Best Canadian Team Next Year

[Golf_Putz]

Ok. It's August, and not enough hockey in the news... so....
Predictions on the order of finish for the NHL Canadian teams - which will be the best? Which will be worst?
Here is my list:
1. Ottawa - better defence than last year; best balanced team of the bunch
2. Toronto - better coaching; young players will get their chance
3. Vancouver - goaltending improved; Bertuzzi distraction gone
4. Edmonton - loss of Pronger will be huge; not enough depth; might drop below Calgary
5. Calgary - still need some help up front.
6. Montreal - problems attracting players that aren't Russian...
Of course, there could still be changes before September... but what do you think now?

[jonf]

Ottawa will be the best during the year, but it will mean nothing when they crap out in the playoffs again because they have done absolutely nothing to strenghten their front lines which failed them so badly in the second round.

Calgary will be next - they've strenghtened their offence with the addition of Tanguay, the most underrated playmaker in the game - he and Iggy is a scary combo. Can't forget their excellent defence and possibly the best goalie in the game.

Vancouver will be a strong contender, and will compete with Calgary down the stretch for the northwest division crown. They've made a big improvement in net, but have also lost a key D-man in Jovo-cop. Their offence has not reallly improved over the offseason either...they still need to make a move their

Toronto will do well this year - top 6 in the east. Goaltending is improved, defence is vastly improved, the addition of Peca can do nothing but help, and they finally have a coach who will give their impressive young guns the ice time they need to excel.

Edmonton will squeek into the playoffs, as they always do. Pronger is gone, but their goaltending with Roloson is much better than they had during the season last year. Look for them to grind out the number 8 spot with another gritty stretch drive.

Montreal doesn't look like a playoff team, as they have done nothing this offseason. That said, they didn't look like a playoff team at the beginning of last season, but they proved everyone wrong. They might well make a run at it - the last 2 or 3 spots are always hotly contested in the east, so anything can happen.

[zurg999]

Toronto will do well this year - top 6 in the east. Goaltending is improved, defence is vastly improved, the addition of Peca can do nothing but help, and they finally have a coach who will give their impressive young guns the ice time they need to excel.

Everything you've said here with the possible exception of the coaching is incorrect. Most Leafs fans I speak with agree. And by the way the way, the Leafs will don't have much in the way of impressive young guns. Stajan (maybe), after that their 1st and 2nd year guys + prospects are average to abysmal.

Montreal doesn't look like a playoff team, as they have done nothing this offseason. That said, they didn't look like a playoff team at the beginning of last season, but they proved everyone wrong. They might well make a run at it - the last 2 or 3 spots are always hotly contested in the east, so anything can happen.

Montreal signed all their RFA's + the UFA's they wanted to keep (excluding Zednik, Bulis and Sunstrom). Then they signed Samsonov and Mike Johnson. Hardly 'doing nothing'.

Guess you know where my allegiance lies.

[covanant]

Have no fear,Gaineys not done yet in Montreal

[Ginker]

Go SENS Go

[psniddy]

I think there will only be one Canadian team that finishes in the top 3 of either division, Calgary.Ottawa, and Vancouver may be the only other playoff teams.

[knickers]

Everything you've said here with the possible exception of the coaching is incorrect. Most Leafs fans I speak with agree. And by the way the way, the Leafs will don't have much in the way of impressive young guns. Stajan (maybe), after that their 1st and 2nd year guys + prospects are average to abysmal.



Montreal signed all their RFA's + the UFA's they wanted to keep (excluding Zednik, Bulis and Sunstrom). Then they signed Samsonov and Mike Johnson. Hardly 'doing nothing'.

Guess you know where my allegiance lies.

Alex Steen(45pts), Kyle Wellwood(45pts), Carlo Colicavo(+1 on a team that let up alot of goals), Ian White(12 games 6pts +2), Jay Harrison(8 games 1pts +5)and as you said Matt Stajan(27pts +5). Hardly abysmal. With the new caoching staff these young players will get more ice time and chances to put up numbers.Oh I almost forgot Andrew Raycroft( former Rookie of the year).

