Looking at your division

[CaptainCrunch]

Just for fun, this is a chance to look at the other teams in your division. What scares you about your divisional rival. What do you like about their lineup. Don't judge your own team, because that would seem like bragging.




I'll go first


Nashville


Having Malkin and Crosby at center is awesome center depth especially when you consider that Thornton is still a premiere setup guy. Ovechkin riding herd on the top line could be really scaring especially with Panarin in the mix. The Preds should be able to score goals. Even on the Blueline OEL and McAvoy are great pieces to have, and Chara is still solid though he's old. The team has a pretty solid goaltending group as well, though Andersson is probably the odd man out. This is a really dangerous team that should score a bunch of goals and be steady defensively.



Minnesota


Really a young deep forward group with Barkov and Pettersson leading the way up the middle. Debrincat and Laine should put up points for them. A solid blueline with young up and comers like Chabot and Hughes and Jones and Makar, who are all solid puckmovers who should be able QB a PP. Gibson is a good young goalie in need of a bounce back year.


Dallas


Another team that's on the younger side. Draisaitl, Guentzel, Konecny is a nice young center core with Kopitar as the defensive specialist. I really like Fiala off the wing as well. The question will be if there will be enough offense coming from the blue line, though De Angelo should be the king there. Having Carey Price really helps as he should give the team the ability to win close games


Colorado


Could be a fun team with a really nice mix. Toews and Nylander should drive some offense up front with help from Scheifele and Vrana. I really like their blueline with 3 really good puck movers in Andersson, Brodie and Carlson. Binnington should be a solid starter, with Quick being a good option as a backup.

[savardandjokinen]

Pacific (deep division)

ANAHEIM

Tons of talent up front with Couturier, Eichel, Larkin and Stastny up the middle and Gaudreau, Kubalik, Meier, Laughton and Parise on the flanks. Terrific top 4 in Dahlin, Provorov, Theodore and Weber. Strong young goalie in Hart

CALGARY

Ravi has added some strong pieces since coming to an organization with close to no assets. Forsberg, Hischier, Hayes, Palat and Tkachuk are all good forwards. Elite top 3 with Gio, Suter and Werenski. Reclamation project in Bobrovsky?

LOS ANGELES

Good young forward core with Monahan, Hertl, Kadri, Buchnevich, Vatrano, Gurianov and Boeser. Also a solid young defensemen core with Carlo, Hanifin, Heiskanen and Pulock. Veteran options in net with Dubnyk and Jones, both potential bounce back candidates.

PHOENIX

They led the west last year in the regular season, and should compete for it again. Strong top 6 with Aho, Johansen, Schmaltz, Zucker, Palmieri and Toffoli. Under the radar defense with strong defensive players in Skjei, Murphy, Vatanen and up and comers with Marino and Bear. Markstrom is a great goalie between the pipes.

SAN JOSE

Probably the team I'm most scared of in the division. They're good, and got experience. Mackinnon, Stamkos, Tarasenko, Voracek, Hornqvist, Strome, Duclair, Reinhart, I could keep going. Improved defense with Trouba, Myers, Letang, Hamonic, and the randomly 72 ov Borowiecki. Rask with the tied for 1st goalie rating in the league.

VANCOUVER

Vancouver has been at the bottom of the barrel for a few years now, but that will surely change this season. Couture, Keller, Point, and Johansson are solid building blocks up front. They are really strong on the defense, the strongest point of their club. Hamilton, Chychrun, Dunn, Hjalmarsson, Miller and Schmidt is a terrific grouping. Bishop and Korpisalo is a great tandem.

[savardandjokinen]

Also captain- you forgot to include chicago

[Tilley]

Originally Posted by savardandjokinen

Also captain- you forgot to include chicago

Shhh... no need to pay attention to the Blackhawks. Nothing to see here.

[CaptainCrunch]

I did, thanks for the point out.


Chicago


Ryan O'Reilly is a really solid piece to have in the middle, Skinner Bjorkstand and Wilson as well as Marchand Saad and Trochek make up a solid set of wingers, but there might be some scoring issues up front. But they should be tough to score against. The defense should do ok, but after Ellis and Shattenkirk they might have trouble from an offensive side of things. Kuemper is a very good goalie if your looking for a work horse.

[simmer2]

Originally Posted by savardandjokinen

Pacific (deep division)

ANAHEIM

Tons of talent up front with Couturier, Eichel, Larkin and Stastny up the middle and Gaudreau, Kubalik, Meier, Laughton and Parise on the flanks. Terrific top 4 in Dahlin, Provorov, Theodore and Weber. Strong young goalie in Hart

CALGARY

Ravi has added some strong pieces since coming to an organization with close to no assets. Forsberg, Hischier, Hayes, Palat and Tkachuk are all good forwards. Elite top 3 with Gio, Suter and Werenski. Reclamation project in Bobrovsky?

