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2017-18 Line-up


nihilz

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1 hour ago, dlbalr said:

 

I think the Habs are still a playoff team.  Tampa should be better but there's no reason to expect much improvement out of Florida who has gotten a fair bit worse this summer.  Toronto's another pretty safe bet but after that, there are a lot of question marks.  Is Ottawa really one of the top teams in the East or did they get hot at the right time?  Is Boston better than a bubble team?  (I don't think so - they'll battle for a WC spot but probably not a top-three.)  Are the Sabres ready to take the next step forward or will they still be on the outside looking in?  And then there's Detroit, who everyone expects to be out of it in a hurry.  The Metropolitan is strong but the Atlantic still isn't that good.

 

I don't know if Tampa will be that much better than last year. Yes they should get a full season of Stamkos, but they also lost Drouin and Bishop. And I'm not so sure Vasilevsky can carry the bulk of the load effectively enough at this point in his career. I fully expect Florida to miss the playoffs, I have no idea what management is doing down there. I hate to say it but Toronto can do some damage as long as their goaltending doesn't let them down.  I think Ottawa is a solid team and will contend for the division. Buffalo might be the annual surprise team that nobody expects to do well and does, but I can also see them being terrible. And Detroit sucks 

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7 minutes ago, illWill said:

I don't know if Tampa will be that much better than last year. Yes they should get a full season of Stamkos, but they also lost Drouin and Bishop. And I'm not so sure Vasilevsky can carry the bulk of the load effectively enough at this point in his career. I fully expect Florida to miss the playoffs, I have no idea what management is doing down there. I hate to say it but Toronto can do some damage as long as their goaltending doesn't let them down.  I think Ottawa is a solid team and will contend for the division. Buffalo might be the annual surprise team that nobody expects to do well and does, but I can also see them being terrible. And Detroit sucks 

1

 

Bishop wasn't all that great for them last season (only a .911 SV%); I think Vasilevskiy can at least match that over a full season.  They also were missing Callahan for most of the year (bad contract but still a decent player in the right role), Johnson missed a big chunk as well, and they'll get a full year of Brayden Point.  That should cover for the loss of Drouin and add a bit more offence as well.  I think they'll be in the thick of it at the very least; they didn't miss by much last year despite all their injuries.

 

As for Florida, they were told to slash payroll - that's why they've let so many people go.  It's not a great roster on paper though as a result.

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6 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

The wild cards in this lineup seem to be Hemsky and Jerabek. Regarding the latter: based on the moves to this point, we can only conclude that either MB suffers from a bizarre ailment that makes him recoil at the sight of puck-moving defencemen, or he feels that this rookie can somehow replace most of what Markov brought. This seems incredible to me, but what do I know. As for Hemsky, if he rebounds back to his earlier form as roughly a 40-point guy, he will add some scoring depth that will be disproportionately valuable to a club that has even fewer offensive tools than last season's farcical popguns. These will be intriguing players to keep our eyes on.

 

I have more faith that Hudon can come in for a full season and have a Lehkonen type of season, than I do in Hemsky hitting 40 points. I agree about the Wild Card aspect, if Jerabek comes in and has a Zaitsev type of season and progression, he could easily make this top 4 more interesting going forward. For now I will just expect him to come around slowly, and by seasons end, hopefully have shown enough to suggest next year he could be a top 4 option on a full time basis.

 

1 hour ago, dlbalr said:

 

I think the Habs are still a playoff team.  Tampa should be better but there's no reason to expect much improvement out of Florida who has gotten a fair bit worse this summer.  Toronto's another pretty safe bet but after that, there are a lot of question marks.  Is Ottawa really one of the top teams in the East or did they get hot at the right time?  Is Boston better than a bubble team?  (I don't think so - they'll battle for a WC spot but probably not a top-three.)  Are the Sabres ready to take the next step forward or will they still be on the outside looking in?  And then there's Detroit, who everyone expects to be out of it in a hurry.  The Metropolitan is strong but the Atlantic still isn't that good.

