Atlantic Standings Predictions Thread

[Xirik]

Marinaro covered where the development was last night

Are you paid by this guy?

 

[Strangle]

Dangerous talk as a Leafs fan. In terms of playoff success the last decade Toronto belongs in the "bad" group.

Atlantic division Good/Bad groups:

Good Bad Boston Toronto Florida Buffalo Tampa Detroit Montreal Ottawa

Ya one of those teams doesn’t seem to fit in your assessment lol

 

[BostonBob]

How dare a fan have hope for their team to reach potential

BIG difference between being hopeful ( which fans of every pro sports team are before the season starts ) and downright delusional. And then you prove my point by suggesting that Marner will get 120 points this season. Just how much of that blue and white kool-aid did you drink ????

 

[HockeyVirus]

BIG difference between being hopeful ( which fans of every pro sports team are before the season starts ) and downright delusional. And then you prove my point by suggesting that Marner will get 120 points this season. Just how much of that blue and white kool-aid did you drink ????

It's delusional the Leafs can win the Atlantic?

 

[ManofSteel55]

I find it entertaining that only a handful of people have their standings in a manner that will result in a Leafs-Bruins first round matchup. Is this coincidence or by design?

 

[Wayfarer13]

Are you paid by this guy?

Oh gosh no.
His narrative style is to yank both ends of rope which irritates thehell out of me. I do prefer The Hockey Guy. But Marinaro is a Montreal specialist. What are you disputing in what was said?

 

[Xirik]

Oh gosh no.
His narrative style is to yank both ends of rope which irritates thehell out of me. I do prefer The Hockey Guy. But Marinaro is a Montreal specialist. What are you disputing in what was said?

just linking the video twice within a short period of time.

 

[Strangle]

Marner has never hit 100 points so let's see him try and hit that first okay. This is hilarious. Almost as hilarious as your takes on the Leafs.

They're a 100ish point team who didn't substantially improve in the off-season. And, of course, it will be yet another 1st round exit for your no-show playoff squad.

Do you remember when HFboards was trying to convince leaf fans that Matthews was just a 40 goal scorer? You remember that? It was right after he scored 60 and had a ‘down’ year due to injury and HFboards was convinced he had ‘regressed to the mean’, and his 60 was a one-off fluke?

Well, leaf fans remember

Do you remember what Matthews did the following year? He scored 69 goals

I’ll take leaf fans assessment of their own players over hfboards 100 times out of 100

The hfboards hate of all things leaf just blinds you

 

[Wayfarer13]

just linking the video twice within a short period of time.

I'm an old Beeper and this technology

 

[FinlandPanther]

It's delusional the Leafs can win the Atlantic?

I guess it’s always possible. A round is not in the cards though.

 

[Zalos]

Ok, I will be bold. The season is bound to have some surprises. Here's my guess:

1) *Boston 108 pts
2) *Toronto 106 pts
3) *Florida 102 pts

4) *Detroit 99 pts
5) *Ottawa 96 pts
6) Tampa Bay 95 pts
7) Buffalo 89 pts
8) Montreal 81 pts

 

[BostonBob]

The hfboards hate of all things leaf just blinds you

And the HFBoards Leaf fans love of all things Leafs blinds you even more.

 

[LiseL]

What you’re missing is those teams have core players heading into their primes. Guys like Stützle, Sanderson, Raymond, Seider, Power, Peterka, Slafkovsky, etc etc drive the improvement, while you’re focused mostly on depth veteran moves around the edges. If Ullmark gives Ottawa goaltending and Stützle bounces back to a 90+ point form that team is a legit playoff threat, and I’m
far from a believer in Ottawa.

If Norris' 3rd shoulder surgery fixed the problem, a full season of Pinto, and Chabot's wrist surgery brings him back to form, this also could improve their chances.

 

[Panthaz89]

Atlantic division Good/Bad groups:

Good Bad Boston Toronto Florida Buffalo Tampa Detroit Montreal Ottawa

Ya one of those teams doesn’t seem to fit in your assessment lol

View attachment 906832

The Leafs have a terrible head to head against other Atlantic teams in the playoffs when the games matter most.

 

[LiseL]

3 years of no system = 3 years of bad defensive habits developed and ingrained.

But hey, I imagine convincing yourself that "he just hasn't implemented a system yet" is a lot easier than acknowledging how atrocious the results have been defensively since MSL took over.

As a Sens fan, I can confirm that having a coach who lets the youngsters play pond hockey will not result in any success. Thankfully, DJ Smith is gone.

