Not really sure how a bunch of teams that haven't made consecutive playoffs and couldn't put distance between our bottom five shots/goals squad create an impossible barrier to entry, but kay.TB and Toronto are the only locks in our division, IMO. I think the Lightning go over 100 pts assuming Stamkos plays 70+ games. Toronto won't be as healthy as last season, but their young core should still have them in the upper-90's or just over 100. After that, it's a relative crapshoot. It's tough to see Montreal missing if Price starts 65 games. Boucher will have the Sens trapping and clawing their way to wins and loser points. Boston still has Bergeron, and we've been waiting for them to fall out for two years, but they haven't. We are on Florida's level. I expect we'll be better than Detroit.
All told, I don't think we make it. I find myself with too many "if this can happen" items. When that's the case, it's usually a problem.
The numbers are based off of the team being awful when players who shouldn't be awful - Eichel and Ristolainen - are on the ice.Everything I have read by the experts says no! Hopefully they are all wrong!
Bang that Habs under, good God.The Westgate sports book just announced the over under for point totals for the NHL this year.
Sabres are at 87.5
http://www.espn.com/chalk/story/_/id/20592519/nhl-point-totals-all-31-teams-westgate-las-vegas-superbook
agreed, I think thats lofty for sure.Bang that Habs under, good God.
Minnesota over 96.5 is the easiest money you'll ever make.
A relative gutting of secondary talent from a team that doesn't have top end players and BB's short shelf life.That sounds surprisingly low for them. Wonder what the angle is or if it's just a bad line.
A relative gutting of secondary talent from a team that doesn't have top end players and BB's short shelf life.
I am hopefully because if they do not or aren't at least in the hunt down the stretch (barring significant injuries) then the roster will undergo a thorough examination. Players that some see as part of the core may be shipped off to reshape the team and maybe change its trajectory. At some point the team has to start winning and if not now then when? If they can't win now then when players like Middlestadt, Nylander and Guhle are productive NHLers it will only bump the team from out of the playoffs to bottom seeds instead of from bottom seeds to conference contenders.
Kulikov was destroyed by the bench boards and never recovered. Bogosian was a victim of Bylsma. Gorges might've been a victim of Bylsma as well, but at least we aren't demanding his success this season. People are still overlooking that Larsson was out for half a season and our problem down the stretch beyond defense was that we had nothing after our top-2 lines-- something having Larsson around would've helped immensely with.
It's different.
Scandella is a 'safe' top-4 pick-up as far as I'm concerned. Beaulieu and Antipin are two pick-ups that are geared for Housley's system, more-so than your average top-4 defenseman. If the defense fails it's likely because Housley's system fails, but after watching Nashville last year, I can only get excited. The kids are solid and aren't injuried (knock on wood). The depth is stacked for the short-term. The major question is a top-6 LW (and for some, the goalie), and we've got two of those with high ceilings budding now.
If this core can't make the playoffs we're in bad shape.
Those two players stink. Period.
I suspect Bogo will not suck in Housleys system. I hope Im not wrong but its Bogo so I may well be.
The other question with Bogo is how many games will he be healthy for this season?
Yeah that I am not optimistic about that one...same woth Kane.
Yeah that I am not optimistic about that one...same woth Kane.