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Toughest Teams in the East


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Tied in with the fact that I predicted the Habs to finish 4th in the East, here's my vision of how the East will play out this season. The team that worries me the most in the East is actually Pittsburgh but I don't hear a lot of talk about them which is why I decided to make this thread and get other people's opinions! I don't think many, if any, will choose Pittsburgh to finish 1st in the East as well. Perhaps their depth and defense is a little suspect but the only thing that I can see derailing their regular season is the injury bug. They do seem to have key players who are prone to get injured.

1) Pitts

2) Tampa

3) Was

4) MTL

5) NYR

6) DET

7) NYI

8) Ottawa

9) Columbus

10) Boston

11) Florida

12) Philly

13) Toronto

14) Buffalo

15) New Jersey

16) Carolina

As for contenders from the East in the playoffs? Pitts, MTL, Tampa, NYR and Detroit. I still have trouble seeing Washington as a true force in the playoffs.

Thoughts?

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Well, I did not mean to make this thread about Pittsburgh. Who do you think are some of the other tougher teams in the East? Pittsburgh's D is not great as I mentioned but I think Fleury's "weakness" is overrated in the regular season. Then the playoffs start.

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I expect the caps to be tough this year. I think Barry trotz is meshing well with Ovie, and the Ovie backstrom oshie line is a nightmare (on paper). Holtby just hit his prime and I think he'll be a top 5 goalie for years. They may finish first IMO.

TB will be there as usual, and the Rangers/pens will be good as well

Habs right along side them.

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I think two of the perennial top teams in the East - the bruins and the Pens - will be tough to make the playoffs. Both will be in tough, because they have no defence.

TBL, WAS, MON, NYR and CBL will be the top 5 in the East.

I expect the caps to be tough this year. I think Barry trotz is meshing well with Ovie, and the Ovie backstrom oshie line is a nightmare (on paper). Holtby just hit his prime and I think he'll be a top 5 goalie for years. They may finish first IMO.

TB will be there as usual, and the Rangers/pens will be good as well

Habs right along side them.

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I think two of the perennial top teams in the East - the bruins and the Pens - will be tough to make the playoffs. Both will be in tough, because they have no defence.

TBL, WAS, MON, NYR and CBL will be the top 5 in the East.

Is columbuses defense any better than Pittsburgh's? The best they have is probably Jack Johnson, then maybe Ryan Murray. Definitely not strong. And it's hard to argue that the offense is better on Columbus. I do agree that Columbus will improve a lot this year though.

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i think columbus has much to prove still, the isles will be pretty good and caps have made strides on the D side of their game thats always been lacking (good goltending). i think a fresh voice in DET will have good effect on the vets their and youth

1) habs TB NYR

2) wash isles det

*in no particular order

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I think Bolts, Habs, Caps, and Rangers fill out the top 4 spots in the east. Things are less clear after that, but you'd expect Pens, Isles to make the playoffs with a little bit of breathing room. The last 2 spots will be hotly contested between Wings, Sens, Jackets ect.

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Caps - great goaltending, great coaching. Lost by a hair to rangers in seven games last season. Made very decent additions in Williams and Oshie.

Tbay - Drouin looks ready riding shot gun with Stampkos in preseason. Like this team needs even MORE offense? Hedman heading for a Norris.

Jackets - Healthy and quite capable of taking a leap up the standings.

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  • 7 months later...

Tied in with the fact that I predicted the Habs to finish 4th in the East, here's my vision of how the East will play out this season. The team that worries me the most in the East is actually Pittsburgh but I don't hear a lot of talk about them which is why I decided to make this thread and get other people's opinions! I don't think many, if any, will choose Pittsburgh to finish 1st in the East as well. Perhaps their depth and defense is a little suspect but the only thing that I can see derailing their regular season is the injury bug. They do seem to have key players who are prone to get injured.

1) Pitts

2) Tampa

3) Was

4) MTL

5) NYR

6) DET

7) NYI

8) Ottawa

9) Columbus

10) Boston

11) Florida

12) Philly

13) Toronto

14) Buffalo

15) New Jersey

16) Carolina

As for contenders from the East in the playoffs? Pitts, MTL, Tampa, NYR and Detroit. I still have trouble seeing Washington as a true force in the playoffs.

Thoughts?

Sorry to bump my own thread but it looks like I'm a pretty biased Habs fan with where I had Montreal seeded. Perhaps the regular season didn't pan out exactly like this but I would argue that Pitts, Tampa, Washington and NYR were some of the toughest outs come playoff time. It's sad to see that Montreal was the only team not to live up to its potential. We literally were unlucky this season because the truth is..... I have a thing against being biased.

Florida and Philly deserved to be higher and we definitely need 2 stronger forwards and a backup goalie. The only unfortunate part is how dependent we are on not getting injured. Our back end is fine but we do need a skilled veteran to take more of the responsibilities away from an aging Markov and I love him more than your average fan.

It's an unfortunate situation because while I on one hand see it as a luxury that our best player is our goalie, the most important position (?) it also seems that the skaters are starting to be the more important players. Murray and Martin Jones. I'm still scarred by Philly's Michael Leighton.

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