Rank the Canadian teams 2021-22

[NeverForget06]

Can't being anywhere outside Top 2 given the relative strength of schedules between the divisions this year. Pacific and Atlantic are night and day lol

 

[Knies iT]

??

I literally just said they're the best Canadian team. And ya, they aren't going to bomb. I said I think they peaked last year.

Fair enough, but to say they've peaked when their core is still u25 with a pool that's as strong as it's been since 2015-2016 is interesting.

I have TOR, EDM, and WPG as the class of the north and all steadily improving over the next 3 years despite being tight to the cap.

 

[DL44]

Vancouver was one of the hottest teams in the league for a month prior to their break/COVID outbreak.
They lacked depth last year. But when on, they played like they did in the bubble playoffs. They got the goaltending.

Expecting a further developed Pettersson and Hughes to take this team to the next step.
Like their goalie and goalie tandem better than everyone else's.

Toronto - downgraded, but still the class of Canada in the regular season.
Montreal - good cup experience added. Built for playoffs once again. Should be challenged to get to the dance without Weber.
Wpg - really like their defensive additions.
Edm - really disliked thier offseason on D... but again - with 97, 27... they will be outscoring issues in the regular season.
Cgy - roster looks.. incomplete. Really don't like how they stayed status quo upfront. D is.. incomplete.

97-102 pts : Van, Tor, Edm
94-98 pts : Wpg, Mon
88-92 pts : Cgy
<89 pts : Ott

 

[gojetsgo]

Vancouver was one of the hottest teams in the league for a month prior to their break/COVID outbreak.
They lacked depth last year. But when on, they played like they did in the bubble playoffs. They got the goaltending.

Expecting a further developed Pettersson and Hughes to take this team to the next step.
Like their goalie and goalie tandem better than everyone else's.

Toronto - downgraded, but still the class of Canada in the regular season.
Montreal - good cup experience added. Built for playoffs once again. Should be challenged to get to the dance without Weber.
Wpg - really like their defensive additions.
Edm - really disliked thier offseason on D... but again - with 97, 27... they will be outscoring issues in the regular season.
Cgy - roster looks.. incomplete. Really don't like how they stayed status quo upfront. D is.. incomplete.

97-102 pts : Van, Tor, Edm
94-98 pts : Wpg, Mon
88-92 pts : Cgy
<89 pts : Ott

no way vancouver reaches 97-102 with those rhd

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

no way vancouver reaches 97-102 with those rhd

...Pacific Division is the drizzling shytes, I think that's why soo many have Vancouver high...

 

[vancityluongo]

The standings almost never go the way you'd think haha.

Here's my guess:

1. Winnipeg
2. Calgary
3. Edmonton
4. Toronto
______________ (playoffs)

5. Vancouver
6. Ottawa
7. Montreal

 

[JAK]

no way vancouver reaches 97-102 with those rhd

Who needs D when we have Demko?

 

[DJJones]

Fair enough, but to say they've peaked when their core is still u25 with a pool that's as strong as it's been since 2015-2016 is interesting.

I have TOR, EDM, and WPG as the class of the north and all steadily improving over the next 3 years despite being tight to the cap.

All the U25 means is the young guys are unlikely to regress much. But even if you pencil in Matthews as a rocket winner and Marner as a 100 point guy it's an uphill battle.

Prospects working out, goalies work out, no one in their 30s gets old, no bad contracts, and all current players take team favorable contracts. Every team in the league improves if those things all work out favorably. They just usually don't.

 

[libertarian]

Lol if Tavares fell a second later in game one Toronto sweeps Montreal and your singing a completely different tune but wtv

IF...

LOL!

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

There is quite the disparity between the Atlantic, and Pacific divisions.. Mediocre Pacific teams could have their point totals inflated, while good Atlantic teams will see the opposite, (through much stiffer competition)...The Atlantic Division is going to be a dogfight from start to finish..Bagging points from a fairly weak North division wont be a thing anymore.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Lol if Tavares fell a second later in game one Toronto sweeps Montreal and your singing a completely different tune but wtv

The Leafs were up 3 games to 1 without Tavares. Let’s cut the lame excuses.

