[leafs_ducks]

According to a hockey magazine that just came out today. They predicted Toronto to finish 8th while mtl n ott will miss the playoffs in the east.

[Dharmonize]

I wonder what these predictions are based on... I mean, I can easily imagine Ottawa missing the playoffs and I can even see the Leafs making them, if I let my imagination go wild. But why in the world should the Habs miss them?

[leafs_ducks]

I wonder what these predictions are based on... I mean, I can easily imagine Ottawa missing the playoffs and I can even see the Leafs making them, if I let my imagination go wild. But why in the world should the Habs miss them?

i don't quite remember what the magazine is called and if they are reliable or not. lolz. but i'll post the whole standings tmr when i look at it again.

[leafs_ducks]

The magazine is called the official 2012 NHL yearbook NHL faceoff magazine

Below is their prediction of the 2011-2012 standings


East west
1. Pit 1. Van
2. Was 2. La
3. Bos 3. Det
4. Buf 4. Sj
5. Tb 5. Chi
6. Nyr 6. Cgy
7. Phi 7. Nas
8. Tor 8. Ana
9. NJ 9. Stl
10. Car 10. Clb
11. Mtl 11. Phx
12. Nyi 12. Dal
13. Win 13. Min
14. Fla 14. Edm
15. Ott 15. Col


Did this on my mobile.

[a4u2fear]

Riiiiight. They will fit nicely, out of the playoffs as usual.

[hels]

LOL at the Leafs making the playoffs. Me being a tried and true Leafs fan I unfortunately have little hope for them.

[Dharmonize]

The magazine is called the official 2012 NHL yearbook NHL faceoff magazine

Below is their prediction of the 2011-2012 standings


East west
1. Pit 1. Van
2. Was 2. La
3. Bos 3. Det
4. Buf 4. Sj
5. Tb 5. Chi
6. Nyr 6. Cgy
7. Phi 7. Nas
8. Tor 8. Ana
9. NJ 9. Stl
10. Car 10. Clb
11. Mtl 11. Phx
12. Nyi 12. Dal
13. Win 13. Min
14. Fla 14. Edm
15. Ott 15. Col

Interesting. We shall see in about 8 months Still, thanx for posting it here!

[ColdBeerHere]

With Tin Connolly as their #1 center ?

[leafs_ducks]

Lolz. Why is there so much hate for the leafs?

[slapster33]

i don't see the leafs in the playoffs, and reason why they would make it?

[MsD9]

Same here...i'm 100% sure they're not gonna make it.

[DennisGreen]

I could see the Leafs squeaking into the 7th or 8th spot this year or finishing dead last in the East as well

[aznbluff]

I think its better to order the teams into tiers because predicting the exact order is just silly due to variance.
In the East

Tier 1
Capitals
Penguins
Bruins

Tier 2
Philly
Lightning
Devils

Tier 3
Sabres
Rangers
Habs
Leafs
Carolina
Islanders

Tier 4
Sens
Jets
Panthers (My pick for worst team in the league next year, Huberdeau is not NHL ready but has a decent shot to crack the opening roster. Gudbranson is for real though, kid is solid as hell already, will be their best dman by the end of the year as a rookie. Losing Vokoun, who i think is close to a top 5 goaltender will be big, Markstrom will be a star but is not at Vokoun's level yet)

In the West:

Tier 1
Sharks (in my opinion the best team in the league next year)
Canucks

Tier 2
Wings
Hawks
Kings

Tier 3
St. Louis (very good team that will be underrated to begin the season)
Anaheim
Nashville
Columbus
Dallas
Minnesota

Tier 4
Colorado
Edmonton (My team , hope to see some development from HOPE (Hall, Omark, MPS, Eberle)
Calgary
Phoenix

I'm going to do a detailed write up on all the teams closer to the season

[ColdBeerHere]

AZNBLUFF....I have to disagree on your Buffalo pick....No way is that club a tier 3 team....They arguably have one of the best defenses in the league....Solid goaltending with a better back up goalie this year...And they have good coaching....

On top of everything they have a new owner with deep pockets and wants to spend.

Buffalo will challenge for first in the Northeast this year.

