The Official 2018-19 Season Talk Thread

[Majingir]

It's September and you know what that means!

Pre-season begins September 15 with Bruins/Flames in China. Regular season begins October 3rd.

First NHL season since 99-00 with no Sedins. And from Canucks standpoint, no team with

Naslund,Sedins,Smyl,Kerns or Quinn(as player or coach) on it for first time in franchise history.

Any predictions/hopes for this season?

Atlantic:
1.
2.
3.

Metro:
1.
2.
3.

East WC:
1.
2.

Pacific:
1.
2.
3.

Central:
1.
2.
3.

West WC:
1.
2.

Last Place:

Stanley Cup Final:

My picks so far:

Atlantic:
1.Lightning
2.Leafs
3.Bruins

Metro:
1.Caps
2.Pens
3.Flyers

East WC:
1.Jackets
2.Panthers

Central:
1.Preds
2.Jets
3.Wild

Pacific:
1.Kings
2.Sharks
3.Ducks

West WC:
1.Blues
2.Flames

Last Place:
Wings

Stanley Cup Final:
Lightning vs Preds (my hopes would be Leafs vs Preds or Jets)

[TheMatrix31]

Re: The Official 2018-19 Season Talk Thread

Gonna wait for predictions to see if anyone gets hurt during camp/preseason. But I'm sure glad it's creeping up.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2018-19 Season Talk Thread

I just hope one day NHL abandons this stupid playoff format. It's my least fave of all the leagues.

And what's sadder is how it seems like people in the league itself(players/gms/owners) don't mind it. Probably won't even be addressed unless something crazy happens like a team missing out on playoffs when 3rd seed in other division is worse.

Sure, "to be the best you have to beat the best", but who would want to face the best early on? You at least want the journey and great moments in playoffs leading up to that matchup instead of possibly being out in round 1 in 6-7 games because you had a conference finals worthy match to kick off the playoffs.

Loser point is a whole different debate which won't be bothered with either, even when you just had a season where a team who not only made playoffs but finished top 3 in their division had 2 fewer wins than a team that missed the playoffs.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2018-19 Season Talk Thread

After what we've seen this week, I should change my predictions. I'd put Sharks ahead of Kings to win division, and Knights topping the Flames for the final WC spot.

[mjavon]

Re: The Official 2018-19 Season Talk Thread

I just hope one day NHL abandons this stupid playoff format. It's my least fave of all the leagues.

And what's sadder is how it seems like people in the league itself(players/gms/owners) don't mind it. Probably won't even be addressed unless something crazy happens like a team missing out on playoffs when 3rd seed in other division is worse.

Sure, "to be the best you have to beat the best", but who would want to face the best early on? You at least want the journey and great moments in playoffs leading up to that matchup instead of possibly being out in round 1 in 6-7 games because you had a conference finals worthy match to kick off the playoffs.

Loser point is a whole different debate which won't be bothered with either, even when you just had a season where a team who not only made playoffs but finished top 3 in their division had 2 fewer wins than a team that missed the playoffs.

I wouldn't be surprised if they change the divisional structure once Seattle comes along and they're at 32. I want to see eight divisions of four teams like the NFL.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Operation Sports mobile app

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2018-19 Season Talk Thread

I wouldn't be surprised if they change the divisional structure once Seattle comes along and they're at 32. I want to see eight divisions of four teams like the NFL.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Operation Sports mobile app

That's what I've been hoping for all sports for ages now. NFL has best division setup.

NHL more than any of the big 4 leagues I think benefits from that format the most. In an East and West conference, you need 16 teams from each. In an NFL style division, you need 8 true west and 8 true east.

With that format, you have 4 division winners and 4 "wild card" teams. Division winners aren't guaranteed home ice advantage, and we have re-seeding after each round. That'd be my dream scenario for a 32 team league.

West 1: Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg
West 2: San Jose, LA, Anaheim, Seattle
South 1: Arizona, Colorado, Dallas, Vegas
South 2: Tampa, Florida, Carolina, Nashville
North 1: Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Buffalo
North 2: St.Louis, Minnesota, Chicago, Detroit
East 1: Boston, Rangers, Islanders, New Jersey
East 2: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Washington, Columbus

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2018-19 Season Talk Thread

An NFL-style format of 8 divisions/4 teams makes zero sense for the NHL. Either division games will make up a tiny amount of the schedule, or you're playing the same division rivals 10-16 times per year. Hard pass.

