It was time so I struck. I see teams that overhyped and under hyped. Favs that should be so and wagered on and favs that shouldn't be touched. You all know how I like those dogs, but sometimes you get very good value on a fav also.
Let's start off with the division winners. Only two here, there are juiced....well one of them are. But a winner is a winner.
Now on other boards you may have seen me say that I thought the Habs were being overhyped and everyone was just getting excited because of the 100th year. Well.....I am not backing off of that, I think you can find very good prices fading the habs at spots this year. But they will still win the Northeast
Boston – They really didn’t do anything in the offseason, beside adding Ryder. They have a good young team that played over their heads against the Habs in the playoffs. They will make the playoffs but they won’t be enough to challenge for the division lead.
Buffalo – Free agency has just killed this team last year. Actually considering what they lost it wasn’t a horrible year for them. Lots of young talent here, they will steal some games but Miller can only do so much back there. This team is no threat for a divisional title.
Ottawa – Oh the Sens, half the team was shipped off including that wacky goaltender that is now in Russia. But wait, they have Gerber back there now. Yeah, riiiiiight. That will win them a division. Think we will end up seeing a platoon with him and Auld. Heatley, Spezza are both big scoring threats. But how long will everyone stay healthy. Buffalo should be fighting Boston for that 2nd spot this year.
Toronto – Oh dear….where to start. The Bruins of Canada. Well that’s actually insulting the B’s this year. The Leafs had their fire sale by dumping all of those huge worthless contracts in the off-season. This will be a big rebuilding year for them. Poor Ron Wilson, c’mon man, you didn’t need a job this badly did you? You would have better luck coaching the Raiders !!!! Nabokov is going to get a huge workout this year.
The Leafs will have no D and be an end to end team. Now I want you to take note. Toronto plays a more closed style on the road that actually kept them games last year. With all of the roster moves we will have to see if they keep it up. Toronto will not will not win the division. In fact they will be looking up from the very bottom.
Montreal – A good offensive team got better in the off-season. Anytime you add Tanguay it’s a great off-season. With Kovalev’s scoring last year and Markov firing those rockets from the blue line you are going to see a good share of 4 goal nights for the Habs. Price will have to keep up the great work of last year. He’s still very young, so expect him to stumble a few times, but with the offensive firepower, it will carry him on those off nights.
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Yes, this the juicefest wager. But if I know a team will win the division then I will lay the huge lumber.
Nashville – This team did less than Boston, in fact they did less than any other team. Between legal issues with one of the owners and players leaving in droves, there is not much for Barry Trotz to work with this year. They do still have Arnott, Erat and Legwant still in the fold.
Don’t forget that Radulov bolted for Russia. He’s still considered Nashville property. Arnott and Dumont will have to put up the brunt of scoring for the Preds, but other skaters will have to step up.
On the D side of things it’s just unproven. Hamhuis is on the down side of things, Weber was injured for most of the season so we will just have to see how he does. Ellis did play well last year, in fact he played over his head I believe. Just don’t see great things for the Preds, but don’t forget that they give the Wings a hard game almost every time .
Chicago – My kind of town… This team is the darling of a great deal of talking heads. Injuries just buried them last year. This year they will try to bury everyone else with a great deal of one ice and one huge off ice pickup. Huge pickups of Campbell and Huet. Add to that picking up Scotty Bowman for the front office you gotta’ have a better season.
Havalat is a great player but just can’t seem to get healthy. When that guy is healthy though, he is a highlight reel. Kane looks to have MVP written on him, but let’s see how he does with a year under his belt and teams looking at that tape. Don’t forget that Toews was injured a bit also last season but put up great numbers when he was playing.
The Wall was put on waivers today, so there will be no question that Huet will be the full time starting goaltender. Chicago will be a team to contend with, but it will be the other teams contending for 3rd place, because Chicago will have 2nd wrapped up
Columbus – These guys will make the playoffs……sometime, but not this year. There was a huge roster change over the off-season. Brule and Zherdev were shipped off. Hainsey gone also. That one hurt a bit. Nash is still in the fold along with LeClaire. So they still have a solid scored with a solid netminder. Commodore, Tyutin and Backman should make that blue line better. But it will take time for things to meld.
