Long write up - BBKL 2015/16 Season (predictions, gradings)

[Florida Chris]

[The BBKL Insider]

Predicting The Standings:

East:
Toronto
Buffalo
New Jersey
Montreal
Boston
Philadelphia
Florida
NYR

NYI
Washington
Pens
Tampa
Carolina
Ottawa
Detriot
Blue Jackets


West:
Chicago
Minnesota
Los Angeles
Nashville
Calgary
Vancouver
Winnipeg
Colorado

St. Louis
San Jose
Edmonton
Anaheim
Arizona
Dallas

[kimmer]

Predicting The Standings:

East:
Toronto
Buffalo
New Jersey
Montreal
Boston
Philadelphia
Florida
NYR

NYI
Washington
Pens
Tampa
Carolina
Ottawa
Detriot
Blue Jackets


West:
Chicago
Minnesota
Los Angeles
Nashville
Calgary
Vancouver
Winnipeg
Colorado

St. Louis
San Jose
Edmonton
Anaheim
Arizona
Dallas

Bad prediction lol

[The BBKL Insider]

Bad prediction lol

make you're own

[Fraser]

West:

Los Angeles
Nashville
Chicago
Minnesota
Colorado
Vancouver
Calgary
Winnipeg

San Jose
St. Louis
Anaheim
Edmonton
Dallas
Arizona

[KapG]

Bad prediction lol

make you're own

My only prediction is that I do in fact finish above Philadelphia

[Bruyns]

BBKL Eastern Conference Power Rankings

Atlantic

1) Toronto - No surprise that Mike is still the team to beat in BBKL. The reigning champ had a quiet offseason and might not be able to dress McDavid for cap reasons, but his roster is still the class of the league filled with top end players and depth at every position.

Strengths - depth, all around players, star players
Weaknesses - none
Wildcard - McDavid

2) Buffalo - When I joined this was the season I targeted to start being competitive and I think I have built a team to do that.

Strengths - Cs, hits, PIMs
Weaknesses - D depth, no backup goalie
Wildcard - Horvat

3) Boston - This perennial contenders enters the season after an offseason that forced him to make some tough decisions to become cap compliant. They have taken a step back, but still have the pieces to contend.

Strengths - Well rounded, good players in every position
Weaknesses - Depth
Wild Card - Boston goaltending

4) Montreal - Another team that has been a contender for seasons and although I'm sure 4th would be a disappointment for this veteran heavy team there is still enough there to stay ahead of the up and coming teams in the East and he has budding superstar Eichel for the future.

Strengths - Well rounded, good periphs
Weaknesses - goaltending
Wildcard - Eichel

5) Tampa - The first full year of the retool/rebuild for Nick sees his team in danger of missing the playoffs for a second straight season. He still has the star power to win him games, but I don't think it is enough in this tough division.

Strength - Stars, scoring
weaknesses - periphs, goaltending
wild card - Pulkkinen/Crouse

6) Florida - Another good offseason by Chris has his team on the playoff bubble and capable of surprising a better team on any given week.

Strengths - Cs, well rounded
Weaknesses - star power
Wild card - Rantanen/Nichuskin

7) Ottawa - Fresh off an injury plagued season where he failed to meet GP, Billy is out to prove he is not a basement dweller.

Strengths - offence
weaknesses - depth, periphs
Wild card - Yakupov

8) Detroit - While it is easy to see Scott has been making progress and is trending up he still does not have a roster that can compete for a playoff spot.

Strengths - Subban, future
Weaknesses - goaltending, offence
Wild Card - Bennett

Metropolitan

1) Washington - Thom is looking for B2B division titles and judging by his roster I like his chances.

Strengths - Well rounded, goaltending
Weaknesses - C depth
Wild Card - Galchenyuk

2)Rangers - This is where it gets tricky as I view the next 7 teams in the Metro as being very close. I think adding Sedin for a player that wasn't on his roster last year will give NYR a nice boost and think a few players on his team take steps forward.

Strengths - hits, forwards
weaknesses - D
wild card - Avs goalies

3)Islanders - Tony's team is one that I look at and think they aren't that great, but the last two seasons I have felt the same way and they have found a way to win a whole lot more than they lose. Might as well put them third since I imagine even though I think PHI or PIT might have more talent I won't be surprised when Tony is in the mix for a playoff spot.

