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Here we go with the best in the West (god, that's an awful cliche). Also, this preview and my essays on the East will be simplified. I'm getting a bit lazy.
8. Nashville Predators
What I like: Pekka Riine was solid in goal last year; Weber, Suter and Hamhuis are nice young defensive base; Barry Trotz is one of the best coaches in the NHL who consistently gets more out of his players than their abilities indicate; Steve Sullivan, Jason Arnott and J.P. Dumont is a decent first line; The penalty kill was top ten last year; The Predators didn't lose any quality players in the off-season.
What I don't like: Scoring lags after the front line; Power-play was bottom five in the league last year; Didn't add any particularly great players either; It's too bad this team isn't playing in Southern Ontario. They would be an interesting team to watch in Toronto/Hamilton.
7. St. Louis Blues
What I like: Full of ex-Leaf first round draft picks (Boyes, Colaiacovo); Top ten PP and PK last season (8th and 3rd); Good goaltending provided by Chris Mason; Solid coach in Andy Murray; A good scoring balance with a lot of potential on the first line. T.J. Oshie and David Backes could break out this year.
What I don't like: Full of ex-Leaf first round draft picks (Steen, Jackman); Not a lot of defence beyond the first pairing of Jackman and Erik Johnson (and Johnson cannot be allowed anywhere near a golf cart); St. Louis is relying on Keith Tkachuk and Paul Kariya for the scoring on the second line with Boyes. Both have had their best days behind them.
6. Columbus Blue Jackets
What I like: Rick Nash opted to stay with the team and sign an eight-year extension. I might not like this for the future but I love it for 09-10; Nash's linemate Derrick Brassard was poised for a breakout year in '09 (10 goals and 15 assists in 31 games) before going dislocating his shoulder in a fight. All the more reason I like this guy to explode in 2010. Ken Hitchcock a is proven winner and routinely makes the most of what little defence he's got; Steve Mason is coming off a great rookie year in goal.
What I don't like: The Jackets had worst power-play in the league last year; Hitchcock might be able to improve the play of mediocre defencemen in their own end but can't do much about the fact that this team is completely lacking a PP quarterback; Goaltenders coming off great rookie years have a slight tendency to drop off in their second season - reread the last sentence of What I Like.
5. Anaheim Ducks
What I like: Getzlaf, Perry and Ryan are arguably the best first line in the NHL; Saku and Teemu are pleased to be playing with each other; Scott Niedermayer remains one of the best leaders in the game and is still a pretty good defencemen; Artyukhin, Lupul and Marchant are one of the better third lines in the league; Randy Caryle is a quality coach who usually gets this team motivated to play; Jonas Hiller was great for the Ducks in last year's playoffs.
What I don't like: With Pronger and Beauchemin both gone, the defence is a thin beyond the first pairing (even though Beauchemin hasn't preformed yet in Toronto); The overall makeup seems to be a departure from the Brian Burke way. The tough guys aren't quite on the same level as in the years past. Savu Koivu and Ryan Whitney, though both talented, would not have played on a BB team; Ducks have to hope that Hiller can carry the load over a full season.
4. Chicago Blackhawks
What I like: The first line is awesome; The defence is great combination of stoppers and puck-movers; The third line has John Madden, one of the best defensive forwards in the league; I've always liked Joel Quinnville as a coach (possible Avs bias); Stan Bowman might be the titular GM but has never run a team before. But Bowman, that name sounds familiar no? That's right, Stan is Scotty's son. And wouldn't you know Dad is the Senior Adviser. I think Stan will be alright.
What I don't like: Havlat's gone and Hossa's out until November; Patrick Kane had an incident with a Buffalo cabbie; Huet has never been counted on to do the job on his own for an entire year; Everyone is taking the Hawks to win the Central and it seems too easy to join that bandwagon.
3. Detroit Red Wings
What I like: The Red Wings have been the model franchise in hockey for almost 15 years. They have one of the best owners, GMs, Coaches and Scouting teams in the NHL; Their line up is among the best in the league; Datysuk, Zetterberg, Fippula and Draper could be the league's best centre combination; Franzen is emerging as a top-six winger; Hossa was useless in the playoffs and he's gone; Lidstrom leads what's still one of the best defensive units in the league.
What I don't like: The Red Wings employ a certain cretin who wears the number 44; All Avs' bias aside, Osgood is a year older and he couldn't go for a full season last year. Backup Jimmy Howard has played exactly 10 games in four seasons; Hossa's gone (meaning that they lose his 40 regular season goals. Playoffs are another issue); Everyone is a year older and even the "Youngsters" such as Fippula and Abdelkader aren't that young (25 and 22). Lidstrom is 39, Draper is 38, Osgood, Holmstrom and Matlby are 37. At some point age will catch up to the Red Wings.
