First 1/16 of the Season Predictions
Posted 1:29 PM ET | Comments 0
Is it just me, or are the top teams in NHL completely overwhelming their competition? It looks as though the Sharks, Avs and Maple Leafs are the wrecking balls of the league. Or maybe I'm just completely distracted by how Brent Burns is morphing in to a cave man slowly but surely. In any case, last night the Sharks completely annihilated and outplayed the Blues. That's right. The Blues. Their offense is led by stud 2nd year Vlad Tarasenko and gritty two ways in Alex Steen and David Backes. Oh and let's not forget Derek Roy who has hopped to 4 teams in the last 3 seasons. Their defense cant exactly get much better in their personnel led be Alex Pietrangelo, Kevin Shattenkirk and Jay Bouwmeester. And how bout their crazily taut goalie tandem in Jaro Halak and Brian Elliot? Guess the Sharks didn't exactly care with their onslaught of power plays going 3/7 and potting 3 extra even strength goals. The Sharks were relentless in this contest while also getting near perfect goaltending from Anti Niemi. Jumbo Joe Thornton looked like his old play making self with 3 helpers and a goal on the night. Seems to me that the Sharks saught revenge on Maxim Lapierre's check to the head on Dan Boyle who was carted off in a stretcher. It seems he will be okay fortunately for the Sharks. Not like they needed him to light the lamp anyway, but thats another matter entirely. The Avalanche also look to be a force to reckoned with starting 6-0 under coach "the temper" Roy. Semyon Varlamov and JS Giguere seem to be the best goalie tandem in the league right now it seems. Closely behind them is James "optimus" Reimer and former King, Jonathan Bernier. I'm going to say that unless major key players on these teams don't get injured and they hold consistent, not even sheer dumb luck will put these teams out of a playoff spot. Another point I must make is that where a certain team *ahemPanthersahem* lacks in the goaltending position, they make up for entirely with their offense. Right now if the said team were to somehow acquire a better goaltender, they may just be in the playoff hunt. But sadly, this will not occur solely because of that. Dale Tallon needs to open his eyes and realize this is a bad state of affairs that will cost his remarkable squad outside the net a playoff position.