Ottawa is way way too low

I've asked this to everyone. Why New Jersey above Carolina? No one has had a good answer for it. Carolina while riddled with injuries and players drastically underperforming were able to win the division last year. Aho getting back to a PPG, Svechnikov healthy, Teravainen rebounding, Bunting coming in helps that forward core a lot. Their blueline just got multiple drug injections with DeAngelo and Orlov. Carolina's roster and coaching is just straight up better than the Devils' so why New Jersey ahead of Carolina? This isn't meant to be a shot at the standings, just curious because no one has been able to give a definitive reason. New Jersey lost Sharangovich, Tatar, Severson, Graves... Carolina haven't lost anything. Canes' off-season additions were probably better with Orlov, DeAngelo and Bunting being better than Toffoli and Miller. Carolina's netminding trio is better than Schmid and Vanacek, so why New Jersey over Carolina?

Ottawa will get 95 easily.

Florida winning that one random game against Pittsburgh in OT.

Man 75 points lmfao

Nate bastian 100 point season incoming

Doesn't hold a candle next to Jordan Martinook's incoming 150 point season

I can't, I am being honest with you here. This is based off mostly on how i feel teams will do. Will carolina be a powerhouse this year? 100%. But I just have a feeling that New jersey just has a winning combonation. And if they really do go out and get helly then i mean they could be really unstoppable

Also one last thing, I put NJ barely over the canes I can absolutely see the canes winning the division

I have the east the exact same way, except with the canes of NJ. But nice job with this

The argument would be. The devils were neck and neck with the canes most of the season

here are the changes

Blackwood --> Schmid : upgrade
Zetterlund/Boqy --> Holtz :upgrade
Wood --> Foote : upgrade
Tatar --> Toffoli : large upgrade
Yegor --> Meier : massive upgrade
Smith --> Bahl : Upgrade
Graves --> L Hughes : Upgrade imo
Severson --> Miller : big downgrade

The severson loss will be big, but other than that the devils roster is much better than what they had last february, when they were neck and neck with carolina

Carolina didn't have Svechnikov down the stretch, so they won the division without Svech. So compare that to adding Svechnikov, Orlov, DeAngelo to a team that hasn't lost anything. The gap between the two is going to probably get bigger this year

Devils have the better forwards, Carolina better Dmen (unless Luke Hughes has a Makar type rookie season), and then it just comes down to goalies. I’d say pretty even but unpredictable.

That's a pretty massive jump for Colorado. Why do you think they'll have such a great season?

Their defensive core is arguably the best in the league, with that i think georgiev will have a big season for them as well this year. And of course their offense is superstar level, with rantenen, mackinnon, landy (when he is back), the additions of tatar, johansen, drouin, wood and colton are amazing, and their depth is quite seep as well. The avs I believe are one of, if not, the most well-rounded and winning-capable teams in the league

That's interesting. I don't think their defense has improved from last season and they aren't a very deep team offensively. Landeskog won't be back until the playoffs.

I've made this argument before I'll make it again, the goalies favor Carolina. Strongly. Freddie and Raanta are a year removed from winning the William M Jennings, and Freddie was 4th in the Vezina race ( AND should have been higher). Kochetkov's better than Schmid and we saw that. Plus, the gap between the defensive cores is probably bigger than the gap between the offenses. I'd call Meier and Bratt comparables to Svechnikov and Necas. Hughes is probably better than Aho, but Carolina's depth makes up for it. Mercer and Jarvis are scarily similar. Hischier's an upgrade on Kotkaniemi offensively sure, but if KK has a season like the 2nd half he had last year, it's not by much. If we then flip this and look at the blueline, Slavin is better than Hamilton, Burns is better than Sigenthaller, Orlov is better than Marino, Pesce is better than Colin Miller, and this Canes defensive unit still has Skjei, DeAngelo, etc... who blow the young kids out of the water. I don't understand the Devils being picked to win the division at all because they are just a slightly weaker version of the Hurricanes. With the Rangers predictions, I at least get Shesterkin revenge tour. New Jersey just doesn't have that

The take on the forwards is bad.

sure i'll give you meier and bratt vs svechnikov and necas.

Hughes is a tier above anyone else on either team. Not at all comparable to Aho, who's comparable to hischier.
There is no way in hell you compared bad 2c good 3c kk to 80 point selke candidate hischier with a straight face.
Mercer is a level above Jarvis. one was a 14 goal 40 point player, the other was a 27 goal 56 point player.
then there's toffoli who you ignored, and the devils 3rd line which will consist of Haula Palat and potential 20+ goal scorer Holtz

And Freddie and Raanta were nothing special analytically last year.

Schmid+vanacek: 13.3 GSAx (schmid 8.2 vitek 5.1)
Freddie+Raanta: NEGATIVE 2.2 (freddie -3.5 raanta 1.3)

Kochy was 4.9 if you want to include him tho

Aho's much more comparable to Hughes than Hischier. Kotkaniemi scored at a 60 point pace during the 2nd half of last season, he's a good 2C. He proved that time and again. He's also great defensively and much more comparable to Hischier. Mercer is not a tier above Jarvis, they're very comparable. Jarvis also had a stint playing C... I ignored Toffoli because I figured you could see the Teravainen comparison there, and the Devils 3rd line compared to Carolina's Staal line (which was the best in the NHL in terms of xG according to money puck) is a mismatch. You seem to forget Haula is a Canes reject himself. Holtz is a rookie, you cannot call him a potential 20 goal scorer when he's played what 30 NHL games? So what, is Jack Drury a potential 20 goal scorer? Stop it. Then there's Bunting against a declining Ondrej Palat. Stefan Noesen scored 14 goals last year. The gap between the forward cores is not as big as you're making it out.

So what about the year before when Freddie had a top 5 season ever by an NHL goalie? Just going to casually ignore that?

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Hughes: 46 goals 99 points'
Aho: 36 goals 67 points
Hischier: 31 goals 80 points with selke defense

Mercer had TWICE as many goals as jarvis, they aren't comparable
Toffoli to teuvo????? I guess I forgot when teuvo had a near PPG season last year, or a 35 goal season

You keep making comparisons where the devils player has 10 more goals and 20-30 more points and calling it even lol

1. Hughes
GAP
2. Hischier
3. Aho
gap
4. Meier
5. Svech
6. Bratt
7. Necas
8. Toffoli
9 Mercer
10. KK
11. Jarvis
12. Teuvo

The devils have the best 2 forwards, and 6 of the best 9. You're utterly delusional.

wow, for half a season KK scored at a 60 point pace. SURELY that makes him comparable to an actual 80 point player with selke defense in nico hischier.

for the other half that means he scored at like a 30 point pace so I guess he's actually comparable to michael mcleod

Kotkaniemi's first half of the season saw him have a PDO among the worst in the league, and a sub 1% shooting percentage. Just stop now... if you're trying to say KK isn't a good top 6 center, you need to stop talking.