 

I agree, I do think Tampa will have a better season but they lost a 50+ point top 6 player with no replacement, and are banking on a young netminder with a lot to prove this season, the only gains they can hope for now are healthy bodies. Ottawa already had a rollercoaster year, to determine which is the real Ottawa is not something simple, they also lost a top pair guy with no replacement and will be more of the same. Toronto made some slight improvements and Boston did nothing to improve from the bubble team they already were. We make the playoffs with relative ease as long as Price is healthy, it just is what it is there, but it will be a 3 horse race for the Division title between Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. If we make an addition of note with the cap space we have though, this could all change and turn into a "our division to lose" type of scenario. 

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7 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

The wild cards in this lineup seem to be Hemsky and Jerabek. Regarding the latter: based on the moves to this point, we can only conclude that either MB suffers from a bizarre ailment that makes him recoil at the sight of puck-moving defencemen, or he feels that this rookie can somehow replace most of what Markov brought. This seems incredible to me, but what do I know. As for Hemsky, if he rebounds back to his earlier form as roughly a 40-point guy, he will add some scoring depth that will be disproportionately valuable to a club that has even fewer offensive tools than last season's farcical popguns. These will be intriguing players to keep our eyes on.

 

I don't agree that we have fewer weapons than last year. 

I think we have the same (not that this is good enough)... with the possibility of more if one of Hemsky, Gallagher, Plekanec come through, or if Lehkonen takes another step forward. 

 

But of course I'd love to add another forward weapon. 

 

On defence Jerabek is the ultimate wildcard.  He can be anywhere from Zaitsev Caliber to Not NHL caliber (with the latter more likely, unfortunately since Zaitsev is just a rarity).  I'm intrigued to see him. 

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3 hours ago, zumpano21 said:

I can't shake the opinion that we might take a step back this year. As in, not make the playoffs.

 

TB and FLA are due for huge jumps and the Metro may be better.

 

Anyone else with the same thoughts?

 

TB is due to step up.

 

I'm not convinced Florida is.  I think 2015-16 is the aberation for them, not last year. 

 

I think Ottawa takes a step back too. 

 

I still think the Habs are in the playoffs.  Tampa, Montreal, Toronto, top 3 in the division.   Habs vs Leafs in the first round. 

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2 hours ago, Commandant said:

 

I don't agree that we have fewer weapons than last year. 

I think we have the same (not that this is good enough)... with the possibility of more if one of Hemsky, Gallagher, Plekanec come through, or if Lehkonen takes another step forward. 

 

But of course I'd love to add another forward weapon. 

 

On defence Jerabek is the ultimate wildcard.  He can be anywhere from Zaitsev Caliber to Not NHL caliber (with the latter more likely, unfortunately since Zaitsev is just a rarity).  I'm intrigued to see him. 

 

I think we have the same level of weapons up front - Radulov for Drouin being a lateral move (which cost us our only elite prospect, but whatever). But losing Markov's 40 points is a significant offensive subtraction from the back end, I think.

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On ‎2017‎-‎08‎-‎23 at 11:51 AM, zumpano21 said:

I can't shake the opinion that we might take a step back this year. As in, not make the playoffs.

 

TB and FLA are due for huge jumps and the Metro may be better.

 

Anyone else with the same thoughts?

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/John-Gove/The-Atlantic-Division-Where-Do-the-Lightning-Fit-In/241/87067

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Montreal is a top 3 team in the Division. 

It'll come down to Montreal, Toronto, and Tampa. 

 

I expect Buffalo, Detroit,  and Florida to be the bottom feeders, Ottawa to fall back to earth, and Boston to be the mediocre team they are in the middle of the pack. 

The top three is a toss up for me. My heart says Montreal wins the division, but my brain screams look out for Toronto. A good young team one or two moves away from being a top contender. 

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3 hours ago, zumpano21 said:

To play devils advovate - FLA was destroyed by injuries last year.

 

Is this not part of the equation for the coming year?

 

Florida wasn't really that good even the year they won the division.  They had almost no injuries that year, and they were vastly overperforming their advanced stats, just like Colorado did they year they won their division... just like Calgary did the year Bob hartley won the coach of the year... etc...

 

It really wasn't surprising to see them fall. 

 

And given that they have even less talent now due to an off-season of purging money... I don't see how they are anything more than a wild card.   And that's at best. 

