In the Avalanche’s second outing of the year, goaltending Semyon Varlamov made 30 saves to shut-out the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins.
I’ve been in the camp of people who didn’t expect Semyon Varlamov to end up being remotely worth what the Avalanche gave away to get him during the off-season. I thought the Avs were signing themselves up for a second consecutive season of cellar-dwelling hockey.
But after today’s game, a thought hit me: what if he actually develops into a premiere NHL goaltender? The Avs have enough offensive talent on that roster that their team could actually be decent.
Then I checked another score.
- Back from last year’s tumultuous bout with invisibility.
The New Jersey Devils got a win today courtesy a pair of goals from their star Zach Parise (who was absent all of last year) and one from another big name in Ilya Kovalchuk (who was absent all of last year).
If Brodeur can have one more quality season, Zajac comes back and helps, Tedenby develops…a thought hit me: maybe that team could actually be decent.
A sample size of two games teaches us next to nothing, but honestly, there have been times since October 6th where I’ve thought “hey, the Wild could be good this year,” and “hey, the Leafs could be good this year,” and “hey, the Isles could be good this year.”
There’s nary an NHL team I’d write off after a couple games of the season.
I don’t remember seeing parity like this in any league ever before. Has the NHL ever been close to this competitive from top to bottom before? It certainly wasn’t when I grew up.
So, a contest:
Readers of Backhand Shelf have until Wednesday night at midnight (EST) to list in the comment section the teams who DIDN’T make playoffs last year that WILL make it this year. One entry per person, obviously.
Full disclosure: I also work in social media for Easton, so I should be able to dig up some pretty slick prizes for our winners. If it’s just one person who nails it, I promise a fancy one-piece stick. It’s like winning the lottery – the more winners, the thinner the prize, so don’t be afraid to get adventurous.
As you’ve seen from my previous prediction posts, I have three teams: St. Louis (nice), Florida (sure), and Winnipeg (wait, what?). You can pick as many or as few teams as you like.
Best of luck to all of you!
New Jersey Devils
St. Louis Blues
That’s it.
Florida, New Jersey, Minnesota — and the bubble race in both conferences will be even tighter this year. Think the West will come down to tiebreakers.
In the East:
New Jersey Devils
In the West:
Minnesota Wild
St. Louis Blues
Teams that will make it
West:
St. Louis
Columbus
East:
New Jersey
Out would be:
Coyotes
Rangers
Anaheim
Toronto Maple Leafs
St. Louis Blues
Carolina
Colorado
Calgary
New Jersey Devils
And the New York Islanders sneak in at the 8 seed over the Rangers. (I may be a little biased)
Side note: Not cool leaving Butchie out of the wedding festivities ;)
Toronto Maple Leafs
Carolina Hurricanes
St. Louis Blues
Carolina – Thanks Jeff Skinner
Columbus – Thanks Jeff Carter
At the expense of Montreal and Phoenix. Which is okay, because it means more Paul Bissonette on TSN guest panels.
St Louis Blues are in easily.
Devils with Zpar as Captain get’s it done with Kchoke
Hurricanes, because the East is weak..
Carolina
New Jersey
St. Louis
St. Lou & New Jerz
**FYI, I need a new helmet and wouldn’t be opposed to trying an Easton out ;-)
Islanders, St. Louis. Boom.
I’ll go with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the East and the Edmonton Oilers in the West.
Blues, Devils and Panthers
Toronto Maple Leafs
Columbus Blue Jackets
St. Louis Blues
Colorado Avalanche
Toronto Maple Leafs
New Jersey Devils
Carolina Hurricanes
the toronto maple leafs will make the playoffs and colorado avalanche will also make it and that, i think is it………GR
Toronto and Minnesota
East: New Jersey Devils
West: St. Louis Blues, Minnesota Wild
NY Rangers make it. Torts is serious about it this year, more so then last few. Sending Avery down helps show that the focus is going to be playing good smart hockey and winning. Hank keeps them in every game and allows the rest of the boys the ability to focus on putting the puck in the other net. The fans are tired of the large bloated payroll which ends, lately, with pictures of what golf course their players are on at the start of the post-season.
I’ll pick New Jersey, St. Louis and Columbus.
New Jersey. I expect my easton stealth RS, as everyone else is picking more than one team.
Also, it’s “Tedenby.” Who was on the 4th line today. Granted, he had plenty of jump, which is good. Josefson’s development may be more important with the Zajac injury and the need for a center who can pass the puck to Kovy. And, after the 2nd game, my vote for Larsson for Calder is sealed and mailed.
