40% of the season in - Which teams do you consider to be Top Stanley Cup Contenders?

[Rants Mulliniks]

The current core that's been knocked out of the first round in each of the last 4 years? Short term memory I guess. Thanks for outting yourself as a homer.

Careful you don't hyperextend your arm patting yourself on the back for achievements you play no part in.

 

[Sky04]

I don't hate the Leafs. I just want the Leafs to prove themselves first by winning a couple rounds before their fans and media start planning the parade. Is that too much to ask?

Like even one round, but 16 years and counting...

 

[UK Canuck]

Lightning
Vegas
Leafs
Avalanche
Canes
Bruins

If I had to put money on it, the SC winner will come from this group of 6 teams

 

[Nihiliste]

The contenders are whoever is healthiest at the end of this grind

 

[Rants Mulliniks]

The contenders are whoever is healthiest at the end of this grind

Certainly plays a big factor. There's a lot of luck goes into winning a Cup, which is part of the reason I am against "all in" moves and prefer to keep the window open as long as possible. Injuries, matchups, bounces, officiating.....lots of uncontrollables.

 

[LFCTML]

Vegas
Tampa
Boston
Toronto

 

[T REX]

Logic = Toronto should expect a bye to the ECF? You sound like an overconfident blind homer. Any team can take any team in the playoffs, you RS record means nothing. Try to use some logic here.

Again, you'd expect some humility from a team that hasn't won a playoff round in over 15 years, it's weird seeing someone chest thump this hard when your team hasn't done anything.

hubris without hardware

 

[LionsHeart]

Tampa, Canes, and Vegas are the top teams on my list.

 

[blankall]

I hope the Jets bounce em in the playoffs this year. I'm pretty confident they can.

Any team can bounce any other team, especially this year. The Flames, who are playing like crap, just earned 3 out of a possible 4 points against Toronto.

 

[IceNeophyte]

Tampa
Boston
Vegas
Wild
Washington
Carolina
Toronto

Based on recent performance, I would like to revise my rankings:

Tampa
Boston
Vegas
Washington
Carolina
Wild
Kings
Toronto

 

[NK94]

“Of course the Leafs are dominating, it’s a weak division!”

Literally the same conversation: “Leafs fans are laughing it up now, just wait until the playoffs!”

This place has a real tough time picking a narrative and sticking with it. Jesus Christ.

 

[crab]

Tier 1
Tampa
Boston
Vegas
Carolina
Colorado

Tier 2
Toronto
Philadelphia
Washington
Pittsburgh
Florida

 

[tenken00]

Largely agree with the teams in the OP
Crazy that Toronto can basically be considered a contender again after all these years

It will certainly be interesting to see what happens next week. I believe the Leafs play your Jets for a 3 game series starting Tuesday. They blazed through the Oilers in a similar series. Can they do the same against Winnipeg?

 

[TK 421]

I see the Blues aren't currently on many peoples minds as a contender which I can understand. They should be regarded as a potentially scary dark horse though if they can get a mostly healthy lineup before the PO's start. The list of guys out injured is ridiculous so they will look much different with most or all of those players back.

 

[General Disarray]

Obviously the Leafs

 

[AvroArrow]

Tier 1
Tampa
Boston
Vegas
Carolina
Colorado

Tier 2
Toronto
Philadelphia
Washington
Pittsburgh
Florida

Tier 1

Tampa
Vegas
Toronto
Colorado

Tier 2

Boston
Florida
Carolina
Philly
Washington

 

[Wats]

Just give Leafs the cup now.

 

[13th Floor]

Real terrible...

The number one thing that I've learned this year is that the logic taught in Canadian schoolsystems is poor as shit. When will you realize that any comparison of records and stats across divisions means nothing when teams are only playing within their division?

The next time someone posts a stat comparing teams from different divisions to prove a point that one division is better than the other, just punch yourself in the face instead. The logic is amazingly bad. Like if I put a division of Tampa, Vegas, Colorado, Boston, and St Louis in it, and the put 3 AHL teams in it -- what do you think the standings would look like? Clearly that division sucks because those 3 AHL teams will have by far the worst records.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

Honestly, I think the Jets could really do it.