It's much more likely (and desirable IMO) that the Coyotes get punted to the Central once Seattle joins the league. The current playoff format needs a re-do, but there's nothing wrong with 4 divisions of 8 teams.

[Money99]

Re: The Official 2018-19 Season Talk Thread

An NFL-style format of 8 divisions/4 teams makes zero sense for the NHL. Either division games will make up a tiny amount of the schedule, or you're playing the same division rivals 10-16 times per year. Hard pass.



It's much more likely (and desirable IMO) that the Coyotes get punted to the Central once Seattle joins the league. The current playoff format needs a re-do, but there's nothing wrong with 4 divisions of 8 teams.

Totally agree.
I loved the old format of playing out of your division. It created some great rivalries.
My biggest concern is that the NHL will do something stupid and add more teams to the playoff picture once Seattle joins.



Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2018-19 Season Talk Thread

An NFL-style format of 8 divisions/4 teams makes zero sense for the NHL. Either division games will make up a tiny amount of the schedule, or you're playing the same division rivals 10-16 times per year. Hard pass.

3 divisions in own conference = 4 games vs each team(48 games total)
Own division = 6 games each (18 games total)

Leaving 16 games left to be played. Meaning either:
1- Play 1 game vs each team in opposing conference(so 2 divisions you play on road for a game, 2 at home for a game, with this alternating each year)
OR
2- 2 games vs each team in 2 divisions(those 2 divisions alternates each year)

[Money99]

Re: The Official 2018-19 Season Talk Thread

Zetterberg retires:

http://kuklaskorner.com/A2Y/comments/henrik-zetterbergs-career-is-over-due-to-back-issues

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2018-19 Season Talk Thread

Was gonna make about 5M combined over next 3 seasons, so it's not really worth playing for that when he's been getting 7M+ per year as well.

Weird era overall for captaincy in hockey. As of now, Leafs/Rangers/Habs/Wings don't have a captain(never before in NHL history have multiple O6 teams started season without a captain), and more than half the teams in the Atlantic division don't have a captain. (lol, Derrick McKenzie is technically the 3rd best captain in the division)

[rdnk]

Re: The Official 2018-19 Season Talk Thread

If I had to put money down on the next Wings' captain, I'd say it would be Abdelkader, even though that is somewhat disappointing. Kronwall only has one year left before retirement, otherwise he'd be the choice. Larkin would be the other option.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: The Official 2018-19 Season Talk Thread

Preseason started a couple hours ago in China.

Hoping there's some sort of international incident which leads to lifetime Chinese imprisonment of Zdeno Chara, Brad Marchand, James Neal and Matthew Tkachuk, tbh.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2018-19 Season Talk Thread

Preseason started a couple hours ago in China.

Hoping there's some sort of international incident which leads to lifetime Chinese imprisonment of Zdeno Chara, Brad Marchand, James Neal and Matthew Tkachuk, tbh.

I'd settle for just Marchand. If Bruins are at best a 3 seed in the Atlantic, I'll be happy.

What's reasoning for those teams chosen? Flames VS Bruins seems like a weird matchup to try and promote.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2018-19 Season Talk Thread

Some NHL players were asked about which team would be most likely to rebound. Sabres and Coyotes were the most popular choices.

I find that interesting, especially on Coyotes front. Sharks and Kings are obviously improved, and Vegas should still be a playoff team, and Ducks probably top 3 in division also. Flames have also improved and Oilers surely can do better right? So Coyotes picked to finish top 4 or so in their division I think is unlikely, but crazier things(Vegas) have happened.

I could see a scenario where Sabres do improve alot. Obviously having guys like Eichel/Dahlin is great, and Sens/Habs/Wings possibly being the 3 worst teams in the NHL next year, Sabres could rack up alot of easy points within their division. I know Leafs historically have trouble vs Sabres too, so there's a chance they could steal some points there too.