Your predictions: - who wins Presidents Trophy? - who wins Stanley Cup? - which of last season's bad teams (PIT, TB, FLA, ATL, MIN, ANA, NAS, CBS) will improve most? - who'll be top scorer?
The first prediction I'm ready to make concerns improved teams that were bad. Anaheim, probably not a playoff team, but a lot more offensive depth (Oates, if his head's in it Sykora, another guy or two I can't remember). Not just Kariya and Who? Atlanta will be a bit better, not as much improvement as Anaheim, but won't contend for the top draft pick either. Added defensive depth, and Kovalchuk and Heatley will only get better.
where is Byron Dafoe playing this year ? I know the Bruins didn't resign him don't know who he signed with.
He didn't find a new team yet. My own predictions: Presidents Trophy: Red Wings Stanley Cup: Flyers Best bad team: Predators Top scorer: Jagr
My thoery is Dafoe signs an one-year deal for less than $2 with the first team that loses a goalie for more than a month. Then goes for the big money he may have gotten with a better playoff (though I still blame the defense more than him).
I saw Ottawa play here in Binghamton on Wednesday night and they seemed to pick up some good prospects. For an intersquad game it was very quick and physical. Can't wait until the new season starts.
My Rangers are in the same boat as they've been in for the last half decade. Lots of positives, lots of negatives and lots of question marks. Positives: *Bure for the full season *Leetch finally has a partner in Kasparaitus *With Lindros, Holik, Nedved, Messier and Lundmark, the Blueshirts are VERY strong in the middle. *Lundmark, from all reports, has shown up with a new attitude, determined to break into the team. *Trottier will take no crap and give no bull, he's a taskmaster who earns respect from players. He's a new head coach, but he's got Messier to smooth out his 1st season. Negatives: * After Kasparaitus, the Rangers options for physical defenders drops off considerably. * Weak on the wings. Seriously, after the Czech line wings and Bure, who do they have that strikes fear into anyone? *Once again, the team has a new coach, and that always leaves the door open for a disaster. Questions: *When will the pain end? *Why must every NY team go through a period of horrible horrible play? (See: The Metros Bora year, the Jets Kotite Era, the current Knicks) JMac
Rangers are going nowhere. Too many question marks among the name players. Health of Mess and Lindros is a big if. Add that Bure never seems to go an entire season without whining, pouting, and bascially being a selfish biznitch (has he ever seen his own defensive end?), and you have the potential for trouble. Borderline playoff team at best. I'm thinking more and more that Carolina could come out of the East again. More on that as the season approaches.
Messier's health is almost a non issue. He's there to ease Trottier's transition and nothing more. If Lundmark truly has made the leap, then Mess may well be the 5th center behind Lindros, Nedved, Holik and Lundmark. Realisticly, we only need one of Lindros and Messier healthy at any given time to keep from feeling a loss at center. As far as Bure and defense, I don't think they expect him to play much defense. He'll be on a line with Lindros, or, when injured, Messier or Holik. All three are great 2-way centers. On top of that, without many good options at left wing, the left winger on the top line will likely be a defensive guy too. Bure's non-defense will be well covered. There are many things the Rangers need to worry about, but the two you mentioned are at the bottom of that list. JMac
My Devils are going nowhere fast. Too many key players have been leaving (Sykora, Mogilny, Holik) without anyone decent to replace them. Doesn't look much better for the 'Hawks, either.
JMac, you made some good points. Rangers are strong up the middle but weak on the wings. Looks like they won't re-sign Rucinsky. Blueliners? Well, too many puck movers in my opinion and the only stay at home guy is Lefebvre. Sure you got Kasparaitis but he's a seek-and-destroy missle. He usually is busy looking for the kill on a guy then playing the defensive zone. So we'll see about him. Kloucek had an up and down sophomore season so I'm hoping he'll be ready this year. But once again, the question that remains for the Rangers isn't whether their high priced talent is gonna click or not, it's all about whether or not they're gonna decide to play some defense. For the love of god just play some damn defense. Oh, and special teams not sucking would help a bit in the pursuit of that elusive playoff spot whether it be 1 or 8.
Darius did change his game a bit in his brief stay with Colorado. He wasn't anywhere near as reckless as usual. The Avs brass must have seen something they didn't like or they would have made more of an effort to keep him around.
Will the Wings miss Scotty Bowman? Sure. Will they miss The Captain, out until (at best) January with a major knee op? Definitely. Will it matter? Heck no. Look for Coach Smith to turn Fedorov loose, probably on a line with Shanahan and Datsuyk, and watch Sergei go absolutely wild.
Yeah. But at least we Devils fans can take consolation in the fact that, no matter how badly the Devils are doing at any given time, they still always manage to beat the Rangers.
Sorry buddy but that 25 or 27 game unbeaten streak against the Rangers ended 2 seasons ago. In fact, if memory serves me correct, the season series was all even in 01-02. But hey, I'm just waiting patiently for the Rangers to finally come together and once again be a force to be reckoned with, be it this year or next, or hell, another 5 years.
Presidents Trophy: Philly Stanley Cup: San Jose Best bad team: Minnesota Top scorer: Simon Gagne Alex
Well, with the Chicago/Crew game officially ousting the Metros from the playoffs, and the Jets defense still months away from coming together as a unit, this is a good sign for my Rangers. You see, of my teams (Rangers, Metros, Yankees, Knicks, Jets) only two seem to be good at any one time. In 1994, the Rangers and the Knicks were good, the Yanks were struggling, the Metros didn't exist and the Jets were in the midst of a Bungles level of horrible play. Bring on 1999, the Yankees are dominant, the Jets begin their good years, but the Metros are the worst club in the world, followed shortly behind by the Rangers, and the Knicks are a scrappy, but not very talented team, making the playoffs and some noise, but not ever a realistic threat to win it all. In 2002 now, the Jets are 1-2 and have been blown out in 2 straight games. The Metros have missed the playoffs for the first time in 3 years. The Knicks can still be counted on to suck for another year or two, and the Yankees are still dominant. That leaves an open spot. One of my teams needs to be a threat to win it all, and that means the Rangers are going to win the Stanley CUP!!! JMac (Leave me alone, it's past midnight, most of my teams suck and I've earned the right to be a tad delusional. )
I'll talk about a couple of teams for a moment. Colorado: needs depth on defense big time, maybe it's time to move Tanguay or a forward or two for a #3 blueliner. Avs brass didn't want to keep Darius, but are awfully thin behind Blake and Foote, unless Skoula develops into a consistent player. No playing Blake and Foote together, they'll have to be split ala MacInnis and Pronger. Boston: middle of Eastern pack playoff team at best. Guerin will be sorely missed. Thornton and Samsonov will continue to develop, but the defense is scary. I look forward to seeing Berard wearing the spoked B, but is Jonathan Girard ready? Will Hall Gill play every night? Sean O'Donnell wear down around game 70. It could be a rough year at the Fleet.