Nhl 06-07

[Calgarian]

So the new season is upon us. Predictions?

I think the Pacific is the division to watch this year, San Jose and Anaheim both look superb heading into the season.

I think Calgary and Ottawa are pretty much guaranteed to make the playoffs (knock on wood), Vancouver look like they will miss the playoffs again, Edmonton has no defense, Toronto sucks (as usual) and firing Pat Quinn was a dumb move, and Montreal is a big question mark?

Thoughts?

[Claeren]

I basically agree.

San Jose looks deadly, i like Anaheim's chances but they are almost overrated now. I think Edmonton will start strong but fade down the stretch in a big way while Calgary will do the opposite, starting weak and scarying everyone before peaking for the playoffs. TO is in trouble but firing Quinn was a good thing, Ottawa looks no better then they have over the past few prior years so likely an early exit (again) for them. And Montreal is indeed a question mark, yet again, going into the year...


Claeren.

[cornholio]

Ottawa will do good and be fighting for number 1 in their division(still a great team), Montreal will stink and come in around 11th(dont see to many positives), Toronto will be fighting to stay out of the 15th spot(they should start rebuilding), Edmonton will be fighting for the 8th spot but I say will come in 9th(not the greates team although had a great run last year after hovering around 9th spot all season, no real improvments), Calgary will do good and be fighting for number 1 in their division(still a great team), Vancouver will be fighting for the 8th and squeek in(finaly they droped some dead weights and dont have to much presure on themsels).

Well these were my predictions in september on pg 1, somewhat acurate...anyways here are my predictions for the playoffs.

Round 1
Buffalo over Islanders 4-0
New Jersy over Tampabay 4-1
NY Rangers over Atlanta 4-3
Ottawa over Pitsburgh 4-2

Detroit over Calgary 4-1
Anahaim over Minesota 4-0
Vancouver over Dallas 4-1
San Jose over Nashville 4-2

Round 2
Buffalo over NY Rangers 4-2
Ottawa over New Jersy 4-3

San Jose over Detroit 4-1
Vancouver over Anahaim 4-3

Round 3
Ottawa over Buffalo 4-2

Vancouver over San Jose 4-1

Final
Vancouver over Ottawa 4-1

[jeffwhit]

I agree pretty much completely with Claeren.

Pat Quinn seemed to foster a cliquey team. Also, it seems like the general consensus is that Maurice's training camp was much more strenuous that Quinn's. Quinn maybe was a little too old school. I don't know why I'm talking about the Leafs though, a playoff spot for them would be truly shocking.

San Jose looks awesome, I'm not as sold on Anaheim as a lot of people.

Ottawa seems a lot less awesome then they did a year ago.

[The Chemist]

After watching Ottawa play TO last night, I'm pretty convinced they're the real deal. They've finally got a goaltender in Gerber that could take them all the way.

As for the Flames, I'm pretty confident that they'll do well this year. I'm a bit concerned about a weak start, but I think that Iggy and Tanguay will really hit it off and become one of the top scoring pairs in the NHL. Goaltending and defence is not an issue, so if our offence gets going, we'll challenge for the conference title.

Flames - Sens for the Cup, with the Flames winning in 6. Go Flames Go!

[habsfan]

Vancouver should be in the playoffs. With a goalie like Luongo(who will steal a few games by himself) they'll be able to squeek in. 7th in the west

Calgary will have a slow start, but as the season progesses, they'll do better.(They should finish 3rd or 4th in the western conference.

Edmonton will be battling for the 8th spot. The loss of Pronger will be hard on their D(8th or 9th in the West)

Toronto will strugle most of the year. Raycroft is not a saviour. theyll finish 12th in the east.

Ottawa is still a good team, but the Loss of Chara and Havlat is not negligeable. 4th or 5th in the east.

The Habs will be fighting all year long to make the playoffs. There are many question marks, but if Huet can repeat, if Koivu, Kovalev and Samsonov can stay healthy and if the D can play a basic game, they should be able to make it. 8th in the east.

[Coldrsx]

Habs - All depends on Goaltending IMO....(5th)

Sens - looking good, depends on gerber (3rd)

Leafs - another disappointing effort (10th)

Hamilton - exciting young team with crosby:>

Flames - solid team, maybe can get more than 2 goals a game now (3rd)

Oilers - 3 killer lines, 300 goals, weak D, depends on Rolli (6th) *most exciting team to watch.

Nuks - wonder if coach gets fired 1st or trades happen (8-10th)

[Coldrsx]

The Battle of Alberta begins tonight
The Battle of Alberta

Canadian Press

10/5/2006 10:09:46 AM

CALGARY (CP) - The Flames' Jim Playfair wasn't the only one feeling opening-night jitters heading into his first game as head coach of an NHL team.

"My mom phoned me, she's got them, and my brother phoned me and he's got them," Playfair said Wednesday. "The nervous energy in your body is making sure you are triggering on all cylinders. That just means you are getting ready and it matters to you."

Playfair will make his NHL head coaching debut Thursday when the Oilers host the Flames at Rexall Place in the season opener for both clubs.

Playfair was an assistant coach for three seasons before general manager Darryl Sutter vacated the head coaching position and promoted Playfair in July.

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It will be a memorable first game for the 42-year-old Playfair, a native of Fort St. James, B.C., because it kicks off this season's Battle of Alberta and it will be on national television.





"I'm looking for a good tie," he joked.

Edmonton and Calgary will meet eight times this season, including the Flames' home opener Saturday at the Pengrowth Saddledome. The two clubs will also square off in their regular-season finale on April 7 at Calgary.