2. San Jose Sharks
What I like: The Sharks fleeced the Sens for Dany Heatley (not that it's too difficult). Cheecoo is a one-season wonder, Michalek will be always a year away and they didn't give up any defencemen or Patrick Marleau. Heatley, Thornton and whoever is the third winger will be one the best combinations in the league this year; Dan Boyle and Rob Blake provide a very solid base on defence; Evgeni Nabokov has been remarkably consistent in the post-lockout era. He's one of two goaltenders to have posted three straight seasons with a GAA under 2.50, a save percentage of .910 or better and at least 6 shutouts. The only other player to manage this feat: Martin Brodeur; Top five in both power-play and PK in '09.
What I don't like: Not a lot of depth beyond beyond first two lines; Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley have their respective reputations (poor playoff performer and prima donna). The Sharks will need both of these reps to be overcome; This team is dangerously close to the salary cap and will have to unload players next year.
1. Calgary Flames
What I like: Calgary has the single best defensive unit in the league. Dion, Bouwmeester and Regehr are downright scaring on the blue line. Expect Pierre Maguire to have a heart attack for all the monster plays these three will make; In goal, ole Kipper has looked decent so far, though three games do not a season make. Up front, Jerome Iginla continues to lead by example and finally has a centre of similar talent in Olli Jokenin. Craig Conroy and Damon Langkow can finally play on the second and third lines (likely interchangeably) while wingers Rene Bourque and David Moss are both coming off 20 goal seasons and have the potential to make the leap this year.
What I don't like: Losing Mike Cammalleri and his 39 goals will naturally be noticed as there was a large drop-off in goalscoring after the Italian/Jewish speedster; Kipper might be good so far but hasn't been great in the past couple seasons. While his defence is strong, there will likely be night that he needs to save the team while the offence meshes together; Gone with Cammalleri are 19 of the Flames' 61 power-play goals from last year. Not only will the Flames need to step up with the man advantage but Big Dion has to rediscover his booming slap shot from the point.
Showing posts with label Season Preview. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Season Preview. Show all posts
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
2009-10 Season Preview: Western Conference Part One
Working my way from the "outhouse to the penthouse" here are my predictions for Western Conference this year, starting with the West's members of the Taylor Hall sweepstakes.
15. Colorado Avalanche
Might as well get this out of the way now. Joe Sakic's number retirement ceremony is going to be the highlight of the season. It's all downhill from there. Colorado was statistically the worst offensive in the NHL last season. The Avs were also abysmal on special teams with the power-play and penalty kill ranked 25th and 21st respectively. And of course the team no longer employs Joe Sakic, Ryan Smyth or Ian Laparriere. On the slight plus side, the defence isn't terrible, Paul Stastny is fully healthy, Matt Duchene will give some glimpses of brilliance and Craig Anderson is an absolute bargain at $1.5m. But make no mistake; this is a young and inexperienced team. Colorado will struggle to score goals and will almost certainly finish last. Two wins to start the season not withstanding.
14. Phoenix Coyotes
The only team that might prevent the "Av-Nots" from finishing last are the Desert Dogs. I'm not even going to try writing about their off-ice struggles. But in case you were distracted by all the court room drama, let's not forget that the Coyotes are coming off a 13th place finish in the Western Conference and are drifting from day to day. Wayne Gretzky is out as Head Coach, replaced by former Dallas bench boss Dave Tippett. The move gets The Great One out of the spotlight in Phoenix but seems like it's a step sideways. Tippett was good but not great during his run in Big D and shouldn't make a difference (positively or negatively) to this team's fortunes. The big issue is that personnel-wise, this team is a disaster. The team gutted itself at the trade deadline last year. Goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov recorded a dismal 2.98 GAA last year. The defence is collection of has-beens (Ed Jovanoski), won't-be's (Sam Lepsito) and never-weres (Jim Vandermeer). Their one saving grace is captain Shane Doan. It could be on his sheer will that the 'Yotes don't finish last. But that's about all this warrior will be able to do.
