10th???

I'm not disputing Washington, Pittsburgh and Philly. Although what happens to the Caps if Varlamov comes back to Earth?

Boston lost a 36 goal scorer, and their game relies a great deal on two single individuals. If not for Thomas, we would have won that game last Friday night. And if Chara is injured (he sometimes fights when he shouldn't) then the job for Thomas (both to keep out goals and to stay healthy) becomes that much more difficult.

Everyone will be gunning for the Bruins. Less so for the Sens.

Anyhow, even discounting injuries, I believe we can give them a run for their money.

wprager wrote:I'm not disputing Washington, Pittsburgh and Philly. Although what happens to the Caps if Varlamov comes back to Earth?

Boston lost a 36 goal scorer, and their game relies a great deal on two single individuals. If not for Thomas, we would have won that game last Friday night. And if Chara is injured (he sometimes fights when he shouldn't) then the job for Thomas (both to keep out goals and to stay healthy) becomes that much more difficult.

Everyone will be gunning for the Bruins. Less so for the Sens.

Anyhow, even discounting injuries, I believe we can give them a run for their money.

I will forever remain an optimist - and I hope you're right. But as of right now, all I want to do is have some fun, gain some chemistry and sneak into the playoffs. Because if any of these 'top seeded' teams are gonna fall, it'll be to the little hot team in the playoffs (ie Carolina).

wprager wrote:I'm not disputing Washington, Pittsburgh and Philly. Although what happens to the Caps if Varlamov comes back to Earth?

Boston lost a 36 goal scorer, and their game relies a great deal on two single individuals. If not for Thomas, we would have won that game last Friday night. And if Chara is injured (he sometimes fights when he shouldn't) then the job for Thomas (both to keep out goals and to stay healthy) becomes that much more difficult.

Everyone will be gunning for the Bruins. Less so for the Sens.

Anyhow, even discounting injuries, I believe we can give them a run for their money.

I don't see everyone gunning for the Bruins personally. The PENS are the champs and the ones that teams will use as a measuring stick. Sure Boston was first in the Conference but no one cares. The Bruins aren't the team that others will be gunning for IMO.

I meant more within our Division.

wprager wrote:I'm not disputing Washington, Pittsburgh and Philly. Although what happens to the Caps if Varlamov comes back to Earth?

Boston lost a 36 goal scorer, and their game relies a great deal on two single individuals. If not for Thomas, we would have won that game last Friday night. And if Chara is injured (he sometimes fights when he shouldn't) then the job for Thomas (both to keep out goals and to stay healthy) becomes that much more difficult.

Everyone will be gunning for the Bruins. Less so for the Sens.

Anyhow, even discounting injuries, I believe we can give them a run for their money.

I agree with you on this. Anything's possible and if Crosby and Malkin or Pronger and Carter or Ovechkin and Green go down, then maybe those teams suffer a drop in the standings, but in reality they should be the three teams with the most points at the end of the season.

Imo Boston is anything but a lock to join that group. Even if they remain healthy, there's no guarantee that everything is going to work out just right for them like it did last year. Teams in the East are a little tougher and a little wiser to Boston's game plan. Can't really do much to change that game plan, but understanding it is a little advantage in at least you know what to expect.

Boston is the only other team I would call a lock for the playoffs, but I won't add them into that group of 3.

Does it help that eklund has the sens getting 6th in the conference and beating the bruins in the first round of the playoffs then losing to the caps (his eventualy cup winners)