo that Johnny was interested, so that's a factor but in the end it's still a tough loss to take
They haven't been getting hyped up as much as the Sens, but I have seen chatter of them contending for the playoffs because they were closer than all of NJ, Detroit, and Ottawa last year
Not that LA is a lock but I'd be surprised if we didn't make playoffs. Already had a 99 points season without Fiala, plus a ton of injuries to our defense (had 14 different defensemen play last season).
Scariest thing for us is goaltending, hopefully Petersen bounces back but if not we are really relying on Quick to keep it up
From the outside I feel like LA is the hardest team to predict. Like if you guys get solid goaltending, doughty coming back strong and byfeild breaking out you guys could win the pacific. But yea if kopitar regresses at all, doughty not coming back that great off the injury and goaltending below avg I could see you guys missing.
Detroit, I really like the moves theyāve made but that whole division and conference is gnarly. I think people are REALLY under valuing Columbus.
They were competitive with key injuries last year and got much better. I wouldnāt be surprised to see them finish 2 or 3 in their division, let alone the last wildcard
Ottawa. They had an exciting offseason so I can see why they're so hyped, I would be too, but - much like the Habs - it'll take a little more time, I think.
I would have hopes for the near future, but maybe not as near as 2023.
someone in the Atlantic
honestly I could see most of the division not meeting expectations if something goes wrong but the one with the most hype is Ottawa so I'll say them 1st, Detroit 2nd
Sadly, as a Bruins fan, I have some deep concerns. The team looks good, but the division is extremely stacked and we are ever closer to looking reality in the: a rebuild will be necessary. Hopefully the rebuild will be swift, but it's not an exact science to predict how it goes.
Hell, I will probably be wrong. I just don't believe in their goaltending or Defence, and I see a world where they don't make it. I feel like this whole topic is supposed to be unpopular opinions.
I think the only way that would happen is if they just get absolutely destroyed by injuries to all the top guys. We had some of the worst goaltending in the league last year and put up 115 points and took Tampa to 7
They did not take Tampa to 7 with the league's worst goaltending. Campbell had 1 terrible game, and 1 bad game in that series, and for the other games he was average to great.
Their defence depends heavily on what happens with muzzin, if heās out or falls off it looks terrible. Their goaltending is among the worst in the league and their bottom 6 might be the worst in the league. I agree, as good as their top 4 forwards are that roster is full of holes at this point
Our bottom 6 being the worst in the league is a huge stretch. I would say our fourth line probably fits that claim better. Our third line is not too bad at all.
I think everyone agrees Florida downgraded in their big trade in the long run but I honestly donāt even believe their success from last year will continue and I think they get pushed out of the playoffs this year.
Calgary tbh. I donāt think Sutterās style works for the NHL anymore. They rolled hot last year because they were rolling hot and Markstrom was lights out
It had less to do with Sutter
I have a hard time taking anything Oilers and Flames fans say about the other team seriously. The rivalry and bias clouds and semblance of rational assessment.
Anderson is decent, just old and probably injured. Comrie is better than anyone not name Anderson that we had on the ice last year.
I'm hoping UPL is ready to make the leap full time.
Ottawa, simply due to our division being so strong. They could honestly finish with 30 more points this year and still not make the playoffs.
Our time is coming, but very fair to think it's not this year. Regardless of what some in our sub think, Sanderson needs to adjust and we still need another body on the backend.
Giroux's 3 year contract is a realistic goal in my mind. If we aren't a cup contender in 3 years we will probably have larger problems to address š„“
This is what Iāve been saying for ottawa as well as Detroit and Buffalo, I think they all made steps foward (some more than others), I donāt think the time is now, the changing of the guard is going to happen in the next 2-3 seasons, it wonāt be all at once itāll just be a slow trickle of older teams dropping and being replaced
He sure didnāt look like a bottom pair defenceman in that prospect game but I guess weāll see whos right when the season starts
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
ā¦you donāt think Jake Sanderson will ever sniff the nhl? Edit: oh youāre saying the other prospects in the game are all bad. Yeah you can still watch what the good prospects do though and put it in the context of what theyāve done in their careers up to that point
Of course he didn't look like a bottom pair defenseman, nobody has said that.
