Pre-Game Talk: Week of Delusional Optimism [vs CGY | vs MIN]

[CobraAcesS]

You can never rule Edmonton out either.

Yeah lol, I assume you are talking about the lottery.

 

[henchman21]

Their roster is just Seth Jones. Ottawa will watch them tank the way we watched Ottawa tank.

They also had a 40g scorer, an over 60p 20 year old center, another over 40p 23 minute defensemen, and 2 other 20g scorers. Columbus was much more than Bread and Bob.

Columbus barely made the playoffs last season and lost so much talent over the summer. I can't see how they are going to make it. The death blow to me is their goaltending. Korpisalo and Merzlikins aren't going to cut it.

Elvis is going to be really good and it will be this year. He's been the best goalie outside the NHL for 3 years now. And considering how Bob played last season, he can match that level.

 

[CobraAcesS]

They also had a 40g scorer, an over 60p 20 year old center, another over 40p 23 minute defensemen, and 2 other 20g scorers. Columbus was much more than Bread and Bob.



Elvis is going to be really good and it will be this year. He's been the best goalie outside the NHL for 3 years now. And considering how Bob played last season, he can match that level.

Their division isn't going to be easy. There really isn't a terrible team in that Division right now.

 

[henchman21]

Their division isn't going to be easy. There really isn't a terrible team in that Division right now.

There really isn't an elite one either... Boston and Tampa are the class of the east with Toronto being 3rd. The next 5 teams in the pecking order are probably all from the Metro.

I personally see their defense as probably one of the top 3 in the league. Jones is an elite #1 and top 5D in the game. Werenski is a low end #1, elite #2. Savard, Murray, and Nutivaara are all quality top 4 level defenders. Up front they don't have a game breaker (though Texier could be that guy), but they have a deep top 9. I don't think Elvis will be a step down from last year's goaltending.

 

[The Kingslayer]

Expecting the Flames to be extra pumped for this game.

I said that about Game 5

 

[CobraAcesS]

There really isn't an elite one either... Boston and Tampa are the class of the east with Toronto being 3rd. The next 5 teams in the pecking order are probably all from the Metro.

I personally see their defense as probably one of the top 3 in the league. Jones is an elite #1 and top 5D in the game. Werenski is a low end #1, elite #2. Savard, Murray, and Nutivaara are all quality top 4 level defenders. Up front they don't have a game breaker (though Texier could be that guy), but they have a deep top 9. I don't think Elvis will be a step down from last year's goaltending.

Yeah it shouldn't be difficult for them to upgrade there. Carolina and NJ should be good next year.

NY might have that youth push, and the Caps are still good.

I have a hard time slotting them above 5th in that Division. Philly should be better as well if Carter holds up.

I definitely don't think they'll be at the bottom, but I'd say they are probably on the wrong side of the playoff bubble.

They are going to be Nashville of the East for a bit. I actually think tanking a year would be smart. Especially while still having a lot of mileage left on their core.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

CAL: Must win game
MIN: Must win game

That is all.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Searched Avs Flames on YouTube and came across this.



You’d think I posted this video because the Avs are playing the Flames. The truth is, I’m posting it because of the greatest moment in Avalanche history.

Carl Soderberg passes the puck cross ice to Mikko Rantanen for an overtime winner. Wait there’s more. Soderberg in excitement skates past the OT hero and proceeds to hug captain Gabe Landeskog because he’s blind af and didn’t even know who he set up

 

[henchman21]

Yeah it shouldn't be difficult for them to upgrade there. Carolina and NJ should be good next year.

NY might have that youth push, and the Caps are still good.

I have a hard time slotting them above 5th in that Division. Philly should be better as well if Carter holds up.

I definitely don't think they'll be at the bottom, but I'd say they are probably on the wrong side of the playoff bubble.

They are going to be Nashville of the East for a bit. I actually think tanking a year would be smart. Especially while still having a lot of mileage left on their core.

I'm pretty confident they will make the playoffs, but yeah tanking a year would probably be good for them. Right now, they are banking on one of PLD, Texier, or Bemstrom to develop into a gamebreaker... and I really only see that potential in Texier... which is certainly no guarantee. The idea that filters through the NHL is that a good defense raises your floor, but a great forward group is what drives playoff success. With the defense that Columbus has, I think their floor is very high. I'm just not sure they can do much damage when they get in the playoffs.

I had an interesting discussion the other day on Columbus and my fear for them is their ability to score goals. In 16-17, their last season before they got Panarin, they were 6th in the NHL in goals. Scoring has been up the past couple seasons so it is hard to make that an apples to apples, but their 247 goals that season would have put them 12th in the league last year... which is exactly where they finished. but with 256 (Vegas both had 246 being tied for 13th). If they can scrape together 245+ goals, I think they will be a shoe in for the playoffs. 235-240 is probably a grey area... 230 and below they will be out.

 

[The Kingslayer]

Searched Avs Flames on YouTube and came across this.



You’d think I posted this video because the Avs are playing the Flames. The truth is, I’m posting it because of the greatest moment in Avalanche history.

