Prediction of the Standings

[Lee Denault]

Eastern Conference

Team / Points

New York Rangers 105
Montreal 101
Tampa Bay 95
Pittsburgh 99
Phillidelphia 98
Boston 97
New Jersey 96
Ottawa 95

Washington 92
Buffalo 91
Caolina 90
Florida 89
Toronto 83
New York Islanders 79
Atlanta 73

Western Conference

Team / Points

Detroit 111
San Jose 105
Calgary 98
Anaheim 103
Dallas 101
Minnesota 96
Edmonton 93
Chicago 92

Colorado 91
Nashville 88
Phoenix 87
St. Louis 86
Los Angeles 81
Vancouver 78
Columbus 73

[Lee Denault]

Let's hear yours.

[Mr. Parsons]

Eastern Conference

Team / Points

Toronto 121
Atlanta 97
New York Rangers 96
Washington 95
New Jersey 94
Boston 93
Pittsburgh 93
Buffalo 92

Philadelphia 91
Tampa Bay 91
Carolina 90
Florida 89
New York Islanders 79
Ottawa 30
Montreal 28

Western Conference

Team / Points

Nashville 82
Anaheim 82
Calgary 79
St. Louis 81
Dallas 76
Colorado 76
Edmonton 75
Chicago 70

San Jose 70
Columbus 70
Phoenix 69
Minnesota 68
Los Angeles 67
Vancouver 50
Detroit 32

[Lee Denault]

I like it. lol

[Cool Hand Luke]

Eastern Conference


Pittsburgh
Tampa Bay
Montreal
New York Rangers
Phillidelphia
Washington
Boston
New Jersey

Ottawa
Buffalo
Carolina
Florida
New York Islanders
Toronto
Atlanta

Western Conference


Detroit
Calgary
San Jose
Dallas
Anaheim
Phoenix
Chicago
Edmonton

Columbus
Nashville
Vancouver
Minnesota
Colorado
Los Angeles
St. Louis

[unholygoalie]

EASTERN CONFERENCE

1. Pittsburgh 112 pts.

Yeah, I know. Teams that go to the Cup finals and lose, or win, don't seem to have good years the next year, except this one. With a team that has Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Whitney and Fleury, I just can't see it happening just like the other teams.

2. Ottawa 103 pts.

A return to the top of sorts. The subtraction of Emery and Redden should prove to be the difference between finishing in 7th to winning the division again and finishing in 2nd in the East. Stronger coaching should also help. But remember folks, just because they finish 2nd doesn't mean they're going anywhere when it counts.

3. Tampa Bay 95 pts.

Yeah, I'm drinking the off season acquisition Kool-Aid on this one but only because this is the Southeast. Everybody keeps talking about all the players Tampa has brought in, which are numerous, but I think the biggest difference will be Vinny. Yeah, he scored a lot of points last year and the team still sucked but I think without a couple guys to screw up less around him, Vinny proves to everybody why he's getting paid what he's getting paid. I also expect Kolzig to be a difference maker even if he splits the job.

4. Philadelphia 101 pts.

The Flyers are young, fast, skilled, tough as nails and have just about everything else a team needs to succeed. They aren't going to be the powerhouse of the East or even their own division, just good enough for 4th, although by the points, they should be 3rd. Blame Bettman.

6. New Jersey Devils 98 pts.

Everybody always says they're going to miss the playoffs and everybody says Brodeur is going to give out one day. Well, I'm not going to. Brodeur will slow down a little and the Devils might drop a few points from last year but they'll make it. They always do.

6. New York Rangers 97 pts.

Another team that has down addition by subtraction. No more Jagr, no more drama. If Gomez and Drury stay, expect this Ranger team, backed by Lundqvist to be a different team. If Gomez is moved and Sundin shows up, all bets are off as the offseason acquisitions of Zherdev and Naslund might not mesh as well with Sundin as they could with Gomez.

7. Montreal Canadiens 93 pts.

The fall from grace. I just see too many young players on this team who had a big year last year to do it again. I also see a team that was driven by Kovalev who was playing as if he was on a contract year. The good news is Kovalev is actually going to be playing on his contract year this year but the bad news is Price and the rest of the kids are going to have to replicate what they did last year too. A lot of young players seem to have trouble replicating success immediately and that's why I think it's the Habs that fall this year, but, still make it.

8. Washington 92 pts.

Here's another team that's young and set to face the grim reality of replicating success. Ovechkin isn't going to slow down but Backstrom might and so might Semin and Green. Also, let's not forget why the Capitals made the playoffs last year. Theodore is in net, not Huet. He'll be good but not good enough for the division crown, just good enough to beat the crap out of the weakest division in the league often enough to squeak in.

