Sporting News hockey preview on the Pens

[cs6687]

They pick the Pens to win the Atlantic Division, followed by the Flyers, Rangers, Devils, and Islanders. However, they predict Montreal over the Penguins in the East Finals. Detroit over Montreal is their Finals pick.

Chuck Gormley of the Philly Enquirer, who wrote the Atlantic previews, says Dupuis is capable of 25 goals.

In their fantasy section, they have Fleury listed as the top goalie. Crosby and Malkin are the top two centers, and Gonchar is third among defensemen.

[SMTM]

I am so sick of hearing that Montreal is the team to beat. Give me a break. They got destroyed by a decent, but not great Philadelphia team, which subsequently was destroyed by the Pens. Additionally, Price almost cost them the first round single handedly. He is at least 3 years from being mature enough to be considered a top goalie. I just do not agree with the Canadiens being anything other than a top 5 team in the east, overall. I bet Tampa will be neck and neck with them.

[Idoit40fans]

I really want to know what Pittsburgh has to fear from Montreal. Or what Philly has to fear from them for that matter.

[newarenanow]

I am so sick of hearing that Montreal is the team to beat. Give me a break. They got destroyed by a decent, but not great Philadelphia team, which subsequently was destroyed by the Pens. Additionally, Price almost cost them the first round single handedly. He is at least 3 years from being mature enough to be considered a top goalie. I just do not agree with the Canadiens being anything other than a top 5 team in the east, overall. I bet Tampa will be neck and neck with them.

The Pens got destroyed by Ottawa two years ago, and then went on to destroy Ottawa, the Rangers, and Flyers. MAF wasn't mature and didn't have much experience.

Things change.

[Henry Hank]

It's probably for the best that the Pens aren't faced with universal high expectations. Let the media champion Montreal over them. All that pressure didn't seem to do so good for Price and the rest of that team in the playoffs. The Pens have something to prove and they probably work better with that being the case.

[Idoit40fans]

I am so sick of hearing that Montreal is the team to beat. Give me a break. They got destroyed by a decent, but not great Philadelphia team, which subsequently was destroyed by the Pens. Additionally, Price almost cost them the first round single handedly. He is at least 3 years from being mature enough to be considered a top goalie. I just do not agree with the Canadiens being anything other than a top 5 team in the east, overall. I bet Tampa will be neck and neck with them.

The Pens got destroyed by Ottawa two years ago, and then went on to destroy Ottawa, the Rangers, and Flyers. MAF wasn't mature and didn't have much experience.

Things change.

Fleury wasn't the reason they lost to Ottawa. Had the rest of the team played as well as he did, they would have won the series.

[SMTM]

The Pens got destroyed by Ottawa two years ago, and then went on to destroy Ottawa, the Rangers, and Flyers. MAF wasn't mature and didn't have much experience.

Things change.


Yeah things change. The Pens were a young, inexperienced team playing Ottawa at the top of their game. Fair enough.

This year Montreal, an overachieving team in my opinion, got a year closer to retirement, not a year more mature. The Pens core is strengthening, the Habs is aging.

Somethings change. Somethings do not.

[newarenanow]

I am so sick of hearing that Montreal is the team to beat. Give me a break. They got destroyed by a decent, but not great Philadelphia team, which subsequently was destroyed by the Pens. Additionally, Price almost cost them the first round single handedly. He is at least 3 years from being mature enough to be considered a top goalie. I just do not agree with the Canadiens being anything other than a top 5 team in the east, overall. I bet Tampa will be neck and neck with them.

The Pens got destroyed by Ottawa two years ago, and then went on to destroy Ottawa, the Rangers, and Flyers. MAF wasn't mature and didn't have much experience.

Things change.

Fleury wasn't the reason they lost to Ottawa. Had the rest of the team played as well as he did, they would have won the series.

I'm just saying, players mature. Different things happen from season to season.

Not saying Montreal is going to rock over us in the East, just saying that I wouldn't be suprised if they did.

They did finish first overall in the conference last year. It's not like they finished in dead last and are a "suprise" team.

[newarenanow]

The Pens got destroyed by Ottawa two years ago, and then went on to destroy Ottawa, the Rangers, and Flyers. MAF wasn't mature and didn't have much experience.

Things change.


Yeah things change. The Pens were a young, inexperienced team playing Ottawa at the top of their game. Fair enough.

This year Montreal, an overachieving team in my opinion, got a year closer to retirement, not a year more mature. The Pens core is strengthening, the Habs is aging.

Somethings change. Somethings do not.

Same thing was said numerous times about Detroit. That they wouldn't win it because they were too "old".

