By Annie Detroit
As the dawn of a new NHL season lingers, what can we do but prepare and speculate at who will succeed and will fall flat on their asses? The end of last season brought little in the way of surprises: the Islanders finished in last place and the Red Wings made the Finals…imagine my shock. The biggest surprise I think was that the Blue Jackets made the playoffs over the Predators, too bad that was short-lived.
Today I will be previewing the Eastern Conference of the NHL and to keep you in suspense I will wait until later to preview the Western Conference (also because I am short on time as I have to [DELETED INFORMATION]).
2008-09 Final Standings for the East
Atlantic
New Jersey
Pittsburgh
Philadelphia
New York R.
New York I.
Northeast
Boston
Montreal
Buffalo
Ottawa
Toronto
Southeast
Washington
Hartford
Florida
Atlanta
Tampa Bay
Atlanta Thrashers
Though the sale of the Phoenix Coyotes has dominated the 7.5 seconds of allotted NHL coverage on ESPN, they’re not the only ones with ownership problems. The Thrashers have been disputing since 2005 over ownership rights and other crap that wouldn’t have happened 20 years ago, and there is rumor that the Thrashers are secretly for sale or will be soon (Doorbuster Power Hour at Kohl’s). The Thrashers finished in fourth place in the Southeast Division. Only once in their nine year history have they managed to make the playoffs and the fans are slowly headed for the parking lot on this team. I still don’t understand why Darth Bettman put another team in Atlanta (can you say ‘Flames’), but here you go.
So Atlanta is struggling to stay afloat while GM Don Waddell is fighting tooth and nail to put together a team that can compete among this legal nonsense. But when your biggest off-season acquisition is Pavel Kubina, you can’t really hold out much hope. My advice is find someone who will hit anything that moves and fight anything
that breaths, that way he’ll get in lots of fights and at least put butts in the seats (is Peter Worrell available?) Don’t count on the Thrashers to make the playoffs barring a Southeastern Division outbreak of H1N1.
Boston Bruins
I have a special place in my heart for the Original Six teams, but I just the utmost respect for a team that names a behemoth like Zdeno Chara as their captain (CHARA SMASH!). An unceremonious exit in the second round last season left the entire region reeling, especially after the slobberknocker of a first round they had against Montreal. Led by Jack Adams winner Claude Julien and Vezina winner Tim Thomas, don’t look to Boston to fall short again this season. The re-signing of an elderly Mark Recchi could be a blessing in disguise. With 23 goals last year between Boston and Tampa Bay, look to him to step up and lead the team in scoring along with Joe Thorton. I’m looking for Boston to secure a playoff position again in convincing fashion since their loss of note this past off-season was Stephane Yelle. I’m also calling my shot right now: t
his is year that Chara eats a player on the ice, let us just hope and pray that it is Sidney Crosby.
Buffalo Sabres
Missing the playoffs last season by two points was a huge blow for Sabres, but they apparently weren’t shaken enough, because very little has changed in terms of their roster from last season. The injury to goaltender Ryan Miller (go green!) left the team out of the postseason. Expect Miller to continue to come through in the clutch this season to make up for it and despite losing the great defenseman Teppo Numminen (also one of the best names in the game, literally) to retirement, the Sabres will compete for a playoff spot with youngsters Chris Butler and Marc-Andre Gragnani stepping up in the back. I’m not exactly sure what they were planning when they brought in Mike Grier, but if nothing else he could add some grit that has proven to favor teams that rely as heavily on goaltending as Buffalo. Having someone to wear down the opposing offense could provide some relief to Miller. But now who’s going to score the goals? Thomas Vanek led the team last year with a 40 goal season, and look to Tim Connolly if he can stay off the IR.
Carolina Hurricanes
A lot of people were surprised to see the Hurricanes make the playoff run they did last year, exiting in the Conference Finals to the Pens, but I really wasn’t. Paul Maurice is good coach. A Finals appearance in ’02 and a Stanley Cup in ’06 has proved that. The biggest hump I think the ‘Canes have to climb over is goaltending. Cam Ward made some good saves in his time, but it’s time for him to either step up or step aside. Michael Leighton’s numbers don’t impress me too much either, with a 2.92 GAA in 19 games, but maybe that’s it: it was only 19 games. If Cam Ward struggles in the first half of this season, the ‘Canes should take a real close look at Leighton. With returning players Eric Staal and Chad LaRose and somehow Rod Brind’Amour is still holding himself together with duct tape, the skaters on this team look poised to make a run in a usually sorry looking Southeast Division. They do have a defenseman in Joni Pitkanen, but in order to take some pressure off the goaltenders the rest of the defenders will need to step up as well. Ultimat
ely, however, Carolina’s rise or fall will come from the net.
