Predict the Atlantic Standings

[SPLBRUIN]

Not quite, Boston's lead assistant Jon Gruden is now the Marlies head coach

He was the weak link amongst the Bruins coaches during the regular season, he ran the PP which struggled mightily for long periods.

 

[Blowfish]

For the last 5 years Toronto's biggest issue has always been overall team D and with their newest additions / deletions, the team is much much weaker overall team D.

Florida
Buffalo
Boston
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.
.
.
.

 

[KnockHobbler]

Carolina
Toronto
Florida
Devils
Buffalo
Tampa
Rangers
Ottawa
Islanders
Boston
Pittsburgh
Washington
Columbus
Detroit
Montreal
Philly

Carolina makes the finals, Boston has a huge drop off halfway through the season while buffalo surges and Ottawa makes the playoffs on the last day of the season. Points in the standings are close, only true bottom feeder ends up being Philly. Detroit stagnates and regresses.

 

[bossram]

For the last 5 years Toronto's biggest issue has always been overall team D and with their newest additions / deletions, the team is much much weaker overall team D.

Florida
Buffalo
Boston
.
.
.
.
.

Literally no, it's not. I don't know why in 2023 people still cling to this false narrative. For the past 3 seasons, Toronto has ranked 6th, 11th, and 4th in 5v5 GA/60. They are doing pretty well at preventing even-strength goals for a team that's "biggest issue is overall team D".

Their biggest issue has been their own goal scoring drying up in the playoffs. While I don't agree with all of their additions, Domi, Bertuzzi and Klingberg are clearly intended to help solve their actual deficiency.

 

[bossram]

1. Toronto
2. Florida
3. Ottawa
4. Buffalo

5. Tampa Bay
6. Boston
7. Detroit
8. Montreal

I'll go with some "bold" predictions here.

 

[SPLBRUIN]

It's good seeing so many people writing Boston off, will be nice for once to have lowered expectations. Just the opposite for teams like Ottawa and Buffalo, we will see how they respond to greatly heightened expectations, not an easy task for starved fan bases. The Bruins will be a playoff team, the best goaltending in the NHL, a top 5 defense with 2 legit #1's in McAvoy and Lindholm pretty well assures that. There is also a culture of winning and proven coaching which both the Sabres and Sens don't have.

 

[swiftwin]

Hot take:

Toronto
Buffalo
Ottawa
---
Tampa (WC)
---
Florida
Detroit
Boston
Montreal


I think Pittsburgh takes the other WC spot, with Carolina, NJ and NYR taking the top 3 in the metro.

 

[swiftwin]

It's good seeing so many people writing Boston off, will be nice for once to have lowered expectations. Just the opposite for teams like Ottawa and Buffalo, we will see how they respond to greatly heightened expectations, not an easy task for starved fan bases. The Bruins will be a playoff team, the best goaltending in the NHL, a top 5 defense with 2 legit #1's in McAvoy and Lindholm pretty well assures that. There is also a culture of winning and proven coaching which both the Sabres and Sens don't have.

Lots of flawed arguments here. "Best goaltending in the NHL" is not exactly a good thing, especially when that's only been the case for one season. It just means Boston overperformed last season. Goaltending is highly variable from season to season. You're in for a surprise if you think Ullmark is going to repeat his performance.

Boston has some good defenders, but defense is a team effort. Losing the greatest defensive forward of all time is going to be a huge blow to Boston's defense.

I'm also not exactly sure how "starved fanbases" has anything to do with this. Fans are not the ones playing on the ice. Both Ottawa and Buffalo played with greater expectations last season and played important games down the stretch. This is a non-factor.

Boston MASSIVELY outperformed what the metrics said they should have done:

That combined with the loss of many good players, a regression in goaltending, the big improvement of other division teams, and the potential regression of key (older) Bruins players means that playoffs are far from a sure thing. They obviously can still make it, but it's not a lock.

Fans of the Kings, Blackhawks, Sharks, Penguins, Caps all said the same things you did until they finally failed to make the playoffs.

 

[Necrobutcher]

1. Toronto
2. Florida
3. Ottawa
4. Buffalo

5. Tampa Bay
6. Boston
7. Detroit
8. Montreal

I'll go with some "bold" predictions here.

I could see this this happen cause the atlantic is most likely gonna be such a tight battle. I'd say in this scenario Tampa still takes WC2 and Detroit misses the playoffs only by a few points. It's that close.

 

[bossram]

I could see this this happen cause the atlantic is most likely gonna be such a tight battle. I'd say in this scenario Tampa still takes WC2 and Detroit misses the playoffs only by a few points. It's that close.

It looks a like a sea change is coming to the Atlantic. It's gonna be a tough division.

 

[Panthaz89]

If you were so confident that was the case you wouldn’t be so upset being told otherwise lol.


What did I type that was bullshit? You’re nowhere without a .953 bud. It’s the biggest factor and an extreme outlier in regular season vs playoffs.

If you are so confident then watch the highlights of how Vegas kept scoring compared to the previous two rounds where the Leafs and Canes were not anywhere near as threatening as Vegas was its night and day.

 

[The90]

If you are so confident then watch the highlights of how Vegas kept scoring compared to the previous two rounds where the Leafs and Canes were not anywhere near as threatening as Vegas was its night and day.

I’m good. Vegas kept scoring because Bob didn’t put up a .953 lol

How aren’t you guys getting this? It’s not that hard to comprehend. There are peaks and valleys. Bob was on a peak for Carolina and Toronto, a valley for Vegas so you guys got pumped. It really is that simple. Without Bob as a .953 you were back to the wildcard team you really were.

