So who are your eight in the East?

[Spilot23]

My guess is :
Boston
Columbus
Florida
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Tampa Bay
Toronto
Washington

 

[jetsforever]

Boston, Columbus, NJ, Philly, Pittsburgh, Tampa, Toronto, Washington

 

[biotk]

In my books Buffalo will fight from the last place with Ottawa&Detroit.
Not sure why some fans are picking them inside 8.

I picked them as a bubble team, and think they luck out and get in. Pretty simple the reasons why: Dahlin and Mittelstadt (who had 5 points in 6 games last year) will be challenging for the Calder. Skinner and Sheary are nice winger additions. Yes, ROR is a tough loss for them, but I think their additions far outweigh their losses. Eichel is unlikely to miss 20 games again this season. Their PP was bad last year, but was #1 two years ago. I think it will move back into the top 5 or so.

As I have said the last place team in the East has made the playoffs the following year in 4 of the last 7 seasons. I think the improvements the Sabres have made are in the range of the improvements those teams made.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Boston
Columbus
Florida
Philly
Pittsburgh
Tampa
Toronto
Washington

 

[Regal]

In my books Buffalo will fight from the last place with Ottawa&Detroit.
Not sure why some fans are picking them inside 8.

Yea, I don't get it either. Unless Eichel turns Art Ross level and Dahlin is a star as a rookie, they're not jumping 35 points.

 

[VoluntaryDom]

I don’t know why but I don’t see the flyers making it next year for some reason.

TOR
BOS
TBL
FLA


PIT
CBJ
WSH
CAR

 

[Regal]

Pretty confident in the Caps, Pens, Bolts, Leafs, Bruins. I think the final 3 will be a fight between the Jackets, Panthers, Flyers, Devils. If the Jackets move Panarin, they might miss, but in general their goaltending and defense should get them in, and I expect some bounce back from other forwards and improvement from Dubois. Philly is a tough team because their stats are great but depth is awful so can be hot and cold. Improvement from Patrick and Sanheim should help and I think they make it as well. Then I have the Panthers top 6 being too good to keep out, and Jersey falling back. Jersey was one of those teams that seemed better than the sum of its parts last year. Those don't usually repeat

 

[Team Cozens]

Toronto
Tampa
Florida

Washington
Pittsburgh
Columbus

Boston
Buffalo

I agree.
Don’t think Philly makes it.
In order....

Tampa
Pittsburgh
Boston
Washington
Toronto
Columbus
Florida
Buffalo
———————
Philadelphia
Carolina

 

[pabst blue ribbon]

Locks:
Tampa
Pittsburgh
Toronto
Boston
Washington

Bubble:
Florida
Columbus
Philadelphia
Carolina
New Jersey

Little to no chance of playoff contention:
Buffalo
Montreal
NYI
Ottawa
Detroit
NYR

 

[Artorius Horus T]

I picked them as a bubble team, and think they luck out and get in. Pretty simple the reasons why: Dahlin and Mittelstadt (who had 5 points in 6 games last year) will be challenging for the Calder. Skinner and Sheary are nice winger additions. Yes, ROR is a tough loss for them, but I think their additions far outweigh their losses. Eichel is unlikely to miss 20 games again this season. Their PP was bad last year, but was #1 two years ago. I think it will move back into the top 5 or so.

As I have said the last place team in the East has made the playoffs the following year in 4 of the last 7 seasons. I think the improvements the Sabres have made are in the range of the improvements those teams made.

Improvements?
(only my opinions)

O'Reilly > Skinner
Johnson > Wedgewood
Antipin > Hunwick

Thompson > Pu
Berglund > Moulson
Sheary > Nolan
Sobotka > Griffith

Lehner = Hutton (both are good goalies with good defense,
with avg or bad defense, neither are anything special, pretty even meh)

Dahlin is possibility, but it is also possibility that he is not ready yet
(which for me is more likely what people think that he actually is ready)

Not that much of improvement, if at all, if you ask me.

 

[LeafGrief]

Atlantic

Tampa
Toronto
Boston
Florida

Metro

Pittsburgh
Washington
Philly
Carolina

Columbus and NJ on the bubble

 

[Baxterman]

TB
Bos
Fla

Pit
Wsh
Phi

Clb
TO

 

[Hockey Crazy]

I don’t know why but I don’t see the flyers making it next year for some reason.

TOR
BOS
TBL
FLA


PIT
CBJ
WSH
CAR

I have the same with philly over Carolina but it’s a toss up in my mind.

