The Hockey News has the Hawks ranked...

I’m guessing that’s a good thing.

San Jose is in the top 3 for the simple fact that their division isn’t going to be that much more competitive than the Northwest.

Detroit I’d still be wary of, considering they managed to break a hundred points and get home ice despite the fact that they lost a couple of their scorers as well as regulars to injuries during the season.

but who cares? If you think your team is good enough to win it all, why get worked up over what the pundits think?

Would you rather be the Caps or Sharks, who are consistently picked as a top-3 team in their respective conference every year, only to shit the bed in the playoffs?

Umm…Vancouver and San Jose are probably higher because they’ll win their division and THN thinks the Hawks will finish 2nd in the Central. So playoff seeding means Hawks to 4. I don’t agree with it, and I think the Wings’ injury deal was overblown, but it is what it is. Some writers find it hard to rank a team so highly when they kind of “come out of nowhere”—it’s been a whirlwind two years, from picking Kane to WCF to SCC.

i never like us carrying the tag of “favorites” anyway. This will do.

THN is, of course, using these as predictions for how the season will end, whereas I’m just saying that there are too many unknowns and variables to predict anything past training camp with any relevance.

I think Vancouver should be about the same, maybe a little better. Detroit won’t be as good as they finished the regular season, but they won’t be as bad as they started it, either. (Of course, the big variable is Jimmy Howard… if he regresses, that could be trouble.) The Sharks… that one is kind of iffy. They have regressed, but was it enough to stay behind the Hawks?

Ahh, this sort of thing’s a load of old Dingo’s Kidneys..
Look at where they put the Rangers, Habs and Preds.. and to have the Flyers at 4th (the loss of Simon Gagne is going to leave a huge, huge hole for them).. I think we can safely discount these predictions.
For my money, the ’Hawks will fight it out with Ver Scum for the Central with an improved Blues in the mix.. and playoffs are impossible to call: look at the Habs last season fer chrissakes.

I see this like how baseball Prospectus pick the Sox to be fourth in the division in 2005, then they went wire to wire and won the whole show

I think the Hawks start a tad lower than last year – but as to the end, that all depends on how much growth we see in theyoung superstars, and how ell the new low level kids step in

but I’m personally offended by the teams ahead of us! Considering that the hawks mindfuck the canucks into oblivion, we at least deserve to be above them. I think the sharks are a good pick, but I do think detriot is passed it’s prime.

I’d put some of the up-and-coming WC teams like the kings up there and maybe some EC teams from cupcake divisions that are likely to be fresh in the playoffs (where anything can happen!). If only the Capitals had a defense… Plus, you have to think about the talent of Chicago East…

and if they’re going for teams that will likely win the division and be “fresh” for the playoffs where anything can happen, they totally missed the eastern conference

But it get the juices flowing for sure.

We still have the best top 4 defense in the league, and a 3rd line center that can make Henrik Hart Trophy Winner Sedin and Joe Thornton play like undisciplined impotent baboons.

Plus I’ll take Kane, Toews, and Sharp over Thorton, Marleau, and Heatley in the playoffs any day.

I still like the Hawks’ chances in the west.