Pace doesn't matter for jack when you only play 17 games.Tampa was the most injured team in the league last season and Stamkos was on pace for 96 points. They should be near the top and will be.
I just don't get the TB love. I really don't. Yea, they are probably a really good team but all this hype about them is very strange.
Have to be honest, I lol'd at Chicago being #4. Has anyone at TSN seen their blue line coming into this season? Nevermind that Keith is in his mid 30's and Seabrook is already sharply declining. Unlike some other teams, their forward group isn't quite strong enough to mask such weak defence. I don't even see Chicago as a lock for playoffs, let alone the 4th best team in the league.
Chicago had 50 wins and 109 points last year and were the best to the West in the standings last year. That was the 3rd best record in the NHL behind only Caps (118) and Pens (111).
I just don't get the TB love. I really don't. Yea, they are probably a really good team but all this hype about them is very strange.
I'm with you. Will they probably make playoffs? Yes. But why all of a sudden are we supposed to view them as the top 3 team in the league?
Both TSN and NHL.com have ranked the top 50 players and in both cased TB have 3 players (Kucherov, Hedman and Stamkos) all in the top 20 best players.
Not many teams can boast that !!.
Add to that Hedman might be among the Norris favourites and a healthy Stamkos might in the running for the Rocket Richard trophy again. Kucherov has already shown he can be top 5 in the league in both goals and points.
Hedman is very very overrated.
Kucherov on the other hand is one of top-5 wingers in hockey, and is worthy of more praise than he gets.
Hedman had 16 goals and 72 points tying Malkin for 14th in NHL overall scoring last year and 2nd among Dmen -4 points behind Burns (76) and +1 point ahead of Karlsson (71).
He finished 3rd in Norris voting and 14th in Hart Memorial voting and made the 2nd All-star team.
As a comparison Leafs top 2 Dmen in scoring Gardiner (9-34-43 points) + Zaitsev (4-32-36 points) = 13 goals and 79 points vs Hedman 16-56-72 points.
The 4 best teams in the East are Pittsburgh, Washington, Columbus and Tampa Bay
The 4 best teams in the West are Edmonton, Chicago, Dallas and Anaheim.
After those 8 teams our Leafs enter the picture battling for the 8-12 spots league wide. IMO
TSN has them at #10 to start so that seems fair.
The interesting thing about the "top-4" in the East is that they all have some notable, if not material flaws. Pittsburgh is very good, but none of Malkin, Crosby or Letang have played a full season since 2011. Their starting goalie is 23 and has never played more than 50 games. Washington is great, but I believe they showed their core group is not unbeatable in the playoffs last year. Columbus is so thin at Centre that they've moved Nick Foligno there in order to bolster the position. Tampa's de facto best player has fractured his tibia and torn his meniscus in the same leg within a three year span.
The problem Mess is that none of those points carry in to this season for them. Their roster is significantly worse than it was. Downgraded from Panarin to Saad (from an offensive standpoint at least) lost Hjalmarsson, lost Campbell, lost Kruger, Seabrook sharply declining to the point where he's arguably not even top 4 quality anymore, trash blue line depth, weak bottom 6 forwards. Tell me how looking at their roster now they are the 4th best team in the NHL, and don't talk about wins from seasons past, because they mean nothing now and going forward.Chicago had 50 wins and 109 points last year and were the best to the West in the standings last year. That was the 3rd best record in the NHL behind only Caps (118) and Pens (111).