Originally posted on 10/24/2011:

Games for tomorrow I like are San Jose -133, Vancouver -137 (love it, though I hate Vancouver and Edmonton is my team haha), and Dallas +101

San Jose is just much much superior to the Preds at the FW position. Only really David Legwand would crack the SJS top 9 forwards and that would be on Handzus' wing. SJS forwards are actually quite solid players all around, led by the evolution of Joe Thornton as a hockey player. I've never seen him play better hockey than the end of last season and leading into this year....not in his 120+ point Hart year, or all those big offensive number years. He's just a really solid player now and should be around 80 points this season. Against teams that commit forwards back to help in the defensive end like a San Jose does, Nashville FWs just dont have the size and skill to keep any sustained pressure in the offensive zone, which is their whole gameplan. Nashville doesnt have the sniper power or transition explosive offense to produce goals from a rush, they need to grind out their goals, which plays right into the Sharks strengths.

The defender edge I actually give to San Jose as well, despite how vaunted the Predators Dcore is. The overall depth across 3 pairings, all 6 defenders on the Sharks is disgusting. I would put it at about top 5 in the league, right around what Nashville is at, but what they have that Nashville doesnt is specialized roles. Suter-Weber are great players but they are only "great" at most phases of the game. Burns-Boyle are their equals at bringing PP offense, and I would suggest superior at ES offense. Murray-Vlasic are very comparable to them defensively. The reason Suter-Weber are so valuable is because you can simply play them in every situation and you know you are getting high level production, while you may need, in this case, 4 very good players to replace and equal their roles, which is tough to find. However, San Jose has just that. Their team depth is insane.

Again, the wildcard is going to be in net. Rinne is just such a gigantic advantage to have in net. You literally have to outshoot and outchance Nashville by like 2-4 shots to be even money with them. SJS to be worth their price here have to play in the range of {24-20 to 30-24**, which is a tough task for sure (4-6 shots here), but again, with solid defenders and solid team defense in general on both sides, a low offensive output game is favored here, so on the lower end of that range, about 4 shots, which San Jose is very likely to cover.