HF Habs: 2023 Schedule & Standings Thread part 3: Race for Bedard

[nhlfan9191]

Hextall got took on Petry trade

Really good early “hockey trade” there by HuGo. They clearly did their homework on Matheson. Type of player we needed 5 years ago.

 

[26Mats]

Only 3 games for the Habs this week:

Tue vs TB
Thur @ Bos
Sat vs Clm

Probably go 1-2.

Blue Jackets will be on a back-to-back on Saturday.

Yeah that's looking like best case scenario.

 

[NewEraGM]

You know Florida going to make the playoffs. They on a roll. Pittsburgh has no goaltending. Decent Chance Florida finishes 7th and faces either Carolina or Jersey. Could be an upset.

They have been an a hot streak and Pittsburgh has shit the bed…and they are still not in. So I expect Florida to regress a bit, same with Pittsburgh. They won’t make playoffs. Florida ain’t going 10-2 the rest of the way

 

[26Mats]

Really good early “hockey trade” there by HuGo. They clearly did their homework on Matheson. Type of player we needed 5 years ago.

Hughes was his agent. So the homework was already done. Hughes knew him inside and out.

One Pens fan told me they were using him as a 3rd pair D, and he was being paid too much for that role. Hughes must have known he had top pair or at least top 4 upside.

 

[Garry Valk]

Only 3 games for the Habs this week:

Tue vs TB
Thur @ Bos
Sat vs Clm

Probably go 1-2.

Blue Jackets will be on a back-to-back on Saturday.

Ooh, we really need to ramp up the injuries before Saturday then.

 

[xX SEYF Xx]

We be soon creating the "Clinched" threads

As early as next weekend?

LFGO !!

 

[Rockomax]

They have been an a hot streak and Pittsburgh has shit the bed…and they are still not in. So I expect Florida to regress a bit, same with Pittsburgh. They won’t make playoffs. Florida ain’t going 10-2 the rest of the way

Florida has a super easy schedule the rest of the way.

OTT x2, CBJ, BUF, PHI, MTL, DET. Plus they will play WAS after they will be eliminated from playoffs contention and then play CAR and TOR to end the season, both of which will be resting players. I would not be surprised if the Panthers ended the year with 10 wins in their remaining 13 games. At this point, 3 teams are battling fo the 2 wild card spots with FLA on the outside looking in but with better point percentage than NYI and 1 point behind PIT. It's all but guaranteed they make it in the end.

 

[hardcorehabs]

Florida has a super easy schedule the rest of the way.

OTT x2, CBJ, BUF, PHI, MTL, DET. Plus they will play WAS after they will be eliminated from playoffs contention and then play CAR and TOR to end the season, both of which will be resting players. I would not be surprised if the Panthers ended the year with 10 wins in their remaining 13 games. At this point, 3 teams are battling fo the 2 wild card spots with FLA on the outside looking in but with better point percentage than NYI and 1 point behind PIT. It's all but guaranteed they make it in the end.

OTT will play hard those 2 games. Hopefully they win both

I'm worried about next game vs Tampa. They will be on 3rd game in 4 nights with travel to MTL.

I bet we win that one.

 

[Rapala]

Florida plays Toronto 3 times in their 12 remaining games. Go Leafs

Damn you spoiling my St. Patrick's Day weekend.

 

[Rockomax]

OTT will play hard those 2 games. Hopefully they win both

I'm worried about next game vs Tampa. They will be on 3rd game in 4 nights with travel to MTL.

I bet we win that one.

Ottawa will probably pretty much be eliminated by the time they play both games against the Panthers.

 

[MilesNewton]

Really good early “hockey trade” there by HuGo. They clearly did their homework on Matheson. Type of player we needed 5 years ago.

I am going to refrain until next season. He was out for around 2 months, yes he has been great in his small sample size when none of these games truly matter.

 

[MarkovsKnee]

You know Florida going to make the playoffs. They on a roll. Pittsburgh has no goaltending. Decent Chance Florida finishes 7th and faces either Carolina or Jersey. Could be an upset.

Yeah, if they finish in WC1, and go the Metro route there's a far better chance they get to ECF than against the Bruins/Atlantic. We'll see. They were absolutely shit in last year's playoffs, and only got past Washington because their goaltending was awful.

 

[NewEraGM]

Florida has a super easy schedule the rest of the way.

OTT x2, CBJ, BUF, PHI, MTL, DET. Plus they will play WAS after they will be eliminated from playoffs contention and then play CAR and TOR to end the season, both of which will be resting players. I would not be surprised if the Panthers ended the year with 10 wins in their remaining 13 games. At this point, 3 teams are battling fo the 2 wild card spots with FLA on the outside looking in but with better point percentage than NYI and 1 point behind PIT. It's all but guaranteed they make it in the end.

All but guaranteed?! Haha

Some people get so caught up in the feelings and can’t look at things logically.

 

[MarkovsKnee]

Panthers are at least on the road for their next 2 games. They are not a strong road team. Only 14-17-3.

They played their last 7 games at home, and went 5-1-1. Only 2 of their next 8 games are at home. The 2 home games are against tough opponents too: Toronto & NYR.

They are in Detroit tomorrow, who have been absolute shit since the TDL, likely because Yzerman sold instead of bringing in help, when they were actually in the playoffs by ppg percentage. Team gave up. Only good news is Detroit is at least .500 at home.

 

[Adam Michaels]

For tonight:

- BUF win vs. BOS: BUF win moves them 3 pts behind FLA.
- WSH win vs. MIN: WSH win moves them 2 pts behind FLA. FLA will have 2 games in hand.
- NSH win vs. NYR: NSH win moves them 1 pt ahead of FLA in the OA standings with 1 game in hand.


