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Speculation: How do you see the Atlantic Division shaping up in 5 years?

Ianturnedbull

Ianturnedbull

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Jun 11, 2022
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Can you see Tampa falling?

Will TOR be playing MTL, and OTT a lot more in the playoffs?

Will BUF's hiring of Jarmo Kekolainen help them be competitive again?

DET?

Florida continues a winning tradition?

What do you see happening?
 
Tampa's core is aging, fast, and the next few seasons are going to be extremely interesting for them to see if they can pivot and retool. The days of them being cup contenders are over, imo.

I expect the Bruins to sort themselves out and get back to being a consistent playoff team - they still have an elite goalie, a really solid blueline, and Pastrnak. Teams have made the playoffs with less.

Ottawa and Montreal are the ones that I would be circling - I could see them cementing themselves as consistent playoff teams at some point here pretty soon.

Detroit and Buffalo? They both just seem so directionless at the moment.

I totally see the Leafs taking a few steps back, honestly. Wouldn't surprise me if they are in a wild card scrap in the coming few seasons. I think the days of them challenging for the Atlantic Division are over.
 
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We'll lose Marner for nothing, and since he's our best player we'll be a bottom team for a few years and since the firsts we traded are lottery protected we'll draft top five three years in a row.

By then Matthews will have left, and we'll be rebuilt and in the finals every year, winning the Cup at least twice. :sarcasm:
 
The sky is falling, the sky is falling... LOL

These predictions are always hard in the off season, before teams make moves, reshape their rosters potentially for years to come.



Ottawa and Montreal made decent steps last year. We shall see what they do in off season acquisitions, to continue to improve their team. If Tkachuk goes south to play for his brother, will Ottawa continue it's path? Montreal has a few areas to improve, but I think they'll be the better of the two teams before long.

Detroit and Buffalo are neither good enough to really step forward, or bad enough to get the quality they need. Buffalo doesn't seem to be able to develop anyone, their management has been a disaster, and almost everyone who leaves, ends up better after doing so. A good management strategy, is probably grab an underperforming player from Buffalo. 9th OA isn't going to help them. Detroit is caught in that... not bad enough to draft well, not good enough to do anything...

Boston is done for now. It could take them a few years to really rebuild that team. Pastrak is still Pastaman, but he can't do it alone... and he's alone there.

Tampa is going to hang in there for now... probably be a 2/3 seed, but I don't think they'll be good enough to break through.

Florida... depends on their off season. I'd bet the bring Bennett and Ekblad back, and continue to qualify for the playoffs, not try too hard, and then be strong in the playoffs. They have a deep group, and it's an attractive destination to play.

Toronto - Well, that's up to Tre at this point.... Who knows.. easy playoff team, might never be a competitive playoff team
 
Punch Drunk Loov said:
How can you not be in a bad mood when you get clobbered in your final two home games and then you're about to lose your 28 year old 100+ point player whose top 10 on Selke every year for free?
Click to expand...

I would say Emotional Stability. Who let's a sports team dictate their mood, weeks after they were eliminated?
 
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Fogelhund said:
I would say Emotional Stability. Who let's a sports team dictate their mood, weeks after they were eliminated?
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Brother nobody is in tears blasting Numb by Linkin Park. The team has little trade assets, is becoming old and expensive, and our latest embarrassment is actually our best record so far. Then you add were losing a free star player. Why is this good?
 
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Punch Drunk Loov said:
Brother nobody is in tears blasting Numb by Linkin Park. The team has little trade assets, is becoming old and expensive, and our latest embarrassment is actually our best record so far. Then you add were losing a free star player. Why is this good?
Click to expand...

One day people clamour to change, and to stop running it back.. mad at the team, mad at the incompetent management for running it back.

Then we actually stop running it back, the change people actually wanted, and now it's a disaster? It's one player.. the one who underperformed the most in the playoffs.

I mean...
I hate this core so much.

Run it back
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Guys I haven't seen enough personally. We're going to need to run it back
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This was you right? You didn't want them to run it back? Right?

Now they are making the changes you wanted, and you can't even wait to see what those changes are, and your mad now too?

Thou doth protest too much.
 
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5 years from now, Connor McJesus will have joined us and have already surpassed Marners playoff points total as a Maple Leaf.

Oh, and many cups.
 
Fogelhund said:
One day people clamour to change, and to stop running it back.. mad at the team, mad at the incompetent management for running it back.