I find we're securely loaded at every position barring injury or not. Find Dubois has improved greatly defensively on the offensive end, also he's been a beast when it comes to the playoffs.

 

[NK94]

The number one thing that I've learned this year is that the logic taught in Canadian schoolsystems is poor as shit. When will you realize that any comparison of records and stats across divisions means nothing when teams are only playing within their division?

The next time someone posts a stat comparing teams from different divisions to prove a point that one division is better than the other, just punch yourself in the face instead. The logic is amazingly bad. Like if I put a division of Tampa, Vegas, Colorado, Boston, and St Louis in it, and the put 3 AHL teams in it -- what do you think the standings would look like? Clearly that division sucks because those 3 AHL teams will have by far the worst records.

Literally every good team regardless of divisional alignment is beating up the bad ones ffs.

People assume the other teams in the North are bad because of the gap between them & the Leafs, but I think that speaks more to the parity between Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg & Montreal. They're cannibalizing each other for points and Toronto is just that step above to stay ahead. Cork it.

 

[IceNeophyte]

The number one thing that I've learned this year is that the logic taught in Canadian schoolsystems is poor as shit. When will you realize that any comparison of records and stats across divisions means nothing when teams are only playing within their division?

The next time someone posts a stat comparing teams from different divisions to prove a point that one division is better than the other, just punch yourself in the face instead. The logic is amazingly bad. Like if I put a division of Tampa, Vegas, Colorado, Boston, and St Louis in it, and the put 3 AHL teams in it -- what do you think the standings would look like? Clearly that division sucks because those 3 AHL teams will have by far the worst records.

Terry also doesn't want to mention that Toronto's record includes between 2 and 5 more games played than any of it's contenders for top spot.

 

[TOCap1]

This is where I EXPECT Leafs fans to police your own. Fans like this is why you get what you get. Police your own.

Chill out lmao. I'm pretty sure he was saying the best LEAF team in the last 25 years

 

[13th Floor]

Literally every good team regardless of divisional alignment is beating up the bad ones ffs.

People assume the other teams in the North are bad because of the gap between them & the Leafs, but I think that speaks more to the parity between Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg & Montreal. They're cannibalizing each other for points and Toronto is just that step above to stay ahead. Cork it.

Every division is cannibalizing itself. The range of points is a product of the parity of the division and not a product of how good it is. As I keep saying, if we had an all AHL division, they would have similar range and some would be at the top of the league in points and some will be at the bottom. It would clearly be the worst division. If I made up a division of teams from the neighboring nursing home, one of those teams is going to win that division and have a lot of points. The tweet you posted is meaningless.

The people criticizing the division are because they are using the rosters and recent history to determine who they think is good. To the North division's credit, this year is this year and last year is last year, so it's not a perfect comparison. But it's a far better barometer of who is actually a good team (along with actually watching around the league) than comparing stats between divisions.

Let's put it this way, pretend the North division never existed. There were no divisions this year -- everyone played each other equally. Going into the season you have a gun to your head and you need to rank the top 15 Stanley Cup favorites. Where do the teams that are in this year's North division rank? Outside of the Leafs, anybody in the top 10?

The Leafs are improved for sure. They are pushing themselves to the upper echelon of the league (with more to prove). It doesn't change that the rest of the division is filled with mostly mediocre teams and every other division has a handful of Cup contenders.

 

[Stuzchuk]

North: Toronto
East: Boston
Central: Tampa Bay
West: Vegas

Cup Final: Las Vegas / Boston

Cup: Las Vegas

 

[FractionTwo]

If tampa doesn't win the cup this year, it'll be from carolina or florida somehow upsetting them. No way they lose round 1 again. They're such a brutal team to play against, and they bully you and can bite back. Hedman in the ECF was such a nasty player that im shocked he isn't getting praise as the best swedish defenseman since lidstrom