2017 Sens Off-Season

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:It's about time. This off-season felt dreadfully long. I have high expectations for our Senators this year.

Just make the playoffs. It won't be easy.

tim1_2 wrote:

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:It's about time. This off-season felt dreadfully long. I have high expectations for our Senators this year.

Just make the playoffs.  It won't be easy.

I actually think there is a lot of parity in the East this year. Pitt and Wash lost some good players and Columbus played .500 hockey aside from their run. Montreal is worse, Toronto should be better (pending they don't go through a sophomore slump, and Boston did not do much in the off-season. I expect a resurgence from Tampa Bay and Florida. Ottawa will be a playoff team this season and should be able to win at least one round.

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:It's about time. This off-season felt dreadfully long. I have high expectations for our Senators this year.

Just make the playoffs.  It won't be easy.

I actually think there is a lot of parity in the East this year. Pitt and Wash lost some good players and Columbus played .500 hockey aside from their run. Montreal is worse, Toronto should be better (pending they don't go through a sophomore slump, and Boston did not do much in the off-season. I expect a resurgence from Tampa Bay and Florida. Ottawa will be a playoff team this season and should be able to win at least one round.

I'll admit, I expected Columbus to be a lot better at this point. They could be in for a huge surprise this coming season.

TB and Florida are going to displace 2 teams IMO. Montreal and...? Lots of people will vote Ottawa, but I don't like Boston's team either right now - aside from the youth on the backend.

It'll be a challenge for all teams to make the playoffs. I can see Washington imploding at some point too. Too many years of being expected to win and absolutely choking. We'll see...

Why Florida? They have regressed.

Ev wrote:Why Florida? They have regressed.

How's that? They lost several key players for long stretches to injuries last season.

PTFlea wrote:

Ev wrote:Why Florida? They have regressed.

How's that?  They lost several key players for long stretches to injuries last season.

I'm with Ev. I think the only way Florida can make they playoffs is if all there young guys take big steps forward. That doesn't happen very often.

Florida didn't re-sign their best player over the last two years. They lost a good coach and although they put the GM back where he belonged all along, I wonder if he's not looking around to move on. They completely screwed things up at both the management level and with player personnel (letting Gudbranson, for one).

Tampa lost Drouin, and they are certainly hoping that Stamkos is back. But he's had a lot of injury issues last couple years, and I still wonder how effective he will be with his biggest weapon after they had to remove a rib to fix things up. Clearly his swing is an unnatural motion, much like many of the pitches in baseball; and once a pitcher has any work done on his shoulder/elbow they rarely stay as effective as before.

So, in summary, I would not be at all surprised if both Florida teams miss the playoffs this year.

Im not excited yet. Something is missing for me. Maybe puck drop will do it. Or maybe we didn't have a summer weather wise and I'm still waiting for that

At the same time Tampa played their best hockey down the stretch and just narrowly missed the playoffs. Florida still has Huberdeau, Trochek, Barkov, Marchessault, and Ekblad. That's a pretty good young core. IMO the Atlantic is completely up for grabs this years.

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:At the same time Tampa played their best hockey down the stretch and just narrowly missed the playoffs. Florida still has Huberdeau, Trochek, Barkov, Marchessault, and Ekblad. That's a pretty good young core. IMO the Atlantic is completely up for grabs this years.

No, he's gone.

Ev wrote:

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:At the same time Tampa played their best hockey down the stretch and just narrowly missed the playoffs. Florida still has Huberdeau, Trochek, Barkov, Marchessault, and Ekblad. That's a pretty good young core. IMO the Atlantic is completely up for grabs this years.

No, he's gone.

Is he? Did Vegas nab him? I didn't know that. I also didn't realize how thin Florida is up front but do think the guys I mentioned can will them to the playoffs.

On a side note, watch out for Brayden Point in Tampa. I think he's going to have a great year.

Yeah he's in Vegas

I don't see Florida making it. They are OK, but average all across the board IMO. I see Tampa and Ottawa as the clear front runners in the Atlantic, followed by Toronto, Montreal, Boston.

I feel like Florida didn't get any better but it's hard to tell. It will likely come down to injuries again for quite a few of those teams. The only teams that I'd be surprised to make the playoffs in our division is Detroit and Buffalo. But Buffalo could get a shot if a couple of other teams struggle and suffer from key injuries.
I wouldn't even bet the house that sens are a sure thing. Plenty could go wrong.



On that note, when do we send in our season predictions prags?

CMac didn't pass his physical. He won't be in camp.

Flo The Action wrote:I feel like Florida didn't get any better but it's hard to tell. It will likely come down to injuries again for quite a few of those teams. The only teams that I'd be surprised to make the playoffs in our division is Detroit and Buffalo. But Buffalo could get a shot if a couple of other teams struggle and suffer from key injuries.
I wouldn't even bet the house that sens are a sure thing. Plenty could go wrong.



On that note, when do we send in our season predictions prags?

Let me digest the MacArthur news, first. Wow. Now we can afford Jagr.

I don't buy the MacArthur stuff whatsoever.

Holy crap, that sucks. Is he done? You would think he's close.

Given it's just a neck injury I don't see how he would be done, unless the next injury would linger.