Is Ottawa a darkhorse this season again?

[DDRhockey]

They have solid forwards and solid defense. Goalie is a bit of questionmark though.

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[bobholly39]

Moreso than I expected tbh.

They're doing good. I'm impressed.

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

Reminds me of the Rangers a few years back when they lost in the SCF and ECF in consecutive years.

Good enough to go deep in the playoffs, but probably lose to a superior team in the end.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

I mean they have clearly gone all in to try and win it all in the next 2 years. I have my doubts whether they can do that but they are a well coached team that always plays above the sum of it's part while having some low key skilled players that a lot of people don't talk much about.

 

[Steve]

Yes. That system creates close and low scoring games so they are never really out of it.

It’s effective but painfully awful to watch.

 

[Karl Eriksson]

Nope....booooring

Lightning gonna win the cup, rangers won 6 in a row.

 

[NyQuil]

Yes. That system creates close and low scoring games so they are never really out of it.

It’s effective but painfully awful to watch.

Low scoring?

They are 3rd in the NHL in terms of goals for per game, slightly behind the Leafs.

And I would very much prefer their goals against per game to be better than 18th or whatever it is right now.

You couldn’t be more wrong.

 

[Micklebot]

Low scoring?

They are 3rd in the NHL in terms of goals for per game, slightly behind the Leafs.

And I would very much prefer their goals against per game to be better than 18th or whatever it is right now.

You couldn’t be more wrong.

Goals are booooooorrrrrrriiiiiiiing. 7+ combined goals a game is a snooze fest.

 

[Tuna99]

Ottawa's got great depth at all positions (especially D) and a really well balanced team. Amazing PP now with Duchesne, the top unit of Karlsson, Stone, Duchesne, Hoffman, Ryan is as good as any in the NHL.

The probably don't have the top 6 needed to win the Cup, but if they get their PP going in the playoffs and especially in key games (unlike last years playoffs where our PP cost us the Cup and the series vs Pitt) Ottawa can win the Cup.

Ottawa's a very emotional team in the best way, their will to win is incredible, the shouldn't be underestimated and I wouldn't bet against them versus any NHL team under any circumstance.

 

[DDRhockey]

Yes. That system creates close and low scoring games so they are never really out of it.

It’s effective but painfully awful to watch.

Ottawa has been in several high scoring games this season.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Goaltending has been very poor thus far.

 

[Steve]

Ottawa has been in several high scoring games this season.

That’s fair, they play doesn’t promote open and flowing offence. I know they have scored well this year and have allowed a bunch of goals also but I was getting at the system being more suppressive than open and exciting. The leafs have been boring lately too. Coaches love that style of game, IMO it’s boring to watch and I find Ottawa difficult.

EDIT - Let me rephrase, they are in tight games and rarely out of one. Teams that play more open have a high-risk and high-reward style and can go either way. That's why the team is good and probably a dark horse again this year. They silently win games. I much prefer wide open Hockey to watch and it's not the Sens game. Karlsson is certainly exciting however.

 

[NyQuil]

Let me rephrase, they are in tight games and rarely out of one.

This is true.

Can be painful because they never win easy.

 

[joe dirte]

dark horse for what? the cup? certainly not. they had just aboitbeveruthing that could possibly go right last year go right. and still couldn't even make the final.

they compete for the 3rd best team in the division. and every team in the division has tonnes of work to do to catch tampa.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Low scoring?

They are 3rd in the NHL in terms of goals for per game, slightly behind the Leafs.

And I would very much prefer their goals against per game to be better than 18th or whatever it is right now.

You couldn’t be more wrong.

Guy Boucher. Trap. Pesky Sens. Yawn.

 

[NyQuil]

dark horse for what? the cup? certainly not. they had just aboitbeveruthing that could possibly go right last year go right. and still couldn't even make the final.

they compete for the 3rd best team in the division. and every team in the division has tonnes of work to do to catch tampa.

Bahahahaha.

Everything went right last season.

This ridiculous notion.

-Karlsson - injured
-Stone - injured
-Anderson - misses half the season due to wife’s cancer
-Ryan - injured
-Hoffman - injured
-Brassard - injured
-Turris - injured
-Methot - finger literally cut off

All of the above injuries led to walking wounded status for those guys when they did get back.

They made the playoffs and won two playoff series in spite of all the crap that went on.

Leafs lose Matthews for 3 games and it’s considered adversity.

You guys don’t have a f***ing clue.

 

[BB88]

If they get Duchene going, and good goaltending then maybe.

Not sold on their game but Duchene could change that quickly.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

lol who cares

 

[CyBorgman]

Most underrated team in the league, and i'll continue to underrate them. There is nobody on that team aside from Karlsson or Stone that i'd want to trade for.

 

[NyQuil]

Most underrated team in the league, and i'll continue to underrate them. There is nobody on that team aside from Karlsson or Stone that i'd want to trade for.

You get a gold star for honesty.

 

[Boud]

Bahahahaha.

Everything went right last season.

This ridiculous notion.

-Karlsson - injured
-Stone - injured
-Anderson - misses half the season due to wife’s cancer
-Ryan - injured
-Hoffman - injured
-Brassard - injured
-Turris - injured
-Methot - finger literally cut off

All of the above injuries led to walking wounded status for those guys when they did get back.

They made the playoffs and won two playoff series in spite of all the crap that went on.

Leafs lose Matthews for 3 games and it’s considered adversity.

You guys don’t have a ****ing clue.

This year already:

Missed Karlsson 5 games (Foot Surgery)
Bobby Ryan 8 games (Broken Finger)
Zack Smith 4 games (UBI) + 3 weeks dislocated thumb
Borowiecki missed 7 games
Colin White 11 games (Broken wrist)
Ben Harpur 4 games (UBI)
Johnny Oduya 3 games (LBI)
MacArthur probably done with concussion symptoms.

That's a lot of injuries early in a season for a team that's doing relatively well.

I know that other teams are also battling injuries (Anaheim, St-Louis and Boston off the top of my head) but just to say that there's still definitely room for improvement and they've shot themselves in the foot 3-4 times this year blowing leads in the 3rd that ended up being OT losses.

Will be interesting to see how they do when fully healthy.

 

[NyQuil]

I didn’t even bring up MacArthur last year.

Ignorance in this thread aside, I’d say that they certainly aren’t a contender but should make the playoffs which I think puts them in dark horse territory.

 

[joe dirte]

I didn’t even bring up MacArthur last year.

because he shouldn't even count anymore. you count up Horton, robidas, and lupus and the leafs have among the highest man games lost to injury too. he's played 8 games in the last two regular seasons. the guy needs to be set out to pasture.

 

[NyQuil]

because he shouldn't even count anymore. you count up Horton, robidas, and lupus and the leafs have among the highest man games lost to injury too. he's played 8 games in the last two regular seasons. the guy needs to be set out to pasture.

Lol, great, take him off the list.

There’s still plenty of adversity that the Sens went through that you were blissfully unaware of.

 

[joe dirte]

Lol, great, take him off the list.

There’s still plenty of adversity that the Sens went through that you were blissfully unaware of.

bobby Ryan has hand and wrist injuries literally every year.

you guys all talk about karlsson being at the top of his game and playing so well then complain he was injured.

the rest of those guys are pretty inconsequential players.

compared to thevteams you played, who had several key players OUT of the games.....