Eastern Conference Power Rankings Position 2

[Inferno]

I've been doing this for like 5+ years now, so let's get this party started.

Rank what will be the best team in the Eastern Conference. You can choose to pick what team you think will win the East and be in the SCF, OR what team you think will finish 1st overall at the end of the regular season, use whatever criteria you think is most applicable.

Here are the current Division setups:

Atlantic Division
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Boston Bruins
Buffalo Sabres
Detroit Red Wings
Florida Panthers
Montreal Canadiens
Ottawa Senators
Tampa Bay Lightning
Toronto Maple Leafs

Metropolitan Division
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Carolina Hurricanes
Columbus Blue Jackets
New Jersey Devils
New York Islanders
New York Rangers
Philadelphia Flyers
Pittsburgh Penguins
Washington Capitals


Here are the current results of our polls

Atlantic Division
Boston Bruins (60.53%)
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Metropolitan Division


Here are the current Eastern Conference Playoff Rankings:
Boston Bruins
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Playoff Matchups:
Boston Bruins VS Worst Wild Card Team (8)
Division Winner with 2nd Best Record(2) VS 2nd Worst Wild Card Team (7)
Metropolitan Division #2 VS Metropolitan Division #3
Atlantic Division #2 VS Atlantic Division #3


Poll to come shortly....

Click to read more...

 

[Inferno]

going with the Penguins...I dont think its a contest either.

 

[Ail]

Not Pitt.

 

[silverfish]

Pens here. TBL next.

 

[DieSuperFly]

Its Pit.

 

[Ail]

You guys make me sick.

 

[Ail]

Its Pit.

Yeah the Pittsburgh Croskins.

 

[NYR Viper]

Tampa, pretty easily too.

 

[NYRFAN218]

Went with the Penguins. I'm basing it on what I think the standings will look like at the end of the regular season and they always tear it up. Playoffs are a different story.

 

[iamthewalrus]

Columbus was surprisingly tempting. Can't see them as second best in the East though. Had to choose Pitt

 

[Giacomin]

Montreal

 

[pld459666]

I think Pitt falls back quite a bit.

I like what Tampa is doing and a full year from Stammer there plus the maturity of players like Tyler, Killorn and Palat?

I would not be shocked if they competed for 1st overall in the conference.

 

[Net Front Presence]

Pittsburgh should easily win the division, unless Crosby or Malkin miss significant time. Even then, they would still probably win it.

 

[eco's bones]

IMO the Rangers are the second best team in the East now. We've got the defense to control Crosby and Malkin from doing too much damage and Lundqvist is just way better than Fleury.

 

[Inferno]

i think its pretty easy to forget that it basically took MSL losing his mom to turn around that Pitt series. They were running away with it.

 

[Gardner McKay]

Tampa AINEC for me. Then us. Then Pitt.

 

[DieSuperFly]

IMO the Rangers are the second best team in the East now. We've got the defense to control Crosby and Malkin from doing too much damage and Lundqvist is just way better than Fleury.

I want the defense that contains the two best players in the world.

I'm pretty surprised at the number of people that don't think the Rangers run was a fluke. Hank played fantastically for them, and they still came up short.

I'd take the Bruins, Pens, Lightning over the Rangers.

I don't see the Rags escaping the second round.


Edit: Just noticed this is in the Rangers section, I take it all back.

 

[dr robbie]

It's Pittsburgh.

 

[NYRFAN218]

i think its pretty easy to forget that it basically took MSL losing his mom to turn around that Pitt series. They were running away with it.

Shouldn't underrate Kreider coming back into the lineup either though.

 

[BlueshirtBlitz]

Pitt, then NYR.

edit- And Pitt isn't a bad team. The Rangers, IMO, were better last season, though (from January on, at least). Now we gotta see if the trading of Neal for them, and the loss of Stralman and Poo for us, makes them better.

 

[BlueshirtBlitz]

I want the defense that contains the two best players in the world.