Like I said in another post, I'm not saying it is going to happen, I'm just wondering why it is so suprising, or ridiculous in some eyes.

[PenguinHockeyFanatic]

I am so sick of hearing that Montreal is the team to beat. Give me a break. They got destroyed by a decent, but not great Philadelphia team, which subsequently was destroyed by the Pens. Additionally, Price almost cost them the first round single handedly. He is at least 3 years from being mature enough to be considered a top goalie. I just do not agree with the Canadiens being anything other than a top 5 team in the east, overall. I bet Tampa will be neck and neck with them.

He had an extraordinary season for a 21 year old goalie, the .920 save% is particularly impressive. Fleury wasn't exactly unbeatable in his first playoff stint either, and if it holds true that the "young Penguins will improve" then why shouldn't he? No, Price is a top 5 pick, he could regress, but his potential is stellar and I expect a solid season for him as their #1 goalie.

Montreal's Achilles's heel was their team toughness, not a lot of willing participants when it came to dropping the gloves. The same could be said about the Red Wings as well, so those types of teams are fine so long as they are leading. In the playoffs their power play was abyssmal, nobody seemed interested in hitting the net. Biron is not that good, they gave him far too much respect and they were bullied around the net in both ends of the rink.

Carbonneau will have learned a lot about coaching I imagine, and this team will be systematically sound once again.

Everybody is talking at their ass with these constant prediction reports, nobody will know what the story is until everybody has played 30 games or so.

That goes double for TB, they are not guaranteed to be better simply because they look better on paper. The league didn't exactly regress around them, they are just now on a respectable level as compared to the wretched level they were at last season. Kind of like Philly did.

No way will the Flyers finish ahead of NJ AND NYR, maybe one of the two.

[Idoit40fans]

The Pens got destroyed by Ottawa two years ago, and then went on to destroy Ottawa, the Rangers, and Flyers. MAF wasn't mature and didn't have much experience.

Things change.


Yeah things change. The Pens were a young, inexperienced team playing Ottawa at the top of their game. Fair enough.

This year Montreal, an overachieving team in my opinion, got a year closer to retirement, not a year more mature. The Pens core is strengthening, the Habs is aging.

Somethings change. Somethings do not.

Same thing was said numerous times about Detroit. That they wouldn't win it because they were too "old".

Like I said in another post, I'm not saying it is going to happen, I'm just wondering why it is so suprising, or ridiculous in some eyes.

I'm mostly shocked by it because Price hasn't even played an entire season yet. Even Fleury in his reletive inexperience going into 06-07 had almost twice as much experience as Price does going into 08-09.

[Idoit40fans]

I am so sick of hearing that Montreal is the team to beat. Give me a break. They got destroyed by a decent, but not great Philadelphia team, which subsequently was destroyed by the Pens. Additionally, Price almost cost them the first round single handedly. He is at least 3 years from being mature enough to be considered a top goalie. I just do not agree with the Canadiens being anything other than a top 5 team in the east, overall. I bet Tampa will be neck and neck with them.

Everybody is talking at their ass with these constant prediction reports, nobody will know what the story is until everybody has played 30 games or so.

No way will the Flyers finish ahead of NJ AND NYR, maybe one of the two.

[Pitts]

They did finish first overall in the conference last year.

ONLY because the Pens let them by allowing Philly to win that last game.

[K2]

Chuck Gormley of the Philly Enquirer, who wrote the Atlantic previews, says Dupuis is capable of 25 goals.

He must also write for the National Enquirer

[KG]

That's fine...Let the experts pick the Habs to win it and let them have all the pressure...We'll see how Price handles a big spot again this year...

[DelPen]

The more I look at the East the more I think the Caps me be #2. Not saying the Caps are that great just that the East isn't that good aside from the Pens.

[Idoit40fans]

I definitely expect the Caps to win the division, so they could be 2 or 3. The more I think about it, the more I think Montreal is going to be the 1 seed.

[cs6687]

If Cam Ward can quit playing average in goal, Carolina wins the Southeast. They have been hit by the injury bug pretty hard in each of the last two seasons.

[duke66]

They pick the Pens to win the Atlantic Division, followed by the Flyers, Rangers, Devils, and Islanders. However, they predict Montreal over the Penguins in the East Finals. Detroit over Montreal is their Finals pick.

Chuck Gormley of the Philly Enquirer, who wrote the Atlantic previews, says Dupuis is capable of 25 goals.

In their fantasy section, they have Fleury listed as the top goalie. Crosby and Malkin are the top two centers, and Gonchar is third among defensemen.

