Playoffs?

[Rapala]

If we are healthy all season(miraculous, right?) and Laine scores 25 goals, we should end up with 80-85 points.

Our top players need to be on the positive side of the +/- battles before we can even think about a post season.

 

[Gustave]

I’m sure we’ll have injuries. I just hope they aren’t the insane kind we’ve had over the past few years.

Agree with those who say our D is green. Still don’t think we’ll make it. But I do think we’ll make it interesting and we might surprise. It wouldn’t shock me if we make our way in somehow.

And next season our D will be an embryo with Mailloux Reinbacher and Hutson in, without Savard and maybe Matheson.

We are in for a couple of rough years D wise.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

And next season our D will be an embryo with Mailloux Reinbacher and Hutson in, without Savard and maybe Matheson.

We are in for a couple of rough years D wise.

We are.

But… Hutson looked great last year. Guhle already looks solid. I think some of these guys are going to be good pretty quickly.

They remind me of the early 90s when we had Schneider, Dejardins and others coming up. Young but talented.

In a few years this is going to be a great team. And by then Carey Price will be out of his cryogenic frozen chamber and he can suit up for us again.

 

[Gustave]

We are.

But… Hutson looked great last year. Guhle already looks solid. I think some of these guys are going to be good pretty quickly.

They remind me of the early 90s when we had Schneider, Dejardins and others coming up. Young but talented.

In a few years this is going to be a great team. And by then Carey Price will be out of his cryogenic frozen chamber and he can suit up for us again.

Couldn’t agree more. Fantastic 1-2 that we should’ve kept for as long as their careers permitted.

They had Chelios to learn from when they came up BTW… let’s try and insulate them with someone 26 and older that can log hard minutes to start, shall we.

 

[jaffy27]

25% chance of playoffs. A lot will have to go right. The biggest piece being Laine.

In playoff race 75% chance.

Moons need to align for that to happen but definitely not a flat out no, it’s just more probable that it’s not happening and I’m very good with that.

Wouldn’t mind finishing 10th and gettin our hands on Spence….this would in my eyes complete the rebuild.

 

[Naslundforever]

Guys (and gals).....

We have a sneaky good team. Like playoff caliber team. Adding Dach and Laine to last years core, will have a compounding effect. They bring their own offence to the table, but also free time and space for our other players, instantly lessening the pressure on guys who led us last year. Slaf is a God damn beast. Suzuki is steady eddy. Caufield is the forgotten man with 40 goal potential. We have players looking to prove themselves for new contacts....Dvorak and Armia. And, we have young guns trying to establish themselves in Newhook and Roy. Add in two underappreciated guys who are paid far too much.....Gally and Power Donkey, who in my humble opinion are pretty damn good bottom of the lineup guys, and we have the fixings for something special up front.

On D we have youthful exuberance in Hutson. A reliable young workhorse in Guhle. Matheson and Savard providing veteran leadership and two hungry young bucks in Xhekaj and Barron being pushed by Struble, Mailloux and Reinbacher.

Monty kept us in so many games last year. So many games that we lost by only one goal. He has the potential with a solid team in front of him, to be a top 12ish goalie in the league. Things will be flipped this year, and we are primed to do some serious damage.

Lastly, we have a coach who understands offensive hockey. We are so accustomed to having very little offence on our team, that we can barely comprehend having a PPG player. We have three legitimate players this year, that can do it, or already have. While most likely this all happens next year....I have a sneaky feeling that we explode this year.

What say you? Playoffs or no?

We still get to watch Evans and Dvorak center almost half the game, and those bottom 6 wingers… Ugh. Add Guhle still playing off his side + a bunch of super green D and I don’t see it at all. Powerplay should be less cringe worthy hopefully, maybe mid-level nhl? Possibly fewer bad goals with Allen having moved on.

The other teams are still there.

 

[B1g B1rd]

We'll be in the mix until the end... As many others said, injuries will determine where we will finish. With the addition of Laine and Dach, if they produce, we suddenly have a potent 2nd line.

I'm not to worried about defense. We're not aiming at the Cup.

I voted yes... but if "maybe" would have been an option...

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

It'll be interesting to see how it all unfolds once they start playing games.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Philadelphia almost made it last year.

Take a look at Philly's roster and tell me it's unequivocally better than ours.

 

[waitin425]

Philadelphia almost made it last year.

Take a look at Philly's roster and tell me it's unequivocally better than ours.

It's worse and we will be ahead of them this year.

 

[Egresch]

I do not think we are ready, but the hunger and internal competition among our young guys will keep us in the race.

 

[junyab]

We would need the starts to align and every best case scenario to occur. This isn't probable or at all likely to happen.

 

[Shred]

I went with No because, while I think we are a better team than the likes of Detroit, Washington, Islanders, Buffalo, and other bubble teams in the East, I don't think management will go all out trying to make the playoffs like those teams do and we haven't proven we can stay reasonably healthy for a full season.

