Seattle for sure ain’t making playoffs

Vancouver in 1st and Vegas in 3rd? That is an extremely bold prediction

Ottawa over Florida and Montreal is Bold...Florida should be ahead of both Montreal and Ottawa but I think Montreal and Ottawa probably fight for 5th, I still think Montreal should easily be better. While Buffalo and Detroit fight for Wright

The Florida disrespect.

I think Florida is a lock for sure, im not high on Carolina, very shaky goalie situation and a huge downgrade on defense. I think Minnesota could regress a bit as is not uncommon for up and coming teams, like Vancouver last year. Chicago is intriguing, feels like it could go both ways.. Calgary will bounce back and at least make it to the PO. Did you forget Vegas? Haha. Im not high on St. Louis, but sure, they should make it to the POs. Watchout for LA Kings, underrated team. Both Philly and Rangers could swap with Penguins and Capitals, though it seems unrealistic to expect both to miss. I do feel though that Caps will miss out.

Super hard to predict Montréal... Weber and Danault is not replaced, sure Savard is OK, nothing more - Hoffman just feels like something you already have in Caufield and Toffoli. Will they let Kotkaniemi replace Danault and go with Evans or Poehling as 3rd center? Risky.

I wasn't high on Hoffman signing cause MTL now has 5 wingers making 4+ for 2 years or longer on the team. They need to sign a 3C but i see them giving KK the 2C spot to start the season

It feels weird to me, thougt Bergevin would go all in this offseason, instead Montréal feels a lot worse.

I mean Goalies are the same, Offence Got better, but Defense got worse. Its kinda dependent on the system Ducharme plays to decide if this team will be better or not, last year montreal relied on D for alot of their success. Now they need to shift towards scoring more.

Yes, but arguably worse, I mean Price isnt getting any younger and on top of that, more injury concerns. Allen is a OK 1B, but still... I disagree about offense getting better, I mean Danault was not solely a defensive center + Tatar, whos been one of the best 5v5 scoring wingers in the league for a time now. Sure you get a pp specialist and a good one-dimensional scorer in Hoffman and Caufield will play all season, but then what? A Kotkaniemi breakthrough in scoring?

At this time in 2017 people were making the same comments on VGK. How did that turn out.

That’s a scorching hot take so is the Jets missing the playoffs

Haha yeah, I think i have the Jets pinned for 2nd in mine right now. Until this whole Eichel things done I refuse to make a post though

It’s looking like you guys are gonna bring back Alex Galchenyuk

Yeah I was talking to burrows at whole foods yesterday and he told me Chucky will be our #1 C after the great breakout pass he had to caufield in the playoffs, He knew the chemistry was off the charts as soon as he seen that play

alot of bold takes there but ey i do agree with seattle being in the playoffs

Here's my reasoning. Vancouver made a boatload of upgrades and Vegas downgraded a lot. Nolan Patrick for Cody Glass was a bad deal, losing a hall of fame Vezina goalie for nothing, losing Ryan Reaves (a big part of that identity line), and adding Dadonov and Howden will not replace them. If Lehner and Brossoit can carry Vegas in net, fine that will change my mind. However, Vancouver went for it all. Getting some actual defenders like OEL (who I pray rebounds), Conor Garland for forward depth, Tucker Poolman at a great deal, more defensive depth with Luke Schenn, adding Halak to backbone a breakout year from Demko, plus Pettersson will be back next year so now they have even more firepower. Jim Benning went for it all and loaded up this offseason.

Valid point having FLA over OTT and MTL, but I saw how well OTT played after the trade deadline and I'm still not sleeping on them even considering the tough division they are playing in. Plus, I honestly don't think Bobrovsky will be even remotely as good as he was last year. Sure he was decent, but he's not getting $10 million for decent. Knight will put up unreal numbers for sure, but I think their offense might fall apart with tougher opponents like Boston and maybe Toronto.
For MTL, I saw how banged up they are and they are not making the playoffs for sure (maybe behind OTT if they play up to how they did at the trade deadline). Weber out the whole season, Danault gone who was a backbone for their unreal PK and defense in the postseason, Price banged up, losing key, KEY veterans like Eric Staal and Corey Perry. I just don't see them getting a playoff spot with competition like Boston, Tampa, Toronto, Florida, and Ottawa.

Not to disrespect the comment, but this is like cleaning the floor and your mother walks in and goes "you did great, but you missed a spot here, and there, you missed a huge spot there, right over there, here, how do you miss that spot, and over there. Great job tho."

The problem is you think Vancouver truly upgraded though. I like the Garland add but the replaced Schmidt with OEL. Defensively the team is still a train wreck on paper

Key word is on paper. Tampa in 2019 "on paper" should have beat rhe living daylight out of Columbus. Colorado last year "on paper" was a cup favorite after the first round. Philly last year "on paper" should have made the playoffs...you see what I mean. The problem I have with the use of "on paper". I go by the team's issues last gear and were they solved. Plus, I go with what Vancouver had to work AROUND their team, not just if they were better than everybody, but is everyone worse that Vancouver? Anaheim and San Jose are out of the picture. Seattle is a wild card so I will consider them in the middle of the division. Edmonton still is a dumpster fire in the d-zone, Calgary improved a little but not on the level Vancouver did. Finally LA. They are weird because they are just like the Devils. They improved so much after such a bad year. Brandt Clarke might not be ready for the NHL yet but we'll see. If he is, he'll give LA a big step-up. My thinking is very hard to explain but remember this was at 4 in the morning.

Haha I get that.

But I dont think Vancouver really improved, to me they spun their wheels and just moved around cap space. You are relying on a massive upswing from OEL tbat probably wont happen