HabsWorld.net --
The final rosters have been set by all NHL teams
and the speculation of who will and will not make the
team is thankfully over. The 2007 – 2008 NHL season is
finally about to start, and we can now shift our focus on
the season at hand and the final standings for the
Eastern Conference.
Predicting an 82 game schedule is not an exact
science, and nearly impossible to do with all the
variables that can happen, but we all love to voice our
opinions and we at HabsWorld are no different.
Three of HabsWorld’s collaborators have looked
over each team in the Eastern Conference and offer up
their predictions on the final standings with an in-depth
look at the Canadiens and a few other teams of interest.
EASTERN
CONFERENCE PREDICTIONS
Standings
according to Matthew Macaskill
1) Ottawa Senators *
2) New York Rangers *
3) Washington Capitals*
4) Pittsburgh Penguins
5) Buffalo Sabres
6) Montreal Canadiens
7) Philadelphia Flyers
8) New Jersey Devils
9) Tampa Bay Lightning
10) New York Islanders
11) Carolina Hurricanes
12) Toronto Maple Leafs
13) Atlanta Thrashers
14) Florida Panthers
15) Boston Bruins
* Denotes division leader
Team Comments:
1) Montreal
Canadiens: If you read most, if not all, non-Habs based
media making season predictions, you’ll find they all
share a common assumption that Montreal is not
making the playoffs this season. I beg to differ. I foresee
the Canadiens making a sixth place finish in what will be
a tight Eastern Conference.
Bob Gainey and company have collected a plethora of
useful players at every position allowing for serious
inter-squad competition this season. The fact that
Montreal has more NHL capable players than the team
can ice will go a long way to providing the club with a
competitive team night in and night out.
Team Comments:
2) Carolina
Hurricanes:
If the ‘Canes are going to have any shot at making the
playoffs this season, they’ll need a big season from a
couple of young players who showed signs of a Stanley
Cup hangover. The players I have in mind are Eric Staal,
who must produce at a point-per-game pace or better
this season and goaltender Cam Ward, who needs to
re-gain his Con Smythe form to bring this team back into
the post-season.
There’s really not much difference between Carolina’s
current lineup and the one that finished eleventh last
season, leaving me to predict a repeat.
Team Comments:
3) Tampa Bay
Lightning: Vincent Lecavalier is one of the best players
in the world – but that still isn’t enough to guarantee a
playoff birth. Tampa Bay will be in an all out battle this
year for one of the final two playoffs spots in the East.
Like Carolina with regards to Eric Staal, the Bolts will
need a big showing from their highest paid player, Brad
Richards.
There remains a big question mark in terms of the
team’s goaltending position. Johan Holmqvist comes in
as the probable starter with Marc Denis backing him up,
but Coach John Tortorella has never been afraid of
switching things up. With Washington and Philadelphia
improving over the off-season, I see the Lightning
finishing just out of the playoff picture at ninth in their
conference
Standings according to Norm
Szcyrek
1 – Ottawa Senators *
2 – Pittsburgh Penguins *
3 – Carolina Hurricanes *
4 – NY Rangers
5 – Buffalo Sabres
6 – Tampa Bay Lighning
7 – New Jersey Devils
8 – Montreal Canadiens
9 – Toronto Maple Leafs
10 – Atlanta Thrashers
11 – Boston Bruins
12 – NY Islanders
13 – Philadelphia Flyers
14 – Florida Panthers
15 – Washington Capitals
* Denotes division leader
Team Comments:
1) Montreal: The
Habs have solid goaltending in Cristobal Huet, Carey
Price, & Jaroslav Halak, which is going to be the key to
helping the team reach the playoffs. Only Buffalo has a
better starting goalie, but the Habs 1-2 punch in the nets
gives them an overall advantage. Their power play will
suffer with the loss of Sheldon Souray; however, in the
2005-06 season, they reached the playoffs with only an
average power play. If the penalty killing squads can
perform in the top third of the league or better, the team
will greatly benefit. The forwards have a good mix of
veterans and younger players. Although there is
relatively little size up front, the team’s overall speed is
very good. The coaching staff all have a full pro season
under their belts, and should be in a better position to
adapt to the new NHL. Motivating underachievers will be
their most serious challenge this season.
The
biggest team question marks are on defence.
The top 4 [Andrei Markov, Mike Komisarek, Roman
Hamrlik, Mark Streit] are solid, but the bottom 2-3 are
questionable.
The kids will be all right on this squad, and any injuries
to regulars will open up opportunities to AHL players
that are close to ready.
Team Comments:
2) Toronto: The
Leafs have many question marks to start this season.
Which Mat Sundin will show up to play this season? Will
it be the one who lead the team in scoring and shots on
goal, or the one who finished the season scoring only
once in the team’s last 20 games? Who will be the
starting goalie, Toskala or Raycroft? Will the key
defencemen (McCabe & Kaberle) play up to their
expectations this season? Which Jason Blake will play
in Toronto; the 40 goal scorer from last season, or the
forward who averaged 25 goals over the previous three
seasons? Will GM John Ferguson Jr. last the season if
the team underperforms ? Will Darcy Tucker go psycho
on the ice?
Team Comments:
3) Boston: GM
Peter Chiarelli has made some interesting moves in
rebuilding the post-Joe Thornton Bruins, but there is
still a lot of work left to do before the team gets back into
contention for a playoff spot. Signing forward Patrice
Bergeron to a 5 year contract is a good committment of
funds to a young player who has done nothing but good
things for Boston. Acquiring goaltender Manny
Fernandez was a bold move. It helps their goaltending
overall by not putting all the pressure on Tim Thomas
and prospect Tuukka Rask. The team need defenceman
Zdeno Chara return to a semblance of his 2005-06
season with Ottawa, and forget about his last season in
Boston. Claude Julien gets another shot at steering an
NHL club, after two previous dismissals in the Eastern
conference with Montreal and New Jersey. Veterans
Marco Sturm and Marc Savard provide some offence, as
will sophomore Phil Kessel, but there’s little else in the
rest of the supporting cast.
