Predict the Atlantic Standings

[pb1300]

Because they have proven they are a good regular season team. The only year they weren't was the year Babcock was fired and then they played at 105 point pace again. No doubts they will place for the playoffs. However they will absolutely choke once there.



I disagree. Those are pretty meh pieces.



Toronto has a top 10 Dcore in the league. They are light years ahead of the Panthers. You made me spit out my drink at Reinhart is as good as Nylander though, good stuff.

Toronto’s D is light years ahead? Lmao…Yeah, good luck coming up with the reasons why, spitter.

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

This should be a poll question...who finishes higher in teh standings...

Habs or Cats

Somebody do it

Sure, why not

Which team finishes with more points this season?

 

[Deadly Dogma]

HOMER ALERT.

calls him a homer but doesn't refute the fact that a Panther fan said that Reinhart=Nylander, really?
It kills me that you think your bottom 6 is way better than
Ritchie-Kerfoot-Kase
Bunting-Spezza-Kamph

 

[pb1300]

calls him a homer but doesn't refute the fact that a Panther fan said that Reinhart=Nylander, really?
It kills me that you think your bottom 6 is way better than
Ritchie-Kerfoot-Kase
Bunting-Spezza-Kamph

Becuase the Panthers bottom six is better than the Leafs.

And I’d like to see how good Nylander would have done playing for Buffalo instead of a top heavy Toronto team.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

calls him a homer but doesn't refute the fact that a Panther fan said that Reinhart=Nylander, really?
It kills me that you think your bottom 6 is way better than
Ritchie-Kerfoot-Kase
Bunting-Spezza-Kamph

Who is playing in the top six if Ritchie and Bunting are bottom six? Mikheyev and Engvall? Simmonds?

That is a pretty weak bottom six.

 

[FinlandPanther]

calls him a homer but doesn't refute the fact that a Panther fan said that Reinhart=Nylander, really?
It kills me that you think your bottom 6 is way better than
Ritchie-Kerfoot-Kase
Bunting-Spezza-Kamph

Yeah that bottom six is really deadly. Might as well just skip the season. Also if you think your D is top 10 then LOL. And I don’t know how Nylander is some god compared to Reinhart but we’ll see when the season starts. Bet the opinions change real fast.

 

[Deadly Dogma]

Who is playing in the top six if Ritchie and Bunting are bottom six? Mikheyev and Engvall? Simmonds?

That is a pretty weak bottom six.

I think Mikheyev's speed suits the puck retriever the 1st line needs and Nick Robertson will either be 2lw or 3lw and Ritchie plays 2lw

 

[Deadly Dogma]

Yeah that bottom six is really deadly. Might as well just skip the season. Also if you think your D is top 10 then LOL. And I don’t know how Nylander is some god compared to Reinhart but we’ll see when the season starts. Bet the opinions change real fast.

Leafs D are right in that 8-12 range so saying top 10 isn't a huge stretch
Rielly-Brodie
Muzzin-Holl
Sandin-Dermott
is not in any way a bottom half of the NHL 6 man unit.

 

[ole ole]

I'll be shocked if Montreal finish above Ottawa.

The Hockey world would be shocked if they didn't.

 

[ole ole]

Wow lots of people sleeping on Detroit. I understand having them miss the playoffs. But it seems 90% of these lists have Ottawa higher in the standings than Detroit. Since the Vrana-Mantha trade they played 500 hockey despite missing their whole first line to injury. I expect next season to be at least 500 hockey.

Also the Habs hype is pretty ridiculous. They played at an 86 point pace last year despite being in a terrible division. Then they lose their captain. And Danault. I get that they had an awesome playoff run, but regular season hockey is way different than the playoffs and they do not have a team for regular season success. They didn't last year and they definitely don't this year.

Florida
Tampa
Boston
Toronto
Detroit
Montreal
Ottawa
Buffalo

You say Habs hype is pretty ridiculous but you have the Wings ahead of them. I think you should check the meaning of ridiculous .

 

[Mikeshane]

Leafs come out with their big guys in the prime of their careers motivated and finish in the top 2.
Florida have enough good things going for them that they are the other top 2 team.
Tampa are tired and worn down but Vasilevskiy drags them into 3rd place.
Boston are declining but their strong culture of consistency helps them grab 4th.

Not sure about the rest.

 

[T REX]

So is Toronto vs FL a better poll?

I can't wait for the season to begin.

 

[Blowfish]

This should be a poll question...who finishes higher in teh standings...

Habs or Cats

Somebody do it

Meh who cares....what I do like is your avatar!

 

[Blowfish]

Leafs D are right in that 8-12 range so saying top 10 isn't a huge stretch
Rielly-Brodie
Muzzin-Holl
Sandin-Dermott
is not in any way a bottom half of the NHL 6 man unit.

