Just my 5 cents now that pennies are being decommissioned.
Vancouver - have had their shots & seem now to be coming apart with talk to get rid of their former Captain & all-star goalie. Not sure if this is the beginning of their downfall & they could rebound but they seem to have some serious internal issues.
Edmonton - still very young up front & if they draft Yakapov they could also be too small up front. I don't see them making the playoffs for a yr or two.
Calgary - almost the mirror opposite of Edmonton, aging with few prospects to step in to take over. Could be in dire straits for a few yrs.
Winnipeg - they have a lot of good young peices & IMO are on the rise. If they can get good consistent goaltending next season I see them making the playoffs.
Toronto - I said this past season that they were playing over their heads when they were doing well & I don't see them improving next season. They could be worse unless they can get some good consistent goaltending.
Ottawa - over achieved this yr but have enough good young prospects coming even as soon as next season that will continue to have them competing for a playoff spot or divisional title.
Montreal - I said they were too small for the past few seasons & now they seem to want to get bigger tougher players. I don't see them improving much & don't see a lot of good young prospects in their system.
I don't get the "I'm Canadian so I'm interested in the Canadian teams" thing.
You don't have to be interested but as avid as the fans are on this site it doesn't hurt to share your opinions on teams that we hear about on a consistent basis in the Canadian media.
Discuss other Canadian teams with an Ottawa perspective.
Some topics up for discussion:
Who finishes worst: Edmonton, Toronto, Or Montreal?
Does Vancouver slide down in the standings and will they remain a contender?
Does Calgary finally admit defeat and embrace the rebuild?
Does Ottawa make moves to speed up the rebuilding process by signing UFA's or do they go young and deal with the season as it comes?
torona
Edmonton - You would think they would be at least a playoff contender with all the first round picks, but until they fire Lowe and Tambellini I don't see much from them. It's easy to get top players when your in the basement of the standings, but what moves have Tambellini made that improved them?
Calgary - Until they go full rebuild, they will continue on their current path. Which is falling short of the playoffs. Kind of like Toronto with Sundin. (Iginla in their case)
Montreal - I think if anything last season was the worst indicator for where they are at. Too many injuries kept them from performing to their capability. I expect them to contend for the 7th-8th playoff spot.
Toronto - Burke is a genious, at getting the final pieces to the puzzle after Murray constructed the team. He will continue to draft weak players because that's not his best strength, and that's what Toronto needed for the last decade. I think they improve but still fall short of the playoffs.
Vancouver - They are the 2007/2008 Ottawa team of the West. They have reached their peak and are slowly burning away. Whether they make some changes and get that amber back to a flame is yet to be determined.
Winnipeg - I think they are a team on the rise and have a bright future. It all depends on if the league realigns or just moves them to the West. But I think the Jets, Sens, and Canucks will the best Canadian teams for 2012/13 season.
I think Toronto will probably make the playoffs this season for the simple fact that you can't suck for this long. Burke is going to have a lot of pressure and I see him over paying good enough players to them over the hump. Long term they won't really improve because their drafting history has always sucked. All this time that they were out of the playoffs they could have stock piled many skilled players yet they chose to give the illusion that they were very close. I can't see how what Burke is doing is any different from what JFJ or Burns did. I don't think he realized how going after Kessel wouldn't solve any of their problems. On most teams Kessel would have been a great addition, just not for Toronto at that point. When you look at Toronto's roster it's full of other teams draft picks. They do a really poor job at drafting and developing players and seems like they would rather take chances on other teams efforts. The cup Burke won was on the back of another GM's amazing experience. Right place, right time. He has not shown the ability to properly assess this team and he will probably get them to the playoffs but it's still going to be a gong show for as long as he is there.
They will fire him and hire Pierre McGuire. How could they not?
I think Toronto is doing things differently just to be different. Burke has a gigantic ego and wants to prove "everybody" wrong...