 

[Territory]

Tampa
Boston
Toronto
Pittsburgh
Washington
Columbus
Philadelphia
Florida

 

[biotk]

Improvements?
(only my opinions)

O'Reilly > Skinner
Johnson > Wedgewood
Antipin > Hunwick

Thompson > Pu
Berglund > Moulson
Sheary > Nolan
Sobotka > Griffith

Lehner = Hutton (both are good goalies with good defense,
with avg or bad defense, neither are anything special, pretty even meh)

Dahlin is possibility, but it is also possibility that he is not ready yet
(which for me is more likely what people think that he actually is ready)

Not that much of improvement, if at all, if you ask me.

The changes in minor players means nothing.

Last year Buffalo finished last in the east, drafted 1OA and will had a couple great young prospects join the lineup, while making some useful trades.

The year before New Jersey finished last in the east, drafted 1OA and had a couple great young prospects join the lineup, while making some useful trades. HF posters knew that NJ had no chance of making the playoffs. They predicted them to finish 27th, while ranking Edmonton as their #2 cup favorite who along with Chicago (7th), Dallas (9th) St Louis (10th), Rangers (11th) Ottawa (14th) and Calgary (15th) didn't make the playoffs, while New Jersey (27th), Colorado (30th) and Vegas (31st) did.

The year before that Toronto finished last in the east, drafted 1OA and had a couple great young prospects join the lineup, while making some useful trades. HF posters knew that Toronto had no chance of making the playoffs. They predicted them to finish 28th, while their #1 cup favorite missed the playoffs (along with another 5 who they predicted to be in the top 16). Toronto who finished last in the NHL the year before, HF posters predicted, as I already said, to finish 28th. Columbus, who finished 2nd last in the East the year before, they predicted to finish 29th out 30 teams. Toronto, of course, made the playoffs. Columbus not only made the playoffs, they finished 4th in the NHL with 108 points.

Every year almost all posters think that the standings will be almost identical to the year before with the exception of a couple changes (usually which ever team they hate the most will suck). Every year they are wrong.

 

[Machinehead]

Leafs
Bruins
Lightning
Caps
Pens
Flyers
Jackets
Cena

 

[glenwo2]

This may be better framed as Florida or New Jersey.

The other 7 from last season make it.

I agree with this.

It will once more come down between who gets the final spot again(Panthers or Devils).

That said, though, I'm hopeful that with a healthy Marcus Johannson(remember that he got injured early in the season and never returned) that puts them in a better position.

 

[glenwo2]

btw, that said, my picks are :

Tampa (Still the team to beat)
Washington (Defending Cup Champs; still have Ovy)
Boston
Toronto
Pittsburgh
Philadelphia
New Jersey
Florida


Yes.

Surprise-miss by the Blue Jackets this upcoming season with the Devils and Panthers taking the 7th and 8th playoff spots respectively.

 

[BruinsFan37]

Likely Division (or better -- don't see them dropping out of top 3 in their division(s)):
Tampa
Pittsburgh
Washington

Likely Wild Card (or better -- most likely better but Florida could conceivably steal 3rd place):
Boston
Toronto

Bubble Teams (in order from most to least likely - top 3 at the end of the season make it):
Columbus
Florida
Phily
New Jersey
Carolina

Long Shots:
Detriot
Montreal
Buffalo (only team here with a even a small chance of making it)
Ottawa
Rangers
Islanders

 

[bukwas]

9 popular choices that are hard to disagree with.
I don't mind Carolina either if the goaltending improves drastically and the offense can come up with an additional 15-20 goals but that won't be easy without Skinner.

 

[Sabresruletheschool]

Improvements?
(only my opinions)

O'Reilly > Skinner
Johnson > Wedgewood
Antipin > Hunwick

Thompson > Pu
Berglund > Moulson
Sheary > Nolan
Sobotka > Griffith

Lehner = Hutton (both are good goalies with good defense,
with avg or bad defense, neither are anything special, pretty even meh)

Dahlin is possibility, but it is also possibility that he is not ready yet
(which for me is more likely what people think that he actually is ready)

Not that much of improvement, if at all, if you ask me.

As a Sabre fan, I tend to agree. The depth is a little better, but I'm not penciling Buffalo in for a playoff spot. There's way to many question marks a with key pieces of the team.

 

[Mr Tadakichi]

TOR, TBL, BOS, WSH, CLB, PIT, FLA, NJ

Same, but I have my dark horse Carolina making it instead of NJ.

 

[BHD]

Columbus
Boston
Florida
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Tampa Bay
Toronto
Washington

Carolina just misses and the New Jerseys take a step back.

 

[Captain97]

Pit, Tampa, TO, Wash, Boston, Jersey, CBJ, Florida,

 

[Sstroh84]

I understand how the uncertainty with Panarin is impacting peoples projection on the CBJ, but keep in mind they will get at least one good offensive piece back in any deal involving him. So any decrease in offensive production could be countered with the piece and improvement of all the players that underperformed last year (Foligno, Dubinsky, Wennberg, etc.).