Buds Board Keepers League

1. TBL - powerhouse from top to bottom. was top 3 team last season w/out injuries imo
2. COL - not as strong as last year imo, but with NJD taking a dip COL keeps this spot
3. BOS - same old, same old.
4. PIT - crosby deal was interesting to say the least, but his starters are great - is depth an issue?
5. LAK - my darkhorse to win - a great season from halak would help
6. TOR - quietly building an incredibly deep squad - he'll gain his ground when injuries start to hit
7. STL - he talks himself down, but the Blues are a strong team - bryz in philly will help
8. SJS - much like mike in TOR - very quiet in his approach, but solid - miettinen to europe is a kick in the balls
9. CHI - void of superstar talent, but solid h2h players top to bottom - injuries will fuck me at some pt - i have no depth
10. NJD - despite selling off most of his championship team, still pretty good - depending on mason tho...yikes.
11. OTT - very young team - goaltending a question?
12. VAN - trading nash dropped him, but he could flip those prospects before the start of the season and move up easily
13. MIN - another darkhorse this year - he's stayed the course and it might pay off - i think playoffs
14. MTL - all round solid team, but not spectacular - hard to predict
15. CBJ - made good improvements to his starters this off-season
16. NYR - needs bounceback years from some guys to make playoffs - D is not great
17. NSH - solid forwards - holes on D that need filling
18. ANA - great top end talent in staal, doughty, marleau but quality drops sig. past that
19. EDM - solid forward group, great goaltending, D is skeptical - could easily rise
20. PHX - has the best player in the world - anything can happen but GOALTENDING
21. BUF - underrated team i think - could really use some top end talent, but vokoun in WSH could rocket him up the standings
22. NYI - periph first team w/ great goaltending - not sold on this approach but will be interesting to watch
23. CAR - would be bottom 5, but miller will carry them
24. DAL - a solid foundation w/ loads of prospects - if he can flip them for some real NHL talent he could rise
25. PHI - after a shaky start to his BBKL career Lee has really improved this team
26. WSH - wants to be bad - isn't quite there yet - look for him to fall even more
27. CGY - like the islanders but worse - frank's got his work cut out for him
28. WPG - duchene and boyes are nice, but too many question marks past that
29. FLA - stastny and clowe are two nice pieces to build around but past that...nothing.
30. DET - kareem has his work cut out for him

That was fun to read, always enjoy power rankings.

Just cause....I have to say my D is actually better than you are giving it credit for. They may not be offensively gifted but they hit all the periph categories pretty well.

Now that I have defended my defense lol. I must say you've got me ranked essentially where I would put myself.

Thanks for writing that up.

great write up Anton.

Very fair assessments, Anton...

Sweet.

My Goaltending sucks, but other than that, I think my team is pretty decent..

As much as it pains me to say it...Boston is easily #1 in our league, he was the top team (outside of Scott) in both the first and second BBKL season. There is no reason to believe that won't continue into this year. After Boston, I really like Shiv (deep at all positions), and Toronto because of his depth and flexibility to improve as the season progresses. As Scott has demonstrated year after year, it's not the best team in September, but February and March that often win, and Mike has the pieces to make that transition, IMO.

My dark horse is the NJD, even though Scott has tore apart his championship winning team he has the core and pieces to improve significantly if he so chooses.

Florida Chris wroteCOLONMy Goaltending sucks, but other than that, I think my team is pretty decent..

I don't think you or WPG are bottom 3 teams personally.

MSP4LYFE wroteCOLON

Florida Chris wroteCOLONMy Goaltending sucks, but other than that, I think my team is pretty decent..

I don't think you or WPG are bottom 3 teams personally.

I think I (except for Goaltending) have a well balanced team with Stastny, Sedin, and Clowe as my stars. Then have good secondary scoring with guys like Tanguay, Leino, Samuelsson, and have a very solid 3rd and 4th line with guys that hit multiply cats.. My D is alright with some scoring punch in Campbell, and Zidlicky, and then followed with solid 3-7 guys who hit multiply cats in Morris, Oduya, Ohlund, Lundin and Huskins...And this year I have a bunch of guys that could be called up for in case of injury....But that being said, unless Harding takes over the #1 in Minny, my goaltending is going to hurt me...But than again it only takes one trade, for things to change. End Rant...Sorry Im already half in the bag on this super hot scorcher of a day. Gata admit tho, sitting withing feet of water, with a cooler of beer by my side, and access to BBKL is pretty cool.

I would put TOR a tad higher and SJ a tad lower.

Nice write up though

anton wroteCOLON 17. NSH - solid forwards - holes on D that need filling

mmh, so i'm expected to finish lower than last season (15th overall) when i started the season without enough NHL players to fill the lineup.. interesting.

kyuss wroteCOLON

anton wroteCOLON 17. NSH - solid forwards - holes on D that need filling

mmh, so i'm expected to finish lower than last season (15th overall) when i started the season without enough NHL players to fill the lineup.. interesting.

I'm not familiar with your team, but to be fair to Anton alot of teams around you have improved as well. So that could play into his reasoning.

personally i don't think my team is as good as you ranked them, but hopefully i'm wrong.

Nice Anton.. but I definitely think I'm lower then 10th best. MTL, VAN, OTT or all better then me and MIN might be too. I feel I'm at best a 7th-8th place team in the East.. if I'm relatively healthy.

But enjoyed the read..

Ill be happy to play spoiler underdog again this year. No love yet again, but Ill be happy to prove you all wrong!

Habber wroteCOLONIll be happy to play spoiler underdog again this year. No love yet again, but Ill be happy to prove you all wrong!

You're the faggy Habs. nobody takes you seriously. That's all

Habber wroteCOLONIll be happy to play spoiler underdog again this year. No love yet again, but Ill be happy to prove you all wrong!

I forgot about you, but yes you are certainly a much better team than people give you credit for. Especially if Carey Price continues his strong play into next season.

there's a group in the middle that's very hard to rank - i had a difficult time with it:

MIN, MTL, CBJ, NYR, NSH, ANA

I'll take it