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56 minutes ago, Commandant said:

 

Florida wasn't really that good even the year they won the division.  They had almost no injuries that year, and they were vastly overperforming their advanced stats, just like Colorado did they year they won their division... just like Calgary did the year Bob hartley won the coach of the year... etc...

 

It really wasn't surprising to see them fall. 

 

And given that they have even less talent now due to an off-season of purging money... I don't see how they are anything more than a wild card.   And that's at best. 

Did you compile which team did overperform last season, by any chance ?

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2 hours ago, JoeLassister said:

Did you compile which team did overperform last season, by any chance ?

 

Ottawa was one.   Columbus was another. 

 

Carolina and Winnipeg are two teams which can improve significantly if they get goaltending.  Depends if you see Darling as an upgrade on Ward, and Mason as an upgrade on Hellebucyk/Pavelec.  They were better possession teams than their record shows, largely due to really poor goaltending. 

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13 hours ago, DON said:

Will the leafs allow more or less than 234 goals against this year? I haven't followed who they added on back end or in nets.

 

 

They didn't do anything back there besides swap Hunwick for Hainsey, so unless Andersson has himself a spectacular year, I would expect more of the same on that end. However they did add to their offense, which would likely help them win a few more games than last year and continue to progress in the right direction.

 

Toronto's Achilles heel will be their back end again but I am sure they will work towards addressing that when the right opportunity comes.

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3 hours ago, Link67 said:

 

 

They didn't do anything back there besides swap Hunwick for Hainsey, so unless Andersson has himself a spectacular year, I would expect more of the same on that end. However they did add to their offense, which would likely help them win a few more games than last year and continue to progress in the right direction.

 

Toronto's Achilles heel will be their back end again but I am sure they will work towards addressing that when the right opportunity comes.

 

Well add to the fact that they were one of the least injured teams last year that certainly played a role.

 

I think if they come across a big injury to some of their key guys like some other contending teams had they will take a step back. But ho knows.

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12 hours ago, DON said:

 

Interesting. He's certainly an easy kid to believe in. Could carve out a long career for himself as a handy second-liner.

 

Reading that piece left me with the wistful wish that the Habs would bring Saku Koivu into the managerial fold somehow. Perhaps once we clean house in 3-4 years.

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On 8/27/2017 at 10:12 AM, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

Reading that piece left me with the wistful wish that the Habs would bring Saku Koivu into the managerial fold somehow. Perhaps once we clean house in 3-4 years.

 

The Gainey era brought us Carbo and Muller behind the bench.

 

Maybe when Stephane Quintal becomes the GM, he brings in Markov and Koivu.

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4 hours ago, Machine of Loving Grace said:

 

The Gainey era brought us Carbo and Muller behind the bench.

 

Maybe when Stephane Quintal becomes the GM, he brings in Markov and Koivu.

Koivu can coach the forwards; but, who coaches the d and which is head coach...Markov or Hal Gill?:spamafote:

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I always enjoy reading HW Forum, but don't contribute much (except the odd lineup) :)

Here is something: After hearing the interview where CJ said Drouin would be tried at center, maybe this would work:

Pacioretty    -Danault    -Galcheynuk
Lenkohnen   -Drouin     -Gallagher
Byron            -Plekanec -Shaw
Hudon          -Mitchell   -Hemsky

(Martinsen/delaRose)

 

Schlemko   -Weber
Alzner         -Petry
Davidson   -Benn
(Morrow/Streit)

 

I don't think ut has been suggested.

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I wonder if Bylsma would be better then JJ behind the bench?

Any1 think this could or even should happen?

But, fe real tho, CJ, Captn Kirk and Dan B might just be the kind of group back there that could give a real run to any other coaching team in the league, no?

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24 minutes ago, ehjay said:

I wonder if Bylsma would be better then JJ behind the bench?

Any1 think this could or even should happen?

But, fe real tho, CJ, Captn Kirk and Dan B might just be the kind of group back there that could give a real run to any other coaching team in the league, no?

 

I suspect Bylsma would be more likely to work as a forward coach than a defensive one.  I also don't think he'll take an assistant job while he's still getting paid by Buffalo for a couple more years.  I don't think anyone here particularly likes Daigneault much but Julien has decided to keep him around.

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