Their Cinderella runs of the last two NHL post-seasons have revived the provincial rivalry that lost its lustre when Edmonton and Calgary were have-not teams that barely made the playoffs, or in the case of the Flames, not at all from 1997 to 2003.

The Flames were the sixth seed in the Western Conference and went on to reach the 2004 Stanley Cup final, where they lost in seven games to Tampa Bay.

After the NHL lockout, the Oilers surprised almost everyone last spring by coming out of the eight-hole to reach the final before losing in seven games to Carolina.

Calgary has been picked as one of this season's Stanley Cup contenders and a possible top three finisher in the Western Conference.

Despite the confidence and momentum the Oilers gained last spring, prognosticators have been less kind to Edmonton and another run like last season is seen as a longshot.

"You know what they say about predictions. They're about as good as the paper they're written on," Flames winger Darren McCarty said. "They almost did it last year. They were one game away from doing it. That goes a long way for a lot of guys in that (dressing) room."

On paper, Calgary has the edge in experienced defencemen with offensive skills. Edmonton is younger on the blue-line and there is no replacing Chris Pronger, who asked for, and got, a trade to Anaheim in the off-season.

Calgary goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff seemed to regain his Vezina Trophy form in his final pre-season game. If 36-year-old Dwayne Roloson plays as well for Edmonton as he did in the post-season before he was sidelined with a knee injury, the Oilers should be a playoff team.

Edmonton has good depth up front after acquiring free agent Petr Sykora and getting 28-goal man Joffrey Lupul in the Pronger trade.

Calgary has the potentially explosive pairing of wingers Jarome Iginla and Alex Tanguay, with Daymond Langkow winning the job to play between them.

"You don't want to disappoint your teammates or the coaches, so we want to go out there and be a force," Langkow said. "I always saw myself as a passer (rather) than a shooter. Obviously those guys are pretty gifted with the puck, so my job is to get in there and try and get it for them and get it to them.

"But at the same time if I get a chance to shoot . . . as a group we don't want to be passing up opportunities to shoot the puck."

The Oilers aren't a really big team, but they are fast and they make the most out of the Rexall Centre ice, which is the best in the NHL.

"Keep it simple early and obviously try and not turn the puck over in the neutral zone," said Langkow. "They've got a real fast-skating team, good transition team."

With expectations high in Calgary, the Flames need a better start than last season lest they incur the wrath of their faithful.

"Last year we got off to a 4-7 start," McCarty recalled. "That's something we want to learn from."

Notes: Calgary is going with six defenceman as Rhett Warrener (knee) is another week or two away from returning . . . Playfair said Wednesday that Kiprusoff will play fewer games this regular season, but had not set a number yet.

[Ginty]

Has anyone seen the offensive depth of the Oilers? Has anyone noticed how solid Roloson was once he figured out where he was?

The Flames added one decent forward. They will maybe finish 24th in scoring if they are lucky. Kipper will blow out his knee in November and the Flamers will finish 10th in the west.

Prongers wont be able to find any women that worship him down there and he will jsut be another tall lanky guy that none of the women will want to sleep with. He will have to go back to sleeping with his wife and she will pick up whatever diseases he got at Ezzies and will divorce him. He will cry a lot and will forget how to skate. The ducks finish 8th. Just so the Oilers can crush them again in the first round.

Who else can I rant about?

Do I even need to bring up the Leafs? i hope you guys enjoy watching the Leafs get spanked in HD on CBC while the rest of the Canadian teams get a fraction of that air time.

If any of my bold predictions dont come true I will eat my own face

[Coldrsx]

most people arent giving the OIL much chance....yet we might have one of the top 5 offences in the league. Sure we will win games 5-3 and 7-6....but thats why i by tickets, most exciting team in the nhl.

[The Chemist]

Man, Sykora and Hemsky are dangerous

A few bad breaks for the Flames tonight, and the powerplay was pathetic. A few things to work on for Saturday, I think.

Good win for the Oil. They'll definitely be ones to watch on offence, at least. We'll see you on Saturday night in our barn.

[Hardhatdan]

Yee haw my Calgary beatches, pretty fun game...looking forward to another gooder on Saturday night.

[Ginty]

my face is not yet eaten

[skrish]

Flames couldn't pull it together tonight on the PP. Good win for the Oil.

[WHISTLERINMUSKOKA]

Toronto 6 Ottawa 0 heh!

[WHISTLERINMUSKOKA]

Originally Posted by Ginty

my face is not yet eaten

Would you like soup or salad with your face today?

[Calgarian]

Edmontons D was pretty good on the penalty kill, they did a good job keeping the Flames to the outside on the PK. Saw lots of potential for the PP of both teams, both moved the puck well. Lets see how it goes on Saturday.

[WHISTLERINMUSKOKA]

"Toronto sucks (as usual)"

"TO is in trouble"

"Toronto will be fighting to stay out of the 15th spot"

"I don't know why I'm talking about the Leafs though, a playoff spot for them would be truly shocking"

"After watching Ottawa play TO last night, I'm pretty convinced they're the real deal. They've finally got a goaltender in Gerber that could take them all the way."

"Toronto will strugle most of the year."

"Leafs - another disappointing effort"

"Do I even need to bring up the Leafs? i hope you guys enjoy watching the Leafs get spanked in HD on CBC"




I'm not about to claim the Leafs are contenders this year for the cup, however everybody is to quick to write them off. It's a new team and a new season and all I have to say is we'll see.

[Kevin_foster]

meh

There is no use predicting anything, as predictions in Hockey are always wrong.

So... my predictions are, all of your predictions will be wrong.

[Pavlov]

/\ Hey, that's a paradox!