I'm pretty surprised at the number of people that don't think the Rangers run was a fluke. Hank played fantastically for them, and they still came up short.

I'd take the Bruins, Pens, Lightning over the Rangers.

I don't see the Rags escaping the second round.


Edit: Just noticed this is in the Rangers section, I take it all back.

LOL.

I'd take the Bruins over the Rangers, too. Last year, the Rangers were better than your team.

The Bruins are the class of the East. Then it's a toss-up between Pitt, NYR, TBL. If you look at the #fancystats, the Rangers losing to the Pens would've been a disappointment despite the media narrative. With Stralman gone, we'll see how the Rangers are, but the Rangers run was most definitely not a fluke. Better than PHI, better than PITT, better than MTL, and not as good as LAK. Sounds right to me.

 

[Gardner McKay]

I want the defense that contains the two best players in the world.

I'm pretty surprised at the number of people that don't think the Rangers run was a fluke. Hank played fantastically for them, and they still came up short.

I'd take the Bruins, Pens, Lightning over the Rangers.

I don't see the Rags escaping the second round.


Edit: Just noticed this is in the Rangers section, I take it all back.

You didn't really take it all back. You just realized that you were likely to be blasted a new ***hole from our fan base so you added a disclaimer. Taking it back would be "edit: delete post".

Also, I am very confused by your first statement. Crosby and Malkin are not on defense. They were demolished by our defense, and our defense is significantly better than yours.

 

[eco's bones]

I want the defense that contains the two best players in the world.

I'm pretty surprised at the number of people that don't think the Rangers run was a fluke. Hank played fantastically for them, and they still came up short.

I'd take the Bruins, Pens, Lightning over the Rangers.

I don't see the Rags escaping the second round.


Edit: Just noticed this is in the Rangers section, I take it all back.

All due respect your team still collapsed like a flat tire. Malkin played great. Crosby did not. Your team lacked depth and still do. I don't like your goalie--not personally but just as someone who I don't think of as good enough or even dependable. I'm not crazy about your defense either.

The other thing--this is not the first time your team has underachieved in the playoffs. They've been underachieving expectations very regularly since they won (if I remember correctly) in 2009. Maybe they're not as good as a lot of people think despite arguably having the two best forwards in the game. You'll go as far as Malkin and Crosby will take you. If your opposition even stops one of them you're in big trouble.

Anyway to the fluke part--the way I looked at last year's playoffs was--Boston definitely the best team in the east. Then the Penguins--but I always thought the Rangers could (operative word) beat your team. After that a tossup between the Rangers, Canadiens and Lightning.

Looking back at the season we had a horrific start--9 straight road games to start and a number of shellackings. We were a .500 team towards the end of December--beginning of January. Klein came in and our defense steadied. We had three good to excellent defense pairs at that point. The Rangers were among the best teams in the NHL the second half of the season. I don't think fluke is the right word and I don't think your team as currently constructed is better than our team.

The Rangers depend on Lundqvist a lot but they are a sum of parts team. They don't depend on just two guys night in and night out.

 

[Ail]

I want the defense that contains the two best players in the world.

I'm pretty surprised at the number of people that don't think the Rangers run was a fluke. Hank played fantastically for them, and they still came up short.

I'd take the Bruins, Pens, Lightning over the Rangers.

I don't see the Rags escaping the second round.


Edit: Just noticed this is in the Rangers section, I take it all back.

You should take it all back because you are wrong.

What has Pitt done since they won their 'Cup while having the #1 and #2 clear cut best players in the world? Not much.

The 2012 run to the ECF was a fluke, last year was for real. Lundqvist did play very well, especially in the last 3 games against Pitt, but that's what elite players do. Would you ever blame the Penguins success on Crosby and Malkin playing out of their mind? If not you probably should. They are the reason the Pens are a playoff team on a yearly basis.

 

[Cassano]

Picked Tampa. Think Stralman and Garrison acquisitions put them over the top.