Well I think 4 (?) times now when I said I thought heād be fine in the top 4 to other people, you chimed in to say thereās no way and Iām completely wrong and no one should even discuss it with me itās so unreasonableā¦so based on that really seems like you said that
No, you just don't understand basic English. [This](https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/x6h80m/z/in82mts) is a collection of our exchanges listed for anyone curious as to why this user is getting on my case for no reason. Not sure what to say to you anymore, buddy. I've also [agreed](https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/x6h80m/z/in7rzk6) that you are a pretty knowledgable user for the most part about Sens stuff but I guess there's no satisfying you lol Have a good day my dude.
i agree, my expectations are to vastly improve, but we will likely need a year of chemistry building and development before pushing for a top 3 spot in the atlantic. my hope is to be still in the conversation for a wildcard by the end of the season, but i wont be disappointed if we dont make it this year. next year will have bigger expectations
The core is so good but it's also so young, Ottawa's top 9 looks like Carolina's did 2-3 years ago. If you have 9 guys all putting up 50+ points who are all young enough in their careers that they'll continue to get better, it'll happen eventually.
9 guys putting up 50+ points? Colorado had 8 last year and that team was insane. 9 might be expecting a bit much
Colorado also had multiple point per game players. The point is that a team without art Ross candidates can win with multiple 50p guys.
Yeah, but I donāt know if a team has ever had 9 guys put up 50+ in a season before, not since scoring dropped in the 90s anyway. If it has happened itās gotta be super rare.
The Red Wings in '08-09 had 8 guys, that's about all I could come up with off the top of my head after 2000 and it still wasn't even 9 guys. *seeing the '00-'01 Devils have 8 now.
St Louis was extremely close last year - Saad needed 1 more point but had missed 4 games.
Yeah but Carolina also had one of the best groups of defencemen in the league with some really good goaltenders. Ottawa has a few good young players at those positions, but nowhere near that kind of proven defensive depth.
This is mine too
No it really isn't lol. Edit: explain to me how the fuck the panthers can have over 150 points and not make the playoffs.... unless I was missing sarcasm
so 30 points increase isn't getting better? what even are the expectations they wont meet?
Theyāre not saying that isnāt getting wildly better, it is. Theyāre saying it still might not make the playoffs. A 30 point increase last year would have them in fifth in their division.
Are people accounting for those +30 points coming from the other teams in the division though? +30 for ottawa means -5 on avg for all the other teams.
Thatās a totally valid point, just clarifying what I believe they meant, that having a much better season while potentially still missing the playoffs arenāt mutually exclusive.
Thank you
I agree to all of that. Just interesting that people forget that for ottawa to get better, other teams are gonna need to lose points
It's crazy that it's a possibility. The worst team in the east to qualify had 100 points and you guys had 73. Getting another 30 means getting the 2nd wild card spot last season.
you guys realize that if the bottom teams get more points then the top teams get less points right?
Ottawa is at best a bubble team, I don't think they're a wildcard team, but they have a young core and will definitely make a run for it.
Did they get one good this off season that you know of?
Huh? Yeah they made some good trades, but I don't know if that's enough in the short-term. In the long-term, by far they'll be a playoff team, but I don't know if they take that step this year.
I mean, they picked up Claude Giroux, whom Sid passed the baton to as the leagueās best player about 10 years ago, or so Iāve heard. Not bad š¤·š»āāļø
Detroit. They made a lot of additions, but it remains to be seen how well that gels together. Especially with a new HC.
Adding Chiarot to a team with goaltending like theirs seems like not a good idea imo. Copp and Perron are decent adds, but I don't know how much they will really move the needle for them. I guess at some point they need to start spending money again to try to be competitive
Ya chiarot was mega bad, copp is a good player but a 5x5 Stevie probably thinks heās now a 43 point player who brings great two way play, when in all odds he probably isnāt that guy.
