Late Summer Reverse Standings Poll - 30th

[Ashasx]

Coyotes for me. Just so obvious with McDavid on the board.

Carolina, Buffalo, and of course Edmonton will be pushing hard as well.

[Mass_nerder]

I picked Carolina.
They've been anywhere from average to terrible the last few seasons despite the Staals, and there have been rumours that Carolina will be looking to move out Eric Staal this season (second last year on his deal) and trying to start fresh. I buy that, especially if they're not in solid play-off contention around trade deadline (spoiler: they won't be) Ward hasn't been very good, and they've been trying to get someone to take him.
It always seems it's one of those teams you don't even think of, that conveniently swoops in as the worst team in years where there are highly touted prospects available.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Oilers will play good when picking top 3 mattered most.

[Vinny01]

I thought about picking Calgary there but suspect our prospects will step up and the team will be better than last. Personally I think Moulson, Gionta, Gorges, a healthy Stewart and several young prospects will keep the Sabres out of the basement

[Journey17]

While Buffalo has improved, they had a 14 point gap between them and the next worst team (Florida). That's a lot of points to gain on another east coast team. While in theory the east should be more even, I anticipate that Calgary's "will" results in more points than either Buffalo and at least one other eastern team who nosedives after a rough start. I'd pick Carolina as a potential to send out all their remaining talent.

[Parallex]

The Sabres improved their roster a lot... that being said a big improvement on really really really bad still leaves you really really bad. They're last.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

When looking at this I thought, "who is the weakest in net AND down the middle?" The bottom 3 were Buffalo, Edmonton, and Calgary. Edmonton is by far the weakest in those categories out of the 3.

Goalies:
Buffalo-Jhonas Enroth, Michael Neuvirth. Both likely backups on any other team.

Edmonton-Ben Scrivens, Viktor Fasth. Both likely backups on any other team, but have moments now and then of being quality starters.

Calgary-Kari Ramo, Jonas Hiller. Both are 1B type of starters, but can definitely get the job done.

Centers:
Buffalo-Girgensons, Hodgson, Reinhart, Grigorenko. That's a primarily untested group, but a lot of young talent to build around in Buffalo. If they can figure it out with any consistency they could help carry what is already a young and promising group, especially on defense.

Edmonton-Nugent-Hopkins, Gordon (or Draisaitl?), Lander, Arcobello. What a woeful group of centers that is. Unless Nuge can really carry the load as a top line center, they are in for a very long year again.

Calgary-Backlund, Monahan, Stajan, Bouma? Knight?. We are going to be bad this year, no doubt in my mind. Yet still, we can boast a better center group than Edmonton. No way we finish last unless everyone important gets hurt.

Edmonton will finish dead last this year, mark my words. They have perfected being no good.

p.s.-honourable mention to Arizona who is going down fast. I don't know who is going to score goals for them up front. There's just nobody that is a bonafide offensive threat at forward, elderly Doan aside. They lost 2 of their top 5 offensive producers (in the 45-50 point range) and replaced them with pretty much nothing. They're in trouble this year.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Wow. A lot of votes for the Flames to finish last on their own team's forum. Not a lot of faith earned after last year I see.

I'll say this, it could happen, but if the Flames do finish last it will only be by 1 or 2 points.

[Robbob]

The problem I have with the Flames finishing last this year is that we were a good 25 points up on Buffalo. I can see the Flames finishing in the 60's but that just will not be enough to be the worst in the league. Buffalo on the other hand, if they win five more games would still be the worst team.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by Cali Flames Fan

There's just nobody that is a bonafide offensive threat at forward, elderly Doan aside.

Yeah... but what else is new. Tippett has done more with less before, I figure they slip a bit but not all the way down.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Cali Flames Fan

When looking at this I thought, "who is the weakest in net AND down the middle?" The bottom 3 were Buffalo, Edmonton, and Calgary. Edmonton is by far the weakest in those categories out of the 3.

Goalies:
Buffalo-Jhonas Enroth, Michael Neuvirth. Both likely backups on any other team.

Edmonton-Ben Scrivens, Viktor Fasth. Both likely backups on any other team, but have moments now and then of being quality starters.

Calgary-Kari Ramo, Jonas Hiller. Both are 1B type of starters, but can definitely get the job done.

Centers:
Buffalo-Girgensons, Hodgson, Reinhart, Grigorenko. That's a primarily untested group, but a lot of young talent to build around in Buffalo. If they can figure it out with any consistency they could help carry what is already a young and promising group, especially on defense.

Edmonton-Nugent-Hopkins, Gordon (or Draisaitl?), Lander, Arcobello. What a woeful group of centers that is. Unless Nuge can really carry the load as a top line center, they are in for a very long year again.