Carl Soderberg passes the puck cross ice to Mikko Rantanen for an overtime winner. Wait there’s more. Soderberg in excitement skates past the OT hero and proceeds to hug captain Gabe Landeskog because he’s blind af and didn’t even know who he set up

James Neal on that play lol He stands and watches the puck go by him lol I believe that was his last game as a Flame.

 

[ASmileyFace]

The Avs handed to to Calgary that night. Smith kept them in it. I never noticed Soda straight cold shouldering Mikko though

 

[Foxtail]

Next season. He’s 25 and has been the best goalie in Europe other than maybe Frank the last couple years.

Sorokin has been the best for the last several years

 

[Foxtail]

Yeah lol, I assume you are talking about the lottery.

 

[Foxtail]

I'm pretty confident they will make the playoffs, but yeah tanking a year would probably be good for them. Right now, they are banking on one of PLD, Texier, or Bemstrom to develop into a gamebreaker... and I really only see that potential in Texier... which is certainly no guarantee. The idea that filters through the NHL is that a good defense raises your floor, but a great forward group is what drives playoff success. With the defense that Columbus has, I think their floor is very high. I'm just not sure they can do much damage when they get in the playoffs.

I had an interesting discussion the other day on Columbus and my fear for them is their ability to score goals. In 16-17, their last season before they got Panarin, they were 6th in the NHL in goals. Scoring has been up the past couple seasons so it is hard to make that an apples to apples, but their 247 goals that season would have put them 12th in the league last year... which is exactly where they finished. but with 256 (Vegas both had 246 being tied for 13th). If they can scrape together 245+ goals, I think they will be a shoe in for the playoffs. 235-240 is probably a grey area... 230 and below they will be out.

I don't think they stand a chance I'd say a bottom 6 team

 

[Spleenless Wonder21]

I'm pretty confident they will make the playoffs, but yeah tanking a year would probably be good for them. Right now, they are banking on one of PLD, Texier, or Bemstrom to develop into a gamebreaker... and I really only see that potential in Texier... which is certainly no guarantee. The idea that filters through the NHL is that a good defense raises your floor, but a great forward group is what drives playoff success. With the defense that Columbus has, I think their floor is very high. I'm just not sure they can do much damage when they get in the playoffs.

I had an interesting discussion the other day on Columbus and my fear for them is their ability to score goals. In 16-17, their last season before they got Panarin, they were 6th in the NHL in goals. Scoring has been up the past couple seasons so it is hard to make that an apples to apples, but their 247 goals that season would have put them 12th in the league last year... which is exactly where they finished. but with 256 (Vegas both had 246 being tied for 13th). If they can scrape together 245+ goals, I think they will be a shoe in for the playoffs. 235-240 is probably a grey area... 230 and below they will be out.

As long as the players are still buying into Torts & his system I agree that scraping together a wildcard birth is feasible.

 

[MonsterMack]

I have work every Thursday night and I swear it feels like a quarter of our games are played on Thursday. Feels bad man

 

[Grigowski]

Cal: WIN, 4:2
Min: WIN, 6:2

 

[Tweaky]

Sorokin has been the best for the last several years

Sorokin just plays for the best team not in the NHL. He is good, no doubt, but it is hard to argue that he has even been better than his own backup. Johansson had better stats the last two year, and so far this year, he is continuing the trend.

 

[Ivan13]

Sorokin just plays for the best team not in the NHL. He is good, no doubt, but it is hard to argue that he has even been better than his own backup. Johansson had better stats the last two year, and so far this year, he is continuing the trend.

It's a fool's errand to argue he is the best goalie outside of the NHL. He is just another product of the inane New York hype machine like Shestryokin. Neither is as good as they are made out to be.

Elvis is by far the better goalie of the two.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Your Edmonton friends will once again be your 7th man in tonight’s game vs the heathen Flames. You have it much easier tonight as the Flames took all our dead weight in the off season with First Shot Talbot, Toby Reider the Goal-less Wonder and of course Milan Lucic and his cinderblock hands and feet made of lead, not to mention his no move clause and buyout proof contract.

The Flames figure Lucic toughness will be the reason they will now beat you because goodness knows, it wasn’t speed.

Love,
Your brothers from the North.

 

[flyfysher]

Was just on the main board looking at a couple of trade proposals for D help for the NJD and TML. So happy we don't have to go through that again and looking at excessive trade demands or scrounging the waiver wire. The Avs D is young and inexperienced but talented. They may have some growing pains this season but I'm feeling a lot more at ease about the Avs D now than in years.

 

[AvsCOL]

I wonder how the altitude affects the Flames this early in the season. I realize Calgary has decent altitude as well, but Colorado has to have a pretty sizeable advantage in the cardio department right now.

5-3 Avs vs. CGY

4-1 vs MIN

 

[Koolboss]

Kerfoot was pretty bad in his first game with the Leafs, 29% on faceoff and zero shots on goal

 

[UncleRisto]

Kerfoot was pretty bad in his first game with the Leafs, 29% on faceoff and zero shots on goal

Don't worry, he'll get shots. They'll be bad, but there will be shots.

 

[henchman21]

Don't worry, he'll get shots. They'll be bad, but there will be shots.

At a rate of 1 per game