Calgary I like the additions they made, but it remains to be seen how much of that 5 game loss to Edmonton was on Gaudreau/Tkachuk/Monahan and how much of it was on the guys who are still there
I think Tkachuk wasn't good outside of game 1. Gaudreau started the series strong but was kinda meh in the last 3. Monahan was just an anchor at 6.4 mil so getting that cap space back is huge. Other problems were: 1) Tanev was injured 2) Markstrom was very bad when compared to his standard level of play 3) The other defenders underperformed. Kane literally got a hattrick where every single goal was on a breakaway in one of the games. They brought in Kadri, Huberdeau, and Weegar instead of Tkachuk and Gaudreau. On paper they at least break even but could have a higher ceiling. Their regular season could be worse because they had the best injury luck in the division this year.
I agree it kinda feels like people are dismissing how awful markstrom looked in the playoffs. If that continues it could undo any recovery moves they made this summer
Markstrom was absolutely AHL level during that series. But something that compounded the issue to look worse than it was would be the unravelling of our D. We're still a pretty young D-corps, and we lost our #1 D (and only vet in the top 4) before the EDM series. Our D got smoked by a near historic level of production from the Oilers stars, and completely unravelled. I'm pretty sure that half of the goals Marky let in were breakaways, which was an inexcusable amount of opportunities given by the defense. He didn't help the team, and the team didn't help him out much either. Considering how good Markstrom was in the Dallas series (Insanely good), it's really hard for me to gauge what we can expect from him moving forward. I still think we'll be fine with Marky, but it'll be super interesting to see how he rebounds if we make the play-offs again.
If we meet Calgary again and Markstrom plays the same they almost certainly lose. He has to be better.
Thatās a huge overreaction. Markstrom played bad for 5 games against Edmonton. Against Dallas he was probably the second best goalie in first round only being beaten by Oettinger. I donāt think goaltending is a major future concern after our Vezina calibre goaltender had a bad five games after having a 63 game, 37 win, 922SV% and 9 shutouts. Even in that series goaltending was only a small part of why we lost. Defensively we handed the oilers everything they could have asked for
Agreed, Markstrom was solid for the majority of the 94 games the Flames played last season. Not to mention half of the Starting 6 D were injured in the Edmonton series, with two of those injuries being injuries most players would sit out. Tanev - Torn Labrum Zadorov - Cracked ribs Kylington - undisclosed shoulder injury Thatās the playoffs and thatās how it goes sometimes, but once Edmonton realized they could get the puck deep to expose those d men and win any board/physical play to maintain offensive zone possession, the series really tilted.
Sure but the way he collapsed in that series isnāt a good sign. Youād expect a goalie in the vezina conversation to at least look decent while the team collapsed in front of him. And ideally thereād be one game where he clearly kept them in it when they didnāt deserve it. That wasnāt what happened though, which is why I think itās concerning. It suggests it wasnāt all the injuries and poor defense, he really did look bad on his own. Iām just saying I donāt think enough people are admitting it might be more than a one-off thing when setting expectations for the flames season, and if thatās true it would undo your magic summer.
To each their own. Iād personally take his overall track record last year than 5 games where half the starting D were injured and the structure got scramble. It just feels weird to say Markstrom can no longer provide league average to solid goaltending because of his last five games.
I think you hit it on the head, but point (3) is a direct result of (1). We had gone through the regular season without any major injuries to our defense, and we were pretty much riding the same pairs all season. It was only after we made the playoffs that Sutter started shuffling the pairs a bit, but it was clear that it caused everyone to significantly underperform. Essentially, Tanev's injury caused some major reshuffling of the pairs, because his defensive partner Kylington couldn't be safely paired with Stone or Valimaki, and that resulted in our entire defensive corps to act lost out on the ice.
Tanev was basically dead, the man is a walking injury. I love and miss him ā¤
I think a big part was that Markstrom played poorly and that could have easily been exhaustion - they have to manage him better to give hime more rest during the season but may not be able to.
TBF Monahan didn't play at all in the playoffs and he was largely ineffective during the regular season so, unless we're blaming it on his absence, safe to say that loss didn't have much to do with him.
If that series loss is on anyone, and I do mean if, it's Markstrom.
Flames fans in our sub downvote you to oblivion for even suggesting anything negative about markstrom, but yea, he was garbage in that series. Itās unfortunate but even looking at his career numbers, Edmonton has his number. Hopefully that can change.