I find he's been drafting the kind of kids you normally trade for or pick up as UFAs (2nd/3rd line tweeners) and he's traded for guys you normally draft (top 6 forwards).
It just seems so backwards, but who knows, maybe all his "tweeners" turn into Milan Lucic and people will think he's a genius again.
Edmonton - They still have lots of work to do. After they get yakupov, they should look to be adding a big body with grit and size to go along with that top 6. They also need to get a high end dman in their system, so far all I see are depth guys who look to be 3rd-4th dmen. Other then that and a front office change, they are so solid.
Calgary - Looks like they want to go the Ottawa route, best thing for them imo would be to identify who they want to stay out of their current group of vets (max should be 4) and trade the rest for picks. Their pospect pool isnt as bad as everyone thinks.
Winnipeg - Never knew how solid some of their players were when they were in Atlanta. Great future.
Vancouver - Dont get the hogson trade. Kassian is good and will be a beast someday but the kid is not ready yet. Also if they wanted to do a shakeup they should have kept him because of the options he would have given them in terms of who they would subtract from their foward crops. He also could have been groomed to be a replacement for kesler or h.sedin down the road. I guess I'll wait to see what the return is for luu.
Montreal - This is a strange team tbh, even when they were making their run in the playoffs they were to vet reliant (besides their young goalies) and it was only a matter of time before it came crashing down. But they have some good pieces (price subban and pac) and will be adding a potential star this upcoming draft so they have a nice foundation to build on. But they need get some ****ing value back for some of the players they ship out. Kostitsyn brothers, halek, cammalleri, and mcdonough (scott gomez really?) were literally given away. Hopefully their new gm isn't a complete moron who doesnt look at all the options available.
Toronto - Treadmill team, until burke realizes his team does not have a single player you can call a core player of a championship team.
I don't get the "I'm Canadian so I'm interested in the Canadian teams" thing.
Well go wander through the ESPN boards and you can see all the wonderful American fans make fun of us Canadian cause we haven't won a cup in almost twenty years. The only reason I care for a Canadian team to win the cup is so that they shut up about it.
Discuss other Canadian teams with an Ottawa perspective.
Some topics up for discussion:
Who finishes worst: Edmonton, Toronto, Or Montreal?
Does Vancouver slide down in the standings and will they remain a contender?
Does Calgary finally admit defeat and embrace the rebuild?
Does Ottawa make moves to speed up the rebuilding process by signing UFA's or do they go young and deal with the season as it comes?
torona
My guess: Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa make it back to the playoffs, the rest fight for a playoff spot but miss out. Vancouver will still be a dominant team, and go to another SCF but with a different coach.
Well go wander through the ESPN boards and you can see all the wonderful American fans make fun of us Canadian cause we haven't won a cup in almost twenty years. The only reason I care for a Canadian team to win the cup is so that they shut up about it.
My guess: Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa make it back to the playoffs, the rest fight for a playoff spot but miss out. Vancouver will still be a dominant team, and go to another SCF but with a different coach.
Why Montreal? Winnipeg is in way better shape than them. Toronto too. If toronto gets a decent goaltender they will make the playoffs imo.
It's hard to predict how good teams are going to be next year without knowing what will happen in the offseason but I think Vancouver will still be by far the best team and Edmonton will be the worst.
Also I think the Leafs will give a gigantic contract to Parise and/or Suter in the offseason.
It's hard to predict how good teams are going to be next year without knowing what will happen in the offseason but I think Vancouver will still be by far the best team and Edmonton will be the worst.
Also I think the Leafs will give a gigantic contract to Parise and/or Suter in the offseason.
Zero % chance of this happening.
Both will sign with team's they believe have a chance to win the cup...the Leafs, not so much.
Can't really see Suter or Parise signing anywhere else.
Parise would never go to Toronto. If NJ makes it to the finals he will take a pay cut to stay in NJ. Suter will join him there at a pay cut and Brodeur will sign a 1 year contract at half the price.