But I guess as long as Montreal has "roll on the ice" Ribeiro, you'll be fine.


That said I think Ottawa will still be the top canadian team, but the leafs wont be pushovers when they play them and will make the playoff handly

[jonf]

Alex Steen(45pts), Kyle Wellwood(45pts), Carlo Colicavo(+1 on a team that let up alot of goals), Ian White(12 games 6pts +2), Jay Harrison(8 games 1pts +5)and as you said Matt Stajan(27pts +5). Hardly abysmal. With the new caoching staff these young players will get more ice time and chances to put up numbers.Oh I almost forgot Andrew Raycroft( former Rookie of the year).

Phew. I'm glad someone else realizes the potential of those kids. I was about to go on a tear there. All 4 of those kids really have a chance to make great careers for themselves in the league. If you can't see talent and potential in those four, you know squat about hockey (this from a guy who despises the leafs).

[Golf_Putz]

I'm glad as well to see some of you recognize the younger talent on the Leafs that will finally get a chance to play. I do think that Gainey, in Montreal, possesses a great 'hockey mind', but I do think that the tax structure in Quebec really works against him. The french language issue has also been cited by free agent players and agents as problematic. [Ottawa Citizen article a few days ago. Last week?].
I would love to see a strong team in Montreal as well, but I'm not sure that it will happen.

[Golf_Putz]

I think there will only be one Canadian team that finishes in the top 3 of either division, Calgary.Ottawa, and Vancouver may be the only other playoff teams.

You really think Ottawa will finish in 4th place in the East? That's interesting. They haven't lost much up front and their defence is probably improved - even with Chara gone. Which 3 teams [or more] do you think are better than Ottawa in the East? Regular season, of course!

[Maverick]

Ok. It's August, and not enough hockey in the news... so....
Predictions on the order of finish for the NHL Canadian teams - which will be the best? Which will be worst?
Here is my list:
1. Ottawa - better defence than last year; best balanced team of the bunch

I don't see how losing Chara and not getting anyone near his calibre during off-season improve your defence. We will see about Gerber, but Hasek WAS pretty good last season when healthy, I don't thing Gerber will do better than him or Emery.

[psniddy]

You really think Ottawa will finish in 4th place in the East? That's interesting. They haven't lost much up front and their defence is probably improved - even with Chara gone. Which 3 teams [or more] do you think are better than Ottawa in the East? Regular season, of course!

I think Buffalo will finish ahead of Ottawa, which will meen the best they can do is finish 4th. That being said I think Carolina, Philadelphia, Buffalo, and New Jersey will finish ahead of them.

[LobWedge]

I think that the best thing that could happen to the Sens is a 4th or 5th place finish in the conference. Teams that enter the playoffs with a good dose of humility usually perform better.

[zurg999]

Alex Steen(45pts), Kyle Wellwood(45pts), Carlo Colicavo(+1 on a team that let up alot of goals), Ian White(12 games 6pts +2), Jay Harrison(8 games 1pts +5)and as you said Matt Stajan(27pts +5). Hardly abysmal. With the new caoching staff these young players will get more ice time and chances to put up numbers.Oh I almost forgot Andrew Raycroft( former Rookie of the year).

But I guess as long as Montreal has "roll on the ice" Ribeiro, you'll be fine.

That said I think Ottawa will still be the top canadian team, but the leafs wont be pushovers when they play them and will make the playoff handly

Steen and Wellwood got good ice time last year; Stajan has more top end potential than both those guys combined.

Regarding Ribiero, I'd hardly start throwing darts considering the Leafs have one of the top 10 clowns in the league in Darcy Tucker.

All in fun of course.

[LobWedge]

Regarding Ribiero, I'd hardly start throwing darts considering the Leafs have one of the top 10 clowns in the league in Darcy Tucker.

