HOCKEY! '04 season begins

[Jake]

This is gonna be one screwed up season. With some MAJOR trades on the West coast and some MAJOR menagement changes in the East this year it's a whole new NHL. I saw some socres and they're 6-0, 6-1,... The teams are unevenly matched which results in some pretty predictable games between good and bad teams and some pretty big competition between the major players. So, Anaheim will do what Carolina did, Colorado will pray that the best line of forwards ever assembled inhockey history will pay off, Ottawa will try for a Playoff record like their season last year, Detroit will hope that old man Dominic H. can do without Sergei F., and so on.

[Jedi Master]

the Colorado Avalanche are going to be veeery strong this year!

for my Montreal Canadien... i wish

[radstar]

i love the Dallas Stars!!!!!!!!

my second fave is San Jose Sharks... i love them! and they aren't on the list!

[Rufus]

The Sens .. goin' all the way this season!! :big grin:

[chernabog_ca]

Well this should be an interesting year. Lots of questions are going to answered over the course of the season. Where will Cujo finally end up? Will Sather finally get that high payroll into the playoffs? How will Fedorov do in Anaheim? Was last year a fluke for Giguere? How will Colorado's goal-tending situation be this year? Will that offence be unstoppable? Will stable ownership be all that Ottawa needs to take it to the next level?

In the East, I see it being Ottawa and New Jersey once again. I don't really see too many teams that improved themselves in the off-season in the East except for Boston and Philly upgrading their goal-tending. Sure the Leafs added Klee and Nieuwendyk but they still don't have any defence and they got older in the process.

In the West, obviously Colorado is going to the be the team to watch. Forget Philly's LOD line, this line of Sakic, Kariya, and Selanne is one of the most talented lines ever. The only concern in Colorado is goal-tending but so far Aebischer is playing well. Detroit has Hasek back and added Hatcher on defence and they should be able to get over their first round exit from last year and bounce back. What's going to make the west interesting this year is watching teams battle for the remaining 6 playoff spots. Dallas, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Anaheim, San Jose and Minnesota should put up good fights to see who makes it.

As for me, well being a die-hard Habs fan, I'm not sure what to expect from this season. I'm so happy that Gainey was brought in and that Savard stayed on. I just hope that Theo returns to form, the team stays healthy, and that Julien can get them to stick to the system and maybe they can squeeze into the playoffs.

[Jake]

As much as I like the Devils I don't think they'll do that well (at least not in the regular season) They always were a team of nobodys that put stars to shame but this year too many people left. Nieuwendyk, Daneyko, Tverdovsky. NJ is build on average players being consistant and they just don't have that anymore. WHile I don't doubt that they will be a strong contender for the Cup, their season record may not be great if Brodeur doesn't do well

[Jake]

2003-2004 Regular Season Standings League Standings
RK GP W L T OTL PTS GF GA HOME AWAY L10
1 DALLAS 3 2 1 0 0 4 10 6 1-0-0-0 1-1-0-0 2-1-0-0
2 DETROIT 2 2 0 0 0 4 6 4 1-0-0-0 1-0-0-0 2-0-0-0
3 VANCOUVER 3 2 1 0 0 4 9 4 2-0-0-0 0-1-0-0 2-1-0-0
4 LOS ANGELES 3 2 1 0 0 4 9 5 0-0-0-0 2-1-0-0 2-1-0-0
5 PHOENIX 2 2 0 0 0 4 4 1 1-0-0-0 1-0-0-0 2-0-0-0
6 COLUMBUS 3 2 1 0 0 4 9 4 2-0-0-0 0-1-0-0 2-1-0-0
7 ATLANTA 2 2 0 0 0 4 6 4 1-0-0-0 1-0-0-0 2-0-0-0
8 FLORIDA 3 1 0 2 0 4 6 4 1-0-1-0 0-0-1-0 1-0-2-0
9 PHILADELPHIA 2 1 0 1 0 3 5 3 1-0-1-0 0-0-0-0 1-0-1-0
10 NEW JERSEY 2 1 0 1 0 3 5 4 0-0-0-0 1-0-1-0 1-0-1-0
11 OTTAWA 2 1 0 0 1 3 7 5 1-0-0-1 0-0-0-0 1-0-0-1
12 ST LOUIS 2 1 0 0 1 3 3 3 0-0-0-0 1-0-0-1 1-0-0-1
13 WASHINGTON 3 1 1 1 0 3 11 7 1-1-0-0 0-0-1-0 1-1-1-0
14 COLORADO 2 1 1 0 0 2 6 2 1-1-0-0 0-0-0-0 1-1-0-0
15 NY ISLANDERS 2 1 1 0 0 2 7 6 0-0-0-0 1-1-0-0 1-1-0-0
16 EDMONTON 2 1 1 0 0 2 5 5 1-0-0-0 0-1-0-0 1-1-0-0
17 BUFFALO 3 1 2 0 0 2 4 11 1-1-0-0 0-1-0-0 1-2-0-0
18 CHICAGO 3 1 2 0 0 2 3 9 1-1-0-0 0-1-0-0 1-2-0-0
19 CALGARY 2 1 1 0 0 2 4 6 1-0-0-0 0-1-0-0 1-1-0-0
20 MINNESOTA 3 1 2 0 0 2 7 7 1-1-0-0 0-1-0-0 1-2-0-0
21 NASHVILLE 2 1 1 0 0 2 4 4 1-1-0-0 0-0-0-0 1-1-0-0
22 SAN JOSE 3 1 2 0 0 2 7 10 0-0-0-0 1-2-0-0 1-2-0-0
23 MONTREAL 2 1 1 0 0 2 6 5 0-0-0-0 1-1-0-0 1-1-0-0
24 TAMPA BAY 1 1 0 0 0 2 5 1 1-0-0-0 0-0-0-0 1-0-0-0
25 BOSTON 3 0 1 2 0 2 5 9 0-0-1-0 0-1-1-0 0-1-2-0
26 TORONTO 2 0 1 1 0 1 2 6 0-1-1-0 0-0-0-0 0-1-1-0
27 CAROLINA 3 0 2 1 0 1 4 7 0-1-1-0 0-1-0-0 0-2-1-0
28 PITTSBURGH 2 0 1 1 0 1 3 6 0-1-0-0 0-0-1-0 0-1-1-0
29 NY RANGERS 2 0 2 0 0 0 3 10 0-0-0-0 0-2-0-0 0-2-0-0
30 ANAHEIM 3 0 3 0 0 0 2 9 0-1-0-0 0-2-0-0 0-3-0-0


Current standings - Matrix anyone?

[blugh]

Sens all the way!

[corfy]

Indianapolis Ice all the way, baby!

Oh, wait, you were wanting to know about NHL teams, rather than "minor league". Sorry, my mistake. In that case, I have no idea. I don't follow hockey.

[Jake]

Originally posted by blugh
Sens all the way!

You wish, it's gonna be Devils (or possibly Flyers) and Avalanche in the final