 

[Tabarouette]

I don't think we're going to be very good, but hockey can be pretty stupid at time and the margin between a bad team and a WC team isn't usually night and day, it's often just a couple of (adversary) injuries or a good month or a hot goalie or whatever away

I think something is definitely cooking with this team. A lot of rankings are sleeping on key additions. Having our 2nd center back for more than 2 games, adding Laine and Hutson, and Slaf hopefully picking things back where he left off are all very important additions that could take any garbage team up to at least some level of competitiveness

Not probable, but also not as crazy as it seems. I can understand rankings having us miss the playoffs, but having us *drop down* from last year is kinda insane to me (looking at you jfresh)

 

[LaP]

Philadelphia almost made it last year.

Take a look at Philly's roster and tell me it's unequivocally better than ours.

They were -26. 5 teams lower in the standings had a better goal differential. I would not use them as a way to evaluate how close or not we are. I'd use Buffalo and Detroit instead.

 

[WeThreeKings]

They were -26. 5 teams lower in the standings had a better goal differential. I would not use them as a way to evaluate how close or not we are. I'd use Buffalo and Detroit instead.

You can use them and its the same calculus, though. Detroit isn't very good. Buffalo should never be counted on to do anything until they do.

 

[Scintillating10]

I think we get in. We added a lot of firepower this season.

The next year be Cup contender.

 

[Trabdy2]

I don't think we'll be making the playoffs this year, and I think it'll mostly be because our D won't be reliable enough to get us there.

On a playoff caliber team, I'd say Guhle and Matheson are both #2/#3 types (although they're very different players), and Savard is probably a #5? So we'd need to fill a couple of Top 4 spots and a bottom pairing spot to be able to be reliable game in and game out in my opinion.

To take those spots, we have a trio of young defencemen in Xhekaj, Barron, and Struble who have some NHL experience, however none of them have shown they can reliably take Top 4 minutes, yet at least. Surely one of them should be reliable enough on the bottom pair, but they will have to prove they can handle Top 4 minutes with their play.

We also have a trio of high-ceiling rookie prospects in Mailloux, Hutson and Reinbacher who could probably handle a bottom pairing role this year, but there's some uncertainty about when they might be able to handle a Top 4 role consistently.

Our young defencemen will be given lots of opportunity to adapt to the NHL when playing the minutes they're given, because of the "open spots" available. However, mistakes will happen and there will be growing pains.

I think if we are to make the playoffs this season, the path will be paved by some of our young defencemen showing rapid successful adaptation to the NHL.

 

[boompuffboom]

honestly theres a chance.

i sincerely thought there was a 1 in 14 million chance that we drafted Vanya. and we did.

anything is possible. i cant f***ing wait

 

[Rapala]

The good teams in the league last season (see 1-14) all had a minimum of 45 wins except LA with 44.
Since 2010 the 8th placed team in the east needed an average of about 94 points to make the playoffs.
So we would need a combination of RW and ROW of about 28 points just for a wild card spot.
That is one hell of a steep jump from 5th from the bottom.

 

[Essenege]

At 8 to 1 it looks like a no brainer bet to me. I think fair odds would be 4 to 1. I’m making this my a yearly bet for sure…better spending of my gambling budget then my once in a while night at the casino when I’m wiped clean of 250-300$ in an hour

 

[Scintillating10]

I don't think we'll be making the playoffs this year, and I think it'll mostly be because our D won't be reliable enough to get us there.

On a playoff caliber team, I'd say Guhle and Matheson are both #2/#3 types (although they're very different players), and Savard is probably a #5? So we'd need to fill a couple of Top 4 spots and a bottom pairing spot to be able to be reliable game in and game out in my opinion.

To take those spots, we have a trio of young defencemen in Xhekaj, Barron, and Struble who have some NHL experience, however none of them have shown they can reliably take Top 4 minutes, yet at least. Surely one of them should be reliable enough on the bottom pair, but they will have to prove they can handle Top 4 minutes with their play.

We also have a trio of high-ceiling rookie prospects in Mailloux, Hutson and Reinbacher who could probably handle a bottom pairing role this year, but there's some uncertainty about when they might be able to handle a Top 4 role consistently.

Our young defencemen will be given lots of opportunity to adapt to the NHL when playing the minutes they're given, because of the "open spots" available. However, mistakes will happen and there will be growing pains.

I think if we are to make the playoffs this season, the path will be paved by some of our young defencemen showing rapid successful adaptation to the NHL.

I think we need stud defense man to contend for a cup. But our defense should be good enough to get in playoffs

 

[rik schau]

Will they make the playoffs? How good will they be? It really doesn't matter does it. It would not surprise me to hear the Bell Center is packed, line-ups for the food and beverage concessions and merchandise and souvenirs being sold, win or lose. That is the beauty that Molson has conditioned into some parts of the fan base about the so called rebuild. It has bought him years of tranquility from the rabid fan base with no expectations, well done. It will be interesting when Gorton and Hughes contracts are up for renewal in a couple of seasons, what will he do, renew them or start the process all over again.