Short reg season predictions

[hedgehog337 3,483]

That feeling when you have lots of ideas for 2000 word articles but your desire is only strong enough for barely scrapping 500.

 

 

NA conference

 

Rock bottom: .  Enough said. There are still some peaces to sell and I think Peace would land some more picks to them. Other than that, nothing much. Good goalie and defensive skills with almost non existent offense. 8th place, no higher than that.

 

MISS: .  Yup. New York did some progress, like finally bringing in a legit 2C. Also I feel Zaza could be a better fit for Mourning than Le Massif was. Anyways, the defence does not convince me at all. I'm failing to see who exactly will provide rebound chances for forwards so that sucks a lot. And depth isn't that crazy either. 6th place for me.

As for the west coast - it's other way around. After checking their forward roster I only have one question - who is even supposed to score on consistent basis besides Miglasķēms and DB III maybe? I don't think over reliance on Vandelay gonna help much here. 7th place.

 

Thinking face: .  I guess Jeff is still trying to find the way to complete the full roster. I'm kinda feeling a deja vu here - pretty mid regular season and maybe making an upset or two in the playoffs. And they have a bot at forward lineup, this ain't it. 5th place.

 

Not convinced/unproven: .  The defending champs are falling the first category. Eno really out there with a bold strategy - all in for forwards and hope Kitson gonna be a relevant replacement for Sova. I don't think it's gonna happen so here it is. 4th place.

Seattle uhhh....I don't know. Bana out there giving chances to shine to players who have been rather mid before. Florida Man, DeGroot. Hogan stepping into the uncharted teritorry at being a center. Their depth is concerning though. Basically, champs or being swept in the wildcard; anything is possible with them. 3rd place.

 

I like their chances: .  I'm not sure how is the offense gonna perform outside of Leduc/Pearce and their def isn't that elite. But in overall, good enough team to not worry about their playoff chances. 2nd place.

I think Calgary gonna pull Calgary once again. Letting off their steam in the regular season and then getting thrown out in the first round. They have one of the finest forwards in the league, but STHS doesn't care apparently. And their goaltending isn't great too. 1st place.

 

 

Europe

 

Rock bottom: .  I mean, it's just how it is. I'm honestly not sure where exactly these teams are gonna land in standings cause they are both equally tanking tier. I'll say Riga at 7th and Helsinki at 8th cause I feel our offense is slightly better. But only thing that really matters to us is the draft lotto.

 

MISS: .  If they think Carter is gonna be a dream partner for Molotov...just no. Their offense just looks meh and Torq never really proved his worth yet. Goalie also isn't anything crazy. The team just screams mid to me. 6th place.

 

Not convinced: .  Alex out there twisting team's roster in offseason just to end up with no 2C at all. I mean at least he could've told Mitchell to apply these banked to faceoffs, but naaah. This New York strategy isn't gonna end up great imo. At least their offense looks better than Murrican's last year. 5th place.

 

Not A tier: .  None of them forwards had big seasons yet and replacing Zaza with Chiang is an interesting move to say the least. At least Dil didn't pay for that. The team is relying a lot on defence and goaltending. Maybe for too much. 4th place.

 

Can they still hang: .  Who knows. The second line/pair will answer to this question eventually and I swear if AK pulls out a mediocre performance. I'm feeling there is a slight down season in store though. The dream of 6th finals isn't dead though. 3rd place.

 

I like their chances: .  Warsaw is praying hard on Payne right now. I believe he can do a lot, but not sure if everything. But the forward group does look pretty stacked. Also rip Wumbo going inactive. 2nd place.

Not gonna lie, Prague looks really nice on paper. The only question here is can Jokinen finally pull a major season. He's always been into the good but not great category and the team now needs the greatest effort by him. Otherwise there might be problems in winning the gold. 1st place.

 

 

That's it and I'm out.

[Spartan 4,399]

26 minutes ago, hedgehog337 said:

I'm feeling there is a slight down season in store though

Tbh I've felt that we'd have a down season every season since S80, it just never comes. Maybe we aren't as dominant in the EU but somehow we find our game for the playoffs and make a respectable run. We'll see how it shapes out, but you're right in that it'll depend heavily on our second unit and if they can hold their own for a full season.

[Gaikoku-hito 2,080]

1 hour ago, hedgehog337 said:

and their def isn't that elite.

But does that mean it is elite but just not that elite; right?

 

I think Vancouver makes the play-offs but Calgary bounces us in the first round since you predicted that they would be bounced in the first round instead. Now Calgary wins the cup, right?

Or

Is this Moscow season since no one is really giving them a chance so they will be sneaky good also season then bam, Cup Champions!!

 

Uh, The fun of the early season and no one knows what STHS is going to do!!

[hedgehog337 3,483]

7 hours ago, Spartan said:

Tbh I've felt that we'd have a down season every season since S80, it just never comes. Maybe we aren't as dominant in the EU but somehow we find our game for the playoffs and make a respectable run. We'll see how it shapes out, but you're right in that it'll depend heavily on our second unit and if they can hold their own for a full season.

 

In fairness you still had a more or less stacked forward group. Now, outside of Preo and Sogaard the rest looks kinda light so it's more challenging. 

 

5 hours ago, Gaikoku-hito said:

But does that mean it is elite but just not that elite; right?

 

you could call that. Not S tier defence. 

[dlamb 1,326]

IA goalie and 3 dmen meta will carry us home

[Frank 5,208]

[Berocka 2,263]

Review: well thought out article and you presented it well. A few spelling mistakes throughout but nothing drastic enough to take you out of the article. Only nitpick would be to swap LA and NY around as it ruins the numerical order but great analysis. 9/10