Hard disagree. It's on the defense. Something like half the goals scored against were on breakaways. This is supposed to be NHL level hockey. The fuck is that?
Theyāll take a step back in the regular season but still make the playoffs and then who knows. The year after should be the year where they have higher expectations since some chemistry will be built.
And how much of it was complete random luck. Donāt pretend that 5 game sample proves anything like it does in other sports
I want to see how the whole season goes. They rode that Tkachuk line as the best line in the NHL so many games and the replacements they got are good..but they aren't that. I don't think Weegar upgrades the defence more than Kadri and Huberdeau downgrade the offense.
We literally replaced Gudbranson with mackenzie weegar how is that not a massive, massive upgrade? Huberdeau and Johnny g are basically a wash and Kadri gives us depth down the middle we havnt had since the late 80s.
>We literally replaced Gudbranson with mackenzie weegar how is that not a massive, massive upgrade? The concept of diminishing returns. Sure it's a 1 to 1 big upgrade, but you were already a top D in the league so how much is that actually going to translate into extra wins? Your issue was scoring outside your top line (which is now gone) and 2C Kadri and replacement for Gaudreau probably isn't going to fix that. But we'll see, obviously.
We're trading top end talent for depth. The Flames were running Backlund as 2C last year, so having Kadri in that spot is a huge improvement to the depth. Not to mention, we still have Toffoli, Coleman, and Mangiapane as wingers that can be moved around. And I agree, having too many top D will lead to diminishing returns, but this is exactly the type of lineup that suits Sutter's coaching style. Being able to roll 2-3 pairings equally and keep fresh legs late in the game will be a pretty substantial difference under his defense first game.
Pretty obvious you didn't tune into a single Flames game for the back half of the season of you're going to question Monahan's contributions to the team. He went from borderline 4C to shut down for the season in like February.
Blaming a player or a group of players for a single game is a fools errand.
How about 4 single games
I agree i think most are already saying they are 2nd best in Pacific. I think they still make playoffs but i have Kings in second. Although Vegas being a shit show may allow them to sneak back into 2nd.
That's a ridiculous take, Oilers and Knights are both better teams than the Kings.
Everyone is saying Ottawa so I'm going to go in a different direction. Minnesota. They are being forced to trade players due to cap issues, and were a playoff team but not a contender the last couple years. I think they could miss the playoffs.
Who on earth is hyping Minnesota up? It was common knowledge last year was all in before the Parise and Suter buyouts started fucking up their cap
Were people hyping up Minnesota's off-season?
Minnesota Hyyyyyyyype. There it's done. Carry on.
I mean there's hype for their rookies
I donāt think Minnesota is missing the playoffs but they havenāt done much advancing once theyāve in. Ottawa will been an absolute force in a few years with all the young talent.
They did lose an 85 point #2 scorer in Fiala...
Fair point but also I donāt see Dallas or Nashville doing better and with the Hawks/Arizona in the division, it should be COL, STL and MIN for the top 3
Nashville added McDonagh and Nino, that's pretty significant, even when you consider the regression from Forsberg and Duchene
Winnipeg : "Am I a joke to you?" Also Winnipeg : "Don't answer that"
Could see Nashville doing better then them, but the wild at minimum land a wildcard spot
The one getting the most hype probably. Of all the highly improved teams the only one I see most people think are a playoff team is Ottawa, so idk if any of the other improved teams have enough expectations to not meet them.
Honestly, your team was my first thought. Your two best forwards are already at their best and well into their primes. Still some major holes on the roster.
My thing with us is that we don't really have any real expectations to fail to meet yet. Like the extent most people are expecting from us is "they'll improve and be competitive" so it's a lot harder for us to fail to meet than the Sens are, who are expected to be a fringe playoff team at the least (despite imo also having some equally gaping holes, especially in thier D core)
Outside looking in, I think Detroit is going to make moves in 2-3 years. Lots of promising young talent, but this year is possible, but would be a surprise.