13. Edmonton Oilers
There's a lot of excitement in Oil Country and I have no idea why. The hire of Pat Quinn might have been good if this team was laden with veterans, but it's instead one of the youngest teams in the league. Quinn immediately tried to put his stamp on this team by trading three youngsters for Dany Heatley. While Edmonton is fortunate that it didn't happen (mostly because it would have made Bryan Murray look good and I really don't like when that happens), I can say from first hand experience watching what he did in Toronto that it will happen again. Pat Quinn and his GM Steve Tambellini (read: the man that Quinn wanted to replace him as GM of the Leafs) are going to gut this team of their prospects and young talent - or at least try to. Oilers fans should also note how well Khabibulin played in his first "Battle of Alberta." Have fun with that 36 year-old Russian who's in year one of a four year guaranteed contract.
12. Los Angeles Kings
I actually like the Kings, in 2010-11. The forward unit is young and getting better. Adding Ryan Smyth should provide veteran leadership to this talented group. The defence is being built around a solid foundation of Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson, both of whom have the potential to play 30 minutes a night. But the youth up front plus the inexperience of goaltender Jon Quick mean I'm not quite ready to say this team makes the jump.
11. Minnesota Wild
Gone are the days of the Northwest division being the league's most competitive. Jacques Lemaire's departure from Minnesota should have allowed the Wild (don't call us the North Stars) to unleash the oft-injured Marian Gaborik's talent on the rest of the league. I've always felt that Gaborik was ill-suited to playing Lemaire's physical, puck-possession style of hockey and that his injuries were a result of him doing things that shouldn't have (read: hitting). Whether or not I was right, we'll never know since Gaborik took a big contract from the New York Rangers (more about that in the Eastern Conference preview). Minnesota replaced him with Martin Havlat - another talented but oft-injured forward. But in Havlat case, he was getting injured on team that had a rather offensive agenda to begin with (Ottawa post-Jacques Martin, Chicago). If Havlat stays healthy, they should have a good but not great first line with Saku's little brother and Pierre-Marc Bouchard but the Wild will struggle to score beyond this line. Finally, the defence and goaltending are largely unchanged from last season's team that missed the playoffs. The changes that were made on defence (Shane Hnidy and Greg Zanon) I'm not a big fan of. With Lemaire's system, the Wild still finished ninth in '09. Without it, count of something worse.
10. Dallas Stars
I really like Brad Richards. But it doesn't help when you're paying you're second line centre almost $3 million more than first line centre Mike Ribierio. With all that money invested in two players, there might be some problems and it's in the D. The Stars' defence is pegged together with sub-par talent. This might be less of a problem with a good goaltender, but Marty Turco hasn't proven he can do it without strong defence. With all of the criticisms, 11th might seem a little high for Dallas but I love the leadership brought by Brendan Morrow and Mike Modano. This team won't be terrible, it just won't be very good.
9. Vancouver Canucks
This might be a bit rash after the Canucks' 0-3 start, but I remain convinced that the Canucks will only go as far as Roberto Luongo takes them. Right now, Andrew Raycroft would be better. Oh that's right, he played last night after The Captain was pulled for surrendering four goals on just 12 shots. The defence hasn't impressed so far with the team allowing 13 goals in the the first games, with Willie Mitchell as the lone bright spot in an otherwise string of offensive minded rearguards. And of course the penalty kill has been atrocious, currently sitting at 58.3%. The weird thing is that forwards are good. They're averaging 40 shots a night. The powerplay is scoring at a reasonable rate of 20%. Alex Burrows has emerged into a decent winger with the Sedins. Ryan Kesler could become the second line centre that Mats Sundin was supposed to be last year. And the Sedins are good for their usual 82 points in 82 games. But this team needs Luongo and the defence to step up. Roberto might be capable of it but without real defence, the Canucks will be taking a huge step back this year.
15. Colorado Avalanche
Might as well get this out of the way now. Joe Sakic's number retirement ceremony is going to be the highlight of the season. It's all downhill from there. Colorado was statistically the worst offensive in the NHL last season. The Avs were also abysmal on special teams with the power-play and penalty kill ranked 25th and 21st respectively. And of course the team no longer employs Joe Sakic, Ryan Smyth or Ian Laparriere. On the slight plus side, the defence isn't terrible, Paul Stastny is fully healthy, Matt Duchene will give some glimpses of brilliance and Craig Anderson is an absolute bargain at $1.5m. But make no mistake; this is a young and inexperienced team. Colorado will struggle to score goals and will almost certainly finish last. Two wins to start the season not withstanding.
