S10 Atlantic Division Standings Prediction/Write Up

Do you fuck with hotel breakfast? I sure do! Here's my Atlantic Write up.



1) Buffalo Sabres


Well S6, 7 and 8 Jclaus made the conference finals being on 12, 14.25 and 15 mil contracts. He finally is allowed to GM in S9 and wins a cup. He takes over as owner now and anything less than a 2nd cup would probably be a disappointment. Sitful is Claus' GM and that gives them 2 #1 C's that can carry a line to victory. Both guys could win games with average support wingers but they'll have Troak/Hyperd and Scoot/Frantic on their wings. A lot of teams tend to just throw out their 3rds against Claus' teams so both lines should have no problem getting 20+ wins. The 3rd line could get zero wins and they still might make the playoffs, but it actually looks good as well. Tread is coming off a 16 win season and will play with Bstie on RW who was 2.75 mil last season, played very well, and somehow ended up 500k this season. On the left will be Marnews who is a 4th round pick from this past draft. He's apparently friends with Tread so they should have some chemistry together.


On Defence they have 4 RD's but Kris is capable of playing LD if needed and that's what he'll be doing. Him and JaySnipez will be paired together #KawkUp (Had to do it). Jay had a really good S8 on Carolina with Jclaus so Im not surprised Buffalo picked him up. Brad and Bry will be the other pair making this team's top 4 very reliable especially considering the forward lines they'll be playing with. BlueShells will start on the main roster this season after getting the call up mid way through last season and he'll play with ChewsnBrews who has some decent xbox stats.


In net they spent 3.25 on Konz which is crazy for a goalie but this is the only team that realistically should spend this much on the best goalie in the league. When you have 2 free contracts like Jclaus and Sitful you can afford to do this. I don't expect anything less than another Vezina caliber season from Konz. Backing Konz up will be Melom. His last good seasons were with the Marlies in S4 and 5 but now gets the chance to play on a very strong Buffalo team. We'll see how it goes for him.



2) Toronto Maple Leafs


This team reminds me a lot of the S8 Leafs but with a really good west line, better overall depth on forward and downgraded depth on defence. Toronto's west line of DD/Aali/Senko is back and I don't expect them to slow down after their performance last season. I fully expect them to win a majority of their games. MarcoGoes5Hole is GM and despite an apparent hiccup while trying to get Jakoo, he should do just fine in the middle of Zigg and Kuzy. The third line of The5thLine/Stieding/Smitty is going to be interesting. I think all 3 are on great contracts and should be able to produce being on the 3rd line, but I doubt any of them have played together before. Might need time to gain some chemistry.


BA and Cshirk will man the points on the west line while ISmashFatties will be looked upon to carry the load on the 2nd pair. What amazes me is that the Leafs got him at the same price in which he went for on forward, and defence is his primary position. From what I saw, he was the reason they couldn't place another bid on Jakoo again. I think 13 mil would have been way out of Toronto's range anyways, so now they're “stuck” with Fatties instead at 5.5 mil. Turned out nice in the end. As for who he will play with, I'm not too sure and I'm not a fan of the potential options. ChiefMucker and Bigfoot are both third pair guys but if Fatties can carry, this pair will be good enough for the forward line that they'll be playing with.


In net Drally is back for the first time since S6 and is still one of the better goalies in the league. RealDemon who played forward last season for the Leafs will back him up.



3) Florida Panthers



I think this is the best the Panthers have looked since S7. I could have been bias and put the team I play for at #2 but we have a lot to prove to get where I think we could end up being. We got guys at 500k where if they play to their potential, Florida may surprise some people this season. The first line will be Duster/Flap/Theos. Everyone knows about Flap and Theos but Duster could be our BakTheGreat of S7/S8. Solid Vs/Hut player playing on a line with 2 skilled forwards. Geno/Sean/Ry will be the second line and as long as Geno shows up and doesn't get grounded, I think this line is gonna have a big season. Our 3rd line is Gwanzie/Chowski/Williams and they have looked pretty good together so far. As long as they don't go full blown aids after one loss, they should do fine this season as well.


On defence Burns and WildStajan will be a pair. For the first time, Burns gets to not be overpaid on a team that's expected to be a bottom feeder and he's playing with a guy in Stajan who has a lot of potential. After Cwooks decided to retire (RIP SARS) I needed a new dpartner and that's where Happy Gilmore comes in. Happy is an interesting kid but the sky is the limit for him when it comes to his potential. Just don't be aids.... The 3rd pair will consist of Nazzy (Who is the only one on the team that I haven't seen play yet) and Hype Telescope who was a pretty easy re sign choice after consistently improving game after game last season.


