Who makes the playoffs first: Sharks, Blackhawks or Sabres?

[Howboutthempanthers]

Well, I haven't heard any issues about Chicago's ownership and San Jose's ownership like I've heard about the Sabre's ownership. That's going to hold Buffalo back.

 

[dirtydanglez]

sabres but i dont know if power is going to be there

 

[Dr Salt]

Saying its Power's team is just really funny

 

[majormajor]

Can someone explain to me why the general consensus is that the Sharks rebuild is so much further along than the Hawks? The difference in the public perception between the two teams is wild considering the Sharks have been every bit as bad as the Hawks the last 2 years.

I think they've been drafting better players. You can start to see a core of players coming together, at least at forward - Celebrini, Eklund, Smith, Zetterlund, Chernyshev, Musty, etc....

 

[Kuz]

Buffalo was quite close, but fell off hard during Dahlin's injury. That loosing streak is what have them at the bottom and not in the mix from Ottawa (WC1) to Philadelphia who are 6 points ahead of Buffalo. Dahlin went down in the third period where the team had a 4-1 lead they managed to loose that one 5-4 in regulation and then loosing the 7 next without Dahlin. So if we assume they would have held on to the lead with Dahlin they would have had 49 points in 47 games with Dahlin. Which means they have more points per game with Dahlin than Pittsburgh, Philly, NYI and MTL.

Thats also a huge weakness for them being that reliant on a single player to be competitive. Also says something that Power and Byram who should be solid enough carrying the defence with Samuelsson arent able to do so. If the right center becomes available Power and Byram should be on the table.

So most likely SJS as Buffalo always find a way to fail, but they have the potential to be a playoff team.

 

[Chelios]

I think they've been drafting better players. You can start to see a core of players coming together, at least at forward - Celebrini, Eklund, Smith, Zetterlund, Chernyshev, Musty, etc....

I mean, if you want to say they have a better bunch of young forwards, then sure (though I think including Zetterlund in there is a bit of a stretch). But I am not sure if that group is so much better than the group of Bedard, Nazar, Slaggert, Reichel, Dach, Moore, Boisvert etc... that it makes up for the gulf of a difference on the back end. Considering defensemen take longer to develop, that has to be a real concern for San Jose going forward.