It kicks off tonight.
Your predictions, please. Also hopes and wishes and dreams.
No predictions, but I do have reasonably high hope for my Capitals this year. It seems we have a real coach for the first time since letting go of Boudreau (which I’ve never stopped thinking was a mistake since the day it happened), and I’m liking what I’m seeing in preseason play. I’m not saying we’re gonna end up with the Cup or anything this year (though a boy can dream), but I think it should be a far less disappointing season then last year. So, basically, I am optimistic about non-disappointment.
Hockey!!!
Bold prediction: the Bruins will not dramatically disappoint their fans in the playoffs this year. They may or may not win it all, but any losses won’t be as soul-destroying as either the Chicago collapse or the Montreal debacle.
I am a die hard BLUES fan…I just hope we don’t end up being the CUBS of hockey…again.
Things look good for StL , but I could/would have said the same thing the previous four Octobers.
I can’t remember the last time I came into a new season with this bad a feeling about the Senators. A lot of fans seem to have talked themselves into believing that the team is better off without Jason Spezza. I think that they’re crazy. I’ll be the first to admit that he had a poor season last year but neither Mika Zibanejad nor David Legwand can replace his production. And while I love what Kyle Turris brings, he’s not a #1 centre.
Meanwhile the team has done absolutely nothing to address their absolutely terrible blueline. The hope in Ottawa is basically that 4 or 5 young players all simultaneously take a big leap forward in their development. Not all of them will, of course, and there is little by the way of backup plans in place here. Oh, and did I mention that management seems intent on tossing Mark Methot, one of our most reliable defenders, out the door?
My hopes and dreams and wishes also collide wiht my predictions. The Isles finally become relevant again…
With the additions of a decent defense (goaltender and defensemeN) and some offense not named Tavares that will be around the whole year, the last year on the Island will mean something beyond padding stats for the oppenents.
Short of that…, in the finals, I’ll go 'Ning and Kings (we gotta get former Maple Leafs goalie Peter Ing involved in this somehow). Kings for the deuce eventually.
The Stars have a butt load of firepower up front and a very good goalie. The defense is a bit thin but new kids from the Calder Cup winning Texas Stars will be coming up. If Jamie Oleksiak (6’7", 250 LBS) can play in the NHL this year, I don’t think the situation will be too bad.
I like a return to the playoffs and possibly getting past the first round.
ETA: One writer said that the worst case scenario for the Stars is that they will be a fun team to watch and lose lots of 5-4 games. He then said that the best case scenario for the Star is that they will be a fun team to watch and will win lots of 5-4 games.
Do we want to do monthly threads as we’ve done in the past to discuss the day to day action?
Yeah, the Stars are going to be a lot of fun to watch. I saw a handful of Texas Stars games last year, and I really like that Colton Sceviour kid that the big club brought up late in the season. Oleksiak is a big guy, no doubt about it, but from what I saw of him last season I have doubts about him at the next level. Needs to be a little more physical, use that size to more of an advantage.
I’m picking the Blackhawks to win it all this year, but there are 4 other teams in the West (Blues, Kings, Sharks, Ducks) that will make it hard to get to the finals.
Hope # 1. The Wings playoff streak continues
Hope #2 The cheap Bitch Lucic gets the shit kicked out of him every game.
Hope #3 Anthony Mantha heals up, gets to the big club, and quickly turns into the superstar I have been shooting my mouth off for two years he will be.
Hope #4 Miraculously the Wings are not in the top 3 of injury games missed again.
Hope #5 Alfredson come back and gets his cup finally. What’s that you say? If he comes back he will only play for the Wings? Well I guess logically that would mean the Wings have to win the cup. 
DP
I agree with both your general points; that Ottawa looks terrible, and that at the same time Ottawa fans (well, not including you and I) and the media, and hell the team, are bizarrely optimistic about them. No professional analyst, no oddsmaker, puts them anywhere near the playoffs, and yet there’s a curious air of happiness around the team.
I don’t see 80 points here.
Someone on the Fan 590 made an interesting point the other day; championship teams build from the stars out. (This being a Toronto station, the point the man was making was that Toronto is inevitably mediocre because they have no stars, but let me apply this to Ottawa.) Depth is great, but you need a few elite players. If you think about it, the guy was absolutely right. So, assuming Erik Karlsson is healthy, Ottawa has one elite player, and if he’s not, they have none. (Bobby Ryan is not an elite player.) AND they have no depth. How does this team possibly make the playoffs?
I’ll agreethat Montreal was a debacle. They didn’t hit them and play was sloppy. Against Chicago, I think they just ran out of gas. I was a quick, tough end to game six, but I woudn’t call it a collapse. 2010 against Philadelphia, however…
Did you know that Carl Soderberg and Loui Eriksson are both Swedish? That means they automatically have great chemistry. I think I hear this six or eight times every time the B’s have a national game.
I will accept any other soul-destroying descriptions for the Chicago game 6 loss that you would care to suggest. Because it was definitely something!
I didn’t say that it was easy to take.
Prediction: The Leafs fight for a playoff spot right down till March and then miss out. At least there’s the prospect of landing Connor McDavid.
I can’t see Toronto being so bad they’d have a good shot at it. I guess some shot’s better than none.
Congrats to Mike Lange, on the 40th Anniversary of his first NHL broadcast. (Buy him a drink and get his dog one too!)
It was nice to hear Dick Irving’s voice on the, I don’t know what to call it, pre-show.