Playoff Field

[Old Guy]

So many of the playoff predictions seem to just assume that last year’s teams will be there again, with a change of 1, maybe 2, teams. And yet, no writer or pundit seems surprised when 4 or 5 new teams get into the field.
The Hockey News Yearbook is projecting 3 new teams – Stars and Kings replace Wild and Canucks in the West; Blue Jackets replace Senators in the East. Most others I read show fewer changes.

So my suggestion is to just predict who gets in, and at the expense of whom.

My personal prediction is 4 new teams.
Columbus and Florida will make it in the East, replacing Ottawa and Pittsburgh.
Dallas and Los Angeles will make it in the West, replacing Minnesota and Vancouver
Ottawa and Minnesota do not get the insane goaltending that carried them last year. Vancouver and Pittsburgh just don’t have enough depth to offset some of the veteran slow down. I was ready to put Boston in ahead of Detroit, until Sidenberg went down with an injury.

In alphabetical order
East – Columbus, Detroit, Florida, Montreal, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Tampa, Washington
West – Anaheim, Calgary, Chicago, Dallas, LA Kings, Nashville, St. Louis, Winnipeg

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[stevo61]

Pittsburgh is too good of a regular season team to not make the playoffs. What they do when they get there is a different question but unless the bottom 2 pairs and MAF really suck then they should make it. At the same time im not fully sure im on the Panthers bandwagon yet because im still wondering where all the offense will come from

 

[FlavortownGrinder]

Pittsburgh is too good of a regular season team to not make the playoffs. What they do when they get there is a different question but unless the bottom 2 pairs and MAF really suck then they should make it. At the same time im not fully sure im on the Panthers bandwagon yet because im still wondering where all the offense will come from

I'm with you on both counts. Pittsburgh will pot enough goals to keep them in the mix but their defense is too soft for 100+ games and playoff talent across from them.

The Panthers will get a ton of offense from Huberdeau/Barkov/Jagr and Bjugstad but I don't see much playoff caliber depth behind them.