Agree or disagree?

I wouldn't put Toronto dead last (even though I hate them)

http://www.sportsline.com/nhl/story/11007070/rss

Number Twenty Nine wrote:I wouldn't put Toronto dead last (even though I hate them)

http://www.sportsline.com/nhl/story/11007070/rss

Definitely not. They have a goalie that will keep them out of dead last, whereas LA and Atlanta (once Lehtonen gets his annual groin injury) don't.

If the Leafs want to win the Hedman/Tavares sweeps, they need to lose Toskala and gain...for the sake of argument, Gerber.

It's really competitive though, wow.

504Heater wrote:

Number Twenty Nine wrote:I wouldn't put Toronto dead last (even though I hate them)

http://www.sportsline.com/nhl/story/11007070/rss

Definitely not. They have a goalie that will keep them out of dead last, whereas LA and Atlanta (once Lehtonen gets his annual groin injury) don't.

If the Leafs want to win the Hedman/Tavares sweeps, they need to lose Toskala and gain...for the sake of argument, Gerber.

It's really competitive though, wow.

I'm not so sure any more about Atlanta, just looking at their roster. It has only been one season since they made the playoffs, hasn't it?

Even if Lehtonen gets injured, I think they have solid goaltending in Hedberg (meh) and Pavelec (who is ready IMO). Their defence I think is solidified by Schneider to go along with Hainsey, Enstrom, Bogosian, Havelid and Exelby (ugh). Their problem of course will be putting pucks in the net but after Kovalchuk I think they do have a bit of talent in Williams, Kozlov, Little, White, Esposito, Christensen and Reasoner.

I don't think theyll be dead-last. I suspect LA might be simply out of how strong the West (and especially their division) is. And once they have Hedman, they'll be unstoppable in about five years.

That disgusts me to think that Hedman could go to LA. That's just a crazy blueline. One of the best of all time perhaps.

I also wouldn't put Pitts ahead of us either, they will tank like we did after SCF.

Number Twenty Nine wrote:I also wouldn't put Pitts ahead of us either, they will tank like we did after SCF.

Not only because of the hangover but also because they lost all of their character guys...

Number Twenty Nine wrote:I also wouldn't put Pitts ahead of us either, they will tank like we did after SCF.

Without the Gonchar injury, I'd put them ahead of us because the offences will be about equal, the defence is about equal but Fleury > Gerber (so long as he keeps up what he did at the end of last season.

With the Gonchar injury, I'm not so sure anymore.

Yeah but how long can LA keep it's "great defence" and there young offensive guys like Brown, Kopitar, etc.

DashRiprock wrote:Yeah but how long can LA keep it's "great defence" and there young offensive guys like Brown, Kopitar, etc.

Brown is signed to a ridiculously good contract. Insanely good.

Obviously they can't keep all of them, but they can pawn off the guys getting too expensive for guys on rookie contracts.

As for the "great defence" part, surely you must admit that a potential top-4 of Hedman, Doughty, Johnson, Teubert is impressive.

asq2 wrote:
Obviously they can't keep all of them, but they can pawn off the guys getting too expensive for guys on rookie contracts.

As for the "great defence" part, surely you must admit that a potential top-4 of Hedman, Doughty, Johnson, Teubert is impressive.

Things could get a little dicey soon. Frolov will be gone for prospects or entry-level guys like you say. How bad will they want to get rid of the Hanzus contract soon? Blah.

504Heater wrote:Things could get a little dicey soon. Frolov will be gone for prospects or entry-level guys like you say. How bad will they want to get rid of the Hanzus contract soon? Blah.

Yeah, that Handzus deal doesn't look so hot. They've managed to dump the contracts of Cloutier, Visnovsky and Blake though, so they'll have some room to manoeuvre (at this point, approximately $15 million).

asq2 wrote:
Yeah, that Handzus deal doesn't look so hot. They've managed to dump the contracts of Cloutier, Visnovsky and Blake though, so they'll have some room to manoeuvre (at this point, approximately $15 million).

Why did the give up on Visnovsky? He can QB a mean powerplay and would've been an excellent mentor for Doughty. Not to mention that he's on a good contract and would've probably been able to stay around when things got going for the Kings.

So much talent there...for who again? Stoll and Greene? Interesting move...don't like it.

504Heater wrote:Why did the give up on Visnovsky? He can QB a mean powerplay and would've been an excellent mentor for Doughty. Not to mention that he's on a good contract and would've probably been able to stay around when things got going for the Kings.

So much talent there...for who again? Stoll and Greene? Interesting move...don't like it.

Not to mention that we should've pounced on that. :x