2014 Eastern Conference Predictions

[Devil Dancer]

I used to do these annually, but apparently I stopped after the 2011-2012 season for some reason. Maybe it was the lockout, maybe it was Caps-induced depression. Anyway, this year looks pretty unpredictable, so let's make fools of ourselves.

2006 Predictions
2007 Predictions
2008 Predictions
2009 Predictions
2010 Predictions
2011 Predictions

Feel free to include the West or playoffs if you want, or to do your predictions by division. I'm just doing 1-16 to keep it simple.

1. Boston
2. Tampa Bay
3. Pittsburgh
4. NY Rangers
5. Montreal
6. Washington
7. Philadelphia
8. NY Islanders
9. Columbus
10. Detroit
11. Toronto
12. New Jersey
13. Ottawa
14. Florida
15. Carolina
16. Buffalo

I wouldn't be surprised if Florida took a bit more of a jump, but I don't know who else they would pass other than Carolina, who I expect to suck this year.

Click to read more...

 

[BackToTheBasics]

1. Boston
2. Pittsburgh
3. Tampa
4. Montreal
5. Philadelphia
6. Columbus
7. Washington
8. NY Rangers
9. NY Islanders
10. Detroit
11. Toronto
12. New Jersey
13. Ottawa
14. Florida
15. Carolina
16. Buffalo

If Johansen doesn't sign after 2 months, move Columbus to 11th and every team from 11th to 7th up 1 spot.

 

[Vladiator16*]

East
Boston
Pittsburgh
Tampa
Montreal
Washington
NYR
DRW
Philadelphia
--------------
Columbus
New Jersey
Toronto
NYI
Ottawa
Carolina
Florida
Buffalo

 

[BrooklynCapsFan]

Not even gonna try this, but I think we see a big jump by Tampa and big drops by Detroit and NYR.

 

[Hivemind]

Just spitballing, since everyone between Pittsburgh/Boston at the top and Florida/Buffalo at the bottom could be in pretty much any given order.

Metro:
1. Pittsburgh
2. Columbus
3. New Jersey
4 (WC). New York Rangers
5 (WC). Washington
6. Philadelphia
7. Carolina
8. New York Islanders

Atlantic:
1. Boston
2. Tampa Bay
3. Detroit
4. Montreal
5. Toronto
6. Ottawa
7. Florida
8. Buffalo


I believe in Corey Schneider and Sergei Bobrovsky. Unsure on Mason. Doubt Halak. Rangers will regress. That pretty much explains my metro predictions.

 

[Devil Dancer]

Halak has been good on every team he's played for, including last year's Caps with that D. Just sayin.

 

[Hivemind]

Halak has been good on every team he's played for, including last year's Caps with that D. Just sayin.

Halak has lost the starting job on every team he's played for, including last year's Caps with that D. Just sayin.

 

[BrooklynCapsFan]

Also, Drouin is going to score a bajillion points.

 

[Burakovsky95*]

Halak has been good on every team he's played for, including last year's Caps with that D. Just sayin.

Halak is one of the most inconsistent goalies in the NHL...

 

[BiPolar Caps]

Predict another typical Caps season. Come February there will be threads on this board regarding whether the team should be buyers or sellers come the TDL as the team will be hovering between the 6 and 10 range. Plenty of tank gifs will appear as well.

 

[Burakovsky95*]

Predict another typical Caps season. Come February there will be threads on this board regarding whether the team should be buyers or sellers come the TDL as the team will be hovering between the 6 and 10 range. Plenty of tank gifs will appear as well.

It's kinda sad how I also just assume this will happen

 

[Raikkonen]

One just doesn't need to change avatar too often. Paperbag is still actual.

 

[BobRouse]

1. Pittsburgh
2. Boston
3. NYR
4. Tampa
5. Washington
6. Montreal
7. Philadelphia
8. Detroit

Columbus is due for a let down year as they played above their heads last year. Jenner out with broken hand and Johansen in ugly dispute.

I'm selling on the Islanders. I don't think much of their 2nd line and don't trust Halak for a full season behind that D.

New Jersey is way too old and past the expiration date. They need a rebuild in the worst way and its only a matter of time before those aging stars hit a cliff wall.

Toronto will do what they always do.

Ottawa..they have worse C issues than we do. Much worse. Turris/Legwand combo doesn't strike much fear.

Florida will be better.

Carolina will have massive injuries as always and just not very good.

