Hockey's back! With the drop of the puck yesterday, the NHL season officially commenced. It's time to do as any good hockey fan would do - make our predictions for the upcoming season and project where our team will end up among the rest of the Eastern Conference.
Alex's prediction:
1st Place - Pittsburgh Penguins - 50 - 21 - 11 - 111 PTS
A healthy Malkin and most likely Crosby, a defense that seems to get better every year and once more strong goaltending from MAF will lead this team to the top of the East this year. If they were able to do what they did last year sans both Crosby and Malkin, what they'll be able to do with them this year is going to be scary.
2nd Place - Washington Capitals - 49 - 21 - 12 - 110 PTS
After last year's disappointing sweep by the Lightning, Washington has done everything in their means to upgrade the team as much as possible. Stealing Tomas Vokoun to an absolute steal of a contract as well as veteran D-Man Roman Hamrlik and clutch performers Joel Ward and Troy Brouwer should help lead this team to fight hard into the playoffs.
3rd Place - Buffalo Sabres - 46 - 24 - 12 - 104 PTS
Ville Leino may not perform to what his contract entitles he should, but he is going to become a solid acquisition for this team. He along with the acquisition of Christian Ehrhoff make for a much improved team backed by the always solid goaltending of Ryan Miller. Thomas Vanek is already lighting it up as well, so Buffalo's offense is already in high gear. They should be able to beat out their fellow Northeast foes for the divisional title.
4th Place - Philadelphia Flyers - 50 - 34 - 8 - 108 PTS
Philadelphia may be the first team I've ever seen to completely restructure their chemistry and then look better following it. The combination of Giroux and Jagr is already looking like a duo that can put up 150 points between the two of them, and the addition of Ilya Bryzgalov has finally rectified a major problem with the Flyers teams of years past. While I don't believe they will top Pittsburgh for the divisional title, they will be fighting hard going into the playoffs.
5th Place - Boston Bruins - 46 - 25 - 11 - 103 PTS
The reigning Cup winners lost very few pieces from their 2010-2011 lineup and looked as strong as ever through the pre-season. Thomas continues to be ageless while backed with an extremely efficient and well rounded defense. The Bruins won the cup last year even without the talents of Marc Savard. With Tyler Seguin going into his sophomore year, the Bruins offense is certainly powerful. Just not quite powerful enough to allow them to win the division again.
6th Place - Tampa Bay Lightning - 43 - 26 - 13 - 99 PTS
Their offense is as potent as ever, and while their defense is one of the least threatening in the NHL, all of their shortcomings will be made up for when you have Vincent Lecavalier, Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis, Ryan Malone and the rookie Brett Connolly helming your offense. Dwayne Roloson looks to be going into his final NHL season (although one can never tell), but judging from his play last year should be able to return to form for one last year to be a consistent backstop for the Bolts.
7th Place - New York Rangers - 46 - 30 - 6 - 98 PTS
Hard to deny that the Rangers became a very strong offensive team in the offseason. Richards and Gaborik could make for one of the most lethal 1-2 punches in the entire NHL. With Richards vision and Gaborik's accuracy, the Ranger became that much scarier. Callahan also looks like he's becoming one of the premier players in this league, and could easily be a 65 point player this year. However, especially with the post-concussion syndrom plauging Marc Staal right now, the Rangers offense and Henrik Lundqvist will only be able to carry their poor defense so far, much like the Lightning. It will be enough to get into the playoffs however, but how far they will go is too early to even throw out a prediction.
8th Place - New York Islanders - 44 - 29 - 9 - 97 PTS
If the goaltending can stabilize and either DiPietro, Montoya or Nabokov can put in enough solid games to provide us with serviceable goaltending throughout the year and if the team as a whole can stay healthy, the Islanders will squeak into the playoffs. Yes, the defense needed to be upgraded, but if Staios, Eaton and Jurcina can stay healthy for 68+ games, we will have a good enough defense to get us playing in late April. Hopefully, if the defense is barely keeping afloat by the trade deadline, Snow will make a smart decision and move the correct pieces to bring in a top 4 D-man through trade. If Tavares really has a breakout year like everyone is expecting, if everyone continues progressing at their expected rate and if everyone is healthy, this team will be back in the playoffs.
Carey's Predictions:
1st Place - Pittsburgh Penguins - 114 Points
The Penguins are certainly the class of the Eastern Conference, and they showed that last year when they kept rolling despite losing Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin for extended periods of time. Now that Malkin is back and Crosby is on the comeback train, the Pens should be the best team in the conference with a real chance at the President's trophy.
2nd Place - Washington Capitals - 107 Points
The Capitals are a great regular season team, and with solid additions like Joel Ward and Tomas Vokoun, it's reasonable to think this will continue. After a down season last year, Alex Ovechkin will most likely rebound to the goal scorer that we all know he is.
3rd Place - Boston Bruins - 101 Points
The Stanley Cup champs should win a somewhat weaker Northeast Division this year. With Thomas and Rask in net, their goaltending will keep them competitive nightly even if one of the offense or defense is having issues. All around, they may be the deepest team in the conference.
4th Place - Tampa Bay Lightning - 96 Points
The Lightning have extremely high-end offensive talent with Stamkos, St. Louis, and Lecavalier. Their defense is not bad, but could be very good if Victor Hedman breaks out this year. And with Dwayne Roloson in net, you know they will be in every game.
5th Place - Buffalo Sabres - 95 Points
The Sabres made some high-end off-season signings and trades when they acquired Robyn Regehr, Christian Ehrhoff and Ville Leino long-term. Combine them with Ryan Miller and you certainly have a playoff contender. But are Derek Roy and Thomas Vanek going to carry them to a division title? They will probably just miss out.
6th Place - New York Rangers - 93 Points
The Rangers did improve their team by acquiring Brad Richards, but they are not the Cup contender many people make them out to be. The fact is they have a very young defense and will rely heavily on Henrik Lundqvist to carry them through the season. That said, they should find themselves in the playoffs this season.
7th Place - Montreal Canadiens - 91 Points
The Canadiens have been hit hard by injuries already (which may make this pick a bit outdated), so it will really come down to how Carey Price performs over the full season. The Habs have two solid forward lines, so they should be able to score a bit. But the questions for them fall solely on the blueline. How will they compensate for no Andrei Markov?
8th Place - Philadelphia Flyers - 90 Points
Yes, 90 is the magic number this season. The Flyers are solid all the way around. Guys like Claude Giroux and James van Riemsdyk are on the verge of breaking out. They have a solid defensive core led by Chris Pronger. And with Ilya Bryzgalov in net, the Flyers will not be in easy team to beat. As for where I have the Islanders?
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10th Place - New York Islanders - 84 Points
The Islanders will surely be in the race until the end, but I'm not sure they will have enough to make it this year. Pretty much everything will have to go right for them to break in. That said, I do expect the team to make great progress as they start to play meaningful games in late March. It would be a nice improvement for a team that needs to start to show progress this year. Even if the playoffs don't come this year, they aren't that far away.
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