LOS ANGELES

Good young forward core with Monahan, Hertl, Kadri, Buchnevich, Vatrano, Gurianov and Boeser. Also a solid young defensemen core with Carlo, Hanifin, Heiskanen and Pulock. Veteran options in net with Dubnyk and Jones, both potential bounce back candidates.

PHOENIX

They led the west last year in the regular season, and should compete for it again. Strong top 6 with Aho, Johansen, Schmaltz, Zucker, Palmieri and Toffoli. Under the radar defense with strong defensive players in Skjei, Murphy, Vatanen and up and comers with Marino and Bear. Markstrom is a great goalie between the pipes.

SAN JOSE

Probably the team I'm most scared of in the division. They're good, and got experience. Mackinnon, Stamkos, Tarasenko, Voracek, Hornqvist, Strome, Duclair, Reinhart, I could keep going. Improved defense with Trouba, Myers, Letang, Hamonic, and the randomly 72 ov Borowiecki. Rask with the tied for 1st goalie rating in the league.

VANCOUVER

Vancouver has been at the bottom of the barrel for a few years now, but that will surely change this season. Couture, Keller, Point, and Johansson are solid building blocks up front. They are really strong on the defense, the strongest point of their club. Hamilton, Chychrun, Dunn, Hjalmarsson, Miller and Schmidt is a terrific grouping. Bishop and Korpisalo is a great tandem.

Edmonton also in the group too.

I think this is the strongest division in the league.

SJS I agree is the team I'm most scared about.

I'm hoping my DF and strong Defense can hold off some of their offense..also, Hart is a wild card. Top 3 individual ratings for goalies but he is young...so no idea

[savardandjokinen]

Originally Posted by simmer2

Edmonton also in the group too.

I think this is the strongest division in the league.

SJS I agree is the team I'm most scared about.

I'm hoping my DF and strong Defense can hold off some of their offense..also, Hart is a wild card. Top 3 individual ratings for goalies but he is young...so no idea

Yeah wasn't gonna speak for my team though. I'd say after San Jose that your squad is the team I'm next most scared of, your team is just as deep as them just a bit younger which gives them a slight edge. I think Hart can perform for you, I had a fairly young tandem with Lehner and Grubauer for a couple years and didn't have a problem with them.

[Don't Toews Me Bro]

Originally Posted by savardandjokinen

Vancouver has been at the bottom of the barrel for a few years now, but that will surely change this season.

I wish I shared the same optimism lol

[simmer2]

EDMONTON

They've got fantastic Centre depth with Zibanejad, Marner and Horvat. That's a great 1,2 3 punch. Amongst other forwards they have Cirelli, Burakowsky, Teravainen, Mantha and Bertuzzi that round out a young but strong forward group. They might be a bit light on pure scorers, but have 4 solid lines. Their defensive core consists of Lindholm, Parayko, Severson and Klingberg which make a great Top 4 and have a lot of depth on defense. They also look great in goal with the likely Vezina winner and a strong candidate in Georgiev looking to take the reigns.

The one area they lack in is leadership, without a single player older than 27. It will be interesting to see if this hurts them or not, because they definitely have a very balanced lineup and will be a difficult team to play on a consistent basis.

[CaptainCrunch]

I love reading these.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

J

Minnesota


Really a young deep forward group with Barkov and Pettersson leading the way up the middle. Debrincat and Laine should put up points for them. A solid blueline with young up and comers like Chabot and Hughes and Jones and Makar, who are all solid puckmovers who should be able QB a PP. Gibson is a good young goalie in need of a bounce back year.

We ain't deep at all up front. My love of picks and prospects has eroded that depth. Right now I've got 10 CPHL quality forwards. The ones I have are good, but I'm very thin on the bottom 6.

[3thirty]

Everyone looks better than my sad, sad squad. Except the Islanders.

They have have 1/2 a roster, no cap and most played their best hockey 5+ years ago.

[TheScorpion]

Eh, we're getting there.

[JonDuke]

Originally Posted by 3thirty

Everyone looks better than my sad, sad squad. Except the Islanders.

They have have 1/2 a roster, no cap and most played their best hockey 5+ years ago.

I'm super excited to return to this post when you beat me in the playoffs again this year!!

[TheScorpion]

I'm pretty sure I've beat the Devils in the playoffs before. Don't really remember tho

[Hanna Sniper]

Playoffs!?