Eastern Conference Primer and Predictions

[jalenrose#5]

Here's how I look at it...(Standings from Last Year)

1 BUF- Lost Briere, Drury, Zubrus and added Thibault as a backup G.
***They've obviously dropped a fair bit, but not out of the playoffs(5-8 ) with their D core intact and a solid group of forwards with an allstar goalie, they could still surprise.

2 NJ- They lost Rafalski, Gomez and Lukowich and added Zubrus, Asham, Weekes, Rachunek and Vishnevski.
***They've dropped a fair bit, battling out for 6-10, Brodeur might have to stand on his head....which he'll probably do.

3 ATL- Lost Tkachuk, Sutton, Hnidy, DeVries, Belanger and Sim and added Klee and Todd White.
***Might have dropped a little bit, but still might win Southeast Division.

4 OTT- Lost Comrie and Preissing while only adding only fringe palyer Niko Dimitrakos.
***They'll feel the loss of Preissing, still a top team in the EAST though.

5 PIT- Lost Michel Ouellet and added Sykora and Sydor
***Might be in SC Finals and win EAST, but I feel their defence isn't that strong still.

6 NYR- Got Gomez, Drury but lost a ton of good palyers like Nylander, Weekes, Ortmeyer, Rachunek and Matt Cullen
***On paper they look good, but I still feel they're overrated. Playoffs for sure, but after that..I dunno

7 TB- Lost Fedotenko, Sarich and Richardson and got Lukowich, Gratton and Ouellet.
***They'll win the Southeast if they play Vinny/StLouis/Richards for 60 min, but this team lacks quality depth.

8 NYI- Lost Zednik, Blake, Yashin, Kozlov, Smyth, Hill and Asham and got Comrie, Guerin, Fedotenko and Andy Sutton.
***This team lost alot of firepower and I believe are not making the playoffs

9 TOR- Got Bell, Toskala, Blake and Stralman lost guys like Peca, O'Neill, Perrault and Aubin
***Lost alot of deadweight, not a big fan of losing Peca though, will be battling for the final two playoff spots if they stay healthy. If they get great goaltending, they could be top 4 IMO.

10 MTL- Gained Hamerlik, Smolinski and Brisebois but lost Souray, Perezhogin, Samsonov, Aebischer, Radek Bonk, Mike Johnson anf Janne Niinimaa
***I don't see this team making it again....too small up the middle, still will have a good PP though

11 CAR- Really didn't do anything, added Matt Cullen. Lost Tanabe and Carter
***This team underachieved last year, but I feel they'll fight for spots 7-10

12 FLA- Added Vokoun, Zednik, Dvorak and McLean but lost Auld, Belfour , Semnov, Gratton and Gelinas
***Young and improving, but even with Luongo this team didn't make it, Vokoun will help, but a lack of pressure experience might spell beans for the Panthers

13 BOS- Lost Tenkrat and Toivenen, got Fernandez and Shawn Thornton
***Wrong Thornton...this team will struggle once again, no size up the middle, coupled with a young inexperienced D, exception Chara, spell gut wrenching trouble for the B's.

14 WSH- Added Poti, Kozlov and Nylander and lost Kris Beech
***Still very raw on defence and that will once again be their downfall. A solid forward and goaltender helps, but the D will still stagnate the Caps chances

15 PHI- Added Briere, Hartnell, Timonen, Jason Smith and Lupul while losing Mike York (eww), Fedoruk, Sanderson, Pitkanen, and Dimitrakos.
***Adding Smith and Timonen should stabilize a terrible defence from last year. Briere Lupul and Hartnell should add the needed offence to vault these guys upwards. I still find that their defence is too slow. Smith doesn't have wheels and they replaced Pitkanen with Timonen (slight improvement IMO). If they get solid goaltending, they'll be there.

