Who are your Pre-season Cup Favorites?

[5 14 6 1]

Not in order just who I see as top 10 teams next year

Edmonton
Dallas
Vancouver
Colorado
Florida
NYR
Boston
Vegas
Carolina
Toronto

HM: NJ and Nashville. I have to wait and see how that all pans out

 

[Statto]

Kings. “We were right there!”

 

[SupremeTeam16]

Well they have become the most disliked team so they must be doing something right…..

True enough and if I’m being honest if I wasn’t a fan I’d probably dislike them too.

I think there’s still a lot of older fans who dislike them because of their dominance in the 80’s and then obviously the run of 1st overalls culminating in getting extraordinarily lucky in landing McDavid has left a sour taste in a lot of people’s mouth. Then you’ve got a large and passionate fan base which always comes with its fair share of dumb fans.

I can see why a lot of people would dislike them and I’m sure them rounding into a cup contender adds to the dislike.

 

[KevinRedkey]

Definitely not the Devils, I expect them to be at the bottom.

They were riddled with injuries last year. It would be very reasonable to expect at least some degree of improvement in that department. Most seem to believe they also improved their roster overall as well.

Why do you believe they'll be so bad exactly?

 

[Xirik]

They were riddled with injuries last year. It would be very reasonable to expect at least some degree of improvement in that department. Most seem to believe they also improved their roster overall as well.

Why do you believe they'll be so bad exactly?

Everyone on the forum said they would be a playoff team last year and then the Devils sucked. I'm trying to reverse jinx it.

 

[KevinFinnerty]

oilers
Stars
Rangers
Florida
Preds

 

[oconnor9sean]

Dallas remains a really strong team, but if they're actually going to have Dumba and Lyubushkin out there on the ice, they're not winning a championship. There, I said it. Team needs to fix that at the deadline, and pretty decisively.

OEL was one of the worst statistical defenders in the NHL before he went to Florida and you obviously know how that worked out. Plenty of other examples of players moving to strong teams with great systems and instantly being more productive.

If all DeBoer is asking of Dumba and Lybushkin is to be defensive support for either Heiskanen or Harley, I think the pairings could work out quite well for Dallas.

Dallas was right at the top of the standings before they added Tanev, so they’re effectively replacing Suter and Hakanpaa with Dumba and Lybushkin. That’s a net-zero at worst.

 

[Jared Dunn]

OEL was one of the worst statistical defenders in the NHL before he went to Florida and you obviously know how that worked out. Plenty of other examples of players moving to strong teams with great systems and instantly being more productive.

If all DeBoer is asking of Dumba and Lybushkin is to be defensive support for either Heiskanen or Harley, I think the pairings could work out quite well for Dallas.

Dallas was right at the top of the standings before they added Tanev, so they’re effectively replacing Suter and Hakanpaa with Dumba and Lybushkin. That’s a net-zero at worst.

I can understand making a bet on Dumba given the player he's been in years past, but giving Lyubushkin that kind of money when his upside is very clearly limited to #6 who can blow guys up occasionally is nuts. I think they would have been better served overpaying Tanev and then just adding someone near league min

 

[Jared Dunn]

On paper I feel like Edmonton very clearly is the best team in the league, they retained everyone who matters (biggest losses being Foegele and McLeod) and added two solid 2nd line scoring options. They should have upgraded their top 4 at last year's deadline and they still need to do that.

Honestly if Kane does end up being on LTIR the whole season it looks like they should be able to easily add a top 4 D without subtracting anyone from the roster, they absolutely have to be the chalk. There is nobody from the East who impresses me that much which makes me think Florida will again waltz to the finals even though they've lost a lot on the back end