Florida Panthers
Another miserable finish for the Cats sent a lot of players packing in the off-season, but they somehow managed to re-sign MSU alum David Booth and Radek Dvorak. They secured former Martin Brodeur backup Scott Clemmensen from the Devils’ to step in for Tomas Vokoun when he realizes that he is better suited for a career in data processing and management (any day now). The Panthers will need to look again to Stephen Weiss to carry the team on his back, but I’m predicting another dead last finish in the division for Florida. Really the only solution here is to go back in time and slap the person who’s idea it was to put an ice-hockey team in South Florida (*cough cough* Bettman).
Montreal Canadiens
The decision to name Guy Carbonneau was difficult for me to swallow. I kept picturing this time when he won the Stanley Cup with Dallas in ’99 and decided that it was a good idea to throw the Cup off a second story balcony into a swimming pool...then he missed the swimming pool and put a huge dent in the base of the Cup! What a freakin’ idiot! Why would you want a dumbass like that running your hockey team!? I’m not surprised that Bob Gainey sent him packing before the season even ended. Even though he wasn’t there, I blame Carbonneau for Montreal’s early exit in last year’s playoffs. What a moron.
I was also saddened to hear the Habs took a pass on the Flying Finn Saku Koivu, a staple in the Montreal locker room for many years, only to bring in Scott Gomez, a player only good when he was with New Jersey. Gainey made a lot of moves over the summer, but it doesn’t look like any of them are really going to benefit the team that much. Picking up Hal Gill from Pittsburgh and Paul Mara from the Rangers I can’t imagine are going sign the Habs up for the playoffs right now. New coach Jaques Martin has a mess to clean-up this year. In a division that be challenging every year, the Canadiens will make the playoffs only if Buffalo, Ottawa, and Toronto once again fall short, which I’m not thinking will happen.
New Jersey Devils
So apparently the Devils are feeling nostalgic as of late, reuniting now aged players Bobby Holik, Brian Rolston, and (personal fav. of mine) Brendan Shanahan. Not to mention bring back Jacques Lemaire as the bench boss. But the Devils are going to have to gun it 88 if they plan on going back in time to the success they had in the mid-‘90s. These players will not produce they way they did when they first started out in the Christmas tree green and red. Throwing Scott Stevens and Martin Brodeur in there may actually give this team a higher average player age than the Red Wings, and that’s saying something. The Devils pulled off a division title last season to be pushed out early in the playoffs. Though Brodeur is about to apply for his AARP card, he is still just as solid in net and won’t be of any concern to Lemaire unless he breaks a hip. They’ll certainly challenge for the top of the division again this year, but look for it to be a closer race unless NJ can pull big numbers from Jamie Langenbrunner and Patrick Elias, two names that have faded as of late.
New York Islanders
I feel a little bit of pity for this year’s first round draft pick. John Tavares is probably checking to make sure his medical insurance is in good order for the coming year. The last first overall pick the Islanders had also faced the same amount of pressure as Tavares, and Rick DiPietro is literally falling apart at the seams. Several surgeries in the last few years has left the Ises front office biting their nails on the future of their long term goaltender, who still has
many years in his many year deal he signed in 2006. The brass went out and signed Dwayne Roloson and Martin Biron as insurance to make sure they have someone in the crease other than goaltending coach Mike Dunham (who I’m sure would have no problem suiting up again, it’s been a couple years since he fell out of the league).
Other than Tavares, who they are expecting to score about 500 goals this year, the Islanders don’t have much else by way of skaters. Doug Weight is barely staying afloat, they have the Austrian Thomas Pock (who went -17 with 3 pts. in 59 games last year) and a prospect from Los Angeles. Things aren’t looking to good for the Isles and I’m expecting them to finish at the bottom of the Atlantic division again this year unless Tavares pulls off a miracle.
New York Rangers
The Rangers are hoping that last year’s midseason coaching change will not come back to haunt them. Bringing in John Tortorella to shake things up last year was working until the Rangers left the playoffs early. Tortorella has one more chance to impress GM Glenn Sather or he will also get the boot. Sather is trying to piece together a competitive team, making a lot of changes over the summer, the most notable acquisition being Marion Gaborik from Minnesota. The retirement of Markus Naslund will hurt the Rangers offensively but maybe Gaborik has what it takes to fill the shoes…maybe. For the first time since Gump Worsley the Rangers aren’t concerned with the netminder, Henrik Lundqvist will be sufficient again this year. Offering Chris Drury as trade bait may have brought in a notable defenseman this offseason, but for some reason Sather wants to keep the 20 goal scorer on the second line. Look out for Sean Avery, the NHL’s Terrell Owens. Hopefully Tortorella will be able to tame the mouth off the ice and get him to channel the energy to being a nuisance on the ice like he was designed. In a conference with so many struggling teams, I see the Rangers fighting for a playoff spot but likely losing it to the more promising Sabres.