The following games going to OT/SO would be ideal:

- STL vs. WPG: STL win moves them 7 pts ahead of MTL with 1 game in hand. WPG win moves them 6 pts ahead of FLA in the OA standings. FLA will have 2 games in hand.
- VAN vs. ANA: VAN win moves them 7 pts ahead of MTL with 1 game in hand. ANA win moves them 2 pts behind MTL.


Tank #1: MTL will remain in 28th place no matter what. But the VAN/ANA game will help serve this tank no matter what. VAN can grow their separation and ANA can get that much closer behind MTL. I'll give the edge to ANA to win this so they can pass MTL since VAN is already 5 pts ahead. But whoever wins is a positive for Tank #1.

Tank #2: As our hope for this one continues to fade, NSH can knock FLA down to 18th place in the OA standings if they get at least a point today. Meanwhile, BUF and WSH can keep themselves right behind FLA if they can win their respective games.

 

[Balthazar]

If the Ducks manage to pass us and we pick 4th

The team that finishes 29th only has a 15% chance of picking 4th post-lottery.

 

[Rockomax]

All but guaranteed?! Haha

Some people get so caught up in the feelings and can’t look at things logically.

We'll see. Fact is FLA has the easiest schedule among teams battling for a playoffs spot and have been hot for weeks now. Over the course of those weeks, they have passed 4 teams that were standing between them and a wild card spot and also gained considerable ground on the wild card spots holders, one which has a lower point per game percentage and the other trending downwards. I'm merely extrapolating from recent data to determine the most likely outcome. But sure, no logic in what I'm saying, only feeling while on the other hand, you have showered this community with logic explaining why FLA will miss the playoffs lol. Somethin something "I expect Florida to regress a bit, Pittsburgh too", only logic here and no feeling, am I right?

 

[NewEraGM]

We'll see. Fact is FLA has the easiest schedule among teams battling for a playoffs spot and have been hot for weeks now. Over the course of those weeks, they have passed 4 teams that were standing between them and a wild card spot and also gained considerable ground on the wild card spots holders, one which has a lower point per game percentage and the other trending downwards. I'm merely extrapolating from recent data to determine the most likely outcome. But sure, no logic in what I'm saying, only feeling while on the other hand, you have showered this community with logic explaining why FLA will miss the playoffs lol. Somethin something "I expect Florida to regress a bit, Pittsburgh too", only logic here and no feeling, am I right?

Actually Pittsburgh has the easiest schedule but don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story!

 

[Benstheman]

Smell that sweet breathing room....

View attachment 671862

So we are looking at a draft spot between 4 and 6, with outside chance at 3 and 7. I love it. We essentially guaranteed one of Bedard, Fantili, Carlsson, Michkov, Benson, Smith, Reinbacher.

 

[MarkovsKnee]

Actually Pittsburgh has the easiest schedule but don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story!

They're essentially tied. They're both playing the exact same "easy" teams an equal amount of games, with one exception: Florida plays Montreal. Pittsburgh plays Chicago.

On the difficult side, Florida is given more points due to having to play Toronto 3 times & Carolina once. Two top 5 teams. Pens only have 2 games left versus top 5 teams: Boston & NJD.

But, Pens make up it for having to play more top 10 teams than Florida.

Overall, the difference is neglible: 1.111 (Florida) vs 1.108 (Pittsburgh). A 0.003 difference in opponent quality.

 

[McGees]

In the next couple of years the Habs will start trying to become competitive. I hope we all remember how to cheer for wins.

If we get a top 3 pick, I’m done tanking and only want wins…if not, we may need 1 more tank year tbh.

*We have a lot of depth but we need actual stars/superstars.

 

[rahad]

If we get a top 3 pick, I’m done tanking and only want wins…if not, we may need 1 more tank year tbh.

We are probably going to end up on the same spot as Detroit and Ottawa next year. I don't see us making the playoff, next year. In 2025, we have Calgary first round pick. So no need to tank and by the time we reach 2025. The main core of Calgary should be old and on the decline (they are already on the decline).

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

We can't take these bottom finishes for granted that's why this draft is so important , top 3 would give us tankers some security because God knows we've seen some absolutely abysmal teams punch above their weight for 25 years I wouldn't be surprised if it happens again sooner than we want, fingers crossed but I'm trying to bottom out next year too boys, with a top 3 pick this year tho it wouldn't be the end of the world if we get Dubois or something that kinda makes us closer to competing soon and the team plays above their head next season.

Laugh at me all you want but making the playoffs next year would suck we need to keep stockpiling valuable assets.

And yeah I get it , we suck I shouldn't be scared of us making the playoffs next year , of course, but I just recently seen a AHL team destroy the western conference and make the finals so yeah I'm afraid of them playing above their head , they nearly always do

 

[habsfan891]

In the next couple of years the Habs will start trying to become competitive. I hope we all remember how to cheer for wins.

Depending on how our draft goes I will be happy to finally start wanting improvement from the team next year been quite a few years since I could cheer for wins wanting MB gone and then high picks for the best chance at a Cup has really taken its toll on my Fandom

 

[SpeedyPotato]

We are probably going to end up on the same spot as Detroit and Ottawa next year. I don't see us making the playoff, next year. In 2025, we have Calgary first round pick. So no need to tank and by the time we reach 2025. The main core of Calgary should be old and on the decline (they are already on the decline).

Agreed, we're in a really really solid position. Lots of good prospects, top 7 pick coming, another pick most likely in the teens, I'm pretty bullish about where the Habs are at, we can definitely hope to play .500 next year and move from there. I love how this front office has done things so far, smart, calculated, yet balsy moves. Nothing compared to the MB era.