Bullish take on Caps.

So who wins Wild Card?

hahahah boys are going in as underdogs I love it. But my assumption is 5 teams from Metro make playoffs. Rangers / caps wild cards. Ill bump pens up.

swap rangers/caps, SEA/LA and BUF/BOS. Otherwise probably about right.

LA is a wagon so no. I think Boston misses playoffs. I could agree with the rangers / caps but I think rangers are a worse team than they were the last 2 years.

Their goaltending tandem is Talbot and Copley. Their top prospects that everyone raves about haven't hit, and their top C/D aren't getting any younger. They're good. Theyre not better than seattle.

Boston won't miss. Theyll be much worse, sure, but its still a great defense and goaltending tandem. OTT might challenge, but BUF? Lol, biggest add was bostons sixth best d-man.

Sorry Buddy but your team sins’t even competing anymore. Caps should finish 6th, no higher.

Bet

If you take a sample of the 10 years prior to COVID postseasons, there was an average of 6 new postseason teams from year to year. Fans collectively ALWAYS predict closer to status quo then act all surprised when historical patterns end up being very predictable. I'm going with NYI, BOS, FLA miss in the EC. PIT, BUF, OTT make it in. SEA, WPG, MIN miss in the WC. CGY, VAN, NSH in.

lol why would the caps AND the pens jump the rangers? They’re coming off 107 and 110 back to back seasons bringing back the same core and upgraded coach

Seattle's goalie tandem is Grubauer and Driedger which isn't much better. The Kings forward group and defensive group are better and deeper giving the very slight edge to Seattle with goaltending. Seattle will be lucky if they bump Vancouver or Calgary out of the last playoff spot.

l o l

The kings skaters aren't better. maybe close, but not better. Kopitar is going to get worse, Beniers is only going to get better. Dunn is in his 20s, Doughty is aging out.

But im laughing at "lucky to bump vancouver or calgary" soooo many people said that last year too lmao. Every year the canucks spend to avoid a rebuild and just make their team worse. and calgary is stuck in limbo with a bunch of pending UFAs Conroy wont trade.

Kopi scored more points than any Kracken last season and probably will again this season. Fiala is going to get better and with the addition of Dubios that's another young threat to be dealt with. Doughty as well had a better point total season than any Kracken defensemen and will probably do it again not to mention the massive bump Gavrikov is going to have on both sides of the puck. Copley also had a better season than both of Seattle's goaltenders idk how well Talbot is going to hang in there though to be honest.

Calgary lost their 2 best offensive producers last season so im expecting Huberdeau to have a big season and depending on what they do with their UFAs will have a big impact on where they end up. If they make good moves I can easily see them pushing out Seattle same with Vancouver.

I really don't get this repeated argument that the Kings will plummet with poor goaltending. Kings goalie tandem up until the TDL was Copley, Quick and Petersen last season with Durzi in over Gavrikov at 2LD and they were a still playoff team with under.900 goaltending. The goalie tandem is not ideal but it is statistically an improvement over last season, the Kings also allow the 4th least shots on goal and limit high-danger chances. If even one of Copley, Talbot, or Rittich can string together .890+ goaltending the Kings are very likely a playoff team, this is without mentioning they will have boosted their offense iwth PLD and Clarke/Spence.

Im not disputing their status as a playoff team. I just dont think they are better than seattle.

Do not sleep on LA. They will compete with the oilers like they have been doing.

Seattle's depth means the scoring is spread out, so it doesnt really matter whether an individual on LA outscored a rookie on Seattle. The canadian teams dont have nearly the amount of depth seattle does. They think they do because they overpaid for it, but thats not how it works.

I think both teams are in similar situations with question marks in goal, and have improved a major facet of their team. I really like what Seattle did defensively, while the Kings leaned in more offensively. Both moves to improve the team just will have to wait and see how this pays off.

I wouldn't get too wrapped into rankings as Seattle and LA were interchangeable in ranking most of last season and probably are this season as well, Edmonton and Vegas should be over both teams as they have a more secure goalie situation. The question is, have the Kings established enough offense to offset the goals a weaker tandem let in and has Seattle bolstered the blue line so they can get a better season out of Grubauer. Until we know this, I think we can say both teams are safe bets in the 3/4 spot. It should be noted that the Kings (+2200) are favored a little bit in cup odds than Seattle (+3000) via gambling sites, but I think they are much closer than people think.

The Kadri contract is going to age very badly for Calgary without a doubt and could be a massive set back for them. If they can pick up another top 6 winger some how I'd put money they push out Seattle. If Vacouver adds some more defense I would also put money down that they push out Seattle. I'm not saying Seattle is bad because they are a good team but Edmonton Vegas and LA are currently much further ahead of them as where Calgary Vancouver and Seattle are all in the same pool with each other.

I cant get to the idea that those teams ahead are "much farther ahead" Seattles cap is in way better shape and hasnt offloaded any major prospects/picks yet. Calgary and vancouver are capped out. They cant make the kind of adds that would close the gap between them and seattle.