Calgary-Backlund, Monahan, Stajan, Bouma? Knight?. We are going to be bad this year, no doubt in my mind. Yet still, we can boast a better center group than Edmonton. No way we finish last unless everyone important gets hurt.

Edmonton will finish dead last this year, mark my words. They have perfected being no good.

p.s.-honourable mention to Arizona who is going down fast. I don't know who is going to score goals for them up front. There's just nobody that is a bonafide offensive threat at forward, elderly Doan aside. They lost 2 of their top 5 offensive producers (in the 45-50 point range) and replaced them with pretty much nothing. They're in trouble this year.

By the same criteria is Winnipeg not also in that group:

Goalies: Pavelec, Hutchenson

Pavelec was the worst goalie in the NHL last year based on stats. I would take Calgary's goalies for sure, and probably Edmonton and Buffalo (I like Scrivens and Enroth/Neuvirth has some potential).

Centers: Little, Perreault, Scheifele, Slater

Probably better than the other 3 teams just due to Little but he is not a world beater, especially with the Centers he will have to go against in his division.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by Cali Flames Fan

Wow. A lot of votes for the Flames to finish last on their own team's forum. Not a lot of faith earned after last year I see.

It was one of the worst final placements in the teams history since moving to Calgary... that's not exactly a faith earning performance.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by Cali Flames Fan

Wow. A lot of votes for the Flames to finish last on their own team's forum. Not a lot of faith earned after last year I see.

I'll say this, it could happen, but if the Flames do finish last it will only be by 1 or 2 points.

We overachieved and finished 4th last ... and then we got worse

We'z gon' be bad

[Funkhouser]

Buffalo is a slam-dunk in suckiness - 30

After that I think the top contenders are Ottawa (29), Calgary (28), Arizona (27)
Followed closely by Carolina, Edmonton and Winnipeg

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

By the same criteria is Winnipeg not also in that group:

Goalies: Pavelec, Hutchenson

Pavelec was the worst goalie in the NHL last year based on stats. I would take Calgary's goalies for sure, and probably Edmonton and Buffalo (I like Scrivens and Enroth/Neuvirth has some potential).

Centers: Little, Perreault, Scheifele, Slater

Probably better than the other 3 teams just due to Little but he is not a world beater, especially with the Centers he will have to go against in his division.

Trust me, they were in close consideration. They have very good wingers though, and can score a lot of goals. The defense is pretty decent, but have been coached so poorly that they haven't fulfilled their potential. They at least got a better option at coach for a full year, so hopefully they can cover up a bit more for Pavelec. He's probably not much better than Enroth/Neuvirth, so yeah, they will be bad again this year.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by nik-

We overachieved and finished 4th last ... and then we got worse

We'z gon' be bad

And don't forget, even though we were 4th last we had a record setting amount of 1 goal games, most of which we lost due to some shoddy goaltending early on, especially in 3rd periods from Berra.

I agree we will suck, I think bottom 5 for sure, possibly bottom 3, but I don't think we will be the worst team in the league this year. Too much heart on this team for that to happen.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Had to go with the Flames. On paper, this is the weakest team in the league. No proven depth at center or right wing. The goaltending is highly questionable and the defensive depth is still weak. This team will have to over-achieve just to hit last year's high water mark and hope none of the teams below us improve. I don't see either happening, and the teams above us. Buffalo, Edmonton, and Florida will all be stronger. We have to try and survive the Pacific. Things don't stack up well against us.

[Oil Stain]

Originally Posted by Cali Flames Fan

And don't forget, even though we were 4th last we had a record setting amount of 1 goal games, most of which we lost due to some shoddy goaltending early on, especially in 3rd periods from Berra.

I agree we will suck, I think bottom 5 for sure, possibly bottom 3, but I don't think we will be the worst team in the league this year. Too much heart on this team for that to happen.

The Flames actually had a .510 win percentage in one goal games last season which was good for tenth in the league.

I doubt that is likely to repeat in 2014/15.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

The one thing about the Pacific is that Vancouver and Arizona got weaker by quite a bit, Edmonton is still Edmonton, and San Jose is slowly getting worse (still a decent team, but not as much of a sure thing as they used to be). Really, only Anaheim and L.A. scare me, and we still competed very well against them last year. I'd be terrified to be in the Central this year. St. Louis, Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, with Nashville and Winnipeg bringing up the rear.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

The Flames actually had a .510 win percentage in one goal games last season which was good for tenth in the league.

I doubt that is likely to repeat in 2014/15.

Why? If they're top 15, which is doable, there's no reason to think they can't be .500. Goaltending is better this year, the team is largely the same as is the coaching, and might have 1 or 2 young offensive players breakout this year. I don't see why it is a foregone conclusion that the team will be worse.