_____________________

9. Buffalo 90 pts.

The point difference says it all. If Ovechkin goes down, maybe the Sabres get in instead of the Caps but there are just too many high tempo offensive teams to consider the Sabres one of the better ones so much so that they beat out any of the teams ahead of them.

10. Carolina 89 pts.

Same applies here. Close race but just too many question marks around this team. Ward isn't up to his old self but who can blame him with a revolving door defense which won't help things. They barely missed out last year but I think it'll be more of the same with Carolina who just can't seem to piece together a solid team. I think this is the year Rutherford gets canned. Hopefully, he doesn't end up on the Leafs radar.

11. Boston 88 pts.

Goaltending. I'm not sold on Fernandez. He was protected in Minnesota, and will be in Boston, but with age and injuries, I don't see him putting the pieces back together and Thomas just isn't consistent enough to do it either. I think a few young guys step up in Boston but goals just seem like a really hard thing to come by in Boston and no, Michael Ryder isn't the answer to the problem. They'll make it interesting, just like Carolina and Buffalo, and it'll be all about who is the healthiest and who has the best goaltending between the 8th place team and the 9th-11th placed teams.

12. Florida 84 pts.

No Jokinen, no chance. Horton is good but they had Horton AND Jokinen AND THEY STILL couldn't make it. This team is just another makeshift team that looks more like a mercenary lineup than an NHL lineup. Many miracles will have to occur in Florida before they make the playoffs.

13. Toronto 79 pts.

Terrible. No Sundin, no goals. The PP USE TO BE bad, now it'll be even worse. I expect Toskala and the new defensive system, complimented by the defensive players, to get us the majority of our points but they'll be a lot of 2-1 losses and OT points.

14. Atlanta 71 pts.

Can Lehtonen have a healthy season? Can Kovalchuk get this team higher than 14th even without Hossa and Holik? Should this team stay in Atlanta any longer? Not a chance.

15. New York Islanders 67 pts.

No goal scoring, no defense and no hope. Hedman or Tavares had better make that Islander jersey look good because there isn't anybody there now who does.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

1. Detroit 113 pts.

I know, post-Cup slump. Don't care. Who is going to stop the Red Wings? They have everything that anybody else has and most of the time it's better. The only problem I see here is goaltending. Osgood stinks. I don't care how much people like him, he's not a good goalie. If he stinks it up, despite only facing 15 shots a night, or goes down to injury, it's all on Jimmy Howard.

2. San Jose 110 pts.

New coach, same results? I think so. Wilson has a big mouth and I think a lot of the guys got tired of hearing him. A new coach just might be enough to spark this team into a better team than they were last year. Nabokov has a few years left in him, the blueline looks pretty solid and Thornton is still in his prime. All they need to do is get him a winger that will finish off every "goal in a basket" pass he makes and they're set.

3. CALGARY 100 pts.

These guys were my Cup favorites last year and damn me, they still are. They still have Kipper, Iginla and a nasty defensecore. Obviously they're in 3rd because of the divisions but this team is just as scary as any other. If Cammalleri and Iginla have something going, watch out because we've seem Iginla WITHOUT a center, just picture him WITH one.

4. Dallas 106 pts.

Goaltending? Check. Defense? Check. Offense? Check. The only thing keeping this team out of the top three is a stupid division system and San Jose. They're well rounded, well coached and as we saw last year, on a sink or swim ship in terms of attendance.

5. Minnesota 99 pts.

Minnesota is the West Conference's answer to New Jersey. Defensively sound and always a team nobody really thinks is going to be very scary. The only reason I put them at 5th instead of 3rd, which is where they were last year, is because of how tight the West is and how much offense they lost relatively, in Demitra and Rolston.

6. Anaheim 97 pts.

Getting older and less motivated. Where is Selanne? Where is Niedermayer? Who knows? Getzlaf and Perry take more charge this year and Giguere is still one helluva goalie, but it's still going to be a gradual decline as Pronger gets older and Burke gets angrier.

7. Chicago 95 pts.

They're young, they're fast and they're ready to make the playoffs. They have Toews and Kane upfront, Seabrook, Keith and Barker on the back and a CHOICE between Khabibulin and Huet in net. Not to mention Havlat and a slew of young, talented forwards. Oh, yeah, and Campbell, who while grossly overpaid for the entirety of his contract, is going to make a huge difference on the 24th best powerplay in the league from last season. The Blackhawks nearly buried 3 goals a game last year, good for 10th in the league, so just imagine how dangerous they will be with a functional power play. With all this said, I can't believe they're still in 8th!

8. Nashville 94 pts.

If they don't make the playoffs, they lose the team. Sad but true. Their goaltending stinks but their defense is strong and that'll be good enough coupled with the sneaky but strong offense. Radulov or not, the Predators will score goals one way or another with the likes of Arnott, Dumont, Erat and Legwand.


