• Moderators, please send me a PM if you are unable to access mod permissions. Thanks, Habsy.

Around the League 2019-2024 Edition

I guess I can see suggesting Florida will see a drop off but the people saying they'll go from 120 pts to missing the playoffs seems like wishful thinking to me.
 
MindzEye said:
- Kind of wild that Florida is getting no regular season love in our division. People taking Tampa over Florida in the regular season are a bit messed in the head imo. Tampa lost McDonagh and Palat for nothing. Replaced them with Namestnikov and lol Ian Cole.

Their likely blueline at the moment:

Hedman-Cernak
Sergachev-Foote
Fleury/Bogo/Myers

That's a goodish top 3 and a pretty suspect bottom group

Florida loses turns Hubie & Weegar into Tkachuk, which is a pretty big downgrade to their blueline. But coming from ~120 points and having all of their important players in prime (other than Bob) gives them more regular season wiggle room imo.


- I wanted to slag the amount of people picking Edmonton in the pacific....but what a horseshit division that is

- I appreciate the bravery necessary to pick Toronto coming out of the East by the handful that did so. It's a way better bet than the memes suggest.

- Mark Spector picking the Leafs as the team most likely to disappoint is the fuel that my soul runs on.

- Only one person picking Auston for the Hart is slanderous, libelous, scurrilous, and preposterous.

- I notice they didn't bother asking who would win the Rocket Richard either...
Click to expand...

you're underrating what Florida lost tho.

Huberdeau 118pt pace
Marchment 71pt pace with no pp time
Duclair 64pt pace (injured for most of the year and no capspace to bring him back anyways)
Giroux 105pt pace (yes, only 20gms from the deadline but they pulled away at a 131pt pace post deadline)

Weegar 45pt pace with no pp time


and they're trying to replace that with

Tkachuk 105pt pace
White 34pt pace (24gms)
Balcers 31pt pace
Cousins 27pt pace

M.Staal 18pt pace
 
zeke said:
you're underrating what Florida lost tho.

Huberdeau 118pt pace
Marchment 71pt pace with no pp time
Duclair 64pt pace (injured for most of the year and no capspace to bring him back anyways)
Giroux 105pt pace (yes, only 20gms from the deadline but they pulled away at a 131pt pace post deadline)

Weegar 45pt pace with no pp time


and they're trying to replace that with

Tkachuk 105pt pace
White 34pt pace (24gms)
Balcers 31pt pace
Cousins 27pt pace

M.Staal 18pt pace
Click to expand...

Where would you have them? Out?
 
zeke said:
you're underrating what Florida lost tho.

Huberdeau 118pt pace
Marchment 71pt pace with no pp time
Duclair 64pt pace (injured for most of the year and no capspace to bring him back anyways)
Giroux 105pt pace (yes, only 20gms from the deadline but they pulled away at a 131pt pace post deadline)

Weegar 45pt pace with no pp time


and they're trying to replace that with

Tkachuk 105pt pace
White 34pt pace (24gms)
Balcers 31pt pace
Cousins 27pt pace

M.Staal 18pt pace
Click to expand...
Yup. Florida lovers are in for a bit of a shock, I think.

Especially since they overachieved last year with that better roster, imo. That team had no business being that good.
 
Beat Boston round 1, beat Tampa round 2, beat Carolina round 3 and then lose to Edmonton.

Lose to the worst of the 4 teams?
 
CH1 said:
Florida enjoyed a lot of career years last season. Folks are betting on some regression
Click to expand...

Oh, there will be regression, it's just that 15 points of regression is still a 107 point team. They're still real gud though imo.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CH1
I wouldn't underestimate Florida, doubt they get 120pts but they're still stacked at frwd, there going to miss Weegar but it was much better to move him than lose him for nothing or give him the 8 yr contract that kicks in when he's 29.
 
In fairness to Edmonton, they're a good team that will look real gud in that division.

Kane-Connor-Jesse
Holloway-Draisaitl-Hyman
Yamamoto-RNH-Foegele
McLeod-Shore-Ryan

That's better and deeper than they've ever been at forward.

- That top line should be really good. Kane is a good/great offensive play driver (dodgy defensively though) and plus finisher. Connor is obviously what he is, and PoolParty is a sneaky solid winger. At minimum, Connor has 2 wingers to play with now and isn't dragging Kassian's or 21 yr old Yamamoto's around anymore.

- 2nd line should be at least okay at 5's. Drais isn't really a centre per se and gives up chances about as often as he generates them, but one of the top 5 players in the league finishes more than the other team finishes against him. Going shot for shot against someone who hits like a train might look okay on the scorecard, but you're going to lose against them usually. Holloway might be fine, might not. If he's not, Yamamoto isn't good, but he has enough skill to not be a trainwreck there. Zach is what we all know him to be. Great engine, good play driver, solid defensively. Good complimentary winger who does a lot of things your skill players probably don't.

- RNH was a nerdies train wreck last year, Foegele was better than his offensive totals suggest and fine here. Yamamoto/Holloway is where this maybe gets dodgy. What does this line do? It can't be your matchup line, surely? Could be a really tertiary offensive line getting the light work...but then wtf is that 2nd line with Leon at C?

- 4th sure looks like a tire fire to me

Overall the forward group is going to score goals but I seriously want someone choosing them as a 110+ point team and a contender to tell me who they're using to match up against opposition bests? Who is taking defensive zone faceoffs here?

Nurse-Ceci
Kulak-Barrie
Murray-Bouchard

Nurse is probably a solid #1, but having Ceci ride shotty on your heavy usage pair sounds like a bad idea. Bouchard might be something, but we've all seen kids murder 3rd pairing competition and not be able to make an impact further up the lineup. Duncan Keith and Russell were both turrible and there could have possibly been some addition by subtraction here....but putting that on Nurse/Ceci alone could be bad. Kulak-Barrie can't be trusted.

Campbell
Skinner

Will probably be a competent tandem. Not having Koskinen sucking dick for 30-40 games a season is a bonus. Any upgrade overall is likely to be marginal though. Mike Smith had been almost a .920 guy over the previous 2 seasons. The potential downside exists here too. Jack is fairly fragile so expect heavy workloads at your own peril. Stuart Skinner had a nice season across AHL/NHL last season, but only has a good, not great pedigree across his WHL & AHL careers. We thought Garrett Sparks was part of the future in our net once too and Sparks was way better in the AHL than Skinner. Calvin Pickard is their insurance ffs. A Jack injury could leave them ugly ugly in net.

It's weird to me that Edmonton's goaltending keeps getting quoted as a strength going into this season and ours is allegedly garbage. But I don't know if I would take Jack-Skinner-Pickard over Murray-Samsonov-Kallgren. At minimum, it's not a crazy comparison at all.
 
zeke said:
Win a couple playoffs rounds and the world thinks you're great.

Doesn't matter against who, or how badly you lose in the end.
Click to expand...

And completely ignoring an extremely bloated oish% during that run

McDavid and Drai were both 16+, Nurse/Hyman/Ceci were 13+ and Kane was 11.6

In comparison, 2 Flames were over 10. Kylington and Stone at 10.1
 
Red Line said:
Better than getting knocked out early every year.
Click to expand...

It is, but I think process is important. I would rather be the Leafs, with all of their playoff winning issues, but possessing a team obviously talented enough to win the whole fucking thing than I would be a plucky 7th place team that flukes their way past a playoff team or two and gets decimated by the first cup calibre team they play. I personally could give a fuck about winning a round or two, I want the whole thing. Winning a round or two just makes the emotional coping waiting for next year's playoffs easier.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top