Eastern North Predictions

Shoutout Doer for starting on the prediction threads. He doesn't want to do his own (conflict of interest) so I figured I would step up and fill his shoes. Just like he said, don't get too butthurt or excited about where I rank you. It's just a guess at the end of the day. Let's get started.

Eastern North

1. Cleveland Monsters
- With all the DP depth and Chicago taking a step back(we'll get to that), this is Cleveland's division for the taking. They had so much money that they could pretty much get whoever they wanted in bidding, and they sight their sights on Jeown for $7M, which was a great pickup and gives them a #1 dman on the backend, something that any contender needs. The one bad thing about having to go so high on Jeown was that they missed out on their preferred G (rip Chillson), but they have top G prospect Franco coming up from the C already, so they should be fine in net anyways. There is a lot to like about this team.

2. Chicago Wolves
- Greggy and Ten Ply are still the best free contracts in the A, but this team lost a good portion of its depth from last season and couldn't really replace it thanks to a savage bidding session. Astro and Marner both left for management positions elsewhere, and pretty much the entire d core graduated to the NHL. It all comes down to how well the newcomers can fill the void left by these players leaving. I love the Deets pickup, he is at his best with offensive-minded wingers around him so the fit on the top line with Ten Ply looks perfect. Beast and LJackson should be a top G tandem this year, so no issues in the crease. Absolutely still a top team, even if they lost key pieces.

3. Hartford Wolf Pack
- The defending Cup champs take their talents to Hartford this year, and this should be one of the most potent offenses in the league. They picked up ChuckMTL in bidding for 4.75M and he joins the likes of MHook, PDM, Hypey and Corsnortzky up front. The top-six on this team should be deadly no question. Defensively is where there are concerns. Outside of jblaze, every single dman on the team was in the CHL last year. Several are coming off good seasons, but it's always hard to know if CHL success will translate to higher levels. Wvu7_pens87 is a fine goalie, but if the defense ends up being bad there is only so much he can do. I trust the management team enough to say this team will be really good, but the unproven defense is what makes me rank them behind CLE/CHI.

4. Hershey Bears
- This team won the division last year, and with a handful of key players returning they should make playoffs again. Splash was a big pickup for this team in bidding and is the highest paid player in the A this year at 7.25M. He along with Lambert should be one of the better top pairs in the league plus Kamzaar and Karlssxn were so clutch as a pair last year in the playoffs and they come back on re-signs. The top-four on this team is probably the most well-rounded in the division. I like the goalie tandem too, eazykill comes down from the N and Emile was good for me last season in Colorado. The offense is a little suspect, but the defense and goaltending give this team an edge. Also, thanks to new rules, Loops cant trade away the team's best player at the deadline this year for absolutely no reason, so that's a plus!

5. Utica Comets
- I like a lot of the pieces offensively for this team, they got some good players in bidding and were able to snag a few guys who hadn't played in several seasons for cheap. Defensively they aren't bad either, although 5.5M is probably an overpay for a guy who went 9-9 in the A and 1-7 in the N last year. I think they have a very underrated G tandem with Dreamgaming and El Crowlo. This is a good team on paper but they don't really have anything that jumps off the page at you. If they can tamper Jugzy onto this team that would prob help them tremendously (going to trigger some people with that comment lol) I can see this team finishing anywhere between 3-6 in the division, but the high-end teams are just so tough.

6. Wilkes Barre Scranton Penguins
- I'm gonna be honest this was the hardest team to rank because there are just so many unknowns to me. They got several XBOX guys on offense and they have a dman who legit hasn't played an LG game since 2017. GOHST comes down from the N to play fwd, and considering the team was willing to spend 5M on him, I am assuming he is very good at fwd, but again that's mostly an unknown to me. Tbh I respect Muzzin a lot as a manager and obviously Prospy is a good free contract so I am giving them the benefit of the doubt here. It wouldn't surprise me if this team finishes way higher than 6th, but again, I will admit I don't know many of the names on this roster.

7. Lehigh Valley Phantoms
- The team spent big on offense in bidding, bringing in Beamed(former Eagle), GrammyHands and Biscuit for a combined 14.25M to presumably be their top line. Because they spent so much on 3 guys there are obvious concerns about depth and there are several players on this team who should probably be in the CHL and it'll hurt them. Bobby and Dark ripped this defense to shreds on the bidding show but I actually think it's a little better than people give it credit for. There are some good AHL dmen on this roster. It's baffling however that somehow Stamkos thought it would be a good idea to place Nxsh on TC before bidding and lose him for the first week of the season. What was the thought process here??? He's your best dman, he needs to be roster. MrOsgood is a good G, and he's gonna have to be this year because the backup looks like piss. Overall this isn't a bad team and I can see them sneaking into the playoffs, but I can't rank them over a lot of the other teams in the division.

8. Bridgeport Islanders
- Just too many CHLers on this roster and the division is too tough. I like Toews and Young Nutt but the bad far outweighs the good here. They don't have a single top-pair level dman and somehow they thought it would be a good idea to bid on a G who went 1-9-1 with a .700 in the CHL last year, that is gonna absolutely kill them this year having that guy in net. This is the only team in the division that I'm willing to go ahead and guarantee won't make the playoffs.

Enjoy!

 

Someone save toews

 

xbox guy here

 

Great write up knock, keep it up bro!!

 

Lol tamper for jugzy

 

GunnaFlip - TenPly
Deetsx39 - Moo

What could go wrong

 

Underdog szn

 

very cute