The Drive for 30th

[Ashasx]

With Florida likely picking first and Colorado second, I see a strong chance that the Panthers takes Jones, Colorado takes Drouin (they already have 3 very good centres), and we end up with MacKinnon (if we pick 3rd).

[Miniac]

Nashville needs to snap out of there 7 game losing streak

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by Wolven

I would be stunned if the Blues found a way to lose enough games to miss the playoffs with their remaining schedule.



6/7 games are at home.
5/7 games are against non-playoff/bubble teams
Only 1 back-to-back game.

The only game that I think the Blues are very likely to lose is the one against the Hawks but since that is the last game of the season I can see the Hawks resting a lot of their star players that night.

So I stand by my previous comment and hope the Avs can do us a HUGE favour and beat the Blues twice.

We could have a lot on the line for that April 25th game. April 24th sounds like a good night for an end of the year open bar party!

[azzarish]

Originally Posted by StrykerSteve

They need to finish 29th, at best.

If they don't win the lottery, they're likely to be bumped down a notch, and I don't want them picking 4th. It's top 3 or bust at this stage of the game.

I would much rather prefer top 3 in this draft.

We need an elite player who can turn this franchise around. Of course he won't do it my himself but he'd go a long way to helping.

[Komskies]

There's one thing we can say for sure. 0-6-0 to finish the season will guarantee us a top 4 pick. Time to execute.

[Vinny01]

In Eklund's latest blog he has us going 1-5 finishing 29th and last in the west. I hope he is right

[#-3]

Originally Posted by McG

when you actually see how hard it is to suck, you know it is a special group in edmonton to pull it off consistently.

This has been a strange year that the start we were hearing that the short schedule would lead to more teams staying in it later in the season.

I feel like it has actually cause more teams to drop out of it sooner.

Between No Inter Confrence play, Games in Hand being twice as important, the Trade dead line 3.5 weeks before the end of the season. It seems like there were more teams willing to fly the white flag with 15 games remaining.

Thats has made the dive for 5 much more competative.

[Split98]

It think it's a pretty safe bet neither game goes our way tonight.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by Split98

It think it's a pretty safe bet neither game goes our way tonight.

Neither?

There's 5 important games for teams near us.

FLA vs NYI
NYR vs PHI
TB vs WPG
MIN vs EDM
CAR vs OTT

So you're saying its a safe bet that all those 5 teams will lose? Could happen but its far from a safe bet.

[Ashasx]

How freakin bad is the East?

[Komskies]

So freakin bad.

[Bar-Down]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

Neither?

There's 5 important games for teams near us.

FLA vs NYI
NYR vs PHI
TB vs WPG
MIN vs EDM
CAR vs OTT

So you're saying its a safe bet that all those 5 teams will lose? Could happen but its far from a safe bet.

I think PHI and FLA lose.

Hoping EDM, CAR, and TB win, and they definitely have a decent chance too.

I want EDM to win as many games as it takes to finish 9th, I dont want them drafting top ten.

[Split98]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

Neither?

There's 5 important games for teams near us.

FLA vs NYI
NYR vs PHI
TB vs WPG
MIN vs EDM
CAR vs OTT

So you're saying its a safe bet that all those 5 teams will lose? Could happen but its far from a safe bet.

I actually didn't consider the NYR/Phi game as very important to us... but on 2nd thought it might actually be the most important game tn.

Not only will Phi winning push them further away from us, but NYR is one of the most important teams in the league for us right now. They have 10 points on us right now, so I'm not worried about us catching them unless we start winning some of these games (which'll screw our draft rank anyway).

But, of their next 7 games, 2 are against Florida, 1 against Carolina, and obviously Philadelphia tonight. Their spiral may be very important to us.

But I can see 4 our of the 5 games not going our way though

[Komskies]

For Edmonton to finish 9th in the West at this point they'd need to go 7-0-0 or at worst 6-0-1. 6-0-1 would give them 52 points.

[Komskies]

God damn Florida. You'd think that even if they were intentionally tanking they would win the odd game by accident. They aren't even capable of that it would appear.

[Split98]

Originally Posted by Komskies

For Edmonton to finish 9th in the West at this point they'd need to go 7-0-0 or at worst 6-0-1. 6-0-1 would give them 52 points.

If they can win out of the top 10 (which they're currently 5 points back from) I'll be elated.

Means passing NJ, Buffalo, Phoenix, and Winnipeg or Dallas... all not difficult teams to pass.

[Split98]

Originally Posted by Komskies

God damn Florida. You'd think that even if they were intentionally tanking they would win the odd game by accident. They aren't even capable of that it would appear.

I'm not worried about Colorado or Florida. I'm fairly confident they're taking Drouin or Jones. We'll have our pick of the best center in the draft if they (or even Edmonton somehow) are picking before us. The team I'm really worried about is Nashville.

[Komskies]

Originally Posted by Split98

I'm not worried about Colorado or Florida. I'm fairly confident they're taking Drouin or Jones. We'll have our pick of the best center in the draft if they (or even Edmonton somehow) are picking before us. The team I'm really worried about is Nashville.

At first I thought it was because of Pekka Rinne having a poor season, but his #s are pretty much on par with his last 5 seasons. They just have the worst offense in the league at an anemic 2.23 goals per game. Combine that with a PK% just over 75% and that's a recipe for disaster.

[Miniac]

I think its a must win tonight for Edm but its a little too late

[Split98]

Originally Posted by Komskies

At first I thought it was because of Pekka Rinne having a poor season, but his #s are pretty much on par with his last 5 seasons. They just have the worst offense in the league at an anemic 2.23 goals per game. Combine that with a PK% just over 75% and that's a recipe for disaster.

Absolutely appalling offence. Which is why I'm most worried about them. Best chance at drafting higher than us, and very likely to go after what Calgary needs most. Whether that's Barkov or MacKinnon I'm not sure.