Strengths - periphs, consistency
weaknesses - depth
wild card - Jones

4)Philly - Lee has completely transformed his team and is looking like he should be in the mix for a playoff spot. I like a lot of the additions he made and he still has a bunch of picks to add to his team with either now or in the future.

Strengths - Scoring, goaltending
weaknesses - periphs
Wild card - Huberdeau

5) Pittsburgh - Mike was left with a team with zero depth and players losing value and has done his best to add for his future which was non-existent when he took over, but in the process he has hurt his current roster. Still plenty of quality players, but lacks high end guys.

Strengths - Well rounded, goaltending
Weaknesses - depth
Wild Card - Bogosian

6) New Jersey - Continuing on with my theme of the metro being tough to predict here we have another team that could easily finish higher than predicted. Tyler has a team that I find difficult to get a read on and one that could be in 2nd or 7th in this division. Goaltending will probably make or break his season since he needs Howard to keep at least 1B status.

Strengths - D
Weaknesses - depth
wild card - goaltending

7) Carolina - Paul gets the 7th place slot based on past performance, but with the improvements he has made this summer (thank Hong) he is also another team that could end up 2nd in the Metro when all is said and done.

Strengths - Periphs
Weaknesses - A few too many healthy scratch risks
Wild Card - CGY goalies / Chara

8) Columbus - Unfortunately there has to be a last in the division and due to lack of depth I see that spot belonging to Dave. He hasn't been the most active trader, but it is hard to fault him for that when BCool left him with almost no futures to use as trade chips and little depth. Sure it was a good team at the time, but a drop off was inevitable. A few blue chip prospects, a good goalie system and some quality players leads me to believe it won't be a long stay at the bottom of this division.

Strengths - Goaltending
Weaknesses - depth
Wild Card - Hoffman


For the playoffs I see one of FLA/TBL taking the crossover spot with WSH + NYR + PHI/NYI

[Bruyns]

West to follow when I get around to it.

[Shoalzie]

Nice work Matt.

[Handsome&FairMike]

Ya nice work Matt. May disagree on some of it, but really like it.
We should have weekly Power Rankings with injuries/players performance causing teams to trend up and down. Happy to contribute to something like that if Matt or others wanna keep working on it.

[thom54]

amazing job!! loved reading it.

[Arian The Insider]

East:

Toronto
Buffalo
Montreal
New Jersey
Washington
New York Islanders
Boston
New York Rangers

Philadelphia
Florida
Pittsburgh
Tampa Bay
Ottawa
Carolina
Columbus
Detroit

West:

Chicago
Los Angeles
Nashville
Minnesota
Calgary
Vancouver
Colorado
Winnipeg

St. Louis
San Jose
Anaheim
Arizona
Edmonton
Dallas

[Tony]

[kyuss]

thx for analysis Matt! Looking forward to the Western part

[Nick]

Crossing over would be a path to success for my bolts!

[kimmer]

Lol
U folks fuckin suck at Predicting lol

[KapG]

Thanks Matt, fun to read

[Bruyns]

Western Conference

Central

1)Chicago - Shiv is back and although he isn't on the same pace for trades per week as we are used to he has still put his own stamp on Anton's former team. His team is also similar to his old Pens in that it is full of very good BBKLers rather than a few star power names and a few scrubs.

Strengths - well balanced, periphs
Weaknesses - no futures and 2 bench players
Wild card - Ekblad

2)Nashville - NSH & CHI should have a battle for 1st all season and I hope it comes down to the last week. Like Shiv, Mik is another GM who builds his team in a distinctive way and his Euro influence can be seen in this powerhouse lineup featuring one N.A. born player but he is french so he plays like a euro.

Strengths - Swedish Dmen, scoring, depth (thought Vatanen was swedish too )
Weaknesses - Soft
Wild card - goaltending

3) Minnesota - It is impressive that even after losing a big trade so badly this offseason Hong is still a very strong team with a minors filled with quality prospects. Hong's team was another that fell victim to the cap with some of his players getting raises and was forced to shed salary. Although I have them ranked 3rd, Shiv and Mik should be worried about this team as they are a threat to win the division.

Strengths - Scoring, goaltending
Weaknesses - D depth
Wild card - Boyes/Burmistrov

4) Colorado - Very likely a playoff team, but it is a little disappointing that one year later this Colorado team still looks like the same one Casper took over. In a league with such an active trade market I would have expected Casper to put his own stamp on this team by now, but the core remains relatively untouched. Never making a trade unless they are a clear winner has been a title given to GMs like Mik and Hong in the past and judging by their teams it's not a bad trait to have and it seems like Casper is of the similar mold when it comes to managing his team.

