bro, Ottawa has a nice looking top 9

Not sure what's farther off, Calder winning for defensive play or Sens making the playoffs this season.

Edit: they will be a fun team to watch, should restart the battle of Ontario

Too bad they play in the Eastern Conference.

Sens are making the playoffs

Doesn’t matter. This team will have too many wins to miss the playoffs

Clearly nobody watched them to know how good they are. I had to watch Ennis, Tierney, Sanford and Gaudette on the 2nd line with Batherson/Norris out. Won’t be close to same this year.

Ottawa underperformed last year points wise in terms of what they had lineup wise. They’re easily a 90+ pt team this year

You can't say that! Only people who hate the Sens say that!

I've literally said almost the exact same thing and got labeled a hater.

Belleville maybe. There's likely 1 wildcard spot up for grabs, I wish any Canadian team the best but I think they're a year away still.

Yeah, the Atlantic is tough and obviously the Metro is deep which makes it unlikely more than four teams come out of the Atlantic. Boston and Tampa will start to fizzle over the next two years and teams like DET, OTT and BUF will start to make their way up.

Enjoy this time and temper expectations. You will ruin your view of prospects.
-A fan of a team that was once in the dumpster

OP didn't say "Calder winning".... He said "top 10 for the Calder"

There's a vast difference

And in this scenario they would also produce some respectable offense for rookies.

Ottawa had Zaitsev playing in the top 4, and they will have it again this season. Ottawa is a high 80 point team. They missed the playoffs by 25+ points last season, it’s unlikely they make the playoffs.

Zaitsev isn’t in the top 4 this year . He’s likely the 7th D

Last season doesn’t count. This is a completely different team that will have 2 PPs clicking , 2nd line support, better depth, better goaltending . I wouldn’t even try comparing it to 2021-2022 year if I was you

all these guys will be on the original rosters for the world championships

Dj smith isn’t scratching Zaitsev for Brännström it’s just not going to happen. Teams never scratch players with big contracts.

The more I think about it and the more I compare this team with others the more optimistic I get. Obviously we're in a tough division but let's look at our division rivals this season:
- Florida: In a move to get a little younger and maybe to add a bit more grit, they traded away a superstar forward in Huberdeau and a top pairing defenseman in Weegar for Matthew Tkachuk. Huberdeau for Tkachuk is a lateral move at best, and I think people underestimate how much of an effect losing Weegar will have on the Panthers.
- Toronto: They still have one of the best forward groups in the league and are rock solid on defense, but Murray and Samsonov in nets is a huge question mark. On one hand Murray could have a fantastic season and/or Samsonov could finally be the goalie he showed flashes of in Washington, but on the other hand Murray could spend the majority of the season injured again and Samsonov could show that he's still making the same mistakes that he still hasn't learned from.
- Tampa Bay: Not much to say here, they're coming off their third Stanley Cup finals appearance in a row and aren't really losing much.
- Boston: This is definitely an ageing team up front, and with how many pending UFAs they have coming up I wouldn't be surprised if they see that the writing's on the wall for this team, that their cup window is all but closed and they start shipping out players to go into a rebuild. I certainly wouldn't blame them either, with how tight the Atlantic is looking for the next few seasons it seems like the perfect time to take a back seat, collect some young studs, and rebuild while the top six or so teams fight it out.
- Buffalo, Detroit, and Montreal: All three got better this offseason, but none added like Ottawa did and none are ready to take that next step this season.

Teams collapse randomly or unexpectedly every season in this league, just look at the Islanders and Knights last season. In my books any one of Florida, Toronto, or Boston could slip out the playoffs next season due to the reasons I mentioned above, not to mention the division being tighter and them not being able to score as many wins from the bottom four teams, leaving a spot open for Ottawa. Hell, two of them could miss and Detroit or even Buffalo could have an opportunity to get in too.

All of this isn't to say that Ottawa doesn't have some problems too, that defense is bad and the goaltending is a bit of a question mark, but I like our chances for this season and I can't wait to see how it goes.

i don't necessarily agree but i wanted to show my appreciation for a truly inspired, incredibly hockey-specific burn

I don't doubt that they have a shot this season. But assuming Toronto, Florida, Tampa, Carolina, NYR, and Pittsburgh are locks, then Boston, Washington, NYI, Ottawa, and Columbus will fight for the wild cards. 16 points separated the final playoff spot from the rest of the conference last year, gonna be a tough hill to climb.

you trying to say they arent good enough to make those teams?

who are they beating out and what spot do they finish?