 

[majormajor]

There is quite the disparagement between the Atlantic, and Pacific divisions.. Mediocre Pacific teams could have their point totals inflated, while good Atlantic teams will see the opposite, (through much stiffer competition)...The Atlantic Division is going to be a dogfight from start to finish..Bagging points from a fairly weak North division wont be a thing anymore.

"Disparity" is the word you were looking for.

 

[Captain97]

I think the most likely to make the playoffs are Vancouver and Oilers, that is almost solely because the Pacific sucks.

Toronto I think is slightly worse but basically the same team.

The Habs are insanely hard to project, looking at regular season rosters it's a very different team and full of young guys who may progress at different levels.

Out
Weber, Tatar, and Danault

In
Savard, Hoffman, Caufield, Paquette

Is that roster better or worse? I think that answer comes down to how well the youngins do. How do Suzuki, Caufield, KK, and Evans progress heavily determines how good this team is.

I wouldn't be surprised if they end up bottom 10 I also wouldn't be surprised if they are 3rd in the Atlantic. Impossible to project imo.

I think Calgary and the Jets both miss barely as Bubble teams.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

"Disparity" is the word you were looking for.

too right....thanks major.

 

[The90]

All the U25 means is the young guys are unlikely to regress much. But even if you pencil in Matthews as a rocket winner and Marner as a 100 point guy it's an uphill battle.

Prospects working out, goalies work out, no one in their 30s gets old, no bad contracts, and all current players take team favorable contracts. Every team in the league improves if those things all work out favorably. They just usually don't.

How is that different for the leafs than any other team though? You don’t get to just single out the leafs there. At least the leafs have several years of good (regular season anyways) play from their core. They do know what they have and generally have the big holes filled. If that’s the core they’re comfortable with, They just need to surround that with solid depth pieces that they think complement properly.

would you rather a team with big holes and lots of depth? Or the team with no big holes, but depth issues around the fringes. And FYI, depth wasn’t the issue for the leafs last year.

 

[Knies iT]

All the U25 means is the young guys are unlikely to regress much. But even if you pencil in Matthews as a rocket winner and Marner as a 100 point guy it's an uphill battle.

Prospects working out, goalies work out, no one in their 30s gets old, no bad contracts, and all current players take team favorable contracts. Every team in the league improves if those things all work out favorably. They just usually don't.

….and conversely they’re concerns for every team in the league.

The likely outcome is somewhere in the middle, which means a playoff lock. You can draw up a dark timeline for any team but the Leafs have very few regular season issues. The goaltending issues you keep referencing have already happened with Andersen being horrible for two straight years and still not sinking their reg season.

 

[Fatass]

Winnipeg
Edmonton
Toronto
Calgary
Ottawa
Vancouver
Montreal

 

[DJJones]

How is that different for the leafs than any other team though? You don’t get to just single out the leafs there. At least the leafs have several years of good (regular season anyways) play from their core. They do know what they have and generally have the big holes filled. If that’s the core they’re comfortable with, They just need to surround that with solid depth pieces that they think complement properly.

would you rather a team with big holes and lots of depth? Or the team with no big holes, but depth issues around the fringes. And FYI, depth wasn’t the issue for the leafs last year.

Again, I'm not attacking your team haha. It's just what I think will happen. Like ya, you could pull a couple top liners out of your ass from prospects and improve. Every team could and its always at least a bit surprising.

I just sure as hell wouldn't bet on it. Losing Rielly, Muzzin getting old, Brodie having one of his patented off years. That's a whole lot of pressure to put on prospects to fill the hole.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Strangely enough if I was ranking these teams on their likelihood of eventually winning a Cup I’d probably have Ottawa at the top. But unfortunately their owner will probably screw things up.
I don’t really see the others getting there without better management and some pretty significant personnel changes.

 

[Aqualung]

Surprised everyone is putting Ottawa last. Towards the end of the season their young players were really stepping up and the experience was valuable. Can only think they can be even better this year.

Toronto
Edmonton
Montreal/Winnipeg/Ottawa
Calgary
Vancouver

 

[Daximus]

Toronto and Montreal are now in a division that includes a much improved Florida team, Tampa and Boston. Its gonna be tough. I think the games against Detroit, Buffalo and Ottawa are going to matter just as much as against eachother. You gotta win those games. Ottawa has surprise potential. I think Detroit is still a few away and Buffalo is bottom of the league barrel. You get season swept by them and that's easy points down the drain.

