[jessica robson]

Since http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1499279-the-hockey-thread/page-6 is nearing the post limit and has been inactive for a while, I thought I might as well start a new revival attempt. It's been an interesting pre-season so far, and the Free Agent Frenzy ran wild in early June. Here's a few notes.

Spezza and Hemsky to Dallas Stars. Goalies for this season: Lehtonen, Lindb?ck (will flop again, I think), Rynn?s, and Campbell! There's depth all right. Provided Nichuskin can take one more step towards Jaro Jagr-like big man puck-holding dominance, and their defence will do something (they need to sign Dillon, and Gonchar must have at least one more good season in him), this team is going to be a contender!

St. Louis got even better with Paul Stastny. They got rid of Miller who didn't succeed in his short stint last year, so the goalies are a bit of a question mark. I hope Jake Allen takes one more step towards the best goalies in the league. If so, they might win the Cup. It's been in the making for two or three years now.

Mah Flyers will be a bit svckier still. Lecavalier is again a year older and less producing, I don't think Voracek can take that final leap to superstardom, and Streit will again be a bit older and leakier defensively. Plus, the most useless guy around, R. J. Umberger, makes a comeback! Not looking good... Jake needs to evolve, and Simmonds needs to become a 30-goal-scorer if we are to get a good, long playoff campaign going. And Akeson needs to be a positive surprise as well. Becoming yet another "Michael Raffl" won't be good enough.

Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Rangers etc. will be as tough as ever and definitely Cup contenders. Chicago with addition of Brad Richards... as if that team wasn't good enough offensively already. Sharks might have one more chance left as well, provided each veteran star will get one more good season out of them and young guys like Hertl will be more consistent and stay healthy. The loss of Boyle to NYR might be too much, though. Colorado will be interesting after the loss of Statsny, but additions of Iginla, Briere, and Stuart. What will experience do to the young core? Much still rests on Varlamov's and partly Berra's shoulders.

I think the Ducks will actually be a lot worse only because they lost Bonino and added Kesler. Ryan Kesler hasn't actually been that good recently: 0 assists in his final 21 games in Vancouver! The guy still rides with his old glory. Also, the loss of Sel?nne. Heatley won't replace him. He's too slow and can only be a minor danger on power play. I don't even know if Koivu will sign a new one-year deal or not.

It's odd to see a potential star forward in Nashville for once, in James Neal! Can he do any damage with questionable helpers?

Are the Caps paying too much for their new defencemen or what? Orpik and Niskanen, both for over $5M a year! @_@ Well, they need to get production from Niskanen now, and if so, Green might have to go elsewhere in the middle or after the season.

Edmonton and Buffalo will still be bad. Buffalo only got some random veterans and no real threats, while Edmonton plain svcked in the market. Calgary at least got some solid players in in Raymond and Engelland.

Any thoughts on the NHL pre-season? Any other league? Hockey in general? Will this topic even remain active? Let's see.

[Saul C]

172 is not "near the limit" and one month is not "inactive."
Tips for next time

[kirsty williams]

Since that thread is now locked I will post here.

I believe the Leafs will be the worst team this year. Yes Buffalo will do better as well as Edmonton. Toronto will finish last and still make the most money of any team. I believe only one Canadian team will get into the post season and that is Montreal.

[Claire Jackson]

I see years and years of failing have finally left its mark on even a sane Leafs fan. DESPAIR!

I don't think you are right. Kontiola is one HELL of a passer, genius mind for the game! If he got to play with Patrick Kane when he still played with the Blackhawks, he would've broken out to become a superstar. Not sure if he'll be able to do that anymore, but he's a premium passer from Europe if there ever was one. A real trickster, that one. The only thing is they need to feed him with the puck, otherwise he'll be useless. The opponents need to mark him hard and be physical against him if they were to silence him.

Also, Phil Kessel alone is such a great player that he could carry the team alone to win some games if he had to. I don't see any particular weaknesses in any area. All top 6 forwards besides Clarkson could produce. Good lower 6 too, okay-to-good defence if they can get Franson and Gardiner to new deals, and probably good enough goat-lending. So I'd have to say that they are a mid-tier team on paper. Should actually make it to the playoffs, or be just narrowly left out.

But since it's Toronto I guess your prediction will be closer than mine for whatever reason... A curse?

Sorry Pluto... thought 6 pages out of 7 is close to the limit, and it'll be a new season anyway, so... This was not meant to be "glory hunting" or anything.

[mollypop]

Leafs a good defense. They had the worst defense last year and it was the worst in about 2 decades. I would even say the leafs had no defense last year. Yes they can score goals but they do not know the meaning of the word of Defense, even with a coach the preaches it but the team just stares at him all confused. The winning of games comes done to the goalie if he can stop 32 out of 33 or 34 shots on goal.

Even with their offense they are more often out shot by a few shots if not more. I do not know how many leafs games you have watched last year but have watched about 30 of them if not more and each one was filled with bad defensive decisions and for some time they did manage to win games but that was more when they could score more goals even when being out shot and if their goalie was able to make key saves. But playing 82 games with little or no defense wears out the goalies.

http://www.extraskater.com/team/toronto-maple-leafs/2013/gamelog

[LuBiE LoU]

Yeah, apparently it's good with the puck. but not so good defensively. Can't really comments since I watched about zero Leafs last year... All I know is they took a ridiculous amount of shots and sometimes got away with it, most times not...