In net Kucheran will be the starter. Him and Chuck backpacked this team for 6 weeks last season while we struggled to score so bringing him back at 1 mil was a no brainer. KickaPoo is the backup and despite having no idea who he was, after a few games with him I was very impressed.



4) Tampa Bay Lightning


Although I'm not a fan of some of the moves made by this team, I still think they'll be a playoff team. Nick and Entry have proven they can put together and run good teams, and I guess that's what they'll be doing this season. Not sure how much input Domi is actually putting in besides getting BigMummy from what I heard. Their top 2 lines are Schwartz/Headshot/SupSop, GFalquez/GoalieGodz/MT. Schwartz is coming off a season where he went to Nashville at 4.5 yet got traded for General, Headshot is a natural LW and SupSop played on the highest scoring CHL team but was only 5th in goals. I question whether this line can compete against other top lines but they aren't bad. MT had a breakout season and while I don't think he'll do as good as last season, I've played with him enough to know it wasn't a fluke. GoalieGodz is coming off of 2 solid seasons with the Sharks and should fit right in between GFalquez and MT. The 3rd line is shaping up to be TakeNotes/Nick/metroboomin. Metro seems like he could be an odd ball but has decent stats and 750k should help make this a good 3rd line.


On Defence Entry and Domi are the free contracts playing on the left and their partners are DanteLuc and BigMummy. Dante should have no problem playing with Entry, but it's BigMummy that I worry about. I've seen how effective Mummy can be as a defensive dman but I've also seen leads blown because trying to be an offensive dman doesn't work out for him. If he plays to his strengths, him and Domi should be a solid pair 2nd pair. If not Domi might make his second move since becoming owner, by shipping mummy out. The 3rd pair will consist of Invidious and Maxuter. Maxuter was once claimed off waivers and traded for an eventual top 5 pick a few seasons back, never forget.


In net they have Rev who despite not winning the Vezina for the 3rd straight season, had incredible stats. Hadji will be backing him up and despite not being NHL since S2 he didn't seem too bad the few times I've played with him.



5) Montreal Canadiens


Well it's been this way fore a few seasons, I am doubting this team again but I do have them in the middle of the pack. Like last season it's the defence that has me a bit worried but the offence looks good. RVClutch took GM and will play with Stamkos and Wolf. I don't think it's a bad 1st line at all, I just don't think it will match up well against other top lines very well. The 2nd line will be a west line after acquiring Anze and NickyP through trades and scooping up Boog in bidding. Back to back 21 win seasons for Nicky but for some reason I still have doubts. Keep doing your thing on west though and it wont matter if anyone has doubts. Vargy/Silky/Virus should do well as a 3rd line. Both Silky and Virus are coming off 17 win seasons while Vargy had a very good S9 in the AHL.


Why get HazeHype at 5 mil, when you can get a Pac for 3.5? For real though I don't know who APacOfMidgets is but he had 1 good xbox season in S20. He'll be playing with GrapeCherry who somehow got 19 wins last season. I just don't have faith in these 2 as a first pair. The west pair will be lead by Grimrock who is back for the first time since S7. If he's still as good as I remember this could turn out to be a great 2 season contract that he is on. He'll be playing with Chelios who is coming off a decent season with Colorado. Goalscorer, like GrapeCherry, “somehow” got 18 wins last season. He'll be on the 3rd pair with OhBak.


In net they got JkHank and Goalieman. Don't know anything about either but good luck this season and I hope you don't feel like BiPolarJew did after last season.



6) Detroit Red Wings


To me this team always screams “Average” and it's not much different this season. JLM is back for a 4th consecutive season and Blind Ref is his GM who will be playing C this season. They are going to try and really balance out all 3 lines to start the season and Im not the biggest fan. Lish/Ref/Jasono and Furdayz/JLM/Phil will be their first 2 lines. They got Jasono back at 1 mil and Furdayz at 500k which I think is great, but having Lish and OneNutPhil at a combined 9.5 I think is gonna hurt them. Lish is not the same player he used to be and OneNutPhil is coming off a sub par season on a Sharks team that made the finals. Im also not sure how good Ref is at C but regardless, I dont see these lines matching up well against other 1st and 2nd lines. The 3rd line is Trycept/Illy/Coorsi. They got IllyFilly at 500k. Good contract, much aids. Can we talk about Coorsi for a second? This dude has been playing since S1 and just scored a career low 27 goals in S9. I feel like he's someone that doesn't get talked about much and yet the guy has consistently scored 30 pretty much every season. Maybe because he's 6 mil but produces enough that people don't mention him? He has only made the playoffs 5 times though and been out of the first round only once back in S2


On defence they picked up FoxPresentation and while I don't think I'd go 6 on him, considering the depth at LD in bidding I dont think this is a bad contract at all. His partner will be Snizzah who is back after a solid first season with Detroit. The other pairs will be Fairman/Purpledragon and Shotgunner/Senatorsfan. Shotgunner played very well in his short stint with the team last season but other than that, I don't see the others having a good enough impact to help the team.


