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The New Division

They can't expect that goaltending to be at that level, but they can expect to be healthier. And overall, they are better.
 
SENSible said:
Nice to see someone be objective.

The Sens were ravaged by injury last year and still ended up with the best result between our three teams.

If you look at the stats player posted the Sens are near the top in everything but "goals for". Add Karlsson, Spezza and Ryan and that will look a whole lot different.

The division winner will be one of Detroit, Ottawa or Boston, but the Sens should be the favorite.

The Leafs and Habs will be fighting for the wild cards.
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very objective of you.
 
JaysCyYoung said:
Cowen sucks and Methot is passable as a third or fourth defenceman. Congratulations?
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Cowen is an excellent young Dman and will be a force for years to come. This is bordering on Zeke's Chara take when the Sens traded for him.

Methot a passable 3rd, 4th???? Tell that to team Canada.
 
I would think at least one of the on-paper "better" teams in the Atlantic isn't going to make it. Just how tough the division is.

I don't see how anyone can call a favourite, really.

I think the Leafs are a better team than they were last season, perhaps significantly better depending on how the new additions fit.

My gut feel looking at the roster we have now is that we'll make the playoffs. we can score, our D looks to be stronger and deeper than last year's group, and more importantly our goaltending and PK is now good to very good instead of bottom of the barrel as it was for most of the last decade.
 
TheCountofMonteCristo said:
Only quibble, I would have us ahead of you.

I see the world in bleu blanc rouge and you see it in blue and white so that is probably the only difference.
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I don't. Toronto has a good team coming up and the Habs will be missing Emelin until at least December. People continue to underestimate how important he was to Markov on that pairing. After going down to injury Markov's game went south.
 
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PlayerToBeNamedLater said:
My preliminary rankings:

1. Toronto
2. Montreal
3. Boston
4. Detroit
5. Ottawa
6. Tampa Bay
7. Buffalo
8. Florida

Toronto, Montreal, Boston get the automatic playoff births. Detroit and Ottawa the wildcards. Tampa Bay, Buffalo, Florida miss.
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Hilarious. Ottawa four spots back of Toronto. That's gooooooood comedy.
 
I think we're 100% in the playoffs barring injuries.

I think we may even challenge for first.

And we play in the third round in the playoffs.
 
Toronto may run into some depth issues up front, especially when Lupul gets hurt again. If you fail for any reason, it's that.

Habs have good depth up front, but a butter-soft D, especially with Emelin gone for the first 2 months.

Ottawa has some good players, but I don't know what kind of team they'll be when their goaltending drops to a .920ish level. Of course, I could have asked the same question of the Habs and getting .905ish goaltending, and we made it through. I expect Ottawa will make the playoffs, but they're not a runaway team in the div in the least.

Boston lost a bunch of guys, but at this point they're probably the closest to a complete team in the East (or at least in our division). Depth on D will be their downfall, and they could fall fast if Chara ever shows his age.

Detroit we obviously have less to go on. Everyone's been predicting their downfall for years and they refuse to fail - they'll be competing for one of the 2 wildcard spots until the last week of the season.

Tampa I think will be a very interesting team to watch. They lost Vinny, but gained a potentially good goalie. If they get .920-ish goaltending, they could also certainly be fighting for the playoffs.

6 teams, and max 5 spots. Boston is the only team who's a lock to make it now, IMHO.
 
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