Toronto will definitely go after Luongo, Harding or draft Subban.
Parise would never go to Toronto. If NJ makes it to the finals he will take a pay cut to stay in NJ. Suter will join him there at a pay cut and Brodeur will sign a 1 year contract at half the price.
Toronto will definitely go after Luongo, Harding or draft Subban.
The thing going after Luongo is its going to cost i don't think most would like the idea of giving up Lupul or Kessel.
I wouldn't compare Calgary with Toronto's situation when Sundin was with the team. The Leafs during Sundin's time loaded up on aging veterans. The Flames, on the other hand, have quietly started rebuilding (or retooling) with younger players. The core of the team remains older, but the club also gave significant playing time and roles to youngsters like T.J. Brodie, Mikael Backlund (although he's oft-injured), Roman Horak, Greg Nemisz, Lance Bouma, Chris Butler, and Paul Byron. While Brodie, Butler, and Backlund are the only ones likely to play a top role on the team (i.e., top-4 defenceman, top-6 forward), the team also has some decent to excellent prospects in the system that should play key roles. Baertschi, Irving, Grandlund, Ferland, Reinhart, and Howse are good, young players with good to excellent upsides. And with a lot of veterans likely to be let go this off-season (e.g., Stempniak, Jokinen, Sarich, Moss, Hannan, etc.), many of these youngsters should win roster spots.
The Flames also have some core players on the right side of 30, such as Giordano, Bouwmeester (yes he's a core player despite Trent's disdain for him), and Glencross. In addition, the Flames have approximately $14M in cap space (before any increase in the cap) to spend in the off-season to help improve the club. Remember, the Flames finished with 90 points last season. If the team could actually win a few OT games and shootouts (they had a 5-16 record compared to Ottawa who was 11-5), they may have made the playoffs.
Do the Flames need to rebuild? Possibly, but I wouldn't say that they are in the same situation as the Leafs were with Sundin. At least the Flames have some pieces in place to help accelerate a rebuilding process.
Parise would never go to Toronto. If NJ makes it to the finals he will take a pay cut to stay in NJ. Suter will join him there at a pay cut and Brodeur will sign a 1 year contract at half the price.
New Jersey is facing about a $30M to $40M debt for this year alone due to low attendance and the building of the Prudential Center. They may be able to re-sign Parise, but they won't be able to sign Suter as well.
Vancouver isn't going to drop off anytime soon. I don't think they are the 2007 Senators at all. They have the Sedins locked up, Kessler will be there for a while, and they have plenty of complimentary forwards to fill out the rest of the spots. They could use a PP specialist on the blueline, and maybe someone else who is mean. Bieksa can't shoulder that load alone. They seem pretty solid in net with whoever they keep (Luongo or Schneider) and Lack coming up.
Calgary is just a mess. Their prospect pool is probably bottom 5 in the league and all of their vets, other than Iggy and Kipper are seriously not that good. Maybe Cammy fits with them too.
Edmonton seems like they should get better, but until they get a respectable blueline, they aren't going anywhere. I don't think Dubnyk is the answer in net either, so they should try to address that as well.
Winnipeg just needs some more impact forwards. Solid goaltending, solid blueline. An extra year of development for Burmistrov and Kane will do them wonders.
Toronto. What else needs to be said? They need a goalie without giving up too much in the process...good luck with that! On paper they looked to have one of the top bluelines in the league, but on the ice they were far from it. Not sure how to fix that with the investment they have made there. Phaneuf has all the tools but is an idiot, Schenn's confidence is shattered, Komi is a waste of space but his salary keeps him on the team. Gardiner is a real solid player though. Their other glaring weakness is depth at C...and the huge lack of a true #1 C.
Montreal in my opinion played well below their level this year. Niot having Markov for the season obviously hurt and not having a good enough defensive system really hurt. They are also lacking the true #1C. While they may get that in this draft, it will be a couple years before the guy makes an impact.
torona