Strengths - goaltending, well rounded
Weaknesses - D, depth
Wild card - Talbot

5) Winnipeg - Luke is a fairly quiet GM and he has quietly assembled a strong BBKL team. He is still trying to make the transition from bubble team to genuine contender and is on the right track. Still a few too many players that don't put up big stat lines to be considered a top team in the West, but has top end players that few in his conference can compete with.

Strengths - offence, Cs
weaknesses - D
Wild card - Dallas goaltending

6)St. Louis - How the mighty have fallen. Shep is usually considered a lock for the West playoffs and is a GM that knows his hockey and player values. Unfortunately years of being competitive have left the cupboards pretty bare and it will be difficult for him to dress a competitive roster and a rebuild is likely coming.

Strengths - goaltending, Phil the Thrill
Weaknesses - depth
Wild Card - Semin

7)Dallas - Will has definitely put his own stamp on his Dallas team and has transformed the few good assets Pete left him into a lot of quality assets. He might not have the top end pieces, but is building so his team will have quality depth in the future. This season is still looking pretty bleak and Matthews is a possibility, but reaching GP will be this team's main goal.

Strength - prospects
Weaknesses - depth, current talent
Wild Card - Plotnikov


Pacific

1) Los Angeles - Steve's team isn't as strong as past years, but due to playing in the weakest division he should cruise to a 1st place finish. Despite him talking his team down a look at his roster shows he is still among the best in West.

Strengths - Scoring, forwards
Weaknesses - goaltending
Wild card - Kadri

2) Calgary - Josh's patient build is starting to pay dividends. The best years still are ahead for this team, but it should be able to beat up on the weaker teams in its division.

Strengths - periphs, well rounded
Weaknesses - offence
Wild card - Cowen

3) Vancouver - Fraser's team is easily a contender for most improved and should be a lock for the playoffs in his division. The one thing holding him back is his continued faith in Vasilevskiy to be an NHL starter of a team employing Bishop. Having weeks with 0 goalie GP early in the season is what I believe will allow CGY to finish ahead of him.

Strengths - periphs, Ws
Weaknesses - goaltending
Wild card - Franzen

4) San Jose - The pacific is really a 3 team division at this point and SJ comes in as the best of the worst. Josh has been hit hard by injuries before the season starts, but if he can manage to scrape together enough skaters each week he might keep some weeks close.

Strengths - Ws
Weaknesses - depth
Wild card - goaltending

5) Anaheim - Matthew has been very active and trying his best to field a full lineup while still building for the future. If he stays healthy he could end up in 4th for his division, but he will be in tough most weeks against more talented teams.

Strengths - D, goaltending
Weaknesses - offense
Wild card - Parenteau

6) Arizona - Cliff comes back for round 2 and finds him one spot below his old team. There are plenty of pieces I prefer on this ARI team to ANA but with only one D that seems like a lock to be full time Cliff is in some trouble to meet GP.

Strengths - forwards
Weaknesses - D
Wild card - Domi

7) Edmonton - Another year for Arian to chase after a top pick. His franchise isn't bad, but his current roster is devoid of talent, after Seguin and Eberle there is a big drop off. Along with SJS and ARI this will be another team who needs to avoid injury to make GP. The future is still looking decent in Edmonton and another top pick will help.

Strengths - Seguin + Eberle
Weaknesses - depth, offence
Wild card - BUF goaltending


I feel a lot more confident in my playoff predictions for the West than I did for the East. I think LAK + CGY + VAN are locks along with CHI + NSH + MIN + COL. Winnipeg is my choice for the last spot with STL/SJS/ANA having outside chances.

[Robin Hood]

Western Conference

Central

1)Chicago - Shiv is back and although he isn't on the same pace for trades per week as we are used to he has still put his own stamp on Anton's former team. His team is also similar to his old Pens in that it is full of very good BBKLers rather than a few star power names and a few scrubs.

Great observation. I started with so much star power on this team (Giroux, Pavelski, Hall)...I love the Brian Littles and Trevor Lewises of the BBKL world way more

[Tony]

I'll crap out in the 2nd round as usual...