Ottawa Senators
The biggest thing the Sens had to deal with this summer was the whining from Dany Heatly, who they were finally able to unload for Jonathan Cheechoo and Milan Michalek, sending Heatly to San Jose where he can continue to score every now and then and offer nothing else to a team in any other aspect of the game. I have a lot of faith in Windsor Spitfire alum Jason Spezza, who will be paired up with Daniel Alfredsson and perhaps Alex Kovalev on the front line. It looks like the starting goaltender job will go to Brian Elliot, who I am predicting will have a career year, which could lead to a playoff berth for the Sens. Missing out last year was a huge blow for the franchise that I’m sorry to say is struggling financially as well. Seeing a sell-out crowd night after night would be a huge boost for fickle team and balances on the edge of the post-season as the Sens will do this year.
Philadelphia Flyers
The Flyers try to be a presence in the Eastern Conference, but it just never really works out. Ever since their inception to the league in 1968, the Flyers have always just kind of been there, and that’s it. I’m expecting another season similar this year. They have few roster changes from last year: Simon Gagne is the staple on the team if he remains healthy and Chris Pronger will lead the defense along with Kimmo Timonen. The goaltending situation is the biggest difference from last year’s squad, replacing Martin Biron and Antero Niittymaki with Ray Embry and Brian Boucher. The Flyers won’t really challenge again this year. They will either have another early exit from the playoffs this year or miss the playoffs entirely. Perhaps they should take stand much like New Jersey and go bring back the Legion of Doom? No, the Broad Street Bullies would be more fun to watch.
Pittsburgh Penguins
My upset special pick of the day: If by some miracle Sidney Crosby doesn’t get eaten by Zdeno Chara, this will be the year he suffers the injury that will plague him the rest of his career. Evgeni Malkin will have to step up to the ultimate demise of the Penguins. Then Penguins will only make the playoffs if Marc-Andre Fleury can stay on his feet. Not much else to say about Pittsburgh right now. Camp will be interesting because coach Dan Bylsma has never actually ran one before, but he has most of the players from the Stanley Cup winning roster, so the camp could potentially run itself. With few important players gone from the team (Petr Sykora, Hal Gill, and Rob Scuderi), look for them to make the playoffs easily and challenge again for the Finals. It will be a little more difficult, however, since they will be sans their Prodigal Child. Chara will just have to watch out for the indigestion.
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Lightning had a dead last finish last season in the worst conference in the league. So it can only go up from here (trust me, I’m a Lions fan). But rightfully so that they finished so poorly when they made the worst decisions in the history of decision by making Brian Melrose the head coach. I mean, he’s even dumber than Guy Carbonneau! Will have to see how things go with gambling mogul Rick Tocchet at the helm.
Apparently Melrose lied during the interview for the Tampa Bay coaching job
Bringing in names like Alex Tanguay and Mattias Ohlund will help a lot in terms of scoring. Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lacavelier deserve to play for better coaches but will be faithfully rewarded if the Lightning manage to climb out of the cellar and compete in the coming years. Just don’t bank on it to be this year. They also may or may not have a goaltender.
Toronto Maple Leafs
I was surprised at how crappy a finish the Leafs had last year. I guess I just always expect them to be a contender. It kind of makes me sad to see an Original Six struggle so much. Picking up restricted free agent Phil Kessel will likely benefit the Leafs and he will challenge for a spot on the first line. The rest of the roster is incredibly gray. No real idea who will play with Kessel and it is like the Leafs are starting from square 1. Opening the season against the defending Cup champs would not be the ideal way to start this brand new season, but it have to play the hand you’re dealt, I suppose. Jason Blake may appear on that front line with Kessel, and why Boyd Devereaux is still in the NHL I’ll never understand. Tomas Kaberle will return to lead the back half of the ice and it will probably be Vesa Toskala between the pipes for Toronto. It isn’t looking good again playoff-wise for the Leafs because of the unsure roster, but they could challenge late in the year if with a couple of good deadline moves.
Washington Capitals
The Washington Alexander Ovechkins will have another good year this year thanks to that one guy they have who I can’t remember the name of…he’s pretty good…he scores a lot sometimes…ah! Oh, well. Anyway, Jose Theodore needs to come up with a big year if the Caps are going to challenge come playoff time. Tomas Fleischmann will be a key player and Chris Clark will keep the captain’s ‘C’ warm for Ovechkin…That’s his name! Alex Ovechkin! I knew I’d remember it eventually. Look for Brendan Morrison to have a good year, too. The playoff exit last could be attributed to inexperience but that excuse won’t fly this year. The Caps have to be ready for the long hull if they expect to go anywhere in the playoffs. And people other than Ovechkin have to contribute. I’m sorry, it’s only fair.
No comments:
Post a Comment