The Northeast Division is up next, and this is where things get slightly more interesting. Unlike the ridiculously weak Southeast division, the Northeast division does sport some pretty powerful teams, including my personal pick for the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference, the Montreal Canadiens. On top of that they feature another team I predict will make the playoffs, and 2 others I feel will be in it till the last game or 2 of the season. So, without further adieu, here is my preview for the Northeast division…
Boston Bruins: Predicted Point Total: 93
Esentially you have a playoff team that got better on paper by adding Michael Ryder, and who should have a healthy Patrice Bergeron without many notable losses at all outside of a player who plays much older than he is in Glen Murray. You also have a team that has probably my most favorite non Ranger youngster in the entire NHL. No, not Phil Kessel, I’m talking about Milan Lucic, a guy I would kill to have on the Rangers. That kid has game changer written all over him, with the ability to smash people into next week, to drive them crazy with his style of play, and to break some faces from time to time. So they have all this going for them, and yet I predict they are going to end up with a worse record than they did last year. Say what? Well, it did take a lot of thinking here, but this is the way I see it, when you have a team that is ridiculous like the Habs, they are going to pretty much own you, like they did all of last season. Then you have a team like the Ottawa Senators who are definitely due for a rebound with an offseason to get refocused, and the circus that was Ray Emery gone. Basically, you have an entire division that got stronger outside of the Maple Leafs. So I figure the Bruins will lose ground on the other teams in their division, and won’t pick up all those points by pounding the Leafs as much since they get to play them only 6 times instead of 8 times. I also anticipate Tim Thomas coming back down to earth this season. He had a damn near Vezina performance last season, and I just don’t buy him at all. Manny Fernandez is kind of a question mark at this point if you ask me, so I’m not going to say much about how he would do instead of Thomas, but considering how last year went, it probably won’t be good.. All in all, it adds up to a pretty similar point production as last season, but a small step back takes this team from just inside the playoff picture, to just outside the playoff picture.
Buffalo Sabres : Predicted Point Total: 91
Last season I predicted the Sabres would be a 100 point team. I’m not going to make that mistake again. Clearly I overestimated how much the supporting cast would pick up the slack left by the loss of Drury and Briere. The Sabres are esentially bringing back an identical team as they did last year, a team that missed the playoffs by 4 points with one huge, gigantic difference. No Brian Campbell. Look, I know the guy was a cluster-you-know-what in his own end, but you, me, everyone knew that when the guy had the puck on his stick and was skating it out of his own zone magic was about to happen. In my opinion he more than made up for his defensive deficiencies with superb offensive prowess. Is he worth the contract he got? No, not by a long shot, but he still is a heck of a talent, that makes the vaunted Buffalo offense much less intimidating. In his stead they added Craig Rivet. A very good defenseman for sure, but nowhere near the level of Brian Campbell. They are also losing Dimitri Kalinin to the Rangers. Depending on who you ask that is either an improvement or a huge improvement. Kalinin was the Sabres version of Marek Malik (apparently), and was basically run out of town the way you hear their fans talk about it. I’m hesitant to believe it since I recall Kalinin playing very well against us 2 seasons ago, putting up a goal and 2 assists in the 6 game series. Regardless, I think the Sabres will remain a playoff contender up till the last 2 or 3 games where their lack of that little something extra that Briere and Drury brought them (and which they haven’t yet replaced) will cost them. Close, but not close enough.
Montreal Canadiens : Predicted Point Total: 110
You remember the Buffalo Sabres of 2 years ago, where their motto was, these guys are scary good? That’s how I see the Habs. They scared the crap out of me last year, and in my personal opinion, upgraded big time. They esentially traded Streit and Ryder for Tanguay and Lang. I’m not sure who exactly replaces Streit on their power play, but for a power play that seems to be lethal even if you have a piece of olive loaf playing the point, I am sure they will be fine. They also have prospect Ryan McDonagh in the pipeline who may, or may not, challenge for a spot.
The Candiens have figured out something so simple and essential to hockey in todays game that the Rangers, as of yet, have not been able to understand. The Power Play wins games. Period, end of story, goodbye, have a nice day. If you have a powerplay that is absolutely lethal you win on 2 counts. First, when and if you go on the power play, which still invariably happens 5 or 6 times a game, you stand a great shot of scoring at least 1 or 2 goals. While that is all fine and great, the ancillary thing that happens ends up being far more important. Because of their ridiculously strong power play they force teams to play a significantly softer game against them. You can’t risk throwing that big hit, you can’t risk bumping their goalie, you can’t risk sneezing in their direction. Why? Because if there is even the slightest chance it is called a penalty you know you just seriously effed your team. This helps your even strength game tremendously. If the Habs didn’t have that power play, I would consider them about as good as the Rangers. I think pound for pound they play about as good a brand of hockey as we do, but adding that mind blowingly lethal powerplay blows us out of the water.
Also, those of you thinking Price may be a problem, I laugh at. This kid is the real deal, at least I feel so. I think last year you saw a kid going through some growing pains. This year he’s going to be top notch leading a team that would be the Presidents Cup winner if not for a sickeningly good Detroit Red Wings team.
Ottawa Senators : Predicted Point Total: 95
Heatley, Spezza, Alfredsson. The conversation ends there. Any team with those 3 will make the playoffs. No matter how they start, or how they finish, when you have 3 players that talented, all playing on the same line, you will win enough games to make the playoffs. How good will they be? It’s hard to say, I think those 3 alone with almost any supporting cast can lead a team to the playoffs, but even then they still have Phillips, Vermette, Neil, Volchenkov, etc. They have a pretty good team. They also got a kings randsom for Meszaros who I personally feel is ridiculously overrated, and would make that trade any day of the week. In return they get Picard and Kuba, who should more than adequately replace his production. They also added superpest Jarkko Ruutu which should significantly help to wake up a team that sleepwalked the final few months of the season. In fact a lineup with both Neil and Ruutu on top of the big 3 is kinda scary. On the back end they lost one of the best overall defenseman in the league today in Wade Redden but did manage to add Jason Smith, who is no where near as mobile as Redden, but is more of a physical presence. I think the Senators pretty much end up like they did last year, but without the huge up and equally huge down. I think they are more of a consistent 95ish point team, rather than the wildly inconsistent 94 point team they were last year.
Toronto Maple Leafs : Predicted Point Total: 73
They gave their fans the Finger….Literally. With next to nothing coming their way in the free agent market, and with the very real possibility of losing their best player (by a country mile) in Mats Sundin, and having already lost their point shot on the Power play, these guys will be terrible. They should have Schenn on their team (unless they would rather not force feed the NHL to him so fast) but he’s still a kid, and is a defensive defenseman, he’s not going to help these guys score goals. The Leafs will be very bad. Very very bad. So bad I don’t know what else to say except I think they will be bad….but the Thrashers and Islanders will be worse.
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Final Predicted Standings:
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| 1) | Montreal Canadiens** | 110 |
| 2) | Ottawa Senators* | 95 |
| 3) | Boston Bruins | 93 |
| 4) | Buffalo Sabres | 91 |
| 5) | Toronto Maple Leafs | 73 |
| ** denotes division champion | ||
| * denotes playoff team | ||