How true. I believe the popular term is ***** monkey. The bonus is that it's not Quinn's ship anymore, and I doubt that Maurice will take any crap if Tucker starts running around like an idiot again. He's great when he plays hard because he gets the crowd into it, but he really hurts the team when he forgets his position.

[knickers]

Steen and Wellwood got good ice time last year; Stajan has more top end potential than both those guys combined.

Regarding Ribiero, I'd hardly start throwing darts considering the Leafs have one of the top 10 clowns in the league in Darcy Tucker.

All in fun of course.

Of cousre its all in fun.
There is a big difference in Tucker and Ribiero. Tuckers plays hockey. Id would spit more stats at you but im sure if any team had the choice between them, Tucker would be the guy 9/10 teams would pick.

[Maverick]

A little off-track here, but I still think Kovalev flying elbow on Tucker last season was the best dirty hit in hockey history, ever!!

[zurg999]

Of cousre its all in fun.
There is a big difference in Tucker and Ribiero. Tuckers plays hockey. Id would spit more stats at you but im sure if any team had the choice between them, Tucker would be the guy 9/10 teams would pick.

I don't know about that.

Some other differences:
Tucker: veteran, age 31, career 2nd and 3rd line winger, grinder, below average skater with a nose for the net. Best points year 74GP, 28G/33A/61Pts (05/06)

Ribiero: age 26, potential 2nd line centre, below average skater with above average on-ice vision and top tier set up skills. Best points year 81GP, 20G/45A/65Pts (03/04)

I could see interest for Tucker from a GM with a 3rd line hole to fill on a team with a shot a cup in that year. For a more forward looking team (something the Leafs can hardly be accused of ), I could see Ribiero drawing a lot more interest.

The scenario I look for is Peca pounding the crap out of Sideshow Bob in practice in retaliation for that low hit in 2002.

[zurg999]

A little off-track here, but I still think Kovalev flying elbow on Tucker last season was the best dirty hit in hockey history, ever!!

Right after he attempted to clothesline Kovy with the elbow. It was pure genius to carry the puck into him before letting loose. I know a Habs haters that were on their feet for that one, couldn't wait to talk about it on Monday morning.

[knickers]

I don't know about that.

Some other differences:
Tucker: veteran, age 31, career 2nd and 3rd line winger, grinder, below average skater with a nose for the net. Best points year 74GP, 28G/33A/61Pts (05/06)

Ribiero: age 26, potential 2nd line centre, below average skater with above average on-ice vision and top tier set up skills. Best points year 81GP, 20G/45A/65Pts (03/04)

I could see interest for Tucker from a GM with a 3rd line hole to fill on a team with a shot a cup in that year. For a more forward looking team (something the Leafs can hardly be accused of ), I could see Ribiero drawing a lot more interest.

The scenario I look for is Peca pounding the crap out of Sideshow Bob in practice in retaliation for that low hit in 2002.

Exactly. Tucker is a grinder, when teams are trying to win cups hes the type of guy that a team would want over Rebiero because he will help them win games. hes the type a guy you hate to play against, but love to have on your team. Grinders score big goals at big times.

You stated there best scoring seasons and not this years stats for rebiero, although rebiero had 52 pts, he should have been made for the new nhl. Tucker made the adjustment well and had a carrer year on a lacluster team.

Montreal rode a hot goaly into the playoffs and thats it. Knowone on the team had great years offensively. They really didnt add much yet, so Montreal fans will have to hope Huet can continue to shine, otherwise they wont make the playoffs this year.

My personal predictions on the canadian teams this year in order would be Ottawa,Calgary, Toronto, Edmonton, Vancouver and Montreal.

P.S. you must have liked Tucker for a couple of years when he played with the Habs.

[zurg999]

Exactly. Tucker is a grinder, when teams are trying to win cups hes the type of guy that a team would want over Rebiero because he will help them win games. hes the type a guy you hate to play against, but love to have on your team. Grinders score big goals at big times.

You stated there best scoring seasons and not this years stats for rebiero, although rebiero had 52 pts, he should have been made for the new nhl. Tucker made the adjustment well and had a carrer year on a lacluster team.

