Sting
Registered User
- Feb 8, 2004
- 7,917
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The Sens have a lot of talent and upside; but the east is going to be ridiculously tough next year.
Pittsburgh, Washington, Boston, Islanders, Toronto, Carolina, Florida, Tampa are all likely to qualify for the playoffs next year. Thats 8 spots right there.
Then you've got teams like Montreal, Rangers, and Philly who still probably a good chunk better than Ottawa. Ottawa should be better than Buffalo, New Jersey, Detroit and maybe Columbus.... but they're going to have a really tough time supplanting some of those tier-2 teams.
We had 2 "mixed" divsions this year (the north and the central). The North was won by Toronto. The Central had 3 eastern teams basically run away with it.
Don't get me wrong... the sens have a literal ton of upside in that's already on the team -- Tkachuk, Norris, Batherson, Stutzle, Pinto, Formenton, Chabot, Brannstrom, Mete... a couple of young, seemingly ideal middle-of-the-lineup studs in White & Paul...
But they've got no idea what they have in goal, and a really suspect D.
I think you underestimate the Sens lineup that started the year vs the one that ended it. I wouldn't call their D that suspect anymore - Zub is a legit top 4 RD, Zaitsev played like a top 4 RD for most of the year, and JBD is going to be a good one.
I also think the Sens have found their actual starting goalie in Gustavsson, but I do worry they're going to play Murray to justify handing out that contract.
Ottawa next year should in theory be able to compete with the likes of NYR, Philly, and the Islanders. My guess is one of the surefire playoff teams also takes a step back. We'll see - I think at the very least, they're knocking at the door next year for sure.