Where does Montreal finish in the Atlantic?

[habsfanatics*]

With solid goaltending we're the class of the division, so unless we suffer crazy injuries, 1st.

 

[psychonaut]

Boston
Ottawa
Should be the top 2

Montreal
Detroit
Toronto
Will fight for the 3 spots with the wild card. The wild card race will be exciting.

Tampa Bay
Buffalo
Florida
Maybe could surprise but prob not.

If Price plays elite level then we should be in the top 3. Can't wait till Tuesday

 

[deandebean]

5th. Plus the start of the season will be arduous, as this team doesn't seem as hungry as last season.

 

[Monctonscout]

It depends on Price.

If Anderson is the best goalie in the NHL and Price is mediocre, well it will be hard to finish ahead of Ottawa.

Same for Boston with Rask, but they are better than Ottawa in terms of their skaters.

 

[Monctonscout]

The name of the game for the habs is the powerplay.
Habs might not be build for the playoff but i'm pretty sure they're build for the season.

Fast team attract lots of powerplay opp. (1st last year...by a long shot too)
And we have the players to create a monster powerplay units.

This is why we finished 1st in our division last year.
But with the parity in the league....Health might be the biggest Joker of the game.

Wouldn't be surprise to see the Habs in the top 3!!

Habs had a good PP but I believe they were one of the better 5 on 5 teams also...PK struggled, in large part due to Price having a down year.

What was our 5 on 5 +-?

 

[Mrb1p]

Montreal doesn't get to the atlantic... You guys should take some geo class.

 

[rafal majka]

Habs had a good PP but I believe they were one of the better 5 on 5 teams also...PK struggled, in large part due to Price having a down year.

What was our 5 on 5 +-?

Last year the Habs had a top-10 fenwick close league-wide (8th). In the Habs' division only Boston and Detroit were better. Last year's goal differential was good as the Habs were 3rd league-wide, ahead of Boston, Toronto, Ottawa and Detroit.

Only Boston, Ottawa and Detroit are as good possession teams as the Habs, so I believe that it'll be a fight between the Habs and Boston for top spot.

As for the Habs' PK, I believe that the Habs were using a diamond rather than a box formation last year and it really sucked. That and Therrien didn't use the Habs' best PK defenseman very much at all.

Toronto will probably drop as their success last year was based on very good goaltending and a way above normal SH%. When their SH% regresses to the norm they'll be screwed.

 

[vokiel]

I have them 5th, on a warpath with Toronto at 4th.

 

[Tabarouette]

Boston
Detroit
Ottawa
Montreal
Toronto
Tampa Bay
Florida
Buffalo

I expect Boston and Detroit to be way ahead of everyone

 

[macavoy]

I'm positive we will be ahead of Buffalo, Tampa, and Florida.

I'm pretty sure we will be behind Boston, but I thought that last year and we beat them, so I won't write off our chances completely.

Then there is the middle four in Detroit, Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto. Detroit is IMO overrated because of recent success but they are aging and it just has that feeling that they are very beatable. Toronto overachieved last season. I don't care if people say we overachieved too (which they definitely are saying) but Toronto were a terrible team last year in terms of puck possession and they were insanely lucky with shooting percentage. I feel we beat them pretty easy if we play even close to potential. Ottawa is really hard to read because of their injuries last year and the loss of their long time captain. Craig Anderson has never put up the same numbers he did last year over a full season and I think if they are counting on him too they will be disappointed. Ryan is a nice addition but I don't like Turris as a 2C, especially when Spezza's back injury appears to be chronic (or maybe I am misremembering). I think we can beat them but we will stay close all year.

So TLDR 2-5.

I completely agree with this analysis.

 

[TheCanasianfrasian]

Ottawa
Detroit
Boston
Montreal
Toronto
Tampa Bay
Florida
Buffalo

 

[hogtownhabsfan*]

Best case 3rd, worst case 5th (realistically).

Ill guess 4th.

Kind of ridiculous how much stronger the East is this year. There are probably 10 teams in the east that would finish top 4 in the west. And we've got two more teams.

 

[hogtownhabsfan*]

Having watched Detroit last night, they are going to be a force. Alfie, Datayuk, and Zerterberg were going all-star game on the leafs.

