Panthers/Rangers vs The Field to Win the East

[TheDoldrums]

Pretty simple. It's still October so obviously a lot can happen, but from where I sit I think the Panthers and Rangers are the two most likely teams to represent the East in the Stanley Cup.

To be clear I am asking about who will win the Eastern portion of the Stanley Cup bracket. Is the last team standing in the East more likely to be one of the Panthers/Rangers, or one of the other 14 teams? My first instinct was to take the larger group but man...as I go through the other East teams atm I think they would all be fairly significant underdogs to the two aforementioned top contenders. So what say you?

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[Gurglesons]

Cat Rag.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Barring injuries the Panthers are winning the east again. I hate to say it but today they showed that the Rangers shouldn't even be in this conversation.

 

[trick9]

I would have voted Panthers even if you flipped Rangers to the other side with the field.

 

[centipede2233]

Cat rangers easily. Tampa, Toronto and Boston have no chance of going to the final. New Jersey still has growing pains to come with a young team, Carolina is a good team but not good enough.

 

[Pablo El Perro]

I hope the Cats win it again, but there's a lot of new players in their bottom six and on d.

 

[Cats2TheCup]

I hope the Cats win it again, but there's a lot of new players in their bottom six and on d.

Bill Zito picked those players so I’m not too worried about it

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

It's a long season. I don't know who's going to elevate their game this season as a team. The one thing the Panthers have is their proven success. So they have that edge over just about every other team. But we'll see how things look closer to playoff time.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

I hope the Cats win it again, but there's a lot of new players in their bottom six and on d.

Didn't seem to bother them last night after the first period.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

The Panthers look a lot better than us.

I think the biggest difference maker is Bob.

We have a big goalie difference against virtually every other team that can beat us on ice (Dallas the one exception I can think of). If Bob is even close to Igor, it’s over. Rangers can’t compete.

It’s not a good matchup for us. We might need someone else to take out the Cats or Bob to have a bad series.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Who even is good in the East? Canes, Devils have potential but haven’t looked great.

I don’t think Boston, Toronto, or Tampa are real threats anymore

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Who even is good in the East? Canes, Devils have potential but haven’t looked great.

I don’t think Boston, Toronto, or Tampa are real threats anymore

Toronto could be good. The issue for them is that everyone looks at them as a joke team that you can’t take seriously. But if one or two things click (some actual okay goaltending or their big guys playing like stars in the playoffs), they could make a run.

Carolina probably isn’t what they were last year, but they will probably be in the same range as they’ve been the last five years, and you never know if things finally fall their way in the playoffs with some better finishing and goaltending.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Rangers are regular season allstars, they aren't making the SCF

Florida might, they have the roster to, but it seems more likely that they won't get to the SCF two years in a row

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Rangers are regular season allstars, they aren't making the SCF

Florida might, they have the roster to, but it seems more likely that they won't get to the SCF two years in a row

Who do think has the best chance of not those 2?

 

[dirtydanglez]

i dont see who else could catch them ouside maybe nj. nyr and florida would have to have pretty bad luck with injuries.

 

[WaitingForThatCab]

It's early. I think Boston will find its legs.

 

[Pablo El Perro]

Rangers are regular season allstars, they aren't making the SCF

Florida might, they have the roster to, but it seems more likely that they won't get to the SCF two years in a row

It would be 3 in a row, if they make it this year.

It's early. I think Boston will find its legs.

Yeah, I'm not writing off Boston or Toronto.

 

[Dread Clawz]

Boston, Toronto, Carolina could easily make it. Florida has to figure out the pp,, and the last top 9 spot. If A.Boqvist doesn't work out as the pp quarterback, they need to make additions at the deadline. They made it to the SCF two years in a row with a mediocre pp, but I don't think it will happen 3 times. Yeah they're terrific at. 5v5, but they also might not have the same injury luck as last year, plus there's a lot of mileage on the team.

 

[SheldonJPlankton]

Boston, Tampa...maybe.
Carolina, the NJD...possibly.
Some wildcard team...not much hope beyond the dream.
The Leafs will Leaf. Always a pretender, never a contender.

The East belongs to Florida/the NYR until they lose it.

 

[Ignatius]

Change poll to Leafs vs. Field, your hate can't stop the parade in Toronto next summer...

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I don’t see Boston as capable of being the team that comes out of the East. I don’t think they score enough goals. And if Marchand keeps looking old, they are in even bigger goal scoring trouble than last year.