leafs suck. leafs fans have been brainwashed by the CBC's propaganda. Every leaf fan i have ever met knows excrement about hockey and only like the leafs because thats all that is shown on canadian tv. i wrote an essay in english last year on this topic, i wish i could find it.leafs wont make the playoffs this year.
east :
ottawa will finish high, and i think will do well in the playoffs, phili will do better than next year(cant do any worse) pittsburgh will be strong but depends on how the young players do. buffalo will drop in the standings but will still make the playoffs. atlanta will battle for a playoff spot and i think kovalchuk and hossa will dominate again. Boston will drop in the standings but savard and bergeron will have strong years. carolinas fate depends on how their big players play. if they falter it will be an early summer. florida got a goalie, but they used to have luongo and they still missed the playoffs, same story for panthers. watch out for horton fantasy draft people. Montreal is a young team with lots of strong prospects. there strength is in goal, but the loss of souray will hurt the offence which will have to be outstanding to finish high. new jersey lost key players and will again rely on brodeur to win them games. watch out for parise. new york islanders lost much of there offence and will have to scrap it out for a playoff berth. the rangers will be very strong this year with the additions of drury and gomez. no superstar defenceman, but still a solid d. goailie is not a concern. if jagr plays like jagr they will finish tops of the conference. tampa bay has three players that must play better than other teams to win. they can do that but if one falters its a real blow. washington will have another year like washington, wont make the playoffs but ovechkin will be fun to watch.
west:
anaheim will be strong again, but i dont think they will repeat. the loss of selanne i think will hurt them a little. Calgary lost lots of key players and i think will end up having to battle for a playoff spot. lets hope iginla lights it up this year. carolinas fate depends on how their big players play. if they falter it will be an early summer. chicago will be good to watch. They have alot of prospects but they still wont make the playoffs. colorado will finish between 6 and 10th and will rely heavily on statsny and wolski to provide needed support for sakic. In goal is still a mystery at what they will show. columbus needs to make some moves and have there best players play like it in order to contend. dallas will depend on turco, if he doesnt steal 40 games they wont make the playoffs. detroits young players will finally become the face of the franchise. datsyuk, zetterberg and holmstrom will all have great years, hasek will be hasek iin net and lidstrom and rafalski will hold down the blue line. playoffs is still a mystery. edmonton will be full of tight games. they have strong defence but not much offence. if roloson goes down, kiss the season goodbye. L.A has some good d-men, some under acheivers and some superstars in the making. they wont make the playoffs but some players may surprise. minnesota doesnt give up many goals and if gaborik produces, they may end up near the top of this defence strong division. nashville has lost alot of stars but the still have a talented team with some hot young defencemen. phoenix will win when gretzky laces em up. san jose will be a contender and if thornton and cheechoo produce like they can they will be happy in june. watch out for michalek. st. louis will be stronger, but there not quite there yet. Vancouver will be a tough team to beat with luongo. sedins and naslund can win them many games if they can score a couple goals a night.
thats what i think. top scorers i think will be Crosby, Thornton, Ovechkin, Heatley, Spezza, St. Louis, Lecavaleir, Hossa, Zetterberg and maybe Briere
