All true, but nobody could have anticipated Murray's breakout success or Guentzel's for that matter. They were also much deeper both offensively and defensively during the 2 Cup runs. I'd never thought I'd bet against Sid and Geno, but I do believe they'll miss next season. They're treading water while other teams around them have improved substantially.

I think you're right on the money here. PIT's defense, at least their top 4, is at least league average. I think their problem is secondary scoring/offensive depth. Their bottom 6 is too weak compared to other potential playoff teams in the Metro. Aside from NYI, CBJ and possibly CAR PIT should have the weakest bottom six in the Metro. And NYI and CAR are probably the 2 best defensive teams in the division, in my opinion.

I have the 4 teams in the Atlantic who (almost) everyone's picking plus Washington, NYR, Philly, and Carolina (not in that order) ... so, i don't have NJD missing but i have the same three teams falling out.

I do think the Penguins' defence is below league average, but it's better than Detroit, Ottawa, Winnipeg and (probably) Vegas to name a few. Winnipeg's D has gotten worse this offseason, obviously.

What i find funny is how many people are going "bold" and saying Pittsburgh misses the playoffs ... i think they miss but that seriously is not close to being "bold" ... the majority of people are picking Pittsburgh to miss, i'm pretty sure.

Personally, I wouldn't be terribly surprised if Winnipeg missed the playoffs either. They haven't improved offensively (they're still excellent though) and their D has been decimated this summer. Hellebyuck needs to repeat what he did in 2017-18 or at least come close for the Jets to be successful. Teams like Chicago, Colorado, and Dallas have all improved this summer and STL and NSH are gonna be strong. I'm just thinking the Jets will be in a dog fight all season just to get in to the playoffs.

You mentioned Vegas as being pretty weak defensively, too. I defiantly agree. But Vegas has, in my opinion, the most prolific offense in the league. They can score with anyone.

The offence for the Golden Knights is very good ... the defence isn't good enough though if you ask me ... it's good on the left side but not good enough on the right side. Winnipeg totally could miss ... lots of people are picking them as a WC team and some are picking them to miss. I have them as the 2nd wild card in the west. They have a really good top-6 and if guys like Roslovic and Appleton start scoring a lot, the forwards are very good, and Hellebuyck is a good goalie ... i don't think he'll be as good as he was in 2017-18 but i think he'll be better than he was this past season. The defence has gotten much worse though.

Okay

I'm saying you made good points but i still don't think they will make it.

and I'm saying okay

Well... not how I expected this to happen!

11 of us were correct after all, lol. How many of us had MTL as a playoff team? Chicago?

Their top 4 is one of the better top 4s in the league... they need to fix their bottom pairing

Speechless

This was last offseason lol

Sorry, I got a notification from this thread

I thought chicago had a chance at the start of the year but i wasn't sure

Technically, they were tracking the play-in games with playoff stats so penguins did "make" the playoffs... Montreal still had no business being there and neither did chicago.