Montreal rode a hot goaly into the playoffs and thats it. Knowone on the team had great years offensively. They really didnt add much yet, so Montreal fans will have to hope Huet can continue to shine, otherwise they wont make the playoffs this year.

My personal predictions on the canadian teams this year in order would be Ottawa,Calgary, Toronto, Edmonton, Vancouver and Montreal.

P.S. you must have liked Tucker for a couple of years when he played with the Habs.

Montreal 'rode' into the playoffs with good goaltending + depth on four lines. Leafs will fall this year due to lack of player depth and average goaltending.

I would argue looking down the road a smart GM would take Ribiero over Tucker.

My predictions (hedging my bets) are
1-2 Ottawa and Vancouver (Luongo)
3-4 Montreal and Calgary
5-6 Edmonton and Toronto

Let's revisit this in April.

[mberube]

Ribiero has more potential then Tucker although DT has two Memorial cups under his belt and a better playoff type player. If Mike could stop flipping the puck and dancing around the blue line he could be a great play maker. I don’t like when he does that. I’m a Habs fan and I keep screaming at the TV when he turns it over at the blue line. That being said, this year could be his year. He should play with Kovalev and Samsonov. That should be a speedy high scoring line. At least I hope.

Mike

[mberube]

Exactly. Tucker is a grinder, when teams are trying to win cups hes the type of guy that a team would want over Rebiero because he will help them win games. hes the type a guy you hate to play against, but love to have on your team. Grinders score big goals at big times.

You stated there best scoring seasons and not this years stats for rebiero, although rebiero had 52 pts, he should have been made for the new nhl. Tucker made the adjustment well and had a carrer year on a lacluster team.

Montreal rode a hot goaly into the playoffs and thats it. Knowone on the team had great years offensively. They really didnt add much yet, so Montreal fans will have to hope Huet can continue to shine, otherwise they wont make the playoffs this year.

My personal predictions on the canadian teams this year in order would be Ottawa,Calgary, Toronto, Edmonton, Vancouver and Montreal.

P.S. you must have liked Tucker for a couple of years when he played with the Habs.

Don’t you remember that Montreal was one of the best teams in the first half of last season? They went like 14 in a row at some point. Then Theodore went dead.

They have more speed know then they did last year. They will make the playoffs and they will surprise some. Chipchura (sp?) should be a great addition. Lot’s of young players with more confidence. Bob and Carbo are respected and will make this team beater every year.

Bring on the leafs.

[knickers]

Don’t you remember that Montreal was one of the best teams in the first half of last season? They went like 14 in a row at some point. Then Theodore went dead.

They have more speed know then they did last year. They will make the playoffs and they will surprise some. Chipchura (sp?) should be a great addition. Lot’s of young players with more confidence. Bob and Carbo are respected and will make this team beater every year.

Bring on the leafs.

Yes, and I also remember Toronto nearly makeing the playoffs by winning 12 of 13 with there "abysmal" young guns playing a major role in that. After watching that team all year it was a nice sight to see them winning with the young talent playing. It should have givin leaf fans something to be excited about for this season.

I will say this, just like Montreal. Toronto has a ? at goaltending.

[Evil Chris]

Of the 3 teams in the east, my thoughts are that both Montreal and Toronto will have better seasons this year than last.

I don't think Ottawa will be near as good as they were last year.

[up&down]

The Sens won't have the added pressure like they had last year. If they play with passion and grit every shift in the playoffs they'll surprise us

[jonf]

Of course it would surprise us. They've never done it before, have showed no sign of doing it, and have made no changes to suggest they might start doing it.