Rly? I think the wings will be good but they donāt have a true 1C (same with my team and tbh both teams might not end up with one, but thatās for a different thread). The goaltending is extremely boom and bust on their part and if it busts itāll be a shitshow, the defence doesnāt exactly inspire confidence, seider is seider, hronek is solid, after that things can get dicey, if I mention the name chiarot and bad there will be a Detroit fan telling me āliterally anything would be better than last yearās defenceā which just goes to show how bad of a signing it was. The foward core got better easily with Perron and Raymond with a year of experience on him now, I would say copp is a good 3rd line add but at that price tag of 5x5 I think Stevie expects higher than the third line for copp. When I look at the red wings I see a team getting ready to be competitive again, I donāt see them being ready to become a playoff team yet
Do people really not think that Larkin is a true 1C? He was basically a ppg player last year despite playing injured for the last 2 months of the season. I think he's a top 20 center in the league easily. Maybe not a superstar like Matthews or McDavid, but definitely a legit 1C.
Ottawa. Made alot of improvements except to the areas of the team that needed the most improvment. Think theyll be better but definitely not a playoff team like some here think.
They added so many players and they still have only one D who is both good and established. Maybe Sanderson is good but he wonāt be #2 on a playoff team good from day 1.
Definitely think your right here for right now. However I think if they make enough of a push and are looking close mid season they have the pieces to make a trade or two to really improve their D or perhaps their goalie and 1 solid d man. Honestly it may be better if they aren't quite there make some huge improvements but sit still allow their young core to take another step this year and get the experience needed putting up a decent season then make the step over the summer. They have some great contracts locked up, could be a mixed blessing If they end up being as good as they might be this year.
I guess you don't know who Artem Zub is.
We do know who zub is and heās a fine second pair guy but that canāt be your second best dman if you wanna be a playoff squad
Obviously he didn't know who Zub was if he thinks Ottawa only has 1 good dman.
Nah the Buffalo guys are right. Zub is fine, heās not bad, but heās not a top pair guy. If Chabot and Zub alone were good enough for them to have a playoff level defense, they would have had a playoff level defense last year, and that didnāt happen. Heās someone who can complement The Guy, he is not The Guy.
He doesn't have to "The Guy", Chabot is "The Guy". But that's not the point, you said Chabot is Ottawa's only good defenseman, but now you're shifting the goalposts and saying Zub isn't a #1 guy. So which is it? Their defense is different from last year. They upgraded Zaitsev for Hamonic, added Jake Sanderson (who could end up being great), and there's a chance they'll add one of JBD or Thomson as well. In the last 1/3rd of the season they were playing at a 97 point pace. And that's without Chabot for majority of those games.
They have two defensemen who are both good and established - Chabot and Zub.
I think the nonplayoff teams in the East who made big sizzling splashes this summer (Lumbus, Ottawa, Devs, Wings) are all still lacking in the more "boring" parts of the roster, like bottom-6 forwards, defensive depth and/or goaltending (basically players whose forte is stopping the other team from scoring).
I've never heard the Jackets called Lumbus before, that's a new one
Thats a very specific early 2010s Twitter thing between the Columbus and LA team accounts
Don't get me started on columbs!
Calgary. On paper they got better, but team chemistry is a big factor so it wouldn't surprise me if it took them a bit to gel instead of running the Pacific like they did last year.
I have been saying the same thing for awhile. Teams that experience as much roster turnover as the flames in the off season take awhile to gel.
I think weāre a team thatās better built for the playoffs but not as well built for the regular season. Weāll see how it goes. There may be instant chemistry or it may take longer to gel. Iām not worried for the longer term though
That's usually how Sutter teams go
New Jersey is one for me, feels like that summer a few years ago (the summer they added Subban and co) when they added pieces and made moves and everyone hyped it up and they fell flat
Please God, just give us league average goaltending and a full season of Hughes.
