No

As of now, 50/50. Replace Zaitsev with a guy like Severson by trade and I think they make it. Also Zub is a top 4D. Hamonic is bottom pair

Very close, I think Detroit is ahead of them in terms of likelihood to make it, but they're right there. If the Caps/Bruins/Pens fall off, it's very possible.

I don’t agree Detroit is ahead of them. I think Ottawa is slightly better. I’d take Ottawas top 9 over Detroit but it’s close. Detroit has their fair share of issues on D and Husso needs to prove he wasn’t a one hit wonder

No, both Detroit and Ottawa both got bored of their rebuilds and decided to speed things up which never works. Ottawa at least got star players so they have a better chance.

They didn’t speed it up. No team ever completes a rebuild without adding some sort of external help. Name me one team that became a contender with ONLY drafted players

Yes, the Leafs are on the downward spiral thank's to the Sens dumping Murray onto them.

Good call Sens, No Murray increases your playoff chance and now decreases the playoff hopes of a Division rival.

I dunno, it's very close. Detroit added a lot of good pieces and depth. OTT just added DeBrincat and Talbot, while subracting Brown. Both teams improved a lot, it'll be interesting to see it play out.

You forgot Giroux who is a massive upgrade on Brown. Brown was gonna fall to the 4th line if they kept him. Ottawa is also adding Sanderson and Pinto (who was injured)

Fair, I actually won money because he signed in OTT, silly I would forget him of all players.

Ottawa's RD will be interesting to watch unfold. They could very easily be okay with Thompson/JBD and Sanderson stepping in. Is JBD going back to school for another year?

JBD played all of last year in the AHL 😂😂😂. One of them will impress in camp and earn a spot I’m sure

Ottawa has two forward lines that r better than Detroit’s first line. Meanwhile Ben Chiarot is literally just the lefty Nikita Zaitsev at this point.

Sanderson, Zub and Chabot r fairly equal to Seider, Hronek and Edvinsson. I think Detroit’s d is better but it isn’t by much.

Haven't been paying a lot of attention to OTT until they made these offseason moves. Going to be interesting to see who falls out of the playoff picture from last year. I really don't like Florida this year and could see them have a shocking fallout.

I’ve always liked JBD more than Thomson. Sens fans don’t seem to have a preference tho.

I agree. Floridas D looks worse on paper than most of the division. And offensive depth is meh this year

They have the worst left side of defense in the East, Bobrovsky isn't great, and Knight ran into some issues last season. Duclair is out long term and they're over cap. Tkachuk cost them a top 4 D and top line winger. I'm not sure how they could possibly think they improved.

Ottawa reminds me so much of the 15-16 Sabres. Got ROR, Kane Lehner on top of Eichel Reinhart, Ristolainen, but the team was so bad defensively. Ottawa defense hasn’t improved from last season which probably is going to be a problem.

Thomson is more of a Severson type where he’s a 2 way Dman but leaning more towards offence.

JBD didn’t put up pts but he’s a stabilizer. Great defensively and a great shot blocker. Like a Marino type

Agreed same thoughts

Just removing Zaitsev improves the D by 50%

I feel like he would be traded by now. I don’t think they realize how bad he is. Dj smith seems to always talk highly of him.

They are a playoff caliber team, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they will make the playoffs. We are at a point in nhl history where all of the teams who have been good for the past generation are still holding on at the very end of their window, and they are still good teams. I am talking about teams like Washington, Pitt, Boston. At the same time all the teams that have been rebuilding in recent years are exiting their rebuild - Detroit ottawa Jersey.

So will they make the playoffs? I think the biggest variable will be how does Boston manage with their injuries for the first 2 months (also under a new coach). If Boston can stay around 500 I think they probably take the spot from ottawa. On paper I think they are a considerably better team when healthy.

Yes

He drags Chabot down. If Chabot had a good partner and Zub can play with Sanderson and Holden/Brann can play 3rd pair, that looks pretty good. Holden was an underrated surprise last year. Was a solid #5

Yeah shoot I had Zub on pairing one but I must’ve accidentally moved him there…