[lngdrvcantputt]

obviously lots of Sens bias on here u guys are too funny, putting Montreal last,
u'll see the 24th cup isnt far away,
here's my theory, the Sens had an amazing first 25 games last year, u know why Ottawa was out of the gate so good, they virtually had the same team as they had before the lock out except for Heatley, the Sens didnt have to work on chemistry they already had it. But once the rest of the N caught up, Havlat was hurt, Hasek got hurt, few other random injuries and what happened the Sens played "average hockey" except against the leafs. Now the team is totally revamped, scoring will be a big ??? next year, 1 proven scoring line, a very good line be it, but in todays NHL u need 3 offensive lines, goaltending will be a big ???, we seen what happened to Gerber when Carolina tried to play run and gun with Montreal, u have to play a collapse defence with this guy, and Ottawa doesnt know the term collapse, these new D's acquired are strong offensive/defencemens, hockey is played a little differently in the east compared to the west. So point is Ottawa as just as many ??? as any other team.

Now for Montreal, the only reason Montreal squeeked into the playoffs last year was Theodore's bad run from November to January, Huet stepped up and delivered. I agree Huet may be a ??? for next year, but if by chance and i trully highly doubt this, Huet fails we have Abischer who can easily step in and fill the #1 spot, unfortunaltly Ottawa does not have that courtesy. Montreal remains with the exact same lineup as last year except for the bad apples Bulis-Zednik-Sundstrom all gone. We added a very speedy skilled forward in Samsonov, wich some guys will say ooohh he's injury prone in his 7 yr. career, only 2 season he played 70 games or less, not bad if u ask me. And added Johnson wich really reminds me of Schaefer, defensive minded loves to play the boards, if theres one guy i would of taken from Ottawa Schaefer-fischer are top of my list, but johnson plays same style of hockey as Schaefer. Another point many SENS fans neglect montreal's prospects are amongst the best in the league, Montreal in the next 4 yrs. will probably boast one of the most exciting lines in the league,Grabovski-A. kostitsin-S.kostitsin, the compatriotes who last year at the WJ U-18 tournament light it up, A.kostitsin was 2 points behind crosby, grabovski was 3 pts. behind, all of the same country and have played hockey together since they were 10yrs old, all considered speedy creative players, scary if u ask me. Then u have the like of G. Latendresse a massive PF that as plenty of potential, K. Chipchura who was captain of team Canada, Higgins who had a solid first year 25 goals -30 assists, Perezhogin needs to find is stride, and Plekanec who had a very solid first year. Now Montreal asnt changed any of its key components from last year, so how do u pick them to be last, there gonna be fighting with Ottawa-Buffalo for first place all year, may not win it but its gonna be very close. The advantage we have now over all the other teams as i mentioned about Ottawa earlier team chemistry, and that accounts for much of a teams success.

Toronto u guys absolutly no nothing about hockey if most of u's are placing them second behind Ottawa, what did they had Kubina-Peca-Raycroft, what have these guys proved, absolutly nothing except for Peca who is a solid 3rd line centre, defensive role only, where will the offense come from, as much as Lindros -Allison suck they still added some punch to Toronto's offensive stats from last year, where will the offense come from.

I to am a little bias, but also im realistic unlike certain Ottawa fans that rely on dumbass Garioch from the sun for info.

[jonf]

ottawa's scoring will come from the exact same place as last year - their forwards are virtually idenctical. They had no havlat last year at the beginning - he was injured early, came back for a few, got injured again.

Their goaltending is much improved. Even when hasek was in, he was not spectacular.

Their defence is worse than it was, but its still one of the more solid defence cores.

Montreal is in trouble. Huet had one good season so far (Jim Carey anyone?) and to top it off, left off on a terrible note last year. He may recover, he may not. Aebisher is still an unproven goalie - no playoff success, mediocre during the year.

Montreal may have prospects, but their team for next year doesn't look good - that is after all the topic of this thread. Weak on defense, and have lost quite a bit of speed up front in zednik and bulis. Samsanov is a good addition, but Rebeiro is still a liability out there. The Habs need a few years.

[mcnorth]

Hasek was terrific last year for the Sens.

43 games
5 shutouts
2.09 avg
28-10-4
.925 save percentage

That's pretty spectacular IMO.

Ottawa was out of the game fast because they figured out the new NHL faster than most. It wasn't existing chemistry either because the Heatley line was a HUGE part of the early tear.