14. Phoenix Coyotes
The only team that might prevent the "Av-Nots" from finishing last are the Desert Dogs. I'm not even going to try writing about their off-ice struggles. But in case you were distracted by all the court room drama, let's not forget that the Coyotes are coming off a 13th place finish in the Western Conference and are drifting from day to day. Wayne Gretzky is out as Head Coach, replaced by former Dallas bench boss Dave Tippett. The move gets The Great One out of the spotlight in Phoenix but seems like it's a step sideways. Tippett was good but not great during his run in Big D and shouldn't make a difference (positively or negatively) to this team's fortunes. The big issue is that personnel-wise, this team is a disaster. The team gutted itself at the trade deadline last year. Goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov recorded a dismal 2.98 GAA last year. The defence is collection of has-beens (Ed Jovanoski), won't-be's (Sam Lepsito) and never-weres (Jim Vandermeer). Their one saving grace is captain Shane Doan. It could be on his sheer will that the 'Yotes don't finish last. But that's about all this warrior will be able to do.
13. Edmonton Oilers
There's a lot of excitement in Oil Country and I have no idea why. The hire of Pat Quinn might have been good if this team was laden with veterans, but it's instead one of the youngest teams in the league. Quinn immediately tried to put his stamp on this team by trading three youngsters for Dany Heatley. While Edmonton is fortunate that it didn't happen (mostly because it would have made Bryan Murray look good and I really don't like when that happens), I can say from first hand experience watching what he did in Toronto that it will happen again. Pat Quinn and his GM Steve Tambellini (read: the man that Quinn wanted to replace him as GM of the Leafs) are going to gut this team of their prospects and young talent - or at least try to. Oilers fans should also note how well Khabibulin played in his first "Battle of Alberta." Have fun with that 36 year-old Russian who's in year one of a four year guaranteed contract.
12. Los Angeles Kings
I actually like the Kings, in 2010-11. The forward unit is young and getting better. Adding Ryan Smyth should provide veteran leadership to this talented group. The defence is being built around a solid foundation of Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson, both of whom have the potential to play 30 minutes a night. But the youth up front plus the inexperience of goaltender Jon Quick mean I'm not quite ready to say this team makes the jump.
11. Minnesota Wild
Gone are the days of the Northwest division being the league's most competitive. Jacques Lemaire's departure from Minnesota should have allowed the Wild (don't call us the North Stars) to unleash the oft-injured Marian Gaborik's talent on the rest of the league. I've always felt that Gaborik was ill-suited to playing Lemaire's physical, puck-possession style of hockey and that his injuries were a result of him doing things that shouldn't have (read: hitting). Whether or not I was right, we'll never know since Gaborik took a big contract from the New York Rangers (more about that in the Eastern Conference preview). Minnesota replaced him with Martin Havlat - another talented but oft-injured forward. But in Havlat case, he was getting injured on team that had a rather offensive agenda to begin with (Ottawa post-Jacques Martin, Chicago). If Havlat stays healthy, they should have a good but not great first line with Saku's little brother and Pierre-Marc Bouchard but the Wild will struggle to score beyond this line. Finally, the defence and goaltending are largely unchanged from last season's team that missed the playoffs. The changes that were made on defence (Shane Hnidy and Greg Zanon) I'm not a big fan of. With Lemaire's system, the Wild still finished ninth in '09. Without it, count of something worse.
10. Dallas Stars
I really like Brad Richards. But it doesn't help when you're paying you're second line centre almost $3 million more than first line centre Mike Ribierio. With all that money invested in two players, there might be some problems and it's in the D. The Stars' defence is pegged together with sub-par talent. This might be less of a problem with a good goaltender, but Marty Turco hasn't proven he can do it without strong defence. With all of the criticisms, 11th might seem a little high for Dallas but I love the leadership brought by Brendan Morrow and Mike Modano. This team won't be terrible, it just won't be very good.
9. Vancouver Canucks
This might be a bit rash after the Canucks' 0-3 start, but I remain convinced that the Canucks will only go as far as Roberto Luongo takes them. Right now, Andrew Raycroft would be better. Oh that's right, he played last night after The Captain was pulled for surrendering four goals on just 12 shots. The defence hasn't impressed so far with the team allowing 13 goals in the the first games, with Willie Mitchell as the lone bright spot in an otherwise string of offensive minded rearguards. And of course the penalty kill has been atrocious, currently sitting at 58.3%. The weird thing is that forwards are good. They're averaging 40 shots a night. The powerplay is scoring at a reasonable rate of 20%. Alex Burrows has emerged into a decent winger with the Sedins. Ryan Kesler could become the second line centre that Mats Sundin was supposed to be last year. And the Sedins are good for their usual 82 points in 82 games. But this team needs Luongo and the defence to step up. Roberto might be capable of it but without real defence, the Canucks will be taking a huge step back this year.
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