2014-15 NHL Season - Lounge - Forums : Best Ever Albums

junodog4
Future Grumpy Old Man

Gender: Male
Location: Calgary

It starts tomorrow... Very Happy

I'll make my bold predictions in a bit, but I thought I'd open up the topic.
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RepoMan

Bruins. duh.

Necharsian
Best Ever User

Gender: Male

West

1. Chicago
2. LA
3. St. Louis
4. San Jose
5. Dallas
6. Anaheim
7. Vancouver
8. Nashville
9. Minnesota
10. Edmonton
11. Colorado
12. Phoenix Arizona
13. Calgary
14. Winnipeg

East

1. Pittsburgh
2. Tampa Bay
3. Boston
4. New Jersey
5. New York Islanders
6. Montreal
7. Columbus
8. Washington
9. New York Rangers
10. Detroit
11. Florida
12. Toronto
13. Ottawa
14. Philadelphia
15. Carolina
16. Buffalo

Ill say SJ vs Tampa Bay in the finals with SJ winning and Jumbo Joe winning the Conn Smythe. I think I picked them last year but I just want them to soo damn bad

meccalecca
Voice of Reason

Gender: Male
Location: The Land of Enchantment

Necharsian wrote:

East

1. Pittsburgh

Wow. The way Penguins fans are talking, you'd think they'd be lucky to be competitive after last year's meltdown and the shakeup.

Sometimes I feel embarrassed to admit I'm a Pens fan (because it's like being a Yankees fan), but I've never know anything else.

I lost track of hockey during the lockouts, but are Colorado really an 11th place team? Varlamov seemed like a monster between the pipes last year. and at home with wife and child.
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craola
crayon master

Location: pdx

Been a Red Wings fan my whole life, but it looks like Holland/Babby are resting on their laurels, so I'm going to put my money on Tampa this year.
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Necharsian
Best Ever User

Gender: Male

meccalecca wrote:

Wow. The way Penguins fans are talking, you'd think they'd be lucky to be competitive after last year's meltdown and the shakeup.

Sometimes I feel embarrassed to admit I'm a Pens fan (because it's like being a Yankees fan), but I've never know anything else.

I lost track of hockey during the lockouts, but are Colorado really an 11th place team? Varlamov seemed like a monster between the pipes last year. and at home with wife and child.

Nah their playoff loss was pretty predictable. Shero has done a pretty good job at wasting Crosby and Malkin's prime by basically providing 0 depth. After the top 2 forward lines they've been pure garbage. I think losing Jokinen/Neal is not good but conceivably Bennett (when healthy) and Hornqvist can do the same job, plus they've added solid bottom six in Spaling, Goc, Downie and Comeau. Losing Niskanen sucks too but Ehrhoff is equal and probably better short term. Losing Orpik is a blessing since hes bad and seems to play big minutes for some reason. I actually like their top 4 D in Ehrhoff, Letand, Maatta, Martin. Good shit. Fleury is an average goalie basically, so im thinking he wont hurt them too much in the regular season.

In terms of Colorado, they rode a ridiculously lucky streak to get into the playoffs. They were outplayed almost to the point of the Oilers(!) but had super high shooting% and Varlamov has been a notch above average his whole career and then erupts into a star this year. Goaltending is extremely volatile, but ill assume he wont put up those numbers again (and their backup is way worse this year too). They also lost their best center in Stastny, traded for the corpse of Briere for some reason, and are banking on Brad Stuart to play big minutes (he is bad) and Iginla, who is not going to be a 30 goal scorer forever. Yeah MacKinnon, Duchene and Landeskog (Tyson Barrie too) should grow this year, but besides them they look like a very poor team doomed for some serious regression.

meccalecca
Voice of Reason

Gender: Male
Location: The Land of Enchantment

Necharsian wrote:

Varlamov has been a notch above average his whole career and then erupts into a star this year.

I assumed it could be the influence of Roy, maybe not.

Yeah, that Stastny move makes no sense. Landed he and Steen on my fantasy team. That's gonna be a good Blues team.
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Necharsian
Best Ever User

Gender: Male

meccalecca wrote:

I assumed it could be the influence of Roy, maybe not.

Yeah, that Stastny move makes no sense. Landed he and Steen on my fantasy team. That's gonna be a good Blues team.

I donno man. Ive heard that Roy theory but Im skeptical. I said he was a tick above average but he was actually a below average starter the last 2 years. My guess is hes a good goalie but not great, and I don't think a coach can raise a goalies stats that much. Goalies can have star seasons, but few can consistently do it. Craig Anderson lead the league in sv% the year before last.. I wouldn't bet on Varlamov saving the sinking ship again.

Stastny doesn't get shots, that's the main reason I didn't take him. But depending on what your fantasy league counts he could be a great pickup. Ive got Elliot as one of my Gs and im pretty stoked.

meccalecca
Voice of Reason

Gender: Male
Location: The Land of Enchantment

Necharsian wrote:

Stastny doesn't get shots, that's the main reason I didn't take him. But depending on what your fantasy league counts he could be a great pickup. Ive got Elliot as one of my Gs and im pretty stoked.

I figure Stastny will have a solid +/- and pick up a lot of assists on that line.

But, like I said, I'm no hockey expert. I really don't know shit anymore. During the 90s I knew my shit.

I had Tuuka, the Flower and Varlamov in the net last year, and just totally dominated.
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Necharsian
Best Ever User

Gender: Male

meccalecca wrote:

I figure Stastny will have a solid +/- and pick up a lot of assists on that line.

But, like I said, I'm no hockey expert. I really don't know shit anymore. During the 90s I knew my shit.

I had Tuuka, the Flower and Varlamov in the net last year, and just totally dominated.

Oh wow those goalies would've been insane. I think I had Lehtonen and Niemi who were pretty decent but not that level haha (tho I don't know how big your league is)

This year I could see Holtby being the next goalie to break out (I predicted WSH to make playoffs basically off of the Avs system last year ie being a bad team run by percentages). He's the most underrated goalie in the league, imo, and hes young.

My fantasy team this year I think is super awesome. My defense especially is crazy with Karlsson, Hedman, Chara, Josi and Demers. Plus Seguin, MacKinnon, Marleau and Halak + Elliot as goalies. Damn I better win or imma be pissed