_____________________

9. Edmonton 91 pts.

Young, fast but one too many holes. Their goaltending is suspect as Garon had his backup career year last year. Their defense has got a mix of young, inexperienced players with potential and old, overpaid slugs like Souray. They'll be in the race on sheer will power but they won't be at the dance. Not yet, but as we all know, if miracles do happen, they happen in Edmonton.

10. VANCOUVER 89 pts.

Great goaltending, great defense, great coaching but absolutely no offense. Adding Demitra, Wellwood and Bernier will help but only to the point of filling the holes that were left behind by Naslund. Any offensive players go down to injury, like a fragile Wellwood or aging Demitra, it could spell the end of any playoff hopes. If Sundin shows up, Nashville has got problems, if not, Vancouver has got problems.

11. COLUMBUS 88 pts.

Nash has got a little help coming this year. With Hitchcock having another year to implement his defensive system, along with some added offense coming from Huselius and and Umberger, this is the year the Blue Jackets start to make people believe that they can make the playoffs. The only thing I see holding them back is a no-name defense and a goalie who just might have trouble doing even better than he did last year.

12. PHOENIX 87 pts.

Another young, fast team but too many question marks. Turris might be a Calder candidate, hell, even a winner, but is it going to be enough to put the Coyotes in the playoffs? Defensively, they lost a little to take on Jokinen, who's going to make it a race, but in net they seem to be set with Bryzgalov but if he goes down, even for a week, it'll be lights out for Phoenix.

13. ST. LOUIS 86 pts.

St. Louis doesn't have very much that strikes you. They have a lot of young guys and I'm sure they'll develop this year but there are just so many teams ahead of them that have either better young guys or more developed young guys, it's hard to see this team finishing higher than in the middle of the pack of the non-playoff teams.

14. Colorado 81 pts.

Budaj and Raycroft. It's not a punchline, it's the starting goaltenders Colorado has to choose from. Don't get me wrong, Budaj has shown flashes of being a decent starter and Raycroft can still be a 1A goalie in an environment that doesn't document every time he clips his nails, but, this is the West and with Sakic's career up in the air, Hedjuk another year older and a decimated defensecore, the Avalanche aren't going anywhere. Oh, did I mention they have a new coach who got fired by the Avalanche already?

15. LOS ANGELES 74 pts.

Their goaltending sucks and defense is too green. Plain and simple. They can score goals, plenty of them, but they can't keep them out. Labarbera isn't the answer to the questions and unless Bernier is just as good as Carey Price, it's an all out war with the Islanders for who gets Tavares or Hedman.

[Lee Denault]

Good Job UG, I dis agree with some, but I agree with 90%. were more than likely both wrong.

I see Boston making the playoffs again, but I don't think Nashville will. With all that crap going on.

[leafer84]

All I care about is us being in the bottom 5, hopefully bottom 3 if not dead last overall. Seems like there aren't many teams that will finish below us...probably the Thrashers and maybe the Isles. Other than that nothing really seems to be a for sure thing...even teams like LA, Tampa, Columbus and others people are putting below us have for the most part made some improvements whereas the Leafs have actually gotten worse and worse. Some other teams have gotten worse but haven't bombed as much as we have.

[Alex Tran]

After reading many of these predictions, it seems that the consensus is that the Islanders will be leading the way for the Hedman/Tavares sweepstakes.

Just for the fun of it, I thought I'd point out a few reasons why they may surprise:

First off, the New York Islanders of '07-'08 finished in 13th place, 4 points behind the Leafs, with a total of 79 points. They were very much in it right up until they completely fell apart down the stretch.

Now, consider that same team, but with the following changes/additions:

- They replace Bryan Berard (22 points) with Mark Streit (62 points). It's funny to note that if Streit produced those same numbers on the Island, he'd be their leading scorer by a wide margin of 13 points.

- Young hotshot Kyle Okposo ( 5 pts in 9 GP) will get the opporunity to play a full NHL season

- Their top 3 defenders (Witt, Sutton, and Campoli) don't miss a combined 83 games.

- The second worst PP in the league now boasts Streit, a healthy Campoli, and Okposo

- They lose Miroslav Satan, but the acquisitions of Weight, Streit and a full season from Okposo will more than make up for that

- DiPietro plays like he's capable, posting similar numbers to his '06-'07 campaign of a 2.58 GAA and .919 SV% as opposed to the 2.82 GAA and .902 SV% he posted last season

If last year's team was able to put up 79 points despite collapsing in the late 2nd half, I think there's a good chance the Islanders could perhaps be a slight underdog to finish a little higher than everyone expects.

