I expected Florida to be worse since they had a bunch of players having abnormally good years, and lost some important pieces in huburdeau and wiegar. Maybe not this bad, but my predictions had then in 1st wildcard in the east.
Colorado, simply put they probably aren’t bad they’ve just had terrible injury luck, but since we haven’t seen the full team yet, it’s hard to tell if they’re good or bad, I say they might pull a Tampa and just play for any playoff spot then work magic there.
The devils are better than expected but based on their core maturing, and the team in general getting better, I had them pinned to be in the playoff conversation in the east.
That leaves Seattle, who I didn’t really think much of. I expected them to climb to 5 or 6 in the pacific, solely because I expected San Jose, Anaheim, and maybe Vancouver to try to tank for Bedard.
And Winnipeg, who I have never believed in their core, just thought they didn’t do enough offensively to outscore their problems in the regular season, and didn’t do enough defensively to be able to win tight competitive games.
Just based on how much I didn’t believe in the the Jets I’d probably say they’re the biggest surprise for me so far this season. But gotta give props to Seattle.
Boomer_407
Seattle! I thought they were going to be a night off for a lot of teams this season.
sufferfest3163
Seattle Kraken by far. NJ Devils a distant second. LA Kings third.
JustSixTrees
Seattle in a landslide. They’re using Martin Jones as their go to goalie, who would’ve ever thought they’d be anywhere near this good? The offseason additions are meshing really well and the defense seems to finally be clicking too. To top it off Hakstol isn’t actively driving the team into the ground which helps too
Lethbridgemark
For me I’d say Florida.
I expected Seattle to make the playoffs, saw many people get downvoted to oblivion for saying they would make the playoffs, biggest issues are defense and goaltending being hit or miss. They are doing better than I expected but since they are streaky it could shift to wc1 or 3rd in the Pacific.
Jets to me felt underperforming the last couple seasons, they have a great core and one of the best goalies in the league so it’s not surprising they are doing so well.
NJ have looked good the last couple years and I expected them to do much better with the aging core.
Colorado, yes they are doing much worse than expected to start the season but it’s injury issues so it’s not surprising with their injuries this year.
Florida I expected to drop to maybe 4/5 in the east but not like they have. Yes they definitely got worse defensively losing Weager but Chucky and Hub are fairly similar skill wise so the offensive drop is shocking to me. Granted I didn’t pay much attention to them in the off season so maybe they lost more than I anticipated but definitely doing far worse than they should considering they won the President’s trophy last season.
Note: I mostly follow the west being an Oilers fan so the west was less surprising for me.
hummer010
Seattle or New Jersey.
I expected Winnipeg to be better without Maurice.
I expected Florida to be worse with Maurice.
While I’m surprised that Colorado is doing this poorly, its easily explained by the injuries.
New Jersey’s goaltending is questionable at best, so I sure didn’t see them above a wildcard spot.
I didn’t see Seattle in the playoff picture at all. Honestly, the only reason I’d expected them to move up was because of Anaheim and San Jose moving down.
ImPrettySadTheseDays
Phoenix the goalie
Fireryman
Seattle and Florida.
I expected Seattle to be better but not this better.
Florida I am shocked not top 8.
Archiebonker12345
It has to be the Jets. They look fantastic and are only now starting to get healthy.
Odiwan-Kenobi
I’m surprised a bit by how bad my Avs are this year. But after a late season, the Stanley Cup and off season injuries I was expecting a pretty awful Stanley Cup Hangover? We’ll win it again in 2025.
-Take_It_Easy-
Definitely Seattle
It’s not something I would’ve guessed
Rehberkintosh
I thought Calgary’s off season moves would have amounted to more than they have
Neon_Sternum
I’m going with Seattle – it’s been very cool to see their success.
FLA regressing was expected since they fired their coach for no god damned reason. COL would be a lot better than this if every star player wasn’t dead.
14 Comments
Devils by far
Of those 5, either Seattle or Winnipeg.
I expected Florida to be worse since they had a bunch of players having abnormally good years, and lost some important pieces in huburdeau and wiegar. Maybe not this bad, but my predictions had then in 1st wildcard in the east.
Colorado, simply put they probably aren’t bad they’ve just had terrible injury luck, but since we haven’t seen the full team yet, it’s hard to tell if they’re good or bad, I say they might pull a Tampa and just play for any playoff spot then work magic there.
The devils are better than expected but based on their core maturing, and the team in general getting better, I had them pinned to be in the playoff conversation in the east.
That leaves Seattle, who I didn’t really think much of. I expected them to climb to 5 or 6 in the pacific, solely because I expected San Jose, Anaheim, and maybe Vancouver to try to tank for Bedard.
And Winnipeg, who I have never believed in their core, just thought they didn’t do enough offensively to outscore their problems in the regular season, and didn’t do enough defensively to be able to win tight competitive games.
Just based on how much I didn’t believe in the the Jets I’d probably say they’re the biggest surprise for me so far this season. But gotta give props to Seattle.
Seattle! I thought they were going to be a night off for a lot of teams this season.
Seattle Kraken by far. NJ Devils a distant second. LA Kings third.
Seattle in a landslide. They’re using Martin Jones as their go to goalie, who would’ve ever thought they’d be anywhere near this good? The offseason additions are meshing really well and the defense seems to finally be clicking too. To top it off Hakstol isn’t actively driving the team into the ground which helps too
For me I’d say Florida.
I expected Seattle to make the playoffs, saw many people get downvoted to oblivion for saying they would make the playoffs, biggest issues are defense and goaltending being hit or miss. They are doing better than I expected but since they are streaky it could shift to wc1 or 3rd in the Pacific.
Jets to me felt underperforming the last couple seasons, they have a great core and one of the best goalies in the league so it’s not surprising they are doing so well.
NJ have looked good the last couple years and I expected them to do much better with the aging core.
Colorado, yes they are doing much worse than expected to start the season but it’s injury issues so it’s not surprising with their injuries this year.
Florida I expected to drop to maybe 4/5 in the east but not like they have. Yes they definitely got worse defensively losing Weager but Chucky and Hub are fairly similar skill wise so the offensive drop is shocking to me. Granted I didn’t pay much attention to them in the off season so maybe they lost more than I anticipated but definitely doing far worse than they should considering they won the President’s trophy last season.
Note: I mostly follow the west being an Oilers fan so the west was less surprising for me.
Seattle or New Jersey.
I expected Winnipeg to be better without Maurice.
I expected Florida to be worse with Maurice.
While I’m surprised that Colorado is doing this poorly, its easily explained by the injuries.
New Jersey’s goaltending is questionable at best, so I sure didn’t see them above a wildcard spot.
I didn’t see Seattle in the playoff picture at all. Honestly, the only reason I’d expected them to move up was because of Anaheim and San Jose moving down.
Phoenix the goalie
Seattle and Florida.
I expected Seattle to be better but not this better.
Florida I am shocked not top 8.
It has to be the Jets. They look fantastic and are only now starting to get healthy.
I’m surprised a bit by how bad my Avs are this year. But after a late season, the Stanley Cup and off season injuries I was expecting a pretty awful Stanley Cup Hangover? We’ll win it again in 2025.
Definitely Seattle
It’s not something I would’ve guessed
I thought Calgary’s off season moves would have amounted to more than they have
I’m going with Seattle – it’s been very cool to see their success.
FLA regressing was expected since they fired their coach for no god damned reason. COL would be a lot better than this if every star player wasn’t dead.