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- dmarsden2988

please tell us more
- dmarsden2988

I completely forgot how much one mans opinion could be factually wrong

Bryan Murray is putting together a very impressive young team in Ottawa. They are also a big physical team that plays nasty. But, I think they are still a year away from prime time. They will be very good but not 1st place.

Pageau is going to be a very good player.

I completely forgot how much one mans opinion could be factually wrong
- bobert836

Ever read a Garth blog?

Bryan Murray is putting together a very impressive young team in Ottawa. They are also a beg physical team that plays nasty. But, I think they are still a year away from prime time. They will be very good but not 1st place.

Pageau is going to be a very good player.
- spatso

Holy (frank)...not this again.

Okay, we get it. Pageau is as good, if not better, than Claude Giroux. We get it already, give it up.

hey todd, good blog but not really realistic seeing you don't have us in last place overall.

Holy (frank)...not this again.

Okay, we get it. Pageau is as good, if not better, than Claude Giroux. We get it already, give it up.
- Gunslinger

Do you really think he is going to be better than Giroux?

Okay...this is just silly. They played the same amount of games as every other team, and it's not like they snuck in 8th place. The Leafs team is young and improved, they should be fine.
- Gunslinger

They played the same amount of games, but thats not what I'm saying. How many times has a team had an amazing first half and then poop the bed in the second half? And vice versa. Look at two years ago, at the half way mark in the season, I'm pretty sure the Wild were 1st place in the league, and ended up missing the playoffs.

You can tell that this is a homers blog. Jersey in the playoffs? That's where the credibility takes a hit. Islanders, Habs, Leafs, will all be better the Jersey. How do you lose your top scorers, add a goalie with your first rounder and expect to be better then the team that missed the playoffs last year?

Do you really think he is going to be better than Giroux?
- spatso

I don't think he is going to be anywhere near as good as Giroux. Only a goof would.

They played the same amount of games, but thats not what I'm saying. How many times has a team had an amazing first half and then poop the bed in the second half? And vice versa. Look at two years ago, at the half way mark in the season, I'm pretty sure the Wild were 1st place in the league, and ended up missing the playoffs.
- bobert836

Yea, but now you're dealing in hypotheticals instead of the evidence before you. Sure they MAY have fallen off, but thats not a guarantee. Especially when the team finished 5th and not 8th. Teams can collapse, but it's rare and its the exception more than the rule to fall that hard. Besides, they played slightly more than half a season.

Bryan Murray is putting together a very impressive young team in Ottawa. They are also a big physical team that plays nasty. But, I think they are still a year away from prime time. They will be very good but not 1st place.

Pageau is going to be a very good player.
- spatso

Yeah, and the Leafs gave Pageau a nice little love tap, the other night. Sure, he shone against the Habs, but who wouldn't have, in last year's playoffs? Wait until he has to look down the barrel of a Lucic, in Boston, or the Leafs two enforcers. He's about to find out that it's going to get a lot harder to make the nifty little plays, like he did against the Habs.

That's a double edged sword you're swinging. One could easily wonder if you watched any Eastern Conference hockey last year, let alone any Islander games from your West Coast bathwater cesspool?
- Gunslinger

The other day they scored three with half a team, so don't be so quick to make judgments.
- willschulme

The Islanders had 3 regulars in that lineup.

Yea, but now you're dealing in hypotheticals instead of the evidence before you. Sure they MAY have fallen off, but thats not a guarantee. Especially when the team finished 5th and not 8th. Teams can collapse, but it's rare and its the exception more than the rule to fall that hard. Besides, they played slightly more than half a season.
- Gunslinger

PREDICTING HOW A TEAM IS GOING TO DO IN AN UPCOMING SEASON IS DEALING IN HYPOTHETICALS

Okay...this is just silly. They played the same amount of games as every other team, and it's not like they snuck in 8th place. The Leafs team is young and improved, they should be fine.
- Gunslinger

Not to take sides, but the devils had the highest even strength fenwick last year. I think that is at least some evidence of some pretty horrible luck.

http://stats.hockeyanalys...5&sort=FFPCT&sortdir=DESC

PREDICTING HOW A TEAM IS GOING TO DO IN AN UPCOMING SEASON IS DEALING IN HYPOTHETICALS
- bobert836

Dude, you were talking about the Leafs free falling last season if it were a full season. Are you okay? Rhetorical.

You can tell that this is a homers blog. Jersey in the playoffs? That's where the credibility takes a hit. Islanders, Habs, Leafs, will all be better the Jersey. How do you lose your top scorers, add a goalie with your first rounder and expect to be better then the team that missed the playoffs last year?
- PrinceLH

How is that supposed to be a negative?

I don't think he is going to be anywhere near as good as Giroux. Only a goof would.
- Gunslinger

Your probably right.

Ottawa has had a very good training camp. So far JPG has been their best player. But Giroux is great talent. Pageau is better on face offs and is probably a better skater. Still has to prove he can do it in the regular season.

It is one thing to skate circles around a small Montreal team in the playoffs. It is another to see what he does against big teams like Boston and Toronto when they start to play for real.

Not to take sides, but the devils had the highest even strength fenwick last year. I think that is at least some evidence of some pretty horrible luck.

http://stats.hockeyanalys...5&sort=FFPCT&sortdir=DESC
- cryptical77

Or the actual merit those stats carry. No?

I completely forgot how much one mans opinion could be factually wrong
- bobert836

clarkson will now be a 50 goal scorer and be a great skater because he is now in the best organization in the world and away from a trap devils team who has no offense

Leafs fans have false confidence from last year. In the Boston series a lot of Leaf fans don't remember that Boston was tired coming into the series after playing the extra makeup games with Ottawa and Tampa. Also, their D was injured for a lot of the series and I think game 6 they played with 5 D because Seidenberg got injured on the 1st shift. But, don't let those facts get in the way of planning the parade.

The Leafs will miss the playoffs that's for sure. I don't even think they will be in 10, I am thinking at best they make 11th, I can see them around 13th at the end of the season.

Hopefully Kessel get's frustrated and signs somewhere else next summer.

The leafs at 10th? For the first time in nearly a decade I would be surprised if they didn't make the playoffs.

Ottawa at first maybe, I could see it happening. Pits and Bos make sense. Detroit is out, for sure. I can see them fighting for a playoff spot come feb-march, but they'll miss out this year. Otherwise the rest of the teams I can see making it swap Islanders for the Devils and that's probably more accurate.

Dude, you were talking about the Leafs free falling last season if it were a full season. Are you okay? Rhetorical.
- Gunslinger

No I'm saying the performance of a team in a 48 game season compared to a 82 game season is completely different

Not to take sides, but the devils had the highest even strength fenwick last year. I think that is at least some evidence of some pretty horrible luck.

http://stats.hockeyanalys...5&sort=FFPCT&sortdir=DESC
- cryptical77

And they had Kovelchuk and Clarkson too, but now they're gone.