You're drastically overrating San Jose here. Their defence isn't great and Joe Thornton is their only forward who's playing well. If Cheechoo and Marleau turn it around, I think they might be close, but not now.
Correct me if I'm wrong but the Sharks have 4 games in hand and lead the Ducks by one point despite their losing record against them? How can the Ducks be a better team and be behind the Sharks and Dallas in their division? I'm not denying they are a good team but I think the Sharks may surprise more than the Ducks.
Correct me if I'm wrong but the Sharks have 4 games in hand and lead the Ducks by one point despite their losing record against them? How can the Ducks be a better team and be behind the Sharks and Dallas in their division? I'm not denying they are a good team but I think the Sharks may surprise more than the Ducks.
The Sharks are pretenders. I watch them play all the time. Anaheim is just getting their badness in gear. The Sharks are good, but not Anaheim good. Numbers don't mean a damned thing. It comes down to matchups when all else is equal.
Not that it changes anything but the Sens "only" picked up 40 points in their last 36 games (because of their 13W in 14 games at the beginning of the season). I still believe that they are a better team than us, mostly because we always lose against them.
We're not good enough to beat Anaheim or Detroit. Not yet anyway. Anaheim is just flat out too strong and Detroit has so much puck control its not even funny. They completely destroyed us earlier this year. Ottawa has had a real strange year so its tough to think about how we'd stack up. When they're on their game though, they're the better team for sure.
Keep the team that we have, enjoy the playoffs and watch them improve next year. I love the chemistry our team has and we're only going to get better. Just making the playoffs with the young lineup we've had is an accomplishment as far as I'm concerned. Anything we do in the playoffs is a bonus.
The way the Habs rallied to beat the Devils going into the All-Star break gives me hope that the Habs have turned the corner when facing good defensive teams.
We'd probably get dissected by Detroit. Oh, sure, we'd get plenty of low-percentage shots in but we wouldn't touch a rebound and while we might have a chance at outskating Anaheim, that won't work with the Wings. Our only hopes would be if Huet (or Price) puts in a performance for the Ages and Osgood (or Hasek) becomes flaky.
Detroit won't make it to the finals...
Someone will take them out along the way... Anaheim, San Jose or, more likely Chicago.
Anaheim are a playoff team. It will come down to them and Detroit in the west. East seems more unpredictable to me. Ottawa is of course the favorite, but I would not be surprised if Pens, Flyers or Habs faced them in ECF.
We've seen the Habs against Detroit this season. Not a pretty picture.
The Sens have 3 wins against the Habs. It remains to be seen how much the Habs have improved.
The Ducks now have everyone back from their Cup team except Penner and MacDonald (who was traded).
I'd say the Habs would be the underdogs against any of those teams.
I'm frankly not thinking that far ahead, I'm just praying we'll avoid an extended slump and finish in the top 5-6 in the east.
Once in the playoffs anything can happen, its silly to try to evaluate our chances against teams we haven't played in the playoffs for ages based on a few regular season games.
Anyone remember Carolina 2 years ago ? We got absolutely killed in the season series, but we were one injury away from sweeping them in the first round
I'm frankly not thinking that far ahead, I'm just praying we'll avoid an extended slump and finish in the top 5-6 in the east.
Once in the playoffs anything can happen, its silly to try to evaluate our chances against teams we haven't played in the playoffs for ages based on a few regular season games.
Anyone remember Carolina 2 years ago ? We got absolutely killed in the season series, but we were one injury away from sweeping them in the first round
You have to think ahead if you're Gainey and get the right pieces to compete,
At this point honestly,my expectations to see them going as far as the Finals/Conf.Finals are almost unprobable.I think we have now the team to perhaps make at least some noise in the playoffs and win in the 1st round,but all I observe about my evaluations of this team ,currently is a regular season roster/borderline postseason team.If Gainey makes the right substractions and the key additions needed at the deadline,the Habs will look like a potential legit playoff threat.IMO,this year,is a season of evaluation,observation and development,especially concerning our young guns.Some playoff experience would be beneficial for them as well,but let's not get ahead of ourselves,we're not at that high level.
That being said,once we secure our playoff spot and finish in the top 6,anything can
happen in the playoffs.I see Montreal as a darkhorse team who could suprise and do
some damage,and if they get strong at this perfect time,who really knows what they could do.Especially considering this year's playoffs would be a open door.
anything can happen, that is the beauty of the playoffs. This is going to be very fun.
Anyways, we are definately the underdogs against those teams. We haven't beaten the sens yet, Detroit is so talented, and Anaheim is so physical
Gainey won that unlikely Cup in 86, so you know he's going to prepare the team as well as he can. What happens if all of Detroit, Ottawa and Anaheim are upset?
Then the Cup is wide open.
Even still, he has to prepare to play them.
Last edited by tinyzombies: 01-28-2008 at 08:19 PM.