They always seem to grind out every game and make it close, and despite not boasting many big names, when you view some of the points noted above, it's hard not to see them being a better team than they were.

[leafer84]

Sept 14, 2008 9:44:44 GMT -5 Alex Tran said:

After reading many of these predictions, it seems that the consensus is that the Islanders will be leading the way for the Hedman/Tavares sweepstakes.

Just for the fun of it, I thought I'd point out a few reasons why they may surprise:

First off, the New York Islanders of '07-'08 finished in 13th place, 4 points behind the Leafs, with a total of 79 points. They were very much in it right up until they completely fell apart down the stretch.

Now, consider that same team, but with the following changes/additions:

- They replace Bryan Berard (22 points) with Mark Streit (62 points). It's funny to note that if Streit produced those same numbers on the Island, he'd be their leading scorer by a wide margin of 13 points.

- Young hotshot Kyle Okposo ( 5 pts in 9 GP) will get the opporunity to play a full NHL season

- Their top 3 defenders (Witt, Sutton, and Campoli) don't miss a combined 83 games.

- The second worst PP in the league now boasts Streit, a healthy Campoli, and Okposo

- They lose Miroslav Satan, but the acquisitions of Weight, Streit and a full season from Okposo will more than make up for that

- DiPietro plays like he's capable, posting similar numbers to his '06-'07 campaign of a 2.58 GAA and .919 SV% as opposed to the 2.82 GAA and .902 SV% he posted last season

If last year's team was able to put up 79 points despite collapsing in the late 2nd half, I think there's a good chance the Islanders could perhaps be a slight underdog to finish a little higher than everyone expects.

They always seem to grind out every game and make it close, and despite not boasting many big names, when you view some of the points noted above, it's hard not to see them being a better team than they were.

That's kind of what I was getting at...look at the teams that all finished below us: Isles (improved), Thrashers, Lightning (improved), Columbus, St. Louis, LA. I'm not really sure about the other four teams but I don't think any of them got any worse.

Couple that with the fact that the only reason we finished in 7th last was because of that post deadline push mostly on behalf of the NTC 5 (three of whom are gone), a new coach and a new system to be put in place and a team that will likely have mostly young guys making up the top 6 and you've got a team destined for faillure.

Remember: We were second last in the league towards the end of the season and that was with Sundin, McCabe, Tucker and Kubina playing his best hockey in who knows how long as well as having a coach who was trying to keep his job. Wilson isn't trying to keep his job, he just wants to implement his system and seems to have an unusual amount of sway for a coach...something tells me he wants this team to finish dead last so he can get a top pick. Something tells me he is very on board with the rebuilding process and isn't trying to bump his win-loss record up.

[Alex Tran]

Columbus definitely got better IMO.

Out: Zherdev
In: Huselius

For the immediate future, that's an improvement.

Out: Fedorov
In: Umberger

Definitely an improvement. Umberger's going to crack 60 points playing alongside Nash.

Out: Hainsey/Foote

In: Tyutin/Commodore/Backman

Their defense got weaker, but it got deeper. I think Tyutin is very underrated, and Commodore should be able to somewhat fill Foote's void.

Out: Brule
In: Torres

Maybe not in the long-term, but there is no doubt that Torres is an upgrade over '07-'08 Brule. He's tough, a competitor and could chip in some goals playing alongside one of the Jackets young stars.

Out: Whoever doesn't make the lineup
In: Brassard/Voracek/Filatov

Finally, some much needed offense! Voracek and Filatov are arguably the top 2 forward prospects in the game not named Stamkos. Not unreasonable to expect 40-50 points from each of them.

Overall:

The defense got weaker, but Columbus' problem has not been their defense. Their system is airtight, and the big increase in offense should translate to a much better record.

[Alex Tran]

The Thrashers actually managed to get worse...

They were terrible last season, and won't have Hossa this season.

Last place, here they come.

[thatleafsguy]

Far to early to make predictions.

[Alex Tran]

Los Angeles might be able to surprise.

Their overall defensive game was a big concern last season, and so trading an offensive defenseman (Visnovsky) for a solid two-way centre (Stoll) and a reliable hardnosed blueliner (Greene) was a good move.

Stoll will probably take on 2nd/3rd line duties and if he finds his old scoring touch from a few years ago, he could be a 50+ point player for them.

Most of all, they're a very young team, and it should be expected that there is improvement across the board from all of their key players: Kopitar, O'Sullivan, Brown, Frolov, Johnson, etc.

Plus, top prospects Doughty, Hickey and Lewis are all expected to crack their lineup this season.

[Lee Denault]

Sept 14, 2008 10:13:21 GMT -5 thatleafsguy said:

Far to early to make predictions.

No way, rosters are almost set.