In net they have KeenCJ who did a good job as the back up last season and Ciulla who's coming off an average AHL season.



7) Boston Bruins


After being GM for the Islanders last season and helping the team surprisingly make the 2nd round of the playoffs, Deerhunter gets awarded his own team and will likely be looking to prove doubters like myself, wrong again. Like how I felt about the Islanders last season, I don't think the areas in which they spent their cap was bad, I just don't like who, and how much they spent on some guys. They went into bidding with AJ, Deer, and the GM Keeps on the roster, who are the 3 C's on the team. On LW they have Sublime and Soul who are good depth guys along with Toffoli who has yet to prove himself in the NHL. On RW they spent 9 on Tmills and 4 on Bcrae. I think Tmills is a great player, dude is sick on the sticks but I'm sure he even knows that he is well overpaid. Hit 60 points only once in S8 but has been a consistent 50+ point player. Bcrae is coming off a 54 point season himself but him and Tmills are going to have to produce most of the scoring if this team is gonna be successful.


On defence I don't think Gary is severely overpaid, but I thought going into bidding that the depth on RD was really good. Alot of guys went for a lot lower than I expected and Gary was one that I felt was overpaid. Fuman was traded for Dparans and a 3rd round pick so Dparans gets to be talked about twice and he didn't agree with what I said about him the first time. Let's see what happens this time. Boston got a downgrade on defence but much better availability by getting Dparans for Fuman. Perdikiotes and Jmorris are brought in by Deer who played with both on the Islanders last season. They need to have big seasons if this team is gonna succeed. Looped finally finds a home after being tossed around and will play with Tronthedon on the third pair.


In net they have FishyDangles and TrashClown who are both coming off great seasons in the AHL but have not played a full NHL season. Im not saying they're not capable, I just think it would have been very beneficial for this team to grab someone who has experience and is a proven starter.



8) Ottawa Senators


Im not sure this team is gonna score a lot of goals. Shot is the only forward on this team that has eclipsed 50 points in his most recent season of forward and that was in S8. Haze and Ransom are the top 2 C's and both are natural wingers that are coming off sub 40 point seasons. Darse is the 3C and he barely had a point per game last season. On wing they have Shot and Knees who are capable of being good top 6 forwards and Bidou can be a good support winger, but there's just not enough talent on this team. One of Kols, Krafty, mtlcor are also going to be on the 2nd line. Not ideal.


On defence I don't think they did that bad but it's definitely not enough to help the offence. John Sheldon is back for his second season with Ottawa. Respect. They went into bidding and picked up 3 natural dmen who played forward last season, that now probably wish they stayed at forward so this didnt happen. EzDangles, JonFromEarth and BJ are 3 solid dmen and along with JohnSheldon make up a nice looking top 4. Exicutioner and Pucku are on the 3rd pair and you could just get someone at 500k to provide what Pucku's gonna give you as a 3rd pair guy.


Starting in net for the Sens is ICallSoWhat and backing him up will be Jason. It could definitely be a long season for both guys.



Well that does it for the Atlantic Division. Again, I wanted to get all 4 out before games started but the Pacific will be out tomorrow. I enjoy making these and I hope everyone enjoys reading them. I wish others would make some too as I really like seeing different opinions from others.

 

Pacific please. Great writeup as usual though purple

 

Good write-up!

 

Happy for Norris

 

Solid write-up!

 

#kawkup

 

I didn't disagree by much, I just think I am overpaid period, not just overpaid for not playing west. Also my avail is barely better than fuman's so I still disagree

 

I feel bad for Cody he’s stuck with me :/

 

Got the top 5 right, just wrong order. Pretty accurate overall.


"A lot of teams tend to just throw out their 3rds against Claus' teams so both lines should have no problem getting 20+ wins."

Sub 20 wins and Sitful got banned. Completely unexpected.


MT had a breakout season and while I don't think he'll do as good as last season, I've played with him enough to know it wasn't a fluke.

36G 36A 72P

"Can we talk about Coorsi for a second? This dude has been playing since S1 and just scored a career low 27 goals in S9. I feel like he's someone that doesn't get talked about much and yet the guy has consistently scored 30 pretty much every season."

41 goals


"Duster could be our BakTheGreat of S7/S8."


Most wins and 2nd in PTS among FLA skaters.


If anyone else wants to add their 2 cents, have at it.