 

[Kingbobert]

if our defensive zone coverage is as bad as it was at the end of last season 5th
if its as good as it was at the begining 2nd/3rd

we will be one of the more dangerous teams in the opponents zone and i'll go as far as saying we're one of the best forechecking teams

the problem is in our zone. They seem to get surprised and blow coverage very often and unless price is playing at a vezina level throughout the season, were going to get burned alot

 

[Maffew]

I wouldn't put too much stock in the pre-season, as it seemed like they were trying out the new kids for the entirety of it, rather than making most of the cuts early and solidifying the roster towards the end. They really only decided on the final roster after the last game, and still some vets just didn't play.

Unless we're really good in general, which I'm not sure about given the amount of new blood we have, I think it will be a slow start to the season as the full roster finds its wheels together. It will definitely pick up after a couple of weeks, and we should be in strong contention throughout the season for the division, only coming up short due to a mid-to-late season slump.

1) Detroit
2) Montreal
3) Boston
4) Ottawa
5) Toronto
6) Buffalo*
7) Tampa Bay
8) Florida

I think Detroit will have a strong year, Boston will take a small dive, Ottawa will struggle in the middle of the season for a long stretch, I put an asterisk next to Buffalo's name as I think they will surprise many this season with new blood stepping up, Toronto still won't have solid goaltending or any good defense, Tampa Bay I also wouldn't be shocked to see a big turnaround but I don't think it'll happen this season, and Florida is just in disarray at the moment.

 

[Whitesnake]

If the draft is a crapshoot...here,s another one....so I,ll go with:

Boston
Detroit
Sens
Habs
Leafs
TBay
Sabres
Florida

 

[JLP]

Was going to say first but White cut his hair, so fourth.

 

[SirClintonPortis]

Detroit
Senators
Boston
Tampa
Sabres
Habs
Leafs
Florida

 

[JayKing]

First. Carey Price will be amazing this year

 

[BrutusHFX]

Boston
Detroit
Ottawa
Montreal/Toronto
Tampa
Buffalo
Florida


Heart tells me we will get in on Wild Card..... brain is not so sure about anything right now.

 

[PunkinDrublic*]

5th. Plus the start of the season will be arduous, as this team doesn't seem as hungry as last season.

You saw this in the 5 preseason games ??? Seriously ???

 

[Hackett]

Boston
Detroit
Ottawa
Montreal
Toronto
Tampa Bay
Florida
Buffalo

I expect Boston and Detroit to be way ahead of everyone

I'm not as sold on Detroit as I am with Boston. I feel Detroit will probably make it but not a lock, just like Ottawa.

Last year, the habs had one of the best records despite of price faltering down the stretch. If he locks in this year, and becomes a team Canada frontrunner, I like the team's chances to outdo Toronto. If he is only okay, then it will be a tough fight to get in.

Boston
Ottawa
Detroit
Toronto
Montreal
Tampa
Buffalo
Florida

These standings reflect my confidence level with price right now. But that can change as he is so hard to read.

 

[TennisMenace]

I wouldn't be suprise to see Toronto have a good season. They have a good team. They have a balance of size, skill, speed and team thoughness.
If Bernier is as good as some people think he is watch out. Personally i am a bit skeptic, but let's wait and see. Reimer is good but unconsistant.

I agree here. TML have made nice moves and are better built for playoffs than we are. That was evident last year. They should be better and we should be worse considering we added Briere while they added Bernier and Clarkson.

 

[Account Terminated]

Boston
Montréal
Ottawa
Detroit
Toronto
Tampa
Buffalo
Florida

 

[MathMan]

Most likely somewhere in the top four, though it's hard to say where.

The Atlantic is very lopsided, with four top-third teams (Detroit, Boston, Montreal, and Ottawa) and four bottom-third teams (Florida, Tampa Bay, Toronto, and Buffalo) with a very large gap in-between. One of the top-4 teams might get unlucky with injuries or shooting (like Montreal in 11-12), or one of the bottom-4 teams might get correspondingly lucky (much like Toronto in 12-13), but in terms of team quality, the top-4 should make the playoffs and the bottom-4 should end up near the cellar.

Between the top-4 teams, while Montreal may be seen as the weakest of that lot, the four are really close enough that standard variations in performance should matter more than the actual differences in team quality.