USA Today: Red Wings are obvious #1, but...

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

Mike Toth was right when he said that Pittsburgh will have a hard time making the playoffs this year. Crosby and Malkin are good, but will Malkin really have another season like last? Doubt it. There defence is pittiful, Gonchar is the number 1, then Gill, Orpik, and Eaton. I cant even name the rest, and Whitney is out until december or january and that may already be too late. I just dont see them as a threat unless Crosby plays in every game, and has another 120+ point year.

Montreal, they will be better, but I dont think there doing anything, and it's going to be annoying as s*** listening to this "100th year in the NHL" bulls*** from the Canadian media all year, that doesnt mean they'll win the Cup, or even challenge for it.

Only teams from the West are good enough to win the Cup, Detroit, Dallas and San Jose will be the top teams in the West, and will have the best shot. The East doesnt stand a chance unless Montreal adds a few significant pieces.

[19Hockeytown5 0]

The only teams, as of now, I would be concerned with in the West would be San Jose and Dallas. That doesn't rule out a team riding momentum, but those seem to be the two other powers in the Conference. No one concerns me from the east (maybe the Habs). I honestly believe Det/Dal/San would all win a 7 game series agains any East team in the finals.

Hopefully, we wrap up the number 1 seed. I'd like to see Dallas/San Jose beat the hell out of and elimate each other before they meet us in the west finals. HUGE advantage.

Edited August 27, 2008 by 19Hockeytown5

[Doc Holiday 0]

Mike Toth was right when he said that Pittsburgh will have a hard time making the playoffs this year. Crosby and Malkin are good, but will Malkin really have another season like last? Doubt it. There defence is pittiful, Gonchar is the number 1, then Gill, Orpik, and Eaton. I cant even name the rest, and Whitney is out until december or january and that may already be too late. I just dont see them as a threat unless Crosby plays in every game, and has another 120+ point year.

Montreal, they will be better, but I dont think there doing anything, and it's going to be annoying as s*** listening to this "100th year in the NHL" bulls*** from the Canadian media all year, that doesnt mean they'll win the Cup, or even challenge for it.

Only teams from the West are good enough to win the Cup, Detroit, Dallas and San Jose will be the top teams in the West, and will have the best shot. The East doesnt stand a chance unless Montreal adds a few significant pieces.

Pittsburgh's style can't match Detroit's. They focus their offense on two players and our defense smothers them both. At least With Hossa it spread the cover out giving them a decent oppurtunity to make something happen.

Dallas I am not afraid of. San Jose maybe, but like I said nothing over there wows me.

The main factor that can't determine a real winner in the playoffs is the trade deadline. Pittsburgh acquired Hossa and it made all the difference, so we will have to wait till we know how easily Detroit can sweep every team in the playoffs.

[Shutemdown 23]

So I guess it's fair to assume that MOST of the people on these boards are looking at San Jose and Dallas as the top 2 competitors in this year's season.

That being said, there seems to be a shared disregard of the Eastern Conference, and, although they all seem to be of a lesser caliber, there are some teams in the east that might make a splash this year...

The Habs, of course, have improved their roster in the last couple of seasons, and adding Alex Tanguay, Marc Denis, and George Laraque early in the summer has solidified their roster. If they picked up Sundin (who the hell knows, anymore?), they'd be a team worth keeping an eye on.

The Rangers are a team that I've been noticing more and more lately. They already had Chris Drury and Scott Gomez, both proven forwards with years of experience, and in signing Marcus Naslund and Nikolai Zherdev, have added even more firepower to their team. Couple that with Wade Redden and Marc Staal anchoring the defense, and Henrik Lundgvist in goal, they'll be a team worth watching.

The Caps are improving more and more every year. Ever since finishing nearly dead last a couple of seasons ago, they've added a new coach and turned the team around. Their roster, on paper, is awesome... Nicklas Backstrom, Sergei Federov, Viktor Kozlov, Michael Nylander, Donald Brashear, and of course, Jesus on skates (Ovechkin). Jose Theodore will provide more solid goaltending if he can play like he did last year. (Even though he was invisible in the playoffs).

All of this being said, I'm in no way saying ANY of these teams could necessarily compete, especially with the Red Wings, but they're teams that deserve honorable mentions and a quick glance every now and again. All three teams are on the upswing.

Wings will still repeat in '09, though. No need arguing that!

Edited August 27, 2008 by Shutemdown

[Kp-Wings 3]

The Habs, of course, have improved their roster in the last couple of seasons, and adding Alex Tanguay, Marc Denis, and George Laraque early in the summer has solidified their roster. If they picked up Sundin (who the hell knows, anymore?), they'd be a team worth keeping an eye on.

Montreal won't sign Sundin. In fact, nobody will. He's doing the same thing now that he did during last year's trade deadline - leading everyone on a wild goose chase with his world changing decision, which he again can't make up his mind about. Whenever he was asked about the possible trade last season, he never had a straight answer until the bitter end; which ended up involving him staying in Toronto for the last half of the season, basically screwing them out of a possible king's ransom they could have gotten from all the teams that were interested in him, even as only a rental.

He'll probably end up waiting until the last possible moment, again, in which he'll then decide to retire. This time, he'll be screwing other teams (like say Vancouver) that didn't persue other free agents because they thought they were going to get him. It amazes me how ridiculous he's being with this decision; he's turning down pretty much every offer in the book; whether it's big money, or a chance to win a Cup. I can't understand why he's leading everyone on like this. He must love the media attention or something.

Edited August 27, 2008 by Kp-Wings

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

Montreal won't sign Sundin. In fact, nobody will. He's doing the same thing now that he did during last year's trade deadline - leading everyone on a wild goose chase with his world changing decision, which he again can't make up his mind about. Whenever he was asked about the possible trade last season, he never had a straight answer until the bitter end; which ended up involving him staying in Toronto for the last half of the season, basically screwing them out of a possible king's ransom they could have gotten from all the teams that were interested in him, even as only a rental.

He'll probably end up waiting until the last possible moment, again, in which he'll then decide to retire. This time, he'll be screwing other teams (like say Vancouver) that didn't persue other free agents because they thought they were going to get him. It amazes me how ridiculous he's being with this decision; he's turning down pretty much every offer in the book; whether it's big money, or a chance to win a Cup. I can't understand why he's leading everyone on like this. He must love the media attention or something.

The rest of your post aside....god forbid he didn't want to win the Stanley Cup as a rental. TBH, I have a ton of respect for a guy wanting to not only win it all with a team they've been with the entire year, but with a team they've been on all but four years of their entire career. If you want to rip him for being indecisive, go ahead....but blasting a guy because he didn't want to be a rental and cheapen a potential Stanley Cup is ridiculous.