My Prediction

*1-PIT(Great offence, but this is risky IMO, Hoping for an EDM 80's like Offence) 101pts
*2-OTT(Lost Preissing great +/- guy) 100pts
*3-ATL(Pretty decent year, had it easy with another bad division) 92 pts
4-NYR(Overrated, talent will get them here) 100 pts
5-BUF(Great team play and a great goalie) 96 pts
6-NJ(Brodeur) 94 pts
7-TOR(Leafs will show some grit and determination) 93 pts
8-PHI(Defence will show up) 91 pts
--
9-CAR(Could possibly make it, but I don't feel they're strong in one area) 90 pts
10-TB(I don't think they're that good...Lack of Depth) 88pts
11-FLA(Too Young still) 82 pts
12-MTL(Lost alot on the back end, Carey Price thought will shine next year) 79 pts
13-NYI(Lost a ton of talent that got them 8th spot, replaced them with older players, slower players and overall, bad team guys...see Comrie/Guerin, I do like the Andy Sutton pick up though) 75 pts
14-BOS (needed a top 6 fwd and a top 3 dmen, didn't get it, they'll be the same) 74 pts
15-WSH (Too Young on defence and but AO gets his set up man in Nylander. They'll score goals....but can they prevent them??) 70 pts

Playoffs

PHI vs PIT (PIT in 7)
TOR vs OTT (OTT in 6)
NJ vs ATL (NJ in 6)
BUF vs NYR (BUF in 7...take that Drury/Gomez)

PIT vs NJ (NJ in 7)
OTT vs BUF (OTT in 6)

NJ vs OTT (OTT in 6)

[risktaker91]

Pretty good predictions.

I don't think the Sabres will know off the Rangers though.

Jagr, Shanahan, Drury, Gomez is pretty special.

[Griff83]

Here's how I look at it...(Standings from Last Year)

1 BUF- Lost Briere, Drury, Zubrus and added Thibault as a backup G.
***They've obviously dropped a fair bit, but not out of the playoffs(5-8 ) with their D core intact and a solid group of forwards with an allstar goalie, they could still surprise.

2 NJ- They lost Rafalski, Gomez and Lukowich and added Zubrus, Asham, Weekes, Rachunek and Vishnevski.
***They've dropped a fair bit, battling out for 6-10, Brodeur might have to stand on his head....which he'll probably do.

3 ATL- Lost Tkachuk, Sutton, Hnidy, DeVries, Belanger and Sim and added Klee and Todd White.
***Might have dropped a little bit, but still might win Southeast Division.

4 OTT- Lost Comrie and Preissing while only adding only fringe palyer Niko Dimitrakos.
***They'll feel the loss of Preissing, still a top team in the EAST though.

5 PIT- Lost Michel Ouellet and added Sykora and Sydor
***Might be in SC Finals and win EAST, but I feel their defence isn't that strong still.

6 NYR- Got Gomez, Drury but lost a ton of good palyers like Nylander, Weekes, Ortmeyer, Rachunek and Matt Cullen
***On paper they look good, but I still feel they're overrated. Playoffs for sure, but after that..I dunno

7 TB- Lost Fedotenko, Sarich and Richardson and got Lukowich, Gratton and Ouellet.
***They'll win the Southeast if they play Vinny/StLouis/Richards for 60 min, but this team lacks quality depth.

8 NYI- Lost Zednik, Blake, Yashin, Kozlov, Smyth, Hill and Asham and got Comrie, Guerin, Fedotenko and Andy Sutton.
***This team lost alot of firepower and I believe are not making the playoffs

9 TOR- Got Bell, Toskala, Blake and Stralman lost guys like Peca, O'Neill, Perrault and Aubin
***Lost alot of deadweight, not a big fan of losing Peca though, will be battling for the final two playoff spots if they stay healthy. If they get great goaltending, they could be top 4 IMO.