Standings
according to Matt Godbout
1 – Ottawa Senators *
2 – Pittsburgh Penguins *
3 – Atlanta Thrashers *
4 – New York Rangers
5 – Montreal Canadiens
6 – Buffalo Sabres
7 – Philadelphia Flyers
8 – Toronto Maple Leafs
9 – Washington Capitals
10 – Carolina Hurricanes
11 – New Jersey Devils
12 – Tampa Bay Lightning
13 – New York Islanders
14 – Florida Panthers
15 – Boston Bruins
* Denotes division leader
Team Comments:
1) Montreal
Canadiens – I could write one hundered reasons as to
why I think they will finish fifth, but space and time are
short, so I’ll keep it to a minimum.
I’m positive that I
am the only person to pick the Habs this high, but that is
only because people forget too quickly. Last season it
took two major and unpredictable events to take the
Canadiens out of the 4th position in the Conference, and
ultimately out of the playoffs. Frankly, the odds of either
happening again are longer then the Leafs winning the
cup in the next few seasons.
The Canadiens have
some breakout players this season in Higgins,
Plekanec, Kostitsyn, and Komisarek coupled with a
newly found 5 on 5 game that will keep Gainey and co.
happy. There is enough youthful energy to keep the vets
interested and playing with effort, and a few upset
players that were sent down who will push the rookies to
keep their spots on the Canadiens roster or quickly be
replaced.
The offense will be fine, and better then
last season with a new strategy from the coaching staff
and a revitalized Kovalev; but the major improvement
for the Habs will be on defense. The loss of Souray
changes nothing but the PP strategy (Hamrlik can shoot
too ) and his absence actually keeps 10 -15 goals out of
the net. The hole left on the PP might already be filled by
Markov, who until now has always been the set up man
on the point. Now with Souray gone Markov might be
more opt to shoot again, and while he lacks the power of
Souray, it is a very accurate shot.
Carey Price will
also have an impact here, but that is a huge topic I’ll
leave untouched for now. If nothing else he can’t be
worse then Aebischer.
Team Comments:
2) Buffalo Sabres –
The Sabres are alot like the Canadiens this season with
some veteran players and alot of skilled youth. The
difference between the two is goaltending depth,
injuries, and leadership. These factors are why they will
fall in the standings.
Goaltending first, after Miller
who is a very good goalie they have nothing to write
home about in Thibault. Don’t get me wrong Thibault is a
sound backup, but if Miller goes down with an injury so
does the playoffs for the Sabres with the depleated
defense corps.
Sabres Injuries – These are tough to
predict for obvious reasons, but ask yourself, who was
the first player you thought of when I mentioned injuries
with the sabres?…. I thought of Tim Connolly
too.Connolly can be a very creative and productive
player for the Sabres but the likelyhood of him missing
a big chunk of the season due to injury is high enough
that you can’t get betting odds in Los Vegas. Add the
defense injuries (and heart ailments) and they are
suddenly very thin. A replacement from the farm on
defense will only fill the hole with a body since they lack
a real NHL ready defense prospect.
Let’s forget the
fact that they had their Captain and alternate Captain
ripped out of the teams heart by free agency (top scorers
too) and the impact that will have on any team; instead
focus on what is left. Leadership will have to come from
the IR with Teppo Numminen, Jaroslav Spacek, Toni
Lydman, and Jochen Hecht as the only players on the
roster to hit 30 years old; compare that to the Canadiens
now….. impressive stuff huh?
Team Comments:
3) Washington
Capitals – Don’t pay attention to the big name free agent
signings to find the most improved team in the Eastern
Conference, because you would be misled. The most
improved team in the East is the Washington
Capitals.
I really wanted to put Washington in the playoff picture
but I instead gave the Leafs a little credit with the 8th
spot.
Last season the Capitals were a competitive
team only lacking that extra goal in either offense, or by
not giving up the extra goal on defense. It’s no secret
that they did not add a big name free agent in the
summer, but the changes they made were of high quality
talent. Subtle and yet key additions of Tom Poti, Viktor
Kozlov, Michael Nylander , and to a lesser degree Joe
Motzko, all have a huge impact on the line up. Adding a
first and second line centre in Nylander and Kozlov not
only finally solidifies a top scoring line with Ovechkin
and Semin/Clark, but it has a major trickle down affect.
Last season the top centre on the team was Brooks
Laich with 18 points; or was it Brian Sutherby with 17
points? Either way it doesn’t matter because now they
are forced down to the roles they are suited for on the
third and fourth lines. On defense, the addition of Tom
Poti to the top pairing with Brian Pothier not only has the
same trickle down effect, but it helps a defensive core
that struggled on their own side of centre ice last year
while giving more options on what should be a lethal PP
unit.
This vastly improved team only gets better by
adding the best player outside the NHL (and calder
trophy favorite) Nicklas Backstrom. Suddenly the top six
of Ovechkin, Nylander, Clark, Kozlov, Backstrom, and
Semin rival any top two lines in the Eastern Conference
for offensive production; and that can take you a long
way.
One thing to remember when persecuting the views of
the only three HabsWorld collaborators brave
enough to put their opinions on display.
Predictions
of the NHL standings are, in alot of ways, like modern
art; they can sometimes be a little “out there”, but it is
open to interpretation from anyone.