D plus goalie I rank these teams ahead of Toronto

Tampa
Florida
Boston
Dallas
Arizona
Columbus
St Louis
Colorado
Philly
New York
Carolina
Vegas
Montreal
Washington
Nashville
etc
etc
etc

 

[Weezeric]

I’m sorry, but you can’t just make things up. Montreal did not lead in expected goals in game 6 and the advanced stats are heavily skewed to the leafs. Here’s games 6.
Toronto Maple Leafs @ Montreal Canadiens, 2021-05-29

Feel free to have a look at the others. They paint the same picture whether you want to believe them or not. You can add a +/- 10% for human error, bias, whatever you want. It still says the same thing.

I see the Habs absolutely manhandling the leafs until midway through the 3rd period. Have you heard of score effects?

 

[pb1300]

So is Toronto vs FL a better poll?

I can't wait for the season to begin.

Nope, because its been done already. At least the forwards and Dmen. Both lopsided.

 

[The90]

I see the Habs absolutely manhandling the leafs until midway through the 3rd period. Have you heard of score effects?

So we get to just turn off the analytics before the game is over? Interesting. In that case. I’d like to further turn this into a bs argument and say let’s just cut anything off after game 4. The score effect of that was best for the leafs so that’s where I’ll draw the line. I hope you see how stupid that sounds.

 

[Laus723]

I agree that the Habs are in a tough division and i'm not trying to convince others they should be looked at as some giant favorites. I just think other teams have question marks too.

I honestly don't understand why everyone is so certain Florida will be a top team.

1. Huge question marks in nets. Knight is young and unpredictable - Bob has sucked big time now 2 years in a row, including playoffs.
2. Florida has only had one strong regular season in the past 4 years. It was a really good season last year, but recent league history is full of teams who suck for a while, than have a good season, and go back to sucking.

Florida might do great again - i'm not saying it's impossible.
Florida however might also come back down to earth and go back to 'bubble' territory.

Majority seem so certain they will be a top team, and I don't agree with those odds at all. It's possible, but nowhere near certain

Wtf are you talking about? Florida moved out Matheson last off-season, let Hoffman and Dadonov walk, and didn’t re-sign a host of other guys. Brought in Hornqvist, Duclair, Gudas, Verhaeghe, Wennberg, and Bennett and Montour came in later.

This season they re-signed several of those guys, bout out Yandle, traded Stralman, and brought in Reinhart.

pretty massive overhaul, mostly let the shut weighing them down go and brought in talent to surround Barkov and Huby.

the net is a question mark, but Zito has proven that he’ll work on the roster as the season goes on. And Q isn’t exactly a mediocre coach.

don’t expect us to win the Division, but they’ll make the playoffs.

 

[r0bert8841]

You say Habs hype is pretty ridiculous but you have the Wings ahead of them. I think you should check the meaning of ridiculous .

Considering the Habs were only on pace for 86 points last year, and are a worse team this season, I don’t think it’s that absurd of a prediction. All the wings would need to do is get approx 84ish points.

 

[flying v 604]

Tampa on paper is the most talented, seeding will depend upon how much they coast (high 1, low 3)
Toronto is the next best team (scoring wise anyway) and not as likely to coast during the regular season (high 1, low 2
Boston is the last team that I'd call a near lock, I consider them a bit of a wild card until I see them play with Ullmark in net (high 1, low 4)

Rest of the division is sketchy. Florida, Montreal and Ottawa could all make the 4th seed with a good regular season run. Florida and maybe Montreal could even take the 3rd seed if the stars align right.

Buffalo and Detroit are not making the playoffs, but of the two Detroit has less baggage and is the better team imho.

I'll go:

1) Toronto
2) Boston
3) Tampa
4) Montreal
5) Florida
6) Ottawa
7) Detroit
8) Buffalo

Tampa beats my Bruins in 6 (sigh)
Leafs beat Montreal in 7, and have a moment that makes Jack Edwards "infamous" Game 7 closing speech seem tame...

Then Tampa destroys the Leafs in 4.

Im not a leaf hater but looking at that forward group I thinks its the worst they've had under Dubas.
Bunting and Ritchie should not be a teams best options for top six roles and almost the entire bottom six is full of washed up or low-end talent and they have very little depth. Muzzin, Brodie and Reilly are solid but im not a fan of Holl or Dermott and Sundin and Lily are unproven.
Jack seems like a good dude but im not sold on him as a starter and mazryk is a downgrade on Freddie imo.
The Panthers, TB and Boston would be my picks with the leafs 4th and the Sens 5th All in all I think the Atlantic is weaker than 2019-20 and I dont see the top teams running up their records against the Sens, Sabres and Wings like in previous seasons.
Definitely see both WC spots going to the Metro.

