NHL experts, who are the teams to beat, can you make heads or tails with the changes?

[Journeyman]

So much time has passed, players retiring, changing teams, rule changes...

Who are the projected top teams ?

 

[Fishhead]

I can only mainly speak on the Tampa Bay Lightning, as I follow them very closely.

Many are thinking this team was a flash in the pan and now with the departure of Khabiboulin, aka "The Wall", will be in for a letdown.

Do not believe so at all and think that TB should be one of the elite teams in the league again.

John Grahme is a very good goaltender, as he proved last year in his back-up role playing behind Khabi. Whether he can sustain his play game in and game out, especially come playoff time, remains to be seen. The Lightning signed Sean Burke has his back-up a few days ago.

With the core of the BIG FOUR all signed.......Lacavilier, St. Louis, Richards, and Fedetenko..........the Lightning will be an offensive force unmatched by few teams this year.

Captain Dave Andreychuk returns also to provide his great leadership.......on and off the ice.

The Lightning are also a very well coached team, with Torterella behind the glass.

I am expecting the Lightning to be no worse than a TOP THREE team in the eastern conference standings at years end.........and hopefully the #1 seed again like last year.

-Fishhead-

 

[Journeyman]

Where did the goalie go Fish?

 

[Fishhead]

Where did the goalie go Fish?

Chicago

 

[SportSavant]

Chicago

I bought a future on the blackhawks 100/1 right after the signed "The Wall" but before the shops adjusted.....

now the best you can get is about 45/1....

Penguino's which were also 100/1 & which were touted at that price by our Resident Hockey expert VegasVic are now 12/1 at best...... after all their signings....

 

[Journeyman]

Wow 100 down to 12-1...I will be looking for Vic and other recommendations, hoping to get more into hockey again...I even missed it.

 

[dmmd98]

Top teams in the NHL in no order

Calgary
Boston
Ottawa
Tampa Bay
San Jose
Philadelphia

honourable mention goes to Atlanta and Nashville

 

[LarryTalbot]

Here is the scouting report of my Carolina Hurricanes.

The Hurricanes come back with captain Rod Brind 'Amour as the new leader of the team. The team has added some more offense to it's previously goal-scoring depleted team. Additions like Ray Whitney, Cory Stillman, and Mike Commodore will help strengthen the offense and defense with leadership and talent.

My projected lines are:

cole-staal-williams.

stillman-brind'amour-brendl or vrbata.

whitney will most likely share the roles among cole and stillman or additional power play time.

Defensively,

commodore-hedican

wesley-ward

kaberle-tverdovsky. Still unsure who Peter Laviolette will put in as the first line but if I were him, it'd be ward and wesley.

The only problem with this team, and it's a big one, is the goaltending. We lost Kevin Weekes to the Rangers and the Canes relied heavily on him. We now have Martin Gerber, former backup to Giguere in Anaheim, and Cam Ward, who has only seen minor league action. This team has the potential to win their division since it is very weak to begin with, minus Tampa, but it has to start with goaltending.

 

[DickyW]

12-1 On the Pens is silly and way over ajusted, not nearly as impressed with their signings as the rest of the public is. IMO this team made deals to get in the playoff picture but did nothing to make them a good playoff team. Other then Recchi I think they picked up a bunch of defensive liabilities, 25-1 is a fair price

 

[SportSavant]

Top teams in the NHL in no order

Calgary
Boston
Ottawa
Tampa Bay
San Jose
Philadelphia

honourable mention goes to Atlanta and Nashville

i got a C-note on Nashville at 60/1 at the Plaza during the Bash, also picked Calgary @ 28/1

 

[Fishhead]

Here is the scouting report of my Carolina Hurricanes.

Additions like Ray Whitney, Cory Stillman, and Mike Commodore will help strengthen the offense and defense with leadership and talent.

Stillman in Tampa for opening night...........how emotional for him.

Wow!

 

[jam]

i got a C-note on Nashville at 60/1 at the Plaza during the Bash, also picked Calgary @ 28/1

Sure like the flames at 28-1. Win the first round and start hedging.

 

[TTinCO]

Top teams in the NHL in no order

Calgary
Boston
Ottawa
Tampa Bay
San Jose
Philadelphia

honourable mention goes to Atlanta and Nashville

Um, excuse me......The Av's basically got everyone back except Forsberg.

k:

 

[dmmd98]

Also forgot Foote and Kariya in that list. Plus Blake and Sakic aren't exactly young either. The Avs better hope Alex Tanguy and Milan Hejduk light it up. Just don't see them being a top team anymore. The Avs will be lucky to get into the second round of the playoffs nothing more.

 

[Polaris]

The changes amoung the teams are too early to tell because the old players went packing, don't know if they still have it anymore, especially after a year off.

The other factor is the rule changes.

If they enforce the obstruction fouls, then the trap teams won't be that good. Too many of them in the league already. No trap means your team needs speed and scoring touch to compete.

The other rule change that is major is the goalie can't touch the puch outside his designated area (I think this was put it). Just look at that team New Jersey Devils. With the goalie rule, no more trap and no more Stevens or Neidmeyer on the D, they are a .500 team only might not make playoffs.

Good forechecking teams should benefit greatly with the goalie rule. Teams with quick moving defencemen should do better than the team with slower defencemen as the slower defencemen more vulerable to the forecheck.

I think it is the same old story. Wait 10 games into the NHL season, and you get a good idea who is going up or down.:digit: :shocked:

 

[Polaris]

The other intriguing rule change that may greatly affect how some teams play, is the no red line 2 line pass rule.

You always want big wingers. Suppose your team got a big speedy winger just lingering around the opposition blue line waiting for the shooting around from his own zone.

Suppose someone like Lindros is waiting for the puck at the blue along with the defence. Lindros could just out muscle the defence to the puck, just push him off it. Some teams will be better at this play than others.

Natural goal scorers will be even more huge factor because of the shootout rule. :digit: :drink:

 

[Polaris]

The best teams in the Eastern Conference, at the moment on paper:

Ottawa, Philadelphia, Toronto

In the Western Conference,

Vancouver is probably the team to beat right now on paper, with a close second tire teams right on their heels:

Detroit, Dallas, Colorado, Calgary, Edmonton.

Just my loud opinion!!!
:smoker2:

 

[TTinCO]

Great info Polaris. I don't really know what to make of the rule changes until I see them in place & see how they are enforced.

One thing is for sure, it's going to really open things up!!

 

[dmmd98]

Dan Cloutier in net for Vancouver crosses that team off the best in the East list.

 

[WildBill]

No one has a clue and I wouldn't be surprised to not see numbers up on many betting boards for awhile. How would you like to be a bookmaker having to post totals right now?

I think Philly is going to have a hard time making it all work this year, but next year might be a better spot. I wonder about Calgary because I think Kipper really got use of those big pads, lets see him with a little smaller "shadow" and see how effective he is. Not to mention they really turned it on for the playoff run, but didn't have that talented a squad all season. Detroit has the kind of guys who I think will thrive in a more open game. San Jose probably has the best suited players for the new rules on paper, but have to wonder if the game reverts to its old self come playoff time they let two crucial vets in Damphousse and Ricci go, guys who were huge in playoffs. Tampa is still loaded with so much talent at the top, probably deserve to be the nominal favorites. The Bulin wall is another guy you have to wonder about with smaller pads, maybe Tampa isn't really that much worse off now. A good sleeper I like is Edmonton, they showed some good improvement in recent years and added two guys in Peca and Pronger who upgrade the team well.

Predicting how a hockey year ends up was already very difficult, this year is impossible.