Sabres over at least Ottawa and probably Boston too

Id have Buffalo at 2 and and Boston at 6

I can't see it, Sabres fold when the games get tough and physical. Still a soft team and very inexperienced

I don't see it, very inexperienced. Boston still has Marchand, McAvoy, Lindholm, Pastrnak, DeBrusk. I wouldn't bet against them

This division is too hard to predict, you got so many teams going to fight for that playoff spot except for Montreal and possibly sens. Detroit and Buffalo are getting better. Florida got better depth wise. Leafs got a little better. Tampa gotten worse but they’ll still make the playoffs regardless. Boston centre depth is worse but their wingers/ defence and goaltending is still very good. I’d put Boston a 3.

I’d do
Leafs
Tampa
Bruins
Panthers
Buffalo
Wings
Sens
Habs

Ottawa and Buffalo push out Florida and Boston this year. Heard it here first

Ottawa at 7? What are u smoking

I think Ottawa can, I don't see it with Buffalo. No defense or goaltending either. If they hope to win 6-5 games, then MAYBE

Most likely jet lag but I’m not too high on them, sens are good but in terms of injuries it won’t look good for them. There a injury prone team

my point predictions:

Stutzle - 97pts
Tkachuk - 88pts
Giroux - 81pts
Batherson - 74pts
Norris - 68pts
Chabot - 51pts
Pinto - 47pts
Chychrun - 44pts
Kubalik - 41pts
Sanderson - 40pts
Greig -36pts
Joseph - 32pts

If they add 1 more middle 6 guy at least to this and get .905-.910 from Forsberg + Korpisalo they make it

Some of these are very generous though... Stuzle at 97/Tkachuk at 88 is a stetch unless the Sens prove that finishing top 3 in PP opportunities will be a normal occurrence, bc that's where they get a ton of their points from.

Logically, Giroux shouldn't finish this season with more than last year and Batherson would be in dire need to make an improvement fast (most people aren't concerned with +/- but, -35 is concerning) but also get 10 more points than last year

Greig should get more, especially if you're expecting an improvement from last year

This is just plain wrong. Also, Ottawa was supposed to have a much better team and still finished 5 points behind the Sabres that had bad goaltending most of the season.

Sens had bad goaltending too lmao and had Zaitsev/Hamonic in the top 4 which is now replaced by Chychrun

a 7pt improvement for Stutzle is unrealistic and 5pt for Tkachuk, really? Come on man. Batherson's ankle was bothering him all year, he wasnt bad defensively the year before. Norris will replace Debrincat on the top PP as the sniper. On a one timer Norris much better than Debrincat and theyll tee him up

I don't mean to talk down on the sens to be fair. I just think the sabres are going to have the better season. The team that's going to have the most interesting season is Boston. The sens, Panthers, and sabres should be fighting to take over that spot.

i think both ottawa and buffalo make it. Both had brutal goaltending last year and both should have better defences this year by additions from outside the organization as well as young player progressions

Boston just set a record for points in a season and while Bergeron is a loss, he's not what he used to be and isn't as impactful as people seem to think. Marchand and Pasternak are still there. The defence is mainly intact and the goaltending is returning. They won't be the best team in the league but they certainly won't drop 50 points from last year.

Marchand is regressing, JVR is in your top 6 and your goaltending probably regresses signfiicantly

But a 50 point swing? Come on. I am all for seeing a shake up in the playoffs teams this year but I am not sure it's going to be much different than last year. Tampa actually I think could regress enough to miss the playoffs. Even Florida could regress but to think anyone is going to drop enough to see Ottawa or Buffalo make it is still a bit of a stretch.

Yeah, Marchand really did seem to take a step back, didn't he. Well, he's 35 so it's not unexpected. And besides Bergeron, they've lost Hall, Orlov and probably Krejci too. And maybe Ullmark.

In any case, I feel like there could still be major changes in Boston and Toronto, so it's too early to accurately predict the Atlantic division.

I'm saying it will be harder for Stuzle and Tkachuk to get the points they are most likely not going to get from extra PP time, and 7 and 5 respectively... This is Batherson's first full season since '21 and there, he was a -17... Not the best... And that guy on the PP is going to be Stuzle, not Norris, like it was last year... Even with ADB