Once again I find myself diametrically opposed to Khushrenada. I'm pulling for Ottawa in the East both because of my general hatred of everything Pittsburgh and because a friend of mine who I introduced to hockey about 15 years ago picked the Senators as his team for whatever reason and has stuck by them, so I'm also rooting for them for him.
So, is your "friend" still sticking with the Senators as that franchise seems to be imploding?
If the Capitals get weaker, Pittsburgh benefits because their team is pretty well built to last for a few more years. Rangers are on the decline, Flyers are in a bit of rebuild, Devils are restructuring, Islanders looked to be on the rise but seemed to have suddenly stalled, Carolina is going nowhere. Columbus is the only team right now that may be trending in the right direction to compete in the division and the playoffs but its hard to say with just one good season and no real record of sustainable success yet.
Well, I still think the Capitals are a weaker team than they were last year but they've been able to still stay in the top of the division like I figured they would since they still have a lot of good talent there. The division has been pretty wacky this year. With the Atlantic consisting of 3 great teams and the rest all terrible, the Metro division is most likely sending 5 teams to the the playoffs and the Metro has also stayed pretty tight giving most of the teams in it a chance to make the playoffs this year. I felt the Rangers were on the decline last year and that has proven to be true as they waved the white flag early and the Metro is now 7 teams fighting for 5 spots.
The Devils were a big surprise this year and their early success seems like it will allow them to make the playoffs though they seem to be fading as we get closer to the end of the season. I wasn't sure about Columbus and they are holding on to that last playoff spot right now but I feel that with the talent they've got, they should probably be ahead of the Devils in the standings. Philly has been surprising. They've gotten hot about the same time of the Penguins and have been climbing the standings with them and staying pretty even. I didn't expect them to be doing as well as they are but this division is pretty wild in that so many teams have a chance to compete for a playoff spot even if they aren't an elite team like Nashville or the Bruins seem to be.
But it's all about the 3-peat for me now, baby! Even when people were talking about the Penguins and how they were hurting without a third line center or just unable to win consistently and hanging near the bottom of the division in December, a look at the standings showed they were still in good shape. They were basically a 50/50 team in wins and losses and there was only 3 - 4 points difference between them and 2nd place in the division. I had no doubt they could easily string together 5 or 6 wins and put themselves right back in a playoff spot. And that's they only thing they've got to do with the regular season is just make the playoffs. If they want to conserve their energy a bit and take a few more losses along the way, whatever. Just bring the A game for playoffs like they've been doing.
And since January, they are now 17-5-1 with one more game in February to hopefully win and then on to their usual March domination as the battle for division leader continues. And now they've made the crazy Brassard trade to give themselves the actual 3rd line center people thought they were lacking. Now the prospect of a three-peat is looking like a very real possibility and I am so pumped right now. Brassard's first game is this Tuesday versus the Devils and I plan to check it out. I had stopped watching regular season games 4 or 5 years ago and have just been tuning in during playoffs for the past few years for the Ducks and Penguins but this team with Crosby, Malkin and Kessel and the way they've been playing since Sullivan took over as coach reminds me of their early days with Therrien and Bylsma from 07-10 when they were such an energetic and exciting team to watch. They seemed to lose that spark after the Crosby concussion saga and then the switch to more defensive style hockey to cover up the lack of talent on their third and fourth lines. But these last few playoff runs and the way they are playing again now is just so fun to watch.
After the abysmal (for them compared to past performances) 2014-15 season, I was beginning to think the Penguins organization had really screwed things up with how they built things despite having Crosby and Malkin to work with. It seemed like they had wasted their prime years and then they miraculously turned it around starting with that Kessel trade even though it didn't seem that way at first. And now, the possibility exists of achieving that Mt. Olympus of sports - Dynasty. It was something people though possible back when they went to the Stanley Cup final in '08 but lost. It seemed then that Penguins and their talent could form a dynasty like the Oilers (or Islanders but mainly Canadian sports writers referred to the Oilers) of the 80s and the playoff runs they had with their young talent in that decade. However, despite winning the cup in '09, that dynasty idea faded away. But now, 10 years later, that potential destiny is back and it's all I want to go on about with people. So, now you get to hear about NWR! Lucky you!