You can follow Todd on Twitter @ToddCordell!
Opening night is just 10 days away, which means it's time for my annual playoff prediction posts. Friday I posted my
Western Conference playoff predictions so now it's time to predict the East.
As I said in my Western Conference prediction post, there is so much parity in the NHL these days and almost every team has enough talent to push for a playoff spot so it's extremely hard to predict.
With that in mind, I always enjoy posting my predictions and looking back at them at year's end. I'm sure many of you are the same way.
Here are my 2013-14 Eastern Conference playoff predictions.
* = division winner
1. Ottawa Senators *
2. Pittsburgh Penguins*
3. Boston Bruins
4. Detroit Red Wings
5. Montreal Canadiens
6. New York Rangers
7. Washington Capitals
8. New Jersey Devils
-------------------------
9. New York Islanders
10. Toronto Maple Leafs
11. Philadelphia Flyers
12. Carolina Hurricanes
13. Columbus Blue Jackets
14. Tampa Bay Lightning
15. Florida Panthers
16. Buffalo Sabres
Quick notes on the teams I have missing the playoffs:
- I love John Tavares and believe the Islanders are on the right track. That said, with an extra team in the East this year and the Detroit Red Wings - who are essentially locks to make the playoffs - coming over, I think they'll take a small step back this year. If Evgeni Nabokov wasn't their goaltender, I'd probably switch them with New Jersey for 8th in the East.
- Despite all the Leafs' off-season shopping, I think they're going to be a lesser team this year. They lost a lot of speed and skill in Mikhail Grabovski, Clarke MacArthur, Matt Frattin etc. and elected to replace it with slower, grittier players like Dave Bolland and David Clarkson. They still haven't re-signed Cody Franson and they plan on running out a couple of goons every night in Colton Orr and Frazer McLaren rather than dressing a guy with talent. Add all that up and take some of the luck out of the picture with a longer season, and you have a team that misses the playoffs.
- I like the Flyers offence, but I have some questions about their system and defence. Add that to a goaltending duo of Steve Mason and Ray Emery and I had to put them on the outside looking in.
- The Hurricanes are in a similar situation with the Flyers. Good offence, but there are some big question marks on defence. Carolina doesn't really play a defensive minded system to make up for it. If Cam Ward bounces back and has a big year I could see them pushing for a playoff spot, but I think in the end they'll fall short.
- Sergei Bobrovsky was ridiculously good last year and they missed the playoffs. The odds of Bobrovsky duplicating his success over an 82 game season is highly unlikely. I don't think the Blue Jackets improved enough this off-season to make up the difference.
- We know the Lightning won't have any problems scoring, but keeping the puck out of their net is probably going to be an issue. I like Ben Bishop's potential, but at this point they're running out two inexperienced goaltenders and icing a defence that has some holes. I don't think the offence will be good enough to push them into a playoff spot in an over-filled conference.
- I don't know why, but I have a feeling Florida won't be as bad as we expect them to be this season. I just couldn't justify predicting they'd finish higher than any team, besides maybe Tampa Bay, that I have ahead of them.
- Buffalo has some very good young players coming through the system. The problem with them is the kids can only do so much and won't be able to account for all the holes on their roster.
**
- Ryan Kujawinski made his season debut for the Kingston Frontenacs Friday night and scored two goals in a 5-2 win. Expect a lot more big offensive performances as the season goes along.
**
Henrik Tallinder wasn't a fan of Pete DeBoer.
Is Martin Brodeur coming back next season? It sounds like he might be.
A look at the Devils player ratings in NHL 14.
A look at the Devils top five defence prospects.
A look at the Devils top five forward prospects.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Email: [email protected]
New Jersey Devils Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»