Buffalo will start decent then put it into tank mode gear.

 

[Langway]

ATL 1. Boston
ATL 2. Tampa Bay
ATL 3. Montreal
MET 1. Pittsburgh
MET 2. NY Rangers
MET 3. Philadelphia
WC 1. Detroit
WC 2. Columbus
------------------
NY Islanders
New Jersey
Toronto
Washington
Florida
Ottawa
Buffalo
Carolina

The first non-playoff prediction. I like to set expectations low.

 

[BobRouse]

ATL 1. Boston
ATL 2. Tampa Bay
ATL 3. Montreal
MET 1. Pittsburgh
MET 2. NY Rangers
MET 3. Philadelphia
WC 1. Detroit
WC 2. Columbus
------------------
NY Islanders
New Jersey
Toronto
Washington
Florida
Ottawa
Buffalo
Carolina

The first non-playoff prediction. I like to set expectations low.

You really believe this?? That we will end up WORSE than last year despite improvements across the board and other teams getting worse??

Or are you just throwing that out there for fun?

 

[Hivemind]

Aside of the Rangers, who got worse? Columbus did if they don't sign RyJo, but they'll kiss and make up soon enough. Pittsburgh may have gotten marginally worse, but they're going to live or die by their star players and are still the favorites in the division. Otherwise pretty much everyone in the division stayed the same or improved.

 

[BobRouse]

Aside of the Rangers, who got worse? Columbus did if they don't sign RyJo, but they'll kiss and make up soon enough. Pittsburgh may have gotten marginally worse, but they're going to live or die by their star players and are still the favorites in the division. Otherwise pretty much everyone in the division stayed the same or improved.

Columbus lost Jenner to a broken hand and I do believe they overachieved last year.

Philly lost Timmonen and Hartnell. Replaced with a full season of MacDonald (horrendous) and Umburglar (who I think sucks..just my opinion). Mason also had a career year last year and I don't believe he will duplicate that.

New Jersey signed some guys but they are getting horrendously old so there will be regression from many of the guys they rely on.

Boston is still good but they lost Iginla and may have to trade another piece or two here.

Montreal lost Gorges, Gionta and Vanek. PA Parenteau and Gilbert aren't exactly upgrades.

Carolina already is down Staal and them and teams like Buffalo and Florida aren't ready to compete just yet.

Toronto is still Toronto. They will be a terrible possession team.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Aside of the Rangers, who got worse? Columbus did if they don't sign RyJo, but they'll kiss and make up soon enough. Pittsburgh may have gotten marginally worse, but they're going to live or die by their star players and are still the favorites in the division. Otherwise pretty much everyone in the division stayed the same or improved.

I think Philly will be worse. Losing Timmo is huge. It hurts their D corps which in turn will hurt Mason, who I think played above his head last year.

 

[txpd]

The first non-playoff prediction. I like to set expectations low.

I think the general lack of play in this thread reflects the lack of enthusiasum for this team. I think most were immediately disappointed in the choice of gm and possibly coach. They were further let down by the ufa choices. That the players so many wanted to see gone all still remain is like final straw.


Personally, I don't know where they stand. I have paid no attention to the league as a whole thisoff season

 

[Hivemind]

BR, note I said "division." I'm worried enough about being top 4-5 in the metro. Simply being top 8 in the conference doesn't cut it anymore.

New Jersey ditching Brodeur will help that team massively. They lost last year because of goaltending and the shootout, but having 60+ starts from Schneider, who may end up being the 2nd best 'tender in the division behind Lundqvist, should correct those issues.

Despite my doubts in Halak and the Islanders, they're a much improved team on paper. Their goaltending was nothing short of horrendous last year, and anything will be an upgrade over that. Rolling Tavares-Grabovski-Nielson down the middle is second only to Pittsburgh in terms of center depth in the division. Remember they lost Tavares after the Olympics last year. Their defense will still be garbage, most likely, but no worse than last year.

Losing Timonen will hurt Philadelphia, for sure. But Mason has been phenomenal ever since ariving in Philadelphia. He may fall back to Earth, but I don't think it's a sure bet. Morin and Ghost have also looked terrific in the pre-season, and should help their defense as the season progresses. If they can provide more in transition than the black holes that are Grossmann and Schenn, it would help that team significantly.

 

[Langway]

You really believe this?? That we will end up WORSE than last year despite improvements across the board and other teams getting worse??

Or are you just throwing that out there for fun?