 

[Panthaz89]

I’m good. Vegas kept scoring because Bob didn’t put up a .953 lol

How aren’t you guys getting this? It’s not that hard to comprehend. There are peaks and valleys. Bob was on a peak for Carolina and Toronto, a valley for Vegas so you guys got pumped. It really is that simple. Without Bob as a .953 you were back to the wildcard team you really were.

I'm a Sabres fan but whatever dude the saves he made against Toronto and the Canes are nothing special gloat about his amazing save pct compared to Vegas who were firing point blank instead of wrist shots from the blue line.

 

[The90]

I'm a Sabres fan but whatever dude the saves he made against Toronto and the Canes are nothing special gloat about his amazing save pct compared to Vegas who were firing point blank instead of wrist shots from the blue line.

The leafs and canes had every bit as good of shots against as vegas. Such a shit argument.

 

[Royal Thunder]

I'm a Sabres fan but whatever dude the saves he made against Toronto and the Canes are nothing special gloat about his amazing save pct compared to Vegas who were firing point blank instead of wrist shots from the blue line.

Nah Bob was lights out against Toronto and Carolina, plenty of grade A saves. Just wasn’t as good against Vegas, not that that’s the only reason they lost. Vegas overwhelmed them

 

[The90]

Nah Bob was lights out against Toronto and Carolina, plenty of grade A saves. Just wasn’t as good against Vegas, not that that’s the only reason they lost. Vegas overwhelmed them

Best part is Laus, Impatient and the boys don’t refute anything because they can’t. All of the stats for that are tracked. Obviously human opinion of what is / is not a high danger scoring chance is slightly opinionated, but for example: Toronto has just 1 less high danger scoring chance for against Florida, than did Vegas. 63 for the leafs, 64 for Vegas.

Even better is Florida had the highest high danger chances against by a country mile. By both per game and total. Lol.

They knocked Carolina out with having almost identical stats. It literally makes no sense as anything but an outlier.

 

[norrisnick]

Best part is Laus, Impatient and the boys don’t refute anything because they can’t. All of the stats for that are tracked. Obviously human opinion of what is / is not a high danger scoring chance is slightly opinionated, but for example: Toronto has just 1 less high danger scoring chance for against Florida, than did Vegas. 63 for the leafs, 64 for Vegas.

Even better is Florida had the highest high danger chances against by a country mile. By both per game and total. Lol.

They knocked Carolina out with having almost identical stats. It literally makes no sense as anything but an outlier.

Whatever argument you were in you just lost by taking a photo of a computer monitor...

 

[The90]

Whatever argument you were in you just lost by taking a photo of a computer monitor...

Lol. Natural statrick won’t load on my phone for some reason. Been like that for months no idea why

 

[Laus723]

Best part is Laus, Impatient and the boys don’t refute anything because they can’t. All of the stats for that are tracked. Obviously human opinion of what is / is not a high danger scoring chance is slightly opinionated, but for example: Toronto has just 1 less high danger scoring chance for against Florida, than did Vegas. 63 for the leafs, 64 for Vegas.

Even better is Florida had the highest high danger chances against by a country mile. By both per game and total. Lol.

They knocked Carolina out with having almost identical stats. It literally makes no sense as anything but an outlier.

Nice “screen shot.”

You refuse to acknowledge the point I and others made and continue to circle it back to BOB. YOU need it to be all him so that the Panthers are shit next year or so that it was a fluke the leafs lost (again) which I guess glosses over their continued failures in the playoffs?

I and others will not grant that you, so days later you’re still mentioning me cause ya just HAVE TO HAVE it be BOB. It’s cool man, I’m all for you being disappointed again next year. Sure af not predicting other than what I guaranteed last year…the Cats will be in the playoffs. Again.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

TSN overdrive (Frankie Carrado and Peter Holland) did their "way too early predictions".

One had PHI dead last in the league and the other had CBJ.

 

[The90]

Nice “screen shot.”

You refuse to acknowledge the point I and others made and continue to circle it back to BOB. YOU need it to be all him so that the Panthers are shit next year or so that it was a fluke the leafs lost (again) which I guess glosses over their continued failures in the playoffs?

I and others will not grant that you, so days later you’re still mentioning me cause ya just HAVE TO HAVE it be BOB. It’s cool man, I’m all for you being disappointed again next year. Sure af not predicting other than what I guaranteed last year…the Cats will be in the playoffs. Again.

If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it’s definitely not a duck. It’s a cat lol

 

[Laus723]

If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it’s definitely not a duck. It’s a cat lol

What? This explains your screen shot. Just more gibberish.

 

[The90]

What? This explains your screen shot. Just more gibberish.

Everything would lead a logical and non biased person to a conclusion. You, however, are neither.

 

[Laus723]

Everything would lead a logical and non biased person to a conclusion. You, however, are neither.

Love how you just circle jerk around and keep thinking you’re refuting my and others points, but you’re actually just solidifying them. You NEED it to be just Bob. It wasn’t the leafs failures. It wasn’t the Panthers, it must be Bob!!!!

Days later and I have to be mentioned cause you just. can’t. live. with. it. Lmao

 

[The90]

Love how you just circle jerk around and keep thinking you’re refuting my and others points, but you’re actually just solidifying them. You NEED it to be just Bob. It wasn’t the leafs failures. It wasn’t the Panthers, it must be Bob!!!!

Days later and I have to be mentioned cause you just. can’t. live. with. it. Lmao

I literally posted raw data that shows it was in the extreme majority, Bob. You’re not making any points, you’re posting your feelings. There’s a difference. You’re revising history because you saw it one way with nothing to back up your feelings.