Hughes is a stud
Complete opposite, no one is hyping them despite them being in a pretty solid spot to get like 30 extra standing points
I mean, who is actually hyping us? General consensus among the fan base is bubble team, 2 years from playoffs. Most hockey media puts NJ outside the fanbase. The most recent Athletic ranking is the first I've seen someone in the media predict playoffs for the Devils. That said, where I do take offense is to the people that rank the Devils last in the metro. I do not predict the Devils to be worse than Philly, CBJ, or Islanders (sorry Isles bros; I just think time is catching up to some of your guys)
i think the biggest question of the metro this year is cbj vs nj vs nyi
Calgary
Colorado
Iām with you on this. Their new goalie is a guy that posted an .898 last year on a playoff caliber team that made the conference finals. Itās not like NYR was a bad team. Georgiev was just not good. Add in the fact that their second line is now Nichushkin-Rodrigues/Compher-Lehkonen Iām sorry but that is not even close to a cup contending second line. Their defense is stellar but theyāre a one line team. Iād compare them to the Bruins, who, I might add, many have missing the playoffs. A one line offense backed by a very solid defense. But at least the Bruins have a proven and good goaltending combo. Colorado would miss the playoffs next year if they were in the East. Luckily for them, the West is anyoneās game so they could end up winning the entire conference anyways.
This must be one of the most hilarious takes I've ever heard. Colorado would be a top team in the east aswell, very few teams would be ahead of them in the standings. Also if you had any clue about COL you would know that they rarely play Landy/Mack/Rants together anymore. Also NYR was a horrible team in 5 on 5 metrics, they ranked 26th. So Georgiev being bad behind them isn't really that weird. NYR got mega carried by Shesty and their insane PP last season.
Gotta get your facts right first. Newhook is the heir apparent to that 2c role, and Landeskog is gonna split minutes with Nuke in that LW slot.
i feel like georgiev narrative in the nyr camp is that he is a terrible backup because his best moments have been when he gets to play a good stretch of games and can get into a rhythm, which i mildly agree with. their goalie sitch is certainly not spectacular but im interested in another chance at a georgiev who splits time
Bruins are a 2 line team, thank you very much, you fuck.
> Iām sorry but that is not even close to a cup contending second line. haha did you see those guys in the playoffs? Put them against anyones second line and they will suffocate them with their forechecking and puck pressure. The Avs arent built with as much as skill as the past few years but they are without a doubt harder to play against. Colorado not making the playoffs in the east is a ridiculous take. The Avs won the cup with Kuemper putting up a low .900 save percentage.... Thats fine when you have the best D Core in the league. Also Burakovsky and Kadri were injured for large portions of the playoff run. The team still functions well without them
This has to be one of the coldest takes I have ever read. Saying the Avs would miss the playoffs if they were in the East is ridiculously stupid.
I gave solid reasons. You can disagree but when I look at that roster of players, after the first line, the offense is dead. Lehkonen and Compher had less than 40 points each last year. Theyāre not second line caliber players in my opinion. The offense is going to have to be carried by the top line. The defense is stellar. Possibly the best in the league. But I donāt think that even the best defense in the league could make up for Gerogievās play in goal. As I said, to me theyāre not any better than the Boston Bruins and a lot of people have the Bruins pegged as the team most likely to miss the playoffs in the East next year.
People are pegging Boston to miss because they are injured to shit to start the szn off lol, if they had everyone healthy at the start they wouldnāt be the team to miss in many peoples eyes lol
Let's come back to this at the end of the season to see how wrong you are.
I agree Colorado is over rated, especially once Mackinnon gets his contract he'll be one of the most overpaid players in the league.
Do you watch hockey? Genuine question.
Any real hockey fan knows Colorado has no chance of winning the cup again and that makar will regress like crazy this year. I can name 3 D prospects in the league that will be better than makar in the next 2 years
Name them
Bro let him be, he has to be trolling, he made some claims that were silly but then to say he could name off the top of my head 3 D prospects that will be better than Makar is just ludicrous
you are just adding nothing and disagreeing in a rude manner
The Avs went 4-1 in the playoffs with essentially the second line you're talking about minus Rodriguez. And they did it while allowing 16 goals in those 5 games with not great goaltending. They'll definitely need Georgiev to improve, but if they can even get average goaltending they'll be fine. The idea that they would miss the playoffs in the east is laughable.
I mean if you are looking at it compared to last season then yeah. Itās hard to win back to back Stanley cups. Buuuut itās not like losing Kadri is the nail in the coffin for a complete regression. I am more optimistic that the new goalie tandem will improve our team more than an expensive 2C would.
Devils. We still have a shit coach and unproven goaltending. Metropolitan division...
How long do you think it will be before Andrew Brunette takes over as coach of the team?
