at the beginning of the season, I would have said Colorado... but with Selanne and Kariya playing like third-liners and the Sedins red-hot, I'll vote Vancouver because I'm a homer, but I'm confident that Ottawa is the best.
I remember about a simular thread durng the off season, and I remember a Stars fan saying how the Stars have the best diversity throughout their line-up. And despite his team struggles and thus not backing it up, I still think he's right (MEG I believe). This season is the first one where I've really payed some close attention to the Stars (watched about 25 games). And when they are playing like they should, they do not lack much, if anything at all. They are among the most gritty, feisty and best forechecking teams in the league and have a 20 goal threat at every line. With David Oliver's sudden surge (yeah, laugh all you want, David has been amazing the past few weeks, scoring 5 goals in 7 games), this team has yet another warm body with scoring potential. Which team can honestly say they can build an all powerforward line (Morrow - Arnott - Guerin), can say they have some of the league's top 2-way forwards (Morrow, Lehtinen, Modano), while still having playmakers like Turgeon, role players like Barnes, snipers like Young and super pests like DiMaio and Ott?
So, as in pure offense, the Sens rather easily. Avs are 2nd. As in most balanced line up, I take the Stars and Flyers above most.
I remember about a simular thread durng the off season, and I remember a Stars fan saying how the Stars have the best diversity throughout their line-up. And despite his team struggles and thus not backing it up, I still think he's right (MEG I believe). This season is the first one where I've really payed some close attention to the Stars (watched about 25 games). And when they are playing like they should, they do not lack much, if anything at all. They are among the most gritty, feisty and best forechecking teams in the league and have a 20 goal threat at every line. With David Oliver's sudden surge (yeah, laugh all you want, David has been amazing the past few weeks, scoring 5 goals in 7 games), this team has yet another warm body with scoring potential. Which team can honestly say they can build an all powerforward line (Morrow - Arnott - Guerin), can say they have some of the league's top 2-way forwards (Morrow, Lehtinen, Modano), while still having playmakers like Turgeon, role players like Barnes, snipers like Young and super pests like DiMaio and Ott?
So, as in pure offense, the Sens rather easily. Avs are 2nd. As in most balanced line up, I take the Stars and Flyers above most.
Dallas doesn't even compare to San Jose in depth. They have 4 scoring lines and most of their forwards are fast. They have 5 - 6 players in the AHL who are NHL calibre (2 of them in the top 10 in scoring) who could be in the NHL if there was a spot for them.
at the beginning of the season, I would have said Colorado... but with Selanne and Kariya playing like third-liners and the Sedins red-hot, I'll vote Vancouver because I'm a homer, but I'm confident that Ottawa is the best.
You havent been watching the avalanche. Kariya has been playing well.
(Believe it or not, the line of Smolinski-Spezza-Havlat is the third line... And the top three RW's are Alfredsson, Hossa, and Havlat. Just scratching the surface makes it look pretty convincing to me.)
Last year, I would have said Dallas. In fact, last year and the 3 years previous, Dallas had, quite easily in my opinion, the best forward lineup in the league.
This year, I'm going to go with Toronto. Not only can they score, but they are a tough, tough group of guys.
I said Vancouver because of the devastating nature of the top line, the increasing production of the Sedins, the amazing 3rd line that they can ice when the team is healthy, and the annoyance/goon squad possibility of Brookbank, May, and Ruutu.