On the offensive side of things, Umberger, Torres and Huselius were brought in to shake things up. Torres missed the last half of the season with a knee injury. He really didn’t do much before the injury. Umberger is another that hasn’t ever been a big goal scorer with just 13 goals in 74 games with Philly last year. While things do look better for the Jackets they will pretty much stay at the 80pt total they had last year.
St.Louis – Oh you poor Blues fans. It’s going to be another long year for you. This team is rebuilding every single year. The sad thing is that the Blues started out so well and just tanked in the last half of the season. I made stockpiles of money by fading them the last 20 games or so. To add insult to injury, Erik Johnson their very good defenseman tore a couple of ligaments playing…..are you ready for this. Golf !!! He is expected to be out all season.
Kariya and Tkachuk should be the workhorses for scoring this year. They are going to have blue line trouble and that means that Manny Legace will be overworked once again. That was the main reason the Blues tanked the last half of the season. The Blues did get Chris Mason from the Preds to help out. That will help out Legace and very possible that Mason wrestles the starting job from him.
Detroit- Defending Stanley Cup champs. It’s tough to repeat, but this team can do it. Talk about the rich getting richer. They sign Hossa from the Pens, also signing Conklin to back up Osgood. Also the Wings locked up Brad Stuart who played very well for them after they picked him up late last year. The only loss was Hasek who retired for the 2nd time.
There are a couple of things to watch for though. First of all this team is getting a bit of age on them. But with the defensive style they play it’s not a big deal. They don’t allow a great deal of shots. The game they play is D and they play it well. But if you want’ to try and run and gun with them you will lose that battle also.
2nd a problem that will haunt them this year and bit time next year is all that talent they have down on the farm that is not being used.
Ah, I almost forget that Dallas Drake hung up the skates also.
While I don’t think the Wings will match that 115 they hung last year. They will have more than enough to win the division.
Let's start off with the division winners. Only two here, there are juiced....well one of them are. But a winner is a winner.
Habs to win the Northeast -135
Now on other boards you may have seen me say that I thought the Habs were being overhyped and everyone was just getting excited because of the 100th year. Well.....I am not backing off of that, I think you can find very good prices fading the habs at spots this year. But they will still win the Northeast
Boston – They really didn’t do anything in the offseason, beside adding Ryder. They have a good young team that played over their heads against the Habs in the playoffs. They will make the playoffs but they won’t be enough to challenge for the division lead.
Buffalo – Free agency has just killed this team last year. Actually considering what they lost it wasn’t a horrible year for them. Lots of young talent here, they will steal some games but Miller can only do so much back there. This team is no threat for a divisional title.
Ottawa – Oh the Sens, half the team was shipped off including that wacky goaltender that is now in Russia. But wait, they have Gerber back there now. Yeah, riiiiiight. That will win them a division. Think we will end up seeing a platoon with him and Auld. Heatley, Spezza are both big scoring threats. But how long will everyone stay healthy. Buffalo should be fighting Boston for that 2nd spot this year.
Toronto – Oh dear….where to start. The Bruins of Canada. Well that’s actually insulting the B’s this year. The Leafs had their fire sale by dumping all of those huge worthless contracts in the off-season. This will be a big rebuilding year for them. Poor Ron Wilson, c’mon man, you didn’t need a job this badly did you? You would have better luck coaching the Raiders !!!! Nabokov is going to get a huge workout this year.
The Leafs will have no D and be an end to end team. Now I want you to take note. Toronto plays a more closed style on the road that actually kept them games last year. With all of the roster moves we will have to see if they keep it up. Toronto will not will not win the division. In fact they will be looking up from the very bottom.