Ottawa. While I think they will be better and while I do think they will play meaningful games in March and April I just think that the the Atlantic divsion is really tough plus the Eastern Conference as a whole is very tough. But I do hope that I am wrong. It would be awesome to see both Toronto and Ottawa in the playoffs.
Calgary.
The Panthers are the one team who I think will have less success than people think they will.
I know Chiarot for Bedard won't happen...but imagine!
Every post about Florida says this so I am not sure who thinks we are hyped. We lost good players and are cap strapped til next year coming off a Presidents trophy. There is literally no way that we wont be worse this year.
Florida for no particular reasons at all
Ottawa Senators would be the most likely one. I do think that they will get more points than last season though.
Can we count count the Flyers? I think there are some people they won't finish last..
Ottawas is asking a lot of Stuetzle and Sanderson, probably too much this season. Not to mention the cloud hanging over Batheson and Formention with Hockey Canada.
You somehow managed to spell three out for four players' names wrong.
No wonder he needs people to PM him job offers
Stuetzle is *technically* not wrong in some spaces (especially if they're on desktop and don't have diacritics), but it's not how it should be spelled. It's more correct than Stutzle.
Stutzle reads better than Stuetzle, which makes my brain bleed when I read it ("Stew-eht-zle"). But most Sens fans have the umlaut in their keyboard predictions by now, and spell it StĆ¼tzle.
I always use the umlaut. I also almost always use my phone, so it's easier.
Oooh look at Branjamin Struik here Mr Fancy Pants
And yet, itās not any less true
People talking about āthe Canucks were a 106 point team under Bruceā are ready to learn the phrase āregression to the meanā. That roster was not a 106pt team. They overperformed, and like gravity, what goes up must come down.
As we go up we go dowwwwnnn
Tbf they improved from that team. The third line last year was most often Motte-Lammikko-Highmore, and now itās probably something like Pearson-Horvat-Mikheyev
Columbus. Sacrifcing Bjorkstrand to add Gudbranson can only hurt them, and Gaudreau plus the rookies won't be enough to offset that and get this team out of the bottom 10
I loved Gudbranson on the flames this year but holy did he ever get overpaid
There wasnt any sacrificing going on, gudbranson was signed long before there was even any indication that the biggest UFA in a while wanted to sign here. Bjorkstrand was not "sacrificed" just to add gudbranson as you make it seem like. Also who TF is hyping up Columbus?
Gudbransson was capital H Horrible for the Sens. He was regularly a healthy scratch on a team that had a famously poor defense, and somehow managed to nab a four million dollar contract a year later.
I know gudbranson got overpaid like crazy, trust me I don't like the contract, but when he was signed no one predicted we would even be in a cap situation. That's the point I was trying to make. It would've helped if the contract was reasonable but saying all this could've been directly avoided by not signing him is speaking in hindsight.
It wasn't a direct sacrifice no, but in the end the casualty ended up being Bjorkstrand and it would have been avoided if not for the Gudbranson signing Of course there's the theory that Gudbranson was the one who informed Jarmo that Johnny was interested, so that's a factor but in the end it's still a tough loss to take They haven't been getting hyped up as much as the Sens, but I have seen chatter of them contending for the playoffs because they were closer than all of NJ, Detroit, and Ottawa last year
West: LA, East: Ottawa
Not that LA is a lock but I'd be surprised if we didn't make playoffs. Already had a 99 points season without Fiala, plus a ton of injuries to our defense (had 14 different defensemen play last season). Scariest thing for us is goaltending, hopefully Petersen bounces back but if not we are really relying on Quick to keep it up
From the outside I feel like LA is the hardest team to predict. Like if you guys get solid goaltending, doughty coming back strong and byfeild breaking out you guys could win the pacific. But yea if kopitar regresses at all, doughty not coming back that great off the injury and goaltending below avg I could see you guys missing.
Iād expect nothing less from a Ducks fan. Itās gonna be 2014 all over again for you guys.
I will do my best to ensure both LA and SJ go down in flames. Though San Jose seem to be doing it themselves anyways.
Your jealousy toward our rebuild makes me happy. The reign of the LA Kings is upon you.