 

[flying v 604]

Price had a really poor regular season last year. He can do a lot better (as he just showed) - and I expect him to. That alone should be a huge difference. For years the issue with the Habs was that they relied way too heavily on Price during the regular season to carry them to the playoffs (or close). They actually have scoring depth and support now, and a decent backup goalie. With Price having a good season, I think they're a playoff team.

And yes - I expect Suzuki and Caufield to do well.

Also - yes, they objectively own the title of 2nd best team in hockey last season by making the finals. That's how team get ranked. I'm not saying 'on paper' it means they have the second best roster - but if you rank teams based on last year's result, they're #2. I think they should be getting a bit more respect than they do. A year ago Dallas unexpectedly made the finals, and going into the next season everyone had them as a top team. This year Habs made the finals, and this year almost no one has them as even a playoff team, let alone a top team. A bit of double standards.

I'm not trying to convince others they should believe Habs will finish 2nd, that's a high bar. That's just my own, optimistic prediction. I just think people should give them much better odds at being a playoff team - a much lower bar

Comparing them to Dallas actually works against you.
Dallas had lost like 10 straight before the bubble and like the Habs had a run in the playoffs and beat a crappy flames team a decimated Avs team and a Vegas team that almost blew a 3 game lead against Vancouver who if Marky had gotten injured earlier Demko prolly beats them.
Dallas fell back to their pre-bubble level last season and I think the sams thing happens with the Habs.
Unless Price has a vezina type season I cant see the Habs doing much.

 

[Colezuki]

Comparing them to Dallas actually works against you.
Dallas had lost like 10 straight before the bubble and like the Habs had a run in the playoffs and beat a crappy flames team a decimated Avs team and a Vegas team that almost blew a 3 game lead against Vancouver who if Marky had gotten injured earlier Demko prolly beats them.
Dallas fell back to their pre-bubble level last season and I think the sams thing happens with the Habs.
Unless Price has a vezina type season I cant see the Habs doing much.

Dallas fell back to their pre-bubble due to Injuries and Covid, not because it was pre-bubble

 

[Colezuki]

Leafs come out with their big guys in the prime of their careers motivated and finish in the top 2.
Florida have enough good things going for them that they are the other top 2 team.
Tampa are tired and worn down but Vasilevskiy drags them into 3rd place.
Boston are declining but their strong culture of consistency helps them grab 4th.

Not sure about the rest.

This is what I Feel will happen except I think it'll be a dog fight between BOS/MTL for 4th,

 

[bobholly39]

Comparing them to Dallas actually works against you.
Dallas had lost like 10 straight before the bubble and like the Habs had a run in the playoffs and beat a crappy flames team a decimated Avs team and a Vegas team that almost blew a 3 game lead against Vancouver who if Marky had gotten injured earlier Demko prolly beats them.
Dallas fell back to their pre-bubble level last season and I think the sams thing happens with the Habs.
Unless Price has a vezina type season I cant see the Habs doing much.

Comparing them to Dallas doesn't work against me though.

Because my point is - on HF, majority going into this season were like "Dallas were finalists? Ok - I bet they end up a top contender/top team this season". Clearly that didn't happen and they had a bad year. But for some reason, Habs are getting absolutely none of that respect Dallas got. No one seems to be saying "Habs were finalists? Ok - they'll be a top team next year".

Dallas got a ton of respect, and Habs are getting none. And it's not like I'm asking for a high bar, and upset that people aren't having Habs win their division. It just seems that 95% of posters think Habs won't make the playoffs, and most have them finishing 6th or lower in the Atlantic then in the playoffs.

I think their performance last year should earn them a wee bit more of respect than it has.

 

[The90]

Comparing them to Dallas doesn't work against me though.

Because my point is - on HF, majority going into this season were like "Dallas were finalists? Ok - I bet they end up a top contender/top team this season". Clearly that didn't happen and they had a bad year. But for some reason, Habs are getting absolutely none of that respect Dallas got. No one seems to be saying "Habs were finalists? Ok - they'll be a top team next year".

Dallas got a ton of respect, and Habs are getting none. And it's not like I'm asking for a high bar, and upset that people aren't having Habs win their division. It just seems that 95% of posters think Habs won't make the playoffs, and most have them finishing 6th or lower in the Atlantic then in the playoffs.

I think their performance last year should earn them a wee bit more of respect than it has.

I think the difference is that montreal finished well outside of what would have been the regular playoffs for the 4th year in a row last year. Where as Dallas made the playoffs the previous year. It took covid for montreal to have a shot, and yes they played well, but they wouldn’t have been there in the first place. Now they lost some key pieces and are looking for more respect than the team that wouldn’t have made the playoffs.