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Standings Predictions For Habs


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Montreal -- 52 - 23 - 7 (111 Points).

1st in the East, Northeast, 2nd Overall.

GF (272) GA (211).

Top Eight

Habs

Flyers

Capitals

Pens

Rangers

Senators

Bruins

Leafs or Hurricanes

They won't be top 8! they are rebuilding and if fletcher was smart he would throw the season to get Tavares.....thank god fletcher isn't smar=t.

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Habs will go 48-23-11 for a total of 107 points and 2nd in the East

1) Penguins - 110

2) Habs - 107

3) Capitals - 96

4) Bruins - 105

5) Flyers - 104

6) Rangers -98

7) Devils - 97

8) Sabres - 97

Playoffs

Pens vs. Sabres - Pens in 5

Habs vs. Devils - Habs in 6

Caps vs. Rangers - Caps in 7

Bruins vs. Flyers - Flyers in 6

Round 2

Pens vs. Flyers - Flyers in 6 (WHAT?)

Habs vs. Caps - Habs in 7 (Tanguay scores series clincher in 4th OT)

Round 3

Habs vs. Flyers - Habs in 7

Cup finals

Habs vs. Sharks - NO COMMENT

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Is there really any need for discussion? First again this season, and with pittsburgh losing key players, it will be by a bigger margine. Remember when under Gainey's watch Dallas was always competing for first years ago? Hes done it again.

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Even if Sundin doesn't come here, Habs can still be 1st in the East... They did it this season when most people were writing them off. If they continue to push hard, stay healthy and never give up (ie. repeat this season with an extra push) they can totally rock the top once more (and hopefully the Cup).

Here's something interesting on the Dallas Stars' website:

Eastern Adjustments: What Lies Ahead for the Teams in the Eastern Conference

According to this guy, the Habs are one of the most talented teams in the league :) I'm sure we can all agree on that.

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First in the East if BG adds Sundin OR Hossa OR Jagr to the lineup.

Fourth in the East if BG is only able to add Tanguay and a few lower priced UFA players.

When the playoffs come around I don't think 1st or 4th place makes a huge difference.

At least Montreal should be able to build on last year regular season and make the playoffs. To make the playoffs you need to earn 92 points or more. My prediction is 100 points without another big UFA and 118 points with star player like Sundin. If Montreal can get 118 points it should be first overall in the NHL.

Two offensive lines, one two way line with lots of scoring potential, and one checking line. The puck should rarely be in the Montreal defensive end of the rink. No goon / energy line. Really hard to match up against Montreal if the 1st and 2nd line are equally dangerous. Even better PP then last two years when Montreal lead the NHL in PP scoring. Maybe a team weathers the top two lines and then the Koivu line gets two goals for Montreal victory.

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I prediction Habs would make to First place to fourth place... I feel Florida or Atlanta will be last place, maybe Atlanta for sure.. Look below list what I prediction for 2008/09 for Eastern Confernce

1. Montreal (If they get one Score forward or big Centre on July 1)

2. Tampa Bay (If find good Goalie and D)

3. New Jersey (Same as Last Year)

4. Pittsburgh (If they can sign both Hossa and Fluery they can't afford all same time)

5. Ottawa (IF find good D)

6. NY Ranger ????

7. Boston (They will get better than last year)

8. Philadelphia (Same as last year)

-----------------

9. Washington (Hard to say..will make to fourth place if sign with Huet)

10. Carolina

11. Toronto

12. NY Islanders

13. Buffalo

14. Florida (lost impact player due trade in Draft 2008)

15. Atlanta They lost Hossa and they can't afford least 6 million for impact player)

But can't promise to perfect wait to see what they sign free agrent players or Deadline for playoff in 2009.

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  • 4 weeks later...
I'm a Habs fan but realistically I can't see them repeating as Eastern Champs. Ottawa had a bad season last season and Pittsburgh had Sidney Crosby out.

Do you think the Habs will finish in the Top 5 in the NHL League?

Yes, you raise good points but you're forgetting certain factors. If we just look at our conference (as we play these teams the most during the year), you can see how I think the Habs have a good shot at 1st in our division and thus top 3 in our conference. I see the Habs being in the upper third of the NHL teams this year as well.