Van, Calgary and Edmonton all could make the playoffs. Pacific has some weak teams but LA made some improvements so they could be a sneaky bet.

Winnipeg plays in the toughest division top to bottom. Colorado is the only likely sure bet to make the playoffs, the rest could land anywhere.

If I'm ranking by season ending points I think it probably looks like.

1. TML/MTL/WPG/EDM
2. CGY/VAN
3. OTT

Order is tough but I think thats how they likely look in tiers based on season ending points.

 

[NyQuil]

Surprised everyone is putting Ottawa last. Towards the end of the season their young players were really stepping up and the experience was valuable. Can only think they can be even better this year.

Toronto
Edmonton
Montreal/Winnipeg/Ottawa
Calgary
Vancouver

Still a small sample of games when all of the pressure was off.

I think it does make placing Ottawa a little trickier.

 

[majormajor]

Winnipeg - The D is no longer a serious weakness, and they've still got great F and G. Dubois can only improve from here.
104 pts

Toronto - No real weaknesses at least for regular season play. Tougher conference play will sink them a bit below the Jets.
102 pts

Edmonton - I'm not sold on their D & G moves, though F depth has greatly improved.
102 pts

Vancouver - Deadly PP team that adds heart and soul in Garland, and improved F depth. If the D is anything but bottom 5 then the Canucks will probably squeak in in the Pacific.
95 pts

Ottawa - I don't think they'll make the playoffs but this is the year Ottawa gets put back on the map. They're going to outskate and outskill a lot of teams.
93 pts

Montreal - They'll be okayish but it won't be near enough in the East. They'll miss Danault and Price is liable to check out all year again.
91 pts

Calgary - I like many of this summer's adds, but their roster is painfully slow and I think they'll struggle.
85 pts

 

[GreeningOil]

I don't think any of the teams are really a threat for the playoffs, defenses are going to get lit up by the strong American teams. But there's no outright bad teams either. Pacific teams have an advantage for making playoffs.

1. Toronto, still a scary offense with a solid defense, might be their last peak year before the cap starts chipping away. Probably lose Reilly next year for nothing. Playoffs.

2. Winnipeg, I thought they'd suck last year but somehow the defense didn't implode. Seems like they've improved so who the hell knows. Wild card

3. Montreal, I don't think they'll make the playoffs but gotta respect the run last year.

4. Calgary, think last year was abnormal, any reversion to the mean will be a giant improvement. If Monahan comes back healthy, good depth everywhere. Playoffs

5. Edmonton, scary top 6 but little else. I don't think McDavid and Smith can repeat what they did last year. Even if they have simply good years that's a drastic fall off. Playoffs because Pacific.

6. Vancouver, good offense but their defense is horrendous. Imo, it's worse than Edmonton's. Possibly wildcard.

7. Ottawa, could be good, could be shit. I don't know.

Oilers actually have quite the top 9 now. Defence could be suspect, but could also improve. Everyone is acting like Edmonton’s D was top notch last season. I’m guessing Oil finish with best Canadian record. Just like they’ve been in the mix for the last 2 seasons

 

[GreeningOil]

Vancouver was one of the hottest teams in the league for a month prior to their break/COVID outbreak.
They lacked depth last year. But when on, they played like they did in the bubble playoffs. They got the goaltending.

Expecting a further developed Pettersson and Hughes to take this team to the next step.
Like their goalie and goalie tandem better than everyone else's.

Toronto - downgraded, but still the class of Canada in the regular season.
Montreal - good cup experience added. Built for playoffs once again. Should be challenged to get to the dance without Weber.
Wpg - really like their defensive additions.
Edm - really disliked thier offseason on D... but again - with 97, 27... they will be outscoring issues in the regular season.
Cgy - roster looks.. incomplete. Really don't like how they stayed status quo upfront. D is.. incomplete.

97-102 pts : Van, Tor, Edm
94-98 pts : Wpg, Mon
88-92 pts : Cgy
<89 pts : Ott

Who is this mystery Oiler #27?