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Predictions 2022-23

E

east coast

Well-known member
Here we go. Great time of year for sports fans:
East 1
1. Florida
2.Tampa Bay
3.Ottawa
4.Toronto

5.Detroit
6.Boston
7.Buffalo
8.Montreal

East 2
1.New York Rangers
2.Columbus
3.Washington
4.Carolina

5.Pittsburgh
6.New Jersey
7.New York Islanders
8.Philadelphia

West 1
1.Minnesota
2.Nashville
3.St Louis
4.Colorado

5.Winnepeg
6.Dallas
7.Chicago
8.Arizona

West 2
1.Edmonton
2.Calgary
3.Los Angeles
4.Anaheim

5.Vancouver
6.Seattle
7.Vegas
8.San Jose

Edmonton will beat Rangers to win Stanley Cup
 
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I'd love to see the Oilers win a Cup with Campbell and Hyman while the Leafs tap out in round one yet again.

Dubas would be rendered permanently unemployable after that.
 
Nashville could be sleeper. Like the additions of Niedereiter and McDonough. Not enough star power though in the end probably. And they generally have an aura of playoff failure.

I like the Wild too in the west, despite loss of Fiala. Not sure about Fleury.

Like many others I'm sure , I had a tough time choosing between Edmonton and Calgary. Should be a fun year in Alberta.
 
Almost everybody on Florida had career years and I don't think there's any argument anyone can make that this year's roster is better on paper.

I don't think they're getting 30g from Duclair again, I don't think Verhaeghe's quite as good as his stats say he is (although I think he's the most likely of the players I list to replicate), Marchment isn't a ~0.85 PPG player, Huberdeau (arguably a top-5 forward in the NHL last year) & Weaghar are gone, I'm not convinced Barkov is a 45g / 1.3PPG player, I think Reinhart/Bennett are going to revert to the norm. Getting Tkachuk is nice, but Huberdeau last year was better than Tkachuk. I think Florida will win the trade over the long run just because of the age difference between Tkachuk & Huberdeau, though.

Also: Look at their defense. They might have the second worst defense in the NHL, in front of only us. Ekblad is great... when healthy. Montour is fine... in a limited roll. The rest of the defense, though? I'm not sure a single one of them is still a legitimate, NHL caliber d-man.

They also traded a ton of assets to improve themselves last year and they won't be able to "load up" as much this season.

And with the offensive totals going down, I don't think they'll be able to hide Bobrovsky's mediocre play. Florida was all too willing last year to play a run & gun, fuck defense style of hockey. And I'm all for it, it's fun as hell. But the second they ran into a team that played hockey like it's meant to be played, Tampa Bay capitalized on all their stupid little mistakes and swept 'em.

(I'm also hoping they miss the playoffs to improve our draft pick from the Chiarot trade, so there may be a little bias)
 
The more I look at their roster and the more I think about it, the less I'm convinced Florida makes the playoffs. It's a weirdly constructed roster.
 
Good argument. I thought of that, and especially the defence, where Weegar will be a major loss and there is no ready replacement.

In the end, though, I saw worts in all three expected contenders. A team like Ottawa could leapfrog all three and I considered picking them. But that might be a stretch. Not sure Tampa will push that hard for first, perhaps focusing more on a Cup drive. They have also suffered losses, may be bruised up,etc.

So I ended up picking Florida anyway.
 
east coast said:
Good argument. I thought of that, and especially the defence, where Weegar will be a major loss and there is no ready replacement.

In the end, though, I saw worts in all three expected contenders. A team like Ottawa could leapfrog all three and I considered picking them. But that might be a stretch. Not sure Tampa will push that hard for first, perhaps focusing more on a Cup drive. They have also suffered losses, may be bruised up,etc.

So I ended up picking Florida anyway.
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You're right, they all have issues. I don't what to make of Ottawa. They look like a good team... outside of their goaltenders. The goaltenders are going to sink 'em. If they were to acquire Chychrun to solidify their defense, they're a super legit team... if you ignore their goaltenders.

But hoping that Cam Talbot and Forsberg/Hellberg are going to bail your team out? Yeah, good luck with that one.
 
Yeah, and the defence is still hardly ready for top tier status I don't think. But uncertainty there too, about who among the young prospects on defence is ready for prime time, etc.

Perhaps a little more toughness up front needed , but that can be acquired......losing Nick Paul may not have been a good idea. Intriguing team, as you say.
 
GGpX said:
You're right, they all have issues. I don't what to make of Ottawa. They look like a good team... outside of their goaltenders. The goaltenders are going to sink 'em. If they were to acquire Chychrun to solidify their defense, they're a super legit team... if you ignore their goaltenders.

But hoping that Cam Talbot and Forsberg/Hellberg are going to bail your team out? Yeah, good luck with that one.
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Ottawa needs to get out the gate strong , they usually stink after the first 15 games

Elite top 6 and role players who should emerge like Formenton and Pinto
 
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