Then we actually stop running it back, the change people actually wanted, and now it's a disaster? It's one player.. the one who underperformed the most in the playoffs.

I mean...



This was you right? You didn't want them to run it back? Right?

Now they are making the changes you wanted, and you can't even wait to see what those changes are, and your mad now too?

Thou doth protest too much.
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Well if you're going to dig into my post history for a comeback I didn't want to do this, but I may have to get back into early Metallica and blast fade to black.

But yes, I can be anti-run it back but still not like losing a top player for nothing. Hard to grasp I know
 
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It's going to become one of the worst divisions in hockey.

I remain skeptical about the Sens/Habs/Wings until they can show sustained success. The Sabres are going to be worse Bruins are forgettsble. Tampa is going to keep getting older and worse. Florida was expected to take a step back but they proved the odds wrong - though free agency may be difficult for them to manage.

The Leafs are now a pretty big question mark. If True can pull a rabbit out of the hat there's an opportunity, but losing Marner is probably means at minimum the team has a big hole to fill for the regular season
 
In 5 years too much change can happen. 2-3 years if really the limit of making predictions that make sense. But, to answer the question, in 5 years the division will look like:

-Montreal at the top.
Everyone else fighting for every other spot. Tampa already well into their rebuild and turning upward. Ottawa and Buffalo dangerous but not elite. Florida and Toronto starting to age out. Boston I have zero clue. Detroit just lingering in mediocrity.

Now, if we are talking the next 2-3 years:
-Detroit is who I am the most down on. They don't have enough elite youth, as they tried to accelerate their rebuild. To me they are perpetually going to be 8th-11th in the conference.

-Montreal, Ottawa and Buffalo will likely be at the top of the division in 2-3 years with Florida and Toronto in the mix but starting to fade with age.
-Ottawa made the playoffs and should hopefully build on that.
-Buffalo would have made the playoffs this year and been pretty darn good other than their goaltending/UPL took a major step backward. Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin would be talked about as borderline elite/top 25 NHL players if they were on a better team with more media attention.
-Montreal was the latest of the rebuilds and they took a huge step forward.

Boston. I have no clue. I would not be surprised if in 3 years they are a 65 point team in the middle of a huge rebuild...just as I would not be surprised if they are back to 100 points and fighting for the division.

Tampa is going to slowly fade. Still a very good team, but I think every year they are likely losing 3-5 points in the standing.

Next year the division is the Leafs and Florida. They both begin a very slight fade from that level 2-3 years down the road.
 
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The Canes and Leafs should get together and agree that they NEED to sign all of Bennet/Marchand/Ekblad to harm Florida.

That's the main thing right now, harming Florida.
 
TMLegend said:
The Leafs are at the end of the Stanley Cup window. Given their limited futures pool and the fact core members are starting to age and are likely leaving this summer I expect we're in for a slow descent into mediocrity over the next several seasons.
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I think it's time we stop spewing the "core players" are aging into mediorcy.. Matthews is 27 entering his prime, Nylander is in his prime right now at age 29.. Elite players don't just drop off, they continue their strong play.. Crosby/Ovi/Kopitar/Marchand/Bobrosky etc.. These guys likely have another 6-7 years of being elite.. Just hope we are lucky to keep em around.

As for the the thread..

Toronto will be challenging for the top 3 as long as Matthews/Nylander/Knies are around.
I think Tampa will still be challenging for a wildcard for 2 to 3 years..
FLA is here to stay.. Maybe slight drop off.. challenging for top 3
Ottawa is upcoming, will challenge for top 3 spot.
Boston is in a mini rebuild/retool..
MTL will be a wildcard team/challenging for the 3rd spot
DET I have no hope for, too many flaws in that team.
BUF, I have no hope for, they can't get anything right.
 
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Ianturnedbull said:
Can you see Tampa falling?

Will TOR be playing MTL, and OTT a lot more in the playoffs?

Will BUF's hiring of Jarmo Kekolainen help them be competitive again?

DET?

Florida continues a winning tradition?

What do you see happening?
Click to expand...


How the hell is anyone supposed to know what things will be like five years from now?
 
notDatsyuk said:
We'll lose Marner for nothing, and since he's our best player we'll be a bottom team for a few years and since the firsts we traded are lottery protected we'll draft top five three years in a row.

By then Matthews will have left, and we'll be rebuilt and in the finals every year, winning the Cup at least twice. :sarcasm:
Click to expand...

Losing Mitch Marner is not going to turn this team from 1st in the Atlantic to a bottom team
 
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