  • Pittsburgh got weaker with Hossa leaving and the trade that saw him come to Pittsburgh last year. Malone's gone, Laraques gone and they have not really shored up the empty spots with anything concrete. I say they are par, or worse than last year's line up (considering the experience their youngin's got from the playoff run etc.)
  • People forget how much Malkin stepped up last year when Crosby went down. They tore it up without him and had a great record.
  • Even with Ottawa faltering last year, they still had our number in the regular season. As far as I can see it, if we split the season with them it's an improvement over last year. I also don't think they got much better this year than last year, replacing Redden with Smith and getting rid of Emery is a boost, but I see them being the same team with the same problems as last year, while the Habs got stronger.
  • While Boston became much better during the off-season, keep in mind how much worse Toronto is. I woudl be surprised if we didn't sweep Toronto this year. A repeat sweep of Boston would be unlikely in my mind, so I think it evens out to what we had last year.
  • Buffalo is another team that I think became worse with the off-season, losing a key player in Campbell and not finding anyone to replace him adequately. While signing Miller was a great step for them, I see them being a "middle-of-the-pack" team this year. They'll win a few against us, but won't blow us out of the water.
  • Looking at the general movement of players over the off-season, it's safe to say that alot of talented players from the East moved West (Superstars like Hossa, Campbell, Possibly Sundin and Great players like Huet for example...). I think our division as well as our conference as a whole became much, much easier.

As stated above, I feel we'll finish 1st in our division, and 1st or 2nd in our conference.

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I'd say we finish 2nd or 3rd in the conference? I would imagine the chances are that the top 5 will be quite close (similar to this season) with only a few points separating anyone between Pittsburgh, New Jersey, Montreal and perhaps Rangers, Philly & Boston. Obviously a Southeast team will be in the top3 (my guess is Washington) but i don't see them beating Montreal or Pitsburgh over the course of the season?

Had Pittsburgh not lost so many of their better squad players I would have imagined they could have opened up an advantage over a number of teams but I don't see them being any better than our Habs. We have every chance to win it and really it comes down to our consistancy and the performance of our best players.

I seriously hope Kovalev can deliver even 80-90% percent of what he did last season and with the addition of Tanguay and improvements in the games of the Kostitsyns and Plekanec we can be very successful! I am confident Sergei will have a good year and hoping Price can do what we all hope he can!

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It's hard to predict, but I am throwing out 1st or 2nd in the conference. I really think we are the best team in our division, and I don't believe anyone in the Southeast can touch us overall. Pittsburgh, yes, they will be the question mark. Which is fine! Nothing like some tough competition to preapre ourselves for the tough post-season, eh? Ottawa is on the decline, and they could easily come back and have a good season, but they are still raw in net, and their defence appears weak to me. The trio of Spezza, Heatley, and Alfie have eaten us up before, but we are a different team now. We aren't terrified of these guys. Boston looks to be an improving team, but I still think we can take the season series from them.

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The Habs will be a lot better this year, even before Tanguay and Sundin are added into the mix (and Sundin will be, IMO, within about a week ;) ), ....

..... mostly because a significant portion of the core of this Hab team is still on a major ramp-up of contribution and capability:

  • Coach Carbonneau -- would have learned a lot with the Conference push last year, and the play-off run (losing or not meeting expectations can have its value!)
  • Goaltender Price (and to a lesser extent, Halak) -- watch for Price to begin to dominate in the latter half of this coming season -- he's got the size, the skills, the mindset to be a great goaltender -- and now he's had the "lesson" of NHL play-off pressure. He'll definitely be better
  • Komisarek, Gorges, O'Byrne on defense -- increased NHL experience from 25% to 100%. These guys will be significantly better than last season -- just watch
  • Plekanecs, AK46, SK74, Higgins at forward -- even after adding the experienced Tanguay and Sundin, these 4 still make up half of the top 8 forwards on this team, and all 4 are legit top-2 line guys in the NHL (Habs just won't have top 2-line room for all of them (part of why Grabovski was traded)) -- we'll see these 4 guys will really ramp it up a notch this season; 8 key players all still on their upward slope in capability and contribution.
Koivu, Kovalev, 4th line forwards, Markov, Hamrlik, Bouillon, etc. will all be about the same -- all quite good to excellent. It is adding Tanguay and Sundin, and then those other 8 "still improving" players (one goalie, 3 defensemen and 4 forwards -- all "ramping it up" that will make this Hab team even better still (that and Carbo with another year experience). Throw in Gainey's continued steady hand, and 100th year anniversary "fever" and these guys will clearly be the best team in the East, IMO. Habs will finish first place in the conference with 108+ points. Pittsburgh will not be too far behind, but while Crosby, Malkin, Staal and Fleury are still young, and have gained another year experience, the Pens are now missing Hossa, Christensen, Armstrong and Esposito, and their defense still does not compare to Montreal's.

As a comparator, think of how much the Pens accelerated in just a couple of seasons, as Crosby, Malkin and Staal all gained early NHL experience. Not quite the exact same, but a similar situation. Pens had more top-star power, the Habs are deeper though -- 8 key guys all ramping it up.

The big year-over-year challenge for the Habs, to me, is achieving the same low-level of key-man games lost due to injury/illness. That could throw a wrench in things. The physios, trainers, lady-luck et al did a fantastic job last season. It went a little awry heading into the play-offs, and likely contributed to the Habs stumble at that point.

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