2007-2008 NHL Predictions

[EagerBeaver]

The Hockey News' Top 10 NHL Players:

1. Sidney Crosby
2. Alex Ovechkin
3. Roberto Luongo
4. Niklas Lidstrom
5. Chris Pronger
6. Jarome Iginla
7. Vinny Lecavalier
8. Joe Thornton
9. Dany Heatley
10. Martin Brodeur

It is with great embarassment that I must report that the Canadiens don't have a single player in the HN top 50. Tomas Kaberle of Toronto (#28) is the lone Leafs player and Zdeno Chara (#39) is the lone Bruins player to crack the top 50.

 

[eastender]

The Keenan Effect

Eastender,

The objective experts at the Hockey News (HN) analyze the top 5 in the west as follows (talent grade in parentheses):

1. Detroit (A)
2. Anaheim (A-)
3. Calgary (A-)
4. San Jose (B)
5. Minnesota (B)

With regard to Calgary, HN notes that they were the only team in the NHL to have 4 forwards eclipse the 70 point mark: Iginla, Langkow, Huselius and Tanguay - with the expectation that all 4 will repeat or better these performances. HN notes that Kiprusoff had an off year, yet was a Vezina Trophy finalist. A weakness is depth at goalie behind Kiprusoff. It should be noted that HN only rates Luongo and Brodeur as better NHL goalies than Kiprusoff.

HN analyzes the Sharks as a big, fast, and young team, which has the best 1-2 punch at center in the NHL in Thornton and Marleau. A weakness is overreliance on power play scoring and not enough in the 5 on 5, which tapered badly second half of the season.

The worst team in the west is picked to be Wayne Gretzky's Phoenix Coyotes, which, along with Montreal and Boston, is expected to vie for the #1 overall draft pick in 2008.

EB,
Since winning the cup with the Rangers Mike Keenan has had problems everywhere he went. Usually his arrival starts a house cleaning.Keenan moved Huselius when he was in Florida.Langkow,Tanguay and Lombardi are not Keenan type players.Let's see what happens in Calgary.

San Jose,the assessment you posted translates into great perimeter players especially Thornton, that have problems come play-off time. Teams will not adjust their defence for a game or two so a nice regular season record is deceptive. Teams will adjust defences for a seven game series and that is where San Jose has problems since they do not have a flexible offence that plays well down low.

Montreal had over 40 wins last year. Their problem is that they do not have reliable first line players game in game out.Koivu and Kovalev have stretches when they do not perform. If the young talent steps up they will make a run for the play-offs.

Boston lacks depth and too many coaching changes in recent years has produced a team that does not have a system or a defined style of play. They have some talent - Bergeron,Chara,Kessel,Savard,Sturm, lack leadership and proven goaltending unless Fernandez steps up.

 

[EagerBeaver]

If the young talent steps up they will make a run for the play-offs.

And if the young talent doesn't step up, the more likely scenario, you may have a team like the Flyers were last year. Remember, everyone has improved in this conference. The Flyers went out and acquired proven talent, the Rangers acquired big time proven talent. To me the Rangers, although picked #2 by HN, have the most intriguing team. It does not take a great leap of faith to see them in the Stanley Cup finals, whereas it takes a great leap of faith to believe that the Canadiens will even sniff a playoff berth.

I am counting on the Canadiens to be bad enough so that the streak of sellouts will end, and I will be able to get tickets to a game at the Bell Center for a reasonable price, hopefully to see a team like the Penguins or Senators or the Rangers which have top flight NHL talent.

 

[eastender]

Everyone Has Improved???????????????

Remember, everyone has improved in this conference.

Let's see. These teams lost the following without finding equivalent replacements.

Buffalo lost Drury and Briere.
New Jersey lost Gomez and Rafalski.
NY Islanders lost Ryan Smyth.
Ottawa lost some key depth players inc Comrie and Preissing
Atlanta lost Tkachuk and top prospects that were traded at the deadline.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Let's see. These teams lost the following without finding equivalent replacements.

Buffalo lost Drury and Briere.
New Jersey lost Gomez and Rafalski.
NY Islanders lost Ryan Smyth.
Ottawa lost some key depth players inc Comrie and Preissing
Atlanta lost Tkachuk and top prospects that were traded at the deadline.

Eastender,

Buffalo had a lot of injuries on their blueline last year, and the return to health of those defenders, and a full season from Connolly may be sufficient to offset the losses of Briere and Drury, especially with Vanek becoming the new face of the franchise and being given the chance to shine. The Sabres are rated 5th in the East.