 

[LiseL]

Hrmmm, let the players focus on offence and teach defence later. This sounds strikingly familiar to the sentiment around the Sabres during the 2022-2023 season. 2023-2024 didn't go so well. It's not as easy to teach defence as saying "okay guys, play D now but also keep scoring at the same rate." Ask me how I know.

Same for the Sens. Both teams have changed coaches so hoping to see some improvement but those ingrained bad habits will take time to break.

 

[viceroy]

8. Montreal. 85 points. I think the Habs will really take a step this season with a much better second line and what could be a nice little 3rd line with Roy on it. The defence remains highly questionable and will prevent the Habs from truly getting close to the playoffs despite strong goaltending

As a Habs fan I agree with all of this. I think MTL will be at around NHL .500 but I believe that the whole Atlantic will be grouped much closer together this season.

The closer the season gets, the more I question if there is a team as good as the Leafs in the Atlantic.

Never change HockeyVirus, never change.

Won't be surprised to see Marner score 120 points and have a good playoff to get paid.

Can I see Marner hit 120pts in a season? sure. Can I see him kicking bottom in the playoffs? nope. Most importantly for Mitch I can see him squeezing out a 13 million AAV contract out of Leafs management.

Are you paid by this guy?

That's a bit biatchy amigo.

 

[FerrisRox]

Will they?

Stamkos out, Guentzel in
Sergachev out, McDonagh in

Not really sold that they actually improved in these swaps. What else did they do?

The also added Cam Atkinson and high-end prospect Conor Geekie up front and brought in J.J. Moser on their defence.

 

[HockeyVirus]

Most importantly for Mitch I can see him squeezing out a 13 million AAV contract out of Leafs management.

I honestly can't. What would Marner need to get to get that much money at 7 years vs 8 in free agency? It would be 14.85 x 7 for the same money. Is there a team in the league outside of maybe a bottom 5 team willing to pay that for Marner?

I could see a playoff team giving Marner 12 x 7. Over 8 years that is 10.5. I doubt he makes less than Willy, so this is where he would get the Leafs. Can probably get himself up to 11.75 or so which on the open market is 13.42 over 7 years.

I don't think there is appetite to give him as big of a raise to 13. He arguably still isn't worth his current contract.

 

[Golden_Jet]

I honestly can't. What would Marner need to get to get that much money at 7 years vs 8 in free agency? It would be 14.85 x 7 for the same money. Is there a team in the league outside of maybe a bottom 5 team willing to pay that for Marner?

I could see a playoff team giving Marner 12 x 7. Over 8 years that is 10.5. I doubt he makes less than Willy, so this is where he would get the Leafs. Can probably get himself up to 11.75 or so which on the open market is 13.42 over 7 years.

I don't think there is appetite to give him as big of a raise to 13. He arguably still isn't worth his current contract.

If it was a 7 year deal, you need to add in what he would make in the 8th year of a follow up deal, unless you think he is retiring after 7 years.

 

[viceroy]

I don't think there is appetite to give him as big of a raise to 13. He arguably still isn't worth his current contract.

I could personally see a 4yr/13million AAV contract him going his way. Especially if he's anywhere near 120pts this season.

 

[FerrisRox]

They already went through a ton of key injuries this past season. Did you miss when Martin Jones had to draw in and play 20+ games?

Wasn't Martin Jones workload largely because the Leafs waived and sent their starting goaltender to the minors because he was awful rather than Woll's injury?

 

[HockeyVirus]

If it was a 7 year deal, you need to add in what he would make in the 8th year of a follow up deal, unless you think he is retiring after 7 years.

You think Marner in 8 years is commanding 14M?

I could personally see a 4yr/13million AAV contract him going his way. Especially if he's anywhere near 120pts this season.

Only if the Leafs make the finals or lose in ECF game 7 and Marner is a big reason why. No way does that happen otherwise

 

[Golden_Jet]

You think Marner in 8 years is commanding 14M?

No but if he gets 7-8 million, then do the calculation, but don’t do the calculation based on zero lol, that’s just disengenious.

 

[HockeyVirus]

No but if he gets 7-8 million, then do the calculation, but don’t do the calculation based on zero lol, that’s just disengenious.

Anyways, no one in Toronto wants Marner to stay that badly. We don't care he is an elite player, we have Matthews and Willy and his deal needs to make sense. To be honest him and Nylander are pretty comparable players these days. Marner is better defensively but Nylander is better offensively.

That's why he does not deserve 3M more than Nylander. Makes no sense.