Montreal – A good offensive team got better in the off-season. Anytime you add Tanguay it’s a great off-season. With Kovalev’s scoring last year and Markov firing those rockets from the blue line you are going to see a good share of 4 goal nights for the Habs. Price will have to keep up the great work of last year. He’s still very young, so expect him to stumble a few times, but with the offensive firepower, it will carry him on those off nights.
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Detroit to win the Central division -260. (Now -300)
Yes, this the juicefest wager. But if I know a team will win the division then I will lay the huge lumber.
Nashville – This team did less than Boston, in fact they did less than any other team. Between legal issues with one of the owners and players leaving in droves, there is not much for Barry Trotz to work with this year. They do still have Arnott, Erat and Legwant still in the fold.
Don’t forget that Radulov bolted for Russia. He’s still considered Nashville property. Arnott and Dumont will have to put up the brunt of scoring for the Preds, but other skaters will have to step up.
On the D side of things it’s just unproven. Hamhuis is on the down side of things, Weber was injured for most of the season so we will just have to see how he does. Ellis did play well last year, in fact he played over his head I believe. Just don’t see great things for the Preds, but don’t forget that they give the Wings a hard game almost every time .
Chicago – My kind of town… This team is the darling of a great deal of talking heads. Injuries just buried them last year. This year they will try to bury everyone else with a great deal of one ice and one huge off ice pickup. Huge pickups of Campbell and Huet. Add to that picking up Scotty Bowman for the front office you gotta’ have a better season.
Havalat is a great player but just can’t seem to get healthy. When that guy is healthy though, he is a highlight reel. Kane looks to have MVP written on him, but let’s see how he does with a year under his belt and teams looking at that tape. Don’t forget that Toews was injured a bit also last season but put up great numbers when he was playing.
The Wall was put on waivers today, so there will be no question that Huet will be the full time starting goaltender. Chicago will be a team to contend with, but it will be the other teams contending for 3rd place, because Chicago will have 2nd wrapped up
Columbus – These guys will make the playoffs……sometime, but not this year. There was a huge roster change over the off-season. Brule and Zherdev were shipped off. Hainsey gone also. That one hurt a bit. Nash is still in the fold along with LeClaire. So they still have a solid scored with a solid netminder. Commodore, Tyutin and Backman should make that blue line better. But it will take time for things to meld.
On the offensive side of things, Umberger, Torres and Huselius were brought in to shake things up. Torres missed the last half of the season with a knee injury. He really didn’t do much before the injury. Umberger is another that hasn’t ever been a big goal scorer with just 13 goals in 74 games with Philly last year. While things do look better for the Jackets they will pretty much stay at the 80pt total they had last year.
St.Louis – Oh you poor Blues fans. It’s going to be another long year for you. This team is rebuilding every single year. The sad thing is that the Blues started out so well and just tanked in the last half of the season. I made stockpiles of money by fading them the last 20 games or so. To add insult to injury, Erik Johnson their very good defenseman tore a couple of ligaments playing…..are you ready for this. Golf !!! He is expected to be out all season.
Kariya and Tkachuk should be the workhorses for scoring this year. They are going to have blue line trouble and that means that Manny Legace will be overworked once again. That was the main reason the Blues tanked the last half of the season. The Blues did get Chris Mason from the Preds to help out. That will help out Legace and very possible that Mason wrestles the starting job from him.
Detroit- Defending Stanley Cup champs. It’s tough to repeat, but this team can do it. Talk about the rich getting richer. They sign Hossa from the Pens, also signing Conklin to back up Osgood. Also the Wings locked up Brad Stuart who played very well for them after they picked him up late last year. The only loss was Hasek who retired for the 2nd time.
There are a couple of things to watch for though. First of all this team is getting a bit of age on them. But with the defensive style they play it’s not a big deal. They don’t allow a great deal of shots. The game they play is D and they play it well. But if you want’ to try and run and gun with them you will lose that battle also.
2nd a problem that will haunt them this year and bit time next year is all that talent they have down on the farm that is not being used.
Ah, I almost forget that Dallas Drake hung up the skates also.
While I don’t think the Wings will match that 115 they hung last year. They will have more than enough to win the division.