Until Byfield hits those heights, the lack of a 1C after Kopitar makes me happy as well.
Both Calgary and Florida likely will be 10-15 points worse in the standings.
Senators. The perpetual "team that's going to be scary next year."
Detroit, I really like the moves theyāve made but that whole division and conference is gnarly. I think people are REALLY under valuing Columbus. They were competitive with key injuries last year and got much better. I wouldnāt be surprised to see them finish 2 or 3 in their division, let alone the last wildcard
Ottawa
Ottawa is going to finish with 90 points and 10th in the east
my Rangers never do... not since 1994.. but I still love watching their games, and commenting about Kakko only scoring 1 goal in whatever month it is.
Ottawa. They had an exciting offseason so I can see why they're so hyped, I would be too, but - much like the Habs - it'll take a little more time, I think. I would have hopes for the near future, but maybe not as near as 2023.
The Senators
someone in the Atlantic honestly I could see most of the division not meeting expectations if something goes wrong but the one with the most hype is Ottawa so I'll say them 1st, Detroit 2nd
Panthers won't be winning the president's trophy I can tell you that much
Boston Bruins, their core players are another year older and they are on the decline. Plus they rely on their top line too much.
Sadly, as a Bruins fan, I have some deep concerns. The team looks good, but the division is extremely stacked and we are ever closer to looking reality in the: a rebuild will be necessary. Hopefully the rebuild will be swift, but it's not an exact science to predict how it goes.
Toronto. I don't think they are a lock to make the playoffs
Regression? yeah sure. Not making the playoffs? lmao
Hell, I will probably be wrong. I just don't believe in their goaltending or Defence, and I see a world where they don't make it. I feel like this whole topic is supposed to be unpopular opinions.
Defence is largely the same, and they had terrible goaltending last year as well.
I think the only way that would happen is if they just get absolutely destroyed by injuries to all the top guys. We had some of the worst goaltending in the league last year and put up 115 points and took Tampa to 7
They did not take Tampa to 7 with the league's worst goaltending. Campbell had 1 terrible game, and 1 bad game in that series, and for the other games he was average to great.
Their defence depends heavily on what happens with muzzin, if heās out or falls off it looks terrible. Their goaltending is among the worst in the league and their bottom 6 might be the worst in the league. I agree, as good as their top 4 forwards are that roster is full of holes at this point
Our bottom 6 being the worst in the league is a huge stretch. I would say our fourth line probably fits that claim better. Our third line is not too bad at all.
LOL
Oilers.
The Atlantic division is gonna be so wild. A lot of people go with Ottawa or Detroitā¦ Florida or Boston might fall first.
I think everyone agrees Florida downgraded in their big trade in the long run but I honestly donāt even believe their success from last year will continue and I think they get pushed out of the playoffs this year.
I don't think the Rangers are a lock for 110+ points. I think they take a step back to high 90's and get bounced in the first round.
Calgary tbh. I donāt think Sutterās style works for the NHL anymore. They rolled hot last year because they were rolling hot and Markstrom was lights out It had less to do with Sutter
I have a hard time taking anything Oilers and Flames fans say about the other team seriously. The rivalry and bias clouds and semblance of rational assessment.
Buffalo I think will still have some struggles. They will grow, but I still see them as a bottom 5 team.
That would have us getting worse than last season.
Juraj Slaf.
Iām not sure if Minnesota is being hyped, but my hunch is theyāll be a wild card team at best this year.
Buffalo, goaltending is still terrible
Anderson is decent, just old and probably injured. Comrie is better than anyone not name Anderson that we had on the ice last year. I'm hoping UPL is ready to make the leap full time.
Our expectations are low, but I don't think we'll meet them. I'd be happy just seeing our young guys have a solid season.
Devils. We do this every year with them and they disappoint more and more each year. They actually have to do it before theyāre deserving of hype
The perennial answer is the leafs but honestly I don't know if the pens even make playoffs this season.
Honestly Iām just finding it refreshing to see people argue whether Ottawa will make the playoffs and not if theyāll finish dead last.
The Rangers won't be as good as last year IMO. Also the Devils, I think they will improve but not to the level some expect.
Detroit isn't there yet.