...it's just a prediction obviously, but i don't see any part of the habs that is better than the pens...the pens have the edge at forward, defense and goaltending...perhaps an easier division to play in may be the only edge the habs have at gaining more points than the pens (like last year)...the habs COULD beat the pens in the east finals, but i say they WON'T...

[duke66]

If Cam Ward can quit playing average in goal, Carolina wins the Southeast. They have been hit by the injury bug pretty hard in each of the last two seasons.

...i'm calling the canes to win the southeast, the craps will then take the 6-7 or 8 seed...

[Henry Hank]

Carolina still has a pretty good team, what doesn't always get said about their last two seasons is that they had some really bad injury problems. That's not an excuse - the Pens did quite well with some significant injury losses - but if they manage to stay healthy I'd count them in as a playoff team. Washington has a nice offense but their D still looks weak and I wouldn't have a whole lot of faith in Theodore playing behind a bad D. I'd bet on them making the playoffs again but I wouldn't book it. It depends on how well they manage to keep pucks out of the net. Huet was huge for them down the stretch and a major upgrade over Kolzig. Even after that, they were what, one point away from being the ninth seed instead of the division winner? They aren't that good yet.

Montreal has a good team, in fact I'd say they're the only team in the East behind the Pens that is actually well rounded. They have a good young core too so whoever said their core is aging is pretty off... Koivu and Kovalev really aren't their core. There's no way I'd pick them over the Pens right now. When it comes down to it, I'd take Crosby, Malkin, and Staal over any three of their players and it's not even close. Fleury is more advanced than Price. The Pens' D was quite good in the playoffs. For me it's Pens then the Habs and then the Flyers (just on the strength of their offense) then the rest of the East. Of course, Montreal got beat pretty easily by a not great Philly team in the playoffs so maybe I'm overrating them.

[Ron`]

I am so sick of hearing that Montreal is the team to beat. Give me a break. They got destroyed by a decent, but not great Philadelphia team, which subsequently was destroyed by the Pens. Additionally, Price almost cost them the first round single handedly. He is at least 3 years from being mature enough to be considered a top goalie. I just do not agree with the Canadiens being anything other than a top 5 team in the east, overall. I bet Tampa will be neck and neck with them.

He had an extraordinary season for a 21 year old goalie, the .920 save% is particularly impressive. Fleury wasn't exactly unbeatable in his first playoff stint either, and if it holds true that the "young Penguins will improve" then why shouldn't he? No, Price is a top 5 pick, he could regress, but his potential is stellar and I expect a solid season for him as their #1 goalie.

Montreal's Achilles's heel was their team toughness, not a lot of willing participants when it came to dropping the gloves. The same could be said about the Red Wings as well, so those types of teams are fine so long as they are leading. In the playoffs their power play was abyssmal, nobody seemed interested in hitting the net. Biron is not that good, they gave him far too much respect and they were bullied around the net in both ends of the rink.

Carbonneau will have learned a lot about coaching I imagine, and this team will be systematically sound once again.

Everybody is talking at their ass with these constant prediction reports, nobody will know what the story is until everybody has played 30 games or so.

That goes double for TB, they are not guaranteed to be better simply because they look better on paper. The league didn't exactly regress around them, they are just now on a respectable level as compared to the wretched level they were at last season. Kind of like Philly did.

No way will the Flyers finish ahead of NJ AND NYR, maybe one of the two.

I can easily see Montreal in the top 3 from the east. Maybe BGL forgot how to drop the gloves completely. Price will improve and he has a solid backup to share some of the load.

[Froggy]

Chuck Gormley of the Philly Enquirer, who wrote the Atlantic previews, says Dupuis is capable of 25 goals.

He must also write for the National Enquirer

perhaps that's a projection for the remainder of his contract, not for next season...

[Froggy]

If Cam Ward can quit playing average in goal, Carolina wins the Southeast. They have been hit by the injury bug pretty hard in each of the last two seasons.

...i'm calling the canes to win the southeast, the craps will then take the 6-7 or 8 seed...

you're really picking 2 teams from the southeast to make the playoffs? really?

[canaan]

If Cam Ward can quit playing average in goal, Carolina wins the Southeast. They have been hit by the injury bug pretty hard in each of the last two seasons.

...i'm calling the canes to win the southeast, the craps will then take the 6-7 or 8 seed...

you're really picking 2 teams from the southeast to make the playoffs? really?

why not?if the canes can stay healthy, they could definitely win the division and the caps are pretty impressive.

1.Montreal
2.Pittsburgh
3.Carolina
4.Philadelphia
5.New Jersey
6.Washington
7.New York
8.Ottawa