[aznbluff]

I think Buffalo's defense is getting overrated after their signings. One of the best defenses in the league is pushing it. Top 10, sure. Ehrhoff is a good player, but he was Vancouver's 3rd, arguably 4th best dman behind Edler, Hamhuis, (Bieksa). I have him at 3rd. Now that's on a stacked blue line and I'm sure he will suffice in a top pairing, puck moving role, but don't overrate him. He got overpaid. He is a good offensive defenseman but his point totals were inflated a good 10-15 points from permanent PP1 time with the best unit in the league. His role on that PP was simply get the puck and either pass to Hank or slap towards the net. He showed little to no playmaking and has a slighty above average shot. For the most part, he is going to leak some goals against, which was masked last year because he was on the ice surrounded by Sedin-Sedin-Burrows and Edler for the majority of his ice at ES. Sometimes his ice overlapped with Raymond-Kesler-Sammy/Higgins/Tambo. Basically, his QualTeam was outrageously high.

Regehr is a nasty player. Im from Edmonton and an Oilers fan, so I've watched the Regehr-Hemsky battles for years and years now, I know what he brings and what he doesnt. He is a solid shut down option, with great physicality and positioning. However, he isn't very mobile, so faster players can and will beat him off the rush. He dominates the cycle game though as he just goes in there and ties up the FW, freeing the puck. Ideally, Regehr should play about 18-20 minutes depending on penalty calls, 15-16 at ES and the rest on PK1. He'll likely get played more than this though. He is what he is, I feel there are a lot of players like him that go around the league unnoticed, like a Greg Zanon in Minny is nearly the same player, but no one has even heard of him. He got his name out because he played for a big Canadian market and earned a Team Canada roster spot years ago. Still a good, servicable top 4 dman, but you'll often hear "one of the best defensive defensemen in the game", which I think is unfair to both Regehr and the league. Bouwmeester is overpaid, but his defensive game, without even mentioning his all around game (which far outclasses Regehr) is even superior to Regehr in my opinion. Everyone just hates on JayBo because of his contract. Regehr should never be the highest paid defenseman on your team.

Miller I feel is quite overrated. I'd rank him as an average goaltender. About top 15.
Rinne, Thomas, Hiller, Price, Lundqvist, Luongo, Vokoun, Ward, Backstrom, Varlamov (elite elite potential this kid has, not sure why Washington traded him instead of Neuvirth). Miller falls into the next range alongside goalies like Bryzgalov, Crawford, Quick, Rask, Kipper. People will remember a strong Olympic showing and his fluke Vezina year, which tends to lead to overrating.

Then their weakest spot is their center depth, arguably (and in my opinion) the most important position in hockey. Derek Roy is a below average 1C. They overpaid for Leino and now want him to be 2C? That's a mistake in my opinion. His whole NHL career has been on the wing centered by very established, veteren centers on deep deep teams. Tyler Ennis does not have the build to play C in the NHL, his skillset is suited for the wing, where I believe he will have a solid year. Gaustad is an above average 3C though, solid player who can give you tough (tough meaning against tough competition) 15-18 minutes a night.

They are pretty strong on the wings but a below average number 1 center and a (non-existant) 2nd center are going to kill them in a league so strong at the position. Just in the East, do you really feel comfortable matching Roy-Leino against Crosby-Malkin, Stamkos-Lecavalier, Krejci-Bergeron, Backstrom-Johansson, Staal-Skinner, Giroux-Briere etc...

Back to the topic of their D corps, these are the teams I'd rank ahead of Buffalo
Penguins, Philly, Boston, Vancouver, Detroit, Nashville, Montreal, SJS, LA, Washington. The only one that can really be debated would be Boston and Montreal, perhaps Washington.
Boston has Chara who is the best on either team and can eat 23-28 minutes including primary PP and PK time, very valuable asset. Seidenberg is an average number 2. Only Myers could you argue is more valuable only for next season than Seidenberg. Boston has the top end, Buffalo wins with depth. Sure, you can argue Buffalo is ahead of Boston here.
Montreal, I believe, has the 2 best defenders between the teams. Subban and Markov. Subban played extraordinary minutes on a playoff team that took the eventual cup champs to game 7. He was their #1 and played PP1 and PK1, as well as their shutdown pairing at ES. I'll add in that he outplayed Chara in the series. Markov, when healthy, was (we'll see where he is at after the injuries) a top 5 dman in the league. I'd give the Habs the edge here.
Washington has a better version of Ehrhoff in Green. Then a young Regehr in Alzner, and their future core defender in Carlson, who is very comparable to Myers now (people will overrate Myers because of a calder, he's great but he's not the next coming).

[bladesofsteel]

Go Buds Go

[DwightShrute]

Burke is a great GM. Won't surprise me if they aren't a contender for the Cup sooner that we all expect. I hope not but I suspect so.

[egloff]

ūnfortunately leafs and playoffs don't like each other :-(

[leafs_ducks]

At least the jays are moving a step forward.