Canucks are better than the Flames

Idk about FLA being higher than TBL considering all the injuries they got

And I dont think Bobs Cinderalla story gonna continue

That’s debatable! On one hand I feel the core of Calgary is stronger, on the other I feel Calgary has some dysfunction within its system.
If Wolf has a strong rookie season and markstrom rebounds, and their forward group finds chemistry then they are capable of being the 3rd best team in the pacific, if they fail to gel and show more dysfunction they might wind up well below Vancouver.
I can argue the same for Vancouver after last years dysfunction, and yes Vancouver has a better forward group… but Calgary has a clearly superior D core (Hugh’s is a stud but beyond him Calgary’s 2-6 clearly outpaces Vancouvers) and vancouvers goaltending has upside but hasn’t looked it.

Calgary definitely has the better defense (although the Canucks improved a lot by adding Cole + Soucy and buying out OEL)

Vancouver has better forwards imo, and definitely better goaltending. Demko has been great apart from 15 games he played while injured at the start of last season

In the Atlantic, TOR seems like a lock, but the other 2-3 playoff spots are really hard to predict. I don't see MTL in the playoffs this year, but I feel like every other team has a punchers chance to make the dance.

Unless Wright and Kartye make the team and have a relatively high impact this year Seattle is going to be taking a noticeable step back. They took some pretty relevant downgrades this offseason. Dumoulin is super washed so that's a huge downgrade from Soucy on the blue line. They lost nearly all their depth scoring. Between Geekie, Donato, and Sprong they had 44 goals and 101 points. It's also pretty unlikely that McCann repeats last year where he had a 19% shooting rate, that will probably drop at least 3-4%.

Lol no they aren't. Soucy and Cole are decent but it will take a lot more than them to go from the worst PK in the league to something half decent

Wolf has more upside than anyone in Vancouver and save for last year Markstrom has been better than Demko, plus playing in front of better D helps! And I’m not a Calgary fan just my outsider opinion. But I do like Vancouvers forwards! Love Kuzmenko and wish sharks got him over you guys lol.

Canucks have better forwards and goaltending. Calgary has a better d corps but the Canucks will be very improved with the additions of Cole + Soucy and the departure of OEL, as well as a full season in Tocchet’s more structured system

Wolf may have more upside but likely won’t be an elite starter this year. And since Markstrom signed in Calgary Demko has been better despite playing behind a worse defense. In that time

All situations
Demko: .912 SV%, 20.99 GSAA, 14.51 GSAx
Markstrom: .907 SV%, -1.29 GSAA, -5 GSAx

5v5:
Demko: .927 SV% (8th best in the league), 37.52 GSAA (6th), 34.74 GSAx (6th)
Markstrom: .914 SV%, -6.04 GSAA, 0.91 GSAx

Nucks fans said the exact same thing about "a full season of Bruce's system" last year. The team still has most of the same flaws though, defense is mediocre at best, the forward depth is still suspect, goaltending edge isn't even guaranteed if Marky returns to form. Huberdeau will also almost certainly bounce back too. I think Vancouver is still going to run into a lot of the same issues. Need to rely on outscoring their problems, whereas Calgary will still probably be a top 5 team at 5v5 again

A lot would have to go wrong for Ottawa to finish 7th in Atlantic. Not that I think they’re a playoff lock but most certainly will be contending for the 2nd wildcard spot. Tampa Bay is also way too low, can’t see them falling off that hard. Florida is really injured and had a short summer and barely made the playoffs last year, can see them tumbling a bit down the standings.

It's hard to imagine Seattle finishing ahead of Edmonton, but that's why they play the games.

Can't see Tampa finishing below Boston or FLA.
They still have like half a dozen top players lol.

Florida was hurt all year last year and montour is only missing the first month ekblad is the only one missing but he should not play this year until playoffs anyways. Guy can’t stay healthy. But this team will be much more improved even if bob is average. Much better actual dmen. Plus another year in pm system. I see them 2-3 in the division. If bob plays well definitely 2. Remember. It’s essentially the same team that won the presidents trophy with better dmen.

Prob just move down Flo to where TB is but good predictions although I am skeptic about NJD’s goaltending

Vancouver doesn't have much beyond Petterson's line upfront. Everyone else was below water at 5v5 last season. While Calgary doesn't have the flash that Vancouver does, they also are way better defensively among their forwards. Vancouver has to grow as a team quite a bit to make the playoffs. Calgary massively underperformed. I'd say it's more likely they don't underperform again under a new coach while expecting major gains by Vancouver seems like a bigger stretch.

Cole hasn't been decent in a few seasons.

OTT didn’t improve their biggest weaknesses… every other team except MTL, TBL and BOS did but Bos was bound to lose some players and TBL had no cap space…

Ottawa definitely improved their biggest weakness, having Korpisalo with Forsberg healthy will be huge. All they need is a starting goalie at like .908 sv% to be fine. A full season of Chychrun and subtraction of Zaitsev improves their D not to mention Sanderson is a year older. Norris back is also huge so Pinto can play 3C instead of forced up in the Top 6. The team this year is much better than last years so I don’t see them dropping in the division.

They were sort of hurt last year but not much more than any other team. I honestly don’t see much improvement from last years team, more so about the same and without a hot streak towards the end of the season last year, they’d have been out of the playoffs. I just see them in the same tier as Ottawa/Buffalo/Pittsburgh/NYI, all probably good enough to make the playoffs but really only 1 spot for all of them.

Korpisalo struggles in front of bad team defence and in front of good offenses just like Campbell (both of whom struggled in the playoffs before their contract)… And that’s why he got lit up in RD1… Just like Murray and Talbot

Coaching needs a major change too and Pinto is not signed to a contract… Even if he was though, depth and that RD side looks sketchy… And I am not a believer in that top 6… I’ve been consistent about that since before I joined this site

Overall, they should go out and get Gallant IMO and trade Korpisalo while he still has value and go get a better goalie like Hellebuyck for this year

They didn’t play their first game together until March. On a new system and bad defense. Bring in players who can play actual defense and oel should have a better year than last year. Montour be back in a month they’ll be just fine. They’re gonna over take Boston. They aren’t having that year they had last year.

Cole was very good the last 2 seasons. Struggled a bit in 20/21 but was also pretty good in 19/20

https://x.com/jfreshhockey/status/1675192221115580417?s=46&t=Em1kSTrQp8S8RWKcSKV0NA

https://evolving-hockey.com/stats/players/?_inputs_&player=%22Ian%20Cole%22

https://ibb.co/2qqw1m1

The defense will actually have a legitimate top 4 this season, going from Hughes-Schenn and OEL-Myers to Hughes-Cole and Soucy-Hronek

Forward depth isn’t an issue at all. Mikheyev-Pettersson-Kuzmenko was one of the best lines in hockey at 5v5 last season. Beauvillier-Miller-Boeser is a very strong 2nd line, especially if Boeser bounces back. Garland-Suter and one of Pearson/Podkolzin/Hoglander is a good 3rd line, especially if one of the young wingers takes a step forward. Joshua-Blueger and whatever one of those 3 wingers on the 4th line is decent as well

Demko has been much better than Markstrom since he signed in Calgary

All situations
Demko: .912 SV%, 20.99 GSAA, 14.51 GSAx
Markstrom: .906 SV%, -1.29 GSAA, -5 GSAx
5v5:
Demko: .927 SV% (8th in the league), 37.52 GSAA (6th), 34.74 GSAx (6th)
Markstrom: .914 SV%, -6.04 GSAA, 0.91 GSAx