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.
- riceroni

What climbed up your ass this morning?!

Excuse me, sir. How close were they to beating the team that went to the Stanley Cup?
- willschulme

As close as Montreal was the season before they finished dead last in the conference. What's your point?

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.
- riceroni

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.
- PrinceLH

He drove Toronto D crazy the other night. He ate Kadri alive in the faceoff circle and frustrated him time and again. The only time Kadri broke out was when JPG was in the penalty box.

I think Kadri will be seeing JPG a lot once the regular season gets rolling.

Or the actual merit those stats carry. No?
- Gunslinger

Yeah I probably put a little too much weight in them. But they seem to be pretty decent indicators. Loss of Kovy is going to be to tough to overcome though. I'm guessing Leafs grab one of those spots.

Or the actual merit those stats carry. No?
- Gunslinger

The three teams below the devils were 3/4 of the conference finals

He drove Toronto D crazy the other night. He ate Kadri alive in the faceoff circle and frustrated him time and again. The only time Kadri broke out was when JPG was in the penalty box.

I think Kadri will be seeing JPG a lot once the regular season gets rolling.
- spatso

Kadri was manhandling him all night and left him bleeding. Not sure what game you were watching...

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

brodeur missed a good chunk and hedberg lost pretty much every start and many were due to weak goals, i believe schneider is a big upgrade

devils have much more depth this year, yeah missing kovy sucks but its not the end of the world

i mean how many times have the devils beaten the "odds" and made the playoffs when others didnt give them a chance, pretty good record at that so to say they wont or cant make the playoffs is just ignorant

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

Agreed.

1. Boston Bruins *
2. N.Y. Rangers*
3. Pittsburgh Penguins
4. Detroit Red Wings
5. Toronto Maple Leafs
6. Ottawa Senators
7. New York Islanders
8. Montreal Canadiens
-------------------------
9. Philadelphia Flyers
10. Columbus Blue Jackets
11. Washington Capitals
12. Carolina Hurricanes
13. N.J. Devils
14. Tampa Bay Lightning
15. Florida Panthers
16. Buffalo Sabres

Todd Cordell: 2013-14 Eastern Conference Playoff Predictions
- Todd.Cordell

Buckle up

He drove Toronto D crazy the other night. He ate Kadri alive in the faceoff circle and frustrated him time and again. The only time Kadri broke out was when JPG was in the penalty box.

I think Kadri will be seeing JPG a lot once the regular season gets rolling.
- spatso

Talk about overstatement.

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

clarkson really isnt as big of a loss as many try to make it out to be, other than the locker room presence


you will see why

also kovy missed a fair amount of games so that stat isnt too far fetched

Agree, but switch Toronto with Montreal. Toronto always seems to find a way.

Looking forward to Kujawinski. He's looking more and more like a big time prospect.
- willschulme

Yeah Toronto always finds their way into the playoffs

Kadri was manhandling him all night and left him bleeding. Not sure what game you were watching...
- Gunslinger

He was actually cut by the shield of his helmet when Clarkson tried to pull it off. I think you better check the head to head play when JPG and Kadri were on the ice together. Kadri's numbers do not look good.

Kadri was manhandling him all night and left him bleeding. Not sure what game you were watching...
- Gunslinger

He turned away at the most opportune moments.

How is that supposed to be a negative?
- bobert836

Because he played on a good team and still got smoked in the playoffs by the Sharks and hasn't proven that he can win consistently. Is he worth a top 10 pick in the draft? I don't think so. So lets get this straight. The Devils could have gotten rid of the 29th pick, but didn't last year, in a weak draft, traded their top 10 pick for a dubious goalie that's not won anything and then surrendered their first pick next year, because of cap circumvention. Add to that, the loss of Parise, a year ago, losing Kovelchuk to the KHL and letting Clarkson walk as a UFA. So how does that constitute an upgrade, by adding Clowe and a couple of marginal Euro's?

I agree, but the question to answer is how different Boston will be without Seguin. I think they'll be fine, but you never know.
- willschulme

They are way better than last year

He drove Toronto D crazy the other night. He ate Kadri alive in the faceoff circle and frustrated him time and again. The only time Kadri broke out was when JPG was in the penalty box.

I think Kadri will be seeing JPG a lot once the regular season gets rolling.
- spatso

Lets hope so......Kadri eat's the Senators lunch, everytime he plays them.

He was actually cut by the shield of his helmet when Clarkson tried to pull it off. I think you better check the head to head play when JPG and Kadri were on the ice together. Kadri's numbers do not look good.
- spatso

That's why he scored right? Okay thanks.

Talk about overstatement.
- A_Tree

Check out the face off numbers. JPG was a mind boggling 82%. It is not hyperbole to say he owned Kadri in the face off circle.

Yeah Toronto always finds their way into the playoffs
- shvingter88

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

Personally I think that reading too much into last year is dangerous. Go back and look at standings from previous years after 48 games. They don't necessarily stay the same by game 82. Teams that came out of nowhere like Toronto and Montreal proved nothing last year. As far as I'm concerned, they're coming off a missed playoff season last time we sued a real season.

Because he played on a good team and still got smoked in the playoffs by the Sharks and hasn't proven that he can win consistently. Is he worth a top 10 pick in the draft? I don't think so. So lets get this straight. The Devils could have gotten rid of the 29th pick, but didn't last year, in a weak draft, traded their top 10 pick for a dubious goalie that's not won anything and then surrendered their first pick next year, because of cap circumvention. Add to that, the loss of Parise, a year ago, losing Kovelchuk to the KHL and letting Clarkson walk as a UFA. So how does that constitute an upgrade, by adding Clowe and a couple of marginal Euro's?
- PrinceLH

.......go on

Didn't the Pens have a tough time with the Islanders? The Pens goaltending is so bad in the playoffs, it's not hard to imagine any team having a chance at least. I would still put my money on the Pens, obviously, but I wouldnt be 100% confident.
- Gunslinger

i agree with most of this. you cant really put much stock in last year's team and this year's team.

penguins got guys like iginla and morrow who provided that leadership, but were constantly playing in positions not comfortable to them and really slowed down the bottom 6.

this year you will see some speed and scoring on that 3rd line.

the penguins lost to the bruins for one simple reason, we tried to beat them at their own game. we tried to fight and hit and that hurt us because that is not our style. Toronto was so successful because they skated hard and fast around boston creating turnovers and problems all over the ice. penguins worried more about hitting the guy than scoring goals and it cost them big time.

add that to the fact that letang should be calmer this year with a d partner like rob scuderi and our new assistant coach martin who will work with letang and I think you will see a 100% different penguins team.

about MAF... guy saw a sports doctor over the summer about his mental problems so hopefully he sorted them out. really hope he puts a great 1st half together and he gets back into the equation for goalie for team Canada, because right now, no goalie is clearly #1 there.

but yes, ill put my money on the penguins, feeling good but not great.