rustie

@GASportsDoc

 Doc, yep still around glad to say   I don't usually do futures myself but I thought I would give it a go this year just so I would have something to stick around for LOL. (the power of positive thinking they say)

Hope you had a good summer, I expect great things from you with your AHL prognostications. Good luck Bud and are you going to be able to do your write-ups ? I know a lot of us here really looked forward to those 

While we're at it maybe we should try our hand at looking at who we think will actually make the Playoffs ? Anyone game ?

My peek into the crystal ball :

East I'm penciling in : Carolina  Tampa  New Jersey  Washington  Florida  Toronto  as a solid (?) 6, leaving the Wild Card between Ottawa  Montreal and I think the Rangers bounce back into the mix .

West I'm looking at : Vegas (and you Mitch Marner)  Colorado  Dallas  Edmonton  Winnipeg  LA Kings  & here's where it gets interesting

Minnesota  St. Louis  Utah and possibly Vancouver

Anyone ?

@dubz4dummyz

 Dubz , your mention of Nashville now has me rethinking. You're certainly right about the ageing Preds ,they are actually one of the oldest teams in the league with an average age of 30 and it's guys like Stamkos (35) Marchessault (34) Forsberg (31) O'Reilly (34) and Josi (35) the 'core guys ' that are on the wrong side of that average.

Last years 68 points was certainly very disappointing from this bunch after posting 90's in the previous 3. Finishing 31st out of 32 in GF had a big part in that but the fact that Saros had what for him was the worst year of his career probably had a lot to do with it too (a sub .900 sv% and GAA close to 3.00).

You mention the tough division and you are bang on , I expect Utah to make a big improvement along with Anaheim.

Bet365 had them listed at 86.5 when it opened and currently sit at 84.5, so unless Saros bounces back and they can find some scoring again, asking them to improve to those levels again may be too much. If Saros is not able to return to form, Annunen as backup doesn't have a record that shows he can step in and be a difference. 

GL this year Bud 

Hello Marmon and welcome to the Hockey forum.

 I agree Ottawa has a very bright future and a great bunch of up & coming young talent with the likes of Stutzle, Sanderson  and  Zub coupled with a solid #1 goalie in Ullmark and veteran leadership in Giroux not to mention the grit of the Captain Tkachuk and are definitely a team to keep an eye on . Bet 365 has their total at 95.5 leaning slightly to the over which feels about right after a 97 point campaign last year in which they took a significant step forward . 

The Sens could definitely pick up some of the points that  I feel the Leafs and teams like Washington will be unable to repeat this year , however with the Habs and Carolina as well as the Rangers and quite possibly the Sabres and Detoit looking to improve it may be hard to make much more headway.

My guess is the Sens will be a playoff team again this year but fighting for that wildcard spot which puts them in that 93 - 99 point range , Not enough to make it a play IMO, good luck though if you do go that route 

Only have one locked in myself (right now) 

Florida under 106.5 @ 1.952  Bet365

Only 4 teams managed to put up over 106 pts last year, 8 in the previous year & 9 the year before that. The Panthers managed it in 2023-24 before regressing back to 98 last season. 

Asking this team who have played more games (308 including playoffs) to step up to that level again after playing another 82 grueling games in a season where you are without Matthew Tkachuk who is out till Dec (?) and add on top of that an aging group , Marchand is (36), Jones (30) and Bobrovsky (36).  The replacing of Spencer Knight a very promising young goalie with the likes of Tarasov who couldn't steal the job away from the awful and highly overpaid Merzlikins means it's a big step down in talent if something should happen to Bobrovsky and doesn't exactly instill confidence in goal. 

Florida has shown the ability to turn it up when needed and are rightly one of the favorites to win it all again , but i think that with a bit of a Cup hangover coupled with the few things mentioned above that reaching the 107 point mark this season may be asking too much . 

Any thoughts feel free to agree or disagree, or tell us who you think could over or underachieve the books #'s

G'day Jim, another season is upon us and it can't come soon enough eh !!

I'm afraid as much as I'm looking forward to it I won't be able to commit to it properly so I will have to forfeit my spot this year. I will still be dropping in to keep you guys honest  LOL.

Good Luck to you and all the other participants though , Yours Truly Rustie 

A great Goalie and a great Canadian. So much more than just a hockey player. 

Kings aren't going to the finals. Defence is going to take a hit, Ceci contract is ridiculous and although Kuemper had a fantastic season I do think it was a bit of a outlier, no way he pulls off a 2.00 GAA again. 

And then again ........... they'd have to get by the Oilers

Crazy pattern there with the home / away split between these two 

F uSe  iS LiT  !!!! Well done Buddy glad to see you're still hitting them outta the rink 

HELL YEAAAHHH

@sandiq           Great write-up  Useful info and well written

@dumped97    Huh ?   Meaningless and unintelligent 

This kid has talent ...but it's a goddamn shame his biggest talent is diving . 

Guys you can explain this shite to people like this all day long , ain't gonna make an iota of difference. It's their thing . They whine and complain about all the "bad beats" and "conspiracies "  and "game fixings" . It's easier than admitting that you are not cut out for gambling . And also a great way to get the attention that they so need because mommy didn't breastfeed 

Have a Nice Day 

@colt45ss

 And by "send you home in a sack" he actually means a Take-out Bag , you know  on account of all the Chain restaurants Hee hee

Just yanking your chain Gains , Ottawa has it's charms 

GO LEAFS GO 

Congrats on the great season Buddy . Some of the best figger'ng in the history of gambling has been on done on the back of a cocktail napkin I'm sure 

Congrats on the  + 4.36 U season Dy, NHL is probably the hardest of the Big 4 North American sports to cap IMO and you had a good solid year 

Good luck with the Blues today you " line mover "  

Same thoughts Dy, BJ's have been great at home and I think they play this one for the Fans