10 MTL- Gained Hamerlik, Smolinski and Brisebois but lost Souray, Perezhogin, Samsonov, Aebischer, Radek Bonk, Mike Johnson anf Janne Niinimaa
***I don't see this team making it again....too small up the middle, still will have a good PP though

11 CAR- Really didn't do anything, added Matt Cullen. Lost Tanabe and Carter
***This team underachieved last year, but I feel they'll fight for spots 7-10

12 FLA- Added Vokoun, Zednik, Dvorak and McLean but lost Auld, Belfour , Semnov, Gratton and Gelinas
***Young and improving, but even with Luongo this team didn't make it, Vokoun will help, but a lack of pressure experience might spell beans for the Panthers

13 BOS- Lost Tenkrat and Toivenen, got Fernandez and Shawn Thornton
***Wrong Thornton...this team will struggle once again, no size up the middle, coupled with a young inexperienced D, exception Chara, spell gut wrenching trouble for the B's.

14 WSH- Added Poti, Kozlov and Nylander and lost Kris Beech
***Still very raw on defence and that will once again be their downfall. A solid forward and goaltender helps, but the D will still stagnate the Caps chances

15 PHI- Added Briere, Hartnell, Timonen, Jason Smith and Lupul while losing Mike York (eww), Fedoruk, Sanderson, Pitkanen, and Dimitrakos.
***Adding Smith and Timonen should stabilize a terrible defence from last year. Briere Lupul and Hartnell should add the needed offence to vault these guys upwards. I still find that their defence is too slow. Smith doesn't have wheels and they replaced Pitkanen with Timonen (slight improvement IMO). If they get solid goaltending, they'll be there.

My Prediction

*1-PIT(Great offence, but this is risky IMO, Hoping for an EDM 80's like Offence) 101pts
*2-OTT(Lost Preissing great +/- guy) 100pts
*3-ATL(Pretty decent year, had it easy with another bad division) 92 pts
4-NYR(Overrated, talent will get them here) 100 pts
5-BUF(Great team play and a great goalie) 96 pts
6-NJ(Brodeur) 94 pts
7-TOR(Leafs will show some grit and determination) 93 pts
8-PHI(Defence will show up) 91 pts
--
9-CAR(Could possibly make it, but I don't feel they're strong in one area) 90 pts
10-TB(I don't think they're that good...Lack of Depth) 88pts
11-FLA(Too Young still) 82 pts
12-MTL(Lost alot on the back end, Carey Price thought will shine next year) 79 pts
13-NYI(Lost a ton of talent that got them 8th spot, replaced them with older players, slower players and overall, bad team guys...see Comrie/Guerin, I do like the Andy Sutton pick up though) 75 pts
14-BOS (needed a top 6 fwd and a top 3 dmen, didn't get it, they'll be the same) 74 pts
15-WSH (Too Young on defence and but AO gets his set up man in Nylander. They'll score goals....but can they prevent them??) 70 pts

Playoffs

PHI vs PIT (PIT in 7)
TOR vs OTT (OTT in 6)
NJ vs ATL (NJ in 6)
BUF vs NYR (BUF in 7...take that Drury/Gomez)

PIT vs NJ (NJ in 7)
OTT vs BUF (OTT in 6)

NJ vs OTT (OTT in 6)

Sens also added Donovan while losing scheafer in the process. I dont get your comment "Florida couldnt even make it with Luongo", the team they have no is totally different with more experianced young players then when he was in net. Also no way Jersey makes it to the conference finals with that defence playing in front of Brodeur.

Leafs make the playoffs, get eliminated in round one and Sens repeat as EC champions and win the cup.

[Griff83]

Oh ya, the Southeast isnt going to be a bad division this year.

[Tor-Rap-Tor]

Wow! this is a very good assessment and well thought out...

I'm not sure I totally agree with your predictions and all the assessments but I'm glad that others here also see the Leafs as a play-off team...

http://www.torontosun.com/Sports/Hockey ... 0-sun.html

A season that Maurice feels could be a special one.

"I expect we will make the playoffs and challenge for the Stanley Cup," he sincerely predicts.

Playoffs, fine. But the Cup? Critics might wonder what spirits the coach is putting into his morning coffee after that statement.

Well if Paul Maurice is also on board and predicting a Leaf's resurgence, It should make for a pretty exciting year...