If, and this is a big if, DeBoer can hold the room better than MacLean last year, we’ll make the playoffs with ease. NJ has the reputation of being a hard team to coach, and we’ll see if DeBoer can buck that reputation pretty soon here. The team’s response to the dismal game against Philly is a good sign.
I can’t read. As it turns out, you can pick more than 1 team, just no more than 1 entry per person. In that case, I’m going to go with the Stars out west.
I’ll go with :
Blues, Avalanche, Rangers
East
——-
none
West
——-
St. Louis
I’ll take New Jersey, St. Louis, and the Islanders.
Colorado Avalanche and Carolina Hurricanes
In place of Phoenix Coyotes and Montreal Canadians
I’ll say Winnipeg, Colorado, and Minnesota.
Niiiiiiceeee.
Man! Pretty minimal representation of my Florida pick…. but nice work otherwise.
MikeK, if you win solo, the RS isn’t out of the question!
st.louis. thats it
Blues, Wild, Islanders, Leafs
Mark Streit should get some love this year. The guy is excellent.
Canucks win it all, and burn the city anyways.
East-Devils
West-Wild
I prefer bauer sticks but hey, I’d settle for a stealth
Justin-why don’t you give one good prize to only the first correct response?
Well damn, that’s a pretty nice idea. Tell you what – I’ll give a great first prize (one-piece stick) to the first winner, and everyone else can still get something, just lesser.
Calgary and Toronto
Winnipeg and New Jersey
Carolina and……. Edmonton!
Maple Leafs & Devils.
Blues & Oilers.
Oh, and Long Island as well!
Oilers in the west
Islanders, Devils, Blues
East
Panthers
Devils
West
Wild
Stars
New Jersey, Carolina, Columbus and Colorado.
Eastern Conference:
Toronto Maple Leafs
New Jersey Devils
Western Conference:
Dallas Stars
St. Louis Blues
My picks are New Jersey and Minnesota
New Jersey
St. Louis
Florida
St. Louis
Toronto
I’ll go with Toronto and Carolina and Minnesota will make it in this year
Toronto Maple Leafs….
New Jersey
Toronto
Dallas
Edmonton
Carolina
Colorado
St. Louis
New Jersey
Isles, St. Louis and Edmonton
New Jersey
Toronto
Calgary
That’s it.
/sees Calgary, disposes of ballot
Toronto Maple Leafs
St. Louis
Maple Leafs
Isles and Jersey in the East
I’m thinking Dallas, Minni and STL in the west. I’m gonna regret saying stl because they find a new way to shit the bed every year, but I like what Berglund and a healthy Oshie bring to that squad, so for now, I’m in for stl.
East: Devils
West: Flames
Wild, Blues, Devils
Toronto, Florida and Jersey in the east.
Calgary in the west.
New Jersey,
Carolina
Calgary
East: Devils
West: Blue Jackets
St. Louis Blues
Florida Panthers
Toronto Maple leafs
Islanders in the East, Habs out. Nobody in the west
New Jersey, Toronto and St. Louis.
East team – Jersey
West – St Louis and Minnesota
West:
Dallas
St. Louis
East:
New Jersey
NY Rangers
Carolina
Columbus
East: NJ and Toronto
West: St Louis and Minnasota
Islanders in. Colorado in. Hurricanes In.
In: Devils, Blues
Out: Canadiens, Coyotes
Winnipeg
NJ
Edmonton
No change. Same teams to make it last year make it this year.
St. Louis
Carolina
I think the Devs might make it too but I also think it depends on Marty’s health and I’m not optimistic, so I’ll omit them from this list (just wanted to explain my reasoning).
East: Toronto, NJ
West: Minnesota, St. Louis
St. Louis, New Jersey, New York Islanders
EAST- NYI and NYR “IN”, WEST- St. Louis and Minny in. Thats 4 teams, the more the bigger coconuts JB. LOL
Some peeps are picking teams who made it last yr, that calls for AUTO DISQUALIFICATION, it thats the rule i can guarantee 10 LOL.
Islanders(pleasepleaseplease) and Devils in the East
Edmonton in the West if only for the pure excitement I hate to admit their roster will bring with that kind of run.
Carolina and St. Louis.
Edmonton, new jersey, & carolina
I’m way more than a little biased here, but I think the Devils will make the playoffs this year. I saw monday’s game vs. Carolina, and I was shocked. Could this be the same team that started 0-8 last year? They out skated and overall out performed the hapless Hurricanes. if this is the way they play the rest of the year, their goal of the Stanley Cup really could be in view.
Toronto
New Jersey
St Louis
New Jersey, Toronto, St. Louis, Minnesota.
Devils, Blues, Hurricanes