New Jersey is expected to be a playoff team by HN, which reports that Zubrus could fill the void left by Gomez. Also, Brodeur now has the protection he did not have last year with the signing of Weekes, so we won't see him wear down like he did in the playoffs last year. A fresh Brodeur is bad news for Devils playoffs opponents. Make no mistake, this is an improvement.

I could go on and on but you get the picture. These teams made moves that carried their teams forward and put them in a position to maintain the respective paces set last year. It is believed that Montreal suffered as many losses especially with Souray on the PP but did little to offset apart from signing a shot journeyman player and a rapidly aging defenseman.

 

[eastender]

Read Between the Lines

Eastender,

Buffalo had a lot of injuries on their blueline last year, and the return to health of those defenders, and a full season from Connolly may be sufficient to offset the losses of Briere and Drury, especially with Vanek becoming the new face of the franchise and being given the chance to shine. The Sabres are rated 5th in the East.

New Jersey is expected to be a playoff team by HN, which reports that Zubrus could fill the void left by Gomez. Also, Brodeur now has the protection he did not have last year with the signing of Weekes, so we won't see him wear down like he did in the playoffs last year. A fresh Brodeur is bad news for Devils playoffs opponents. Make no mistake, this is an improvement.

I could go on and on but you get the picture. These teams made moves that carried their teams forward and put them in a position to maintain the respective paces set last year. It is believed that Montreal suffered as many losses especially with Souray on the PP but did little to offset apart from signing a shot journeyman player and a rapidly aging defenseman.

EB ,

Read between the lines.

If Zubrus can fill the void left by Gomez then the Sabres would have kept him instead of letting him go after trading for him. There are reasons why Zubrus has bounced around and why Washington decided not to build with him as a veteren presence.

Souray on the power play. NJ lost a power play quarterback in Rafalski and Pittsburgh with Crosby never had one. Both teams had the cap space to sign Souray but didn't. Same could be said for Atlanta and a few of the western teams.Souray was -28, Hamrlik was +22 last year. You do not win with -28 D-men.

 

[voyageur11]

Niedermeyer and selanne did not join the team yet. Their no.1 goaler wont start the season Schneider is injured they start the season on the road starting in England and they are hockey news favorite to win the cup No wonder i dont read hockey news

 

[EagerBeaver]

Niedermeyer and selanne did not join the team yet.

Hockey News said they are #1 even without these guys, because they have tremendous depth. They are not called the Sitting Ducks - the name is the Mighty Ducks. It might be tough to repeat based on recent historybut the Mighty Ducks appear to have a team that will strongly contend and possibly do that.

I like the fact that HN is picking them because I would prefer to see the NY Rangers fly just below the radar, sneak in and steal the Cup when nobody's looking.

 

[JustBob]

I like the fact that HN is picking them because I would prefer to see the NY Rangers fly just below the radar, sneak in and steal the Cup when nobody's looking.

Well I hope they do better under the radar than in it, as in between 1998-2004 when they were packed with talent and consistently had the highest payroll in the league but missed the playoffs 7 years in a row.

 

[voyageur11]

Hockey News said they are #1 even without these guys, because they have tremendous depth. They are not called the Sitting Ducks - the name is the Mighty Ducks. It might be tough to repeat based on recent historybut the Mighty Ducks appear to have a team that will strongly contend and possibly do that.

I like the fact that HN is picking them because I would prefer to see the NY Rangers fly just below the radar, sneak in and steal the Cup when nobody's looking.

So loosing a player who gave you 48 goals, and a connie smith winner wont affect the duck . Giguere is injured they start the season in england Put your money on the duck i will put mine on San Jose But i am only a fan of the game not an expert

 

[EagerBeaver]

The weather experts aren't always right either, but we read the weather forecast every day so we know how we likely should dress for work. The casual hockey fan like me needs to read the Hockey News so that when I come to Montreal, if I buy a ticket to a game and invest the kind of money that it will cost me, I will know ahead of time from the experts the quality of hockey I can likely expect to see. It's really very simple. That is why a lot of casual hockey fans will pay the $9.99 for the HN preseason yearbook. In my case I also paid the Sporting News $7.99 for theirs.

 

[gohabsgo]

there's no chance in hell that the Habs make the playoffs. They are just terrible!

 

[G1GBallday]

this thread needs a bump for some laughs.

Chloe's the only one who ends up not looking like a Douche bag.