The potential is there IF the core remains uninspired and their secondary scoring options don't progress. The lack of reliable secondary scoring additions doesn't make them improved across the board just yet. I don't think they'll be worse than last year but it's all relative.

I expect them to be competitive...I'm just not sure how competitive given some of their longstanding bad habits and tendency to take shortcuts. Trotz can't go out there and battle for them. I like more or less everything Trotz says, stands for and how he views the game but he is sort of old school and I wonder if the players are prepared to work to the level he finds acceptable for 82 games (or close to it). IMO they needed to make more changes up front than they did but we'll see. As-is it seems like much will be needed from 65/92.

I don't think the relevant teams likely to be in direct competition got worse. Toronto tweaked and we'll see how that goes. Keeping Carlyle could wind up costing them the season but maybe their new depth and mix stabilizes them a bit. The Islanders almost certainly should be better. Detroit should have better health. Columbus is maybe the one team vulnerable but I like their spirit. New Jersey should be improved up front, even if they're older and no Brodeur helps. We can discount those bottom four teams IMO but after that every team has a legit shot.

Most of all I find stable, established top six forward groups extremely helpful and this team has massive questions in that area. Not just on paper but in execution. Maybe they find more ways to win now but not sure how they'll fare vs. high tempo.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

BR, note I said "division." I'm worried enough about being top 4-5 in the metro. Simply being top 8 in the conference doesn't cut it anymore.

New Jersey ditching Brodeur will help that team massively. They lost last year because of goaltending and the shootout, but having 60+ starts from Schneider, who may end up being the 2nd best 'tender in the division behind Lundqvist, should correct those issues.

Despite my doubts in Halak and the Islanders, they're a much improved team on paper. Their goaltending was nothing short of horrendous last year, and anything will be an upgrade over that. Rolling Tavares-Grabovski-Nielson down the middle is second only to Pittsburgh in terms of center depth in the division. Remember they lost Tavares after the Olympics last year. Their defense will still be garbage, most likely, but no worse than last year.

Losing Timonen will hurt Philadelphia, for sure. But Mason has been phenomenal ever since ariving in Philadelphia. He may fall back to Earth, but I don't think it's a sure bet. Morin and Ghost have also looked terrific in the pre-season, and should help their defense as the season progresses. If they can provide more in transition than the black holes that are Grossmann and Schenn, it would help that team significantly.

Just saw that the Flyers are trying to move out (a) defensemen(man). No doubt to create space to get Morin and/or Ghost on the roster.

 

[BobRouse]

I can understand skepticism for sure.

I can also understand how uncertain rosters are on paper until you see the team play a good amount of games.

That being said there are certain indications (no always right) about teams based on what they did in the offseason. For instance I thought the Caps became contenders when they traded for Jagr. I also thought signing Poti and Kozlov were terrible moves that would hurt the Caps. Things work out differently on the ice sometimes for sure.

Now as far as the division goes I still believe NJ is an aging team hanging on by a thread. I can easily see a drastic fall in play based on the age of the majority of their roster.

Everyone knows how I feel about the Islanders 2nd line, goalie and their D. I'm not buying their stock.

The Rangers lost some key performers and didn't do enough to replace them. Losing Stepan for any great length of time will make them worse. They are still good tho just like Boston and Pitt.

I think Orpik and Niskanen along with Burakovsky and Kuznetsov along with Trotz put us in a much improved position. Also we have a good deal of our roster either in their prime or improving (unlike a team like NJ)

I don't like the way Philly plays these days. I don't believe that style suits their talent. They are going to be a subpar possession team once again and may not have Mason bail them out this time.

 

[Govechkin]

TSN has the Caps ranked 22nd in the league in their preseason rankings. Ranked higher in the East: Bruins, Penguins, Habs, Lightning, Rangers, Isles, Devils, Red Wings, Blue Jackets, and Sens. That puts the Caps at 11 in the East.

I know it was the Hurricanes, and it was preseason, but no way the Caps that played on Sunday get taken to the cleaners and miss the playoffs by three spots. Yes, the Isles improved, yes the Bruins Lightning and Pens are all good, but seriously, 22nd in the league? They pooed the bed last season and still had a shot to sneak in.

That being said, I love being the underdog, so maybe flying under the radar with a new coach isn't so bad.

 

[Ajax1995]

I'm pretty sure The Hockey News has them 4th in the Metro behind the Pens, Rangers, and Jackets. I don't remember how they had the east fall out though.