This update will be much longer than the ones i will make during the season so if you get scared by all the text there is don´t worry. Just read the part(s) you want to. Perhaps the Analysis on your favorite team or the one you would really like to screw up. Every comment whether its regarding my grammar or opinion on certain team is gladly accepted. It will help me get better as a writer and hopefully light interesting conversations.
Without further ado, lets get to the teams.
The Ducks are, in my opinion, a team that needs to go through some serious changes in the future.
They have a killer first line in Ryan, Getflaf and Perry, but other that that the team lacks quality and depth.
Second line, presumably Blake, Koivu and Selanne scored a total of 62 goals and 172 points. Statistically this looks good and it was, but for the next season? There is no guarantee that Selanne is going to continue his career. And even if he will continue the second line would average the age 38. It is inevitable that with age the player(s) physical condition drops and i am afraid the tough pacific division it will cost them the playoff spot.
The two last lines will be built with George Parros, Dan Sexton, Nick Bonino, Matt Beleskey, Brandon McMillan and Kyle Palmieri. Though they are all decent players they dont have the ability to turn games aroud alone. There is just not enough depth up-front.
The defence in the other hand is really good and well balanced. Lubomir Visnovsky scored career best 68 points. Cam Fowlers rookie season was also really impressive as he got 40 points in 76 games. Toni Lydman was tied for the second best +/- ratio in the entire league. Visnovsky, Lydman and Fowler will propably pair up with other young defenceman Luca Sbisa and from Lilja trade acquired Kurtis Foster. The last player will be either Francois Beauchemin or Sheldon Brookbank.
Ducks can also rely on their All-Star goalie Jonas Hiller who is, when healthy, one of the best goalies in the national hockey league. His backup will be Dan Ellis.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Patrick Maroon, Dan Sexton.
Group 3 UFAs: Ray Emery, Jason Jaffray, Todd Marchant, Brian McGrattan, Joel Perrault, Jarkko Ruutu, Teemu Selanne, Brad Winchester.
UFAs: Kyle Chipchura, John Degray, Ryan Hillier, Jean-Philippe Levasseur, Eric Regan, Nigel Williams.
Group 3 UFAs: Ray Emery, Jason Jaffray, Todd Marchant, Brian McGrattan, Joel Perrault, Jarkko Ruutu, Teemu Selanne, Brad Winchester.
UFAs: Kyle Chipchura, John Degray, Ryan Hillier, Jean-Philippe Levasseur, Eric Regan, Nigel Williams.
Verdict: Without major trades or free agent signing will battle for the playoff spot. My guess third in the Pacific division. Ranking 7-10 in the Western Conference.
Boston Bruins
The team to beat next season. Has strong all-around roster with few interesting points. Starting goalie: Conn Smythe and Vezina winning goalie Tim Thomas will be hard to displace, but he is suprise suprise year older and has an exhausting stile of play which will allow Tuukka Rask to grab more games next season. My guess: They will split starts. The goalie tandem is one of the best in the league and will battle hard for the William M. Jennings Trophy
Boston was fortunate on the free agent market and only "major" loss was Tomas Kaberle if the retirement of Mark Recchi is not counted. Otherwise they have pretty much the same team as last year. Marc Savards situation is still unclear (atleast for me). If he plays in a good condition he is a valuable asset to the team and if he wont the Bruins will still be strong in the center. Considering that Krejci, Bergeron, Seguin, Campbell, Peverley, Kelly and Hamill are all natural centers. Seguin will propably play on the wing after the departure of Michael Ryder to Dallas. Benoit Pouliot adds depth to the squad and will hopefully fill in the spot of Mark Recchi.
The defense (and the whole team) will be lead by Zdeno Chara who will form the the pairs with Dennis Seidenberg, Johnny Boychuk, Andrew Ference, Adam MCQuaid and Steven Kampfer. Chara lead the whole league in +/- last season and he will be high again this year. The defense of Bruins is one of the reasons why i favour Thomas-Rask duo to win the William M. Jennings Trophy.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Andrew Bodnarchuk, Stefan Chaput, Brad Marchand.
Group 3 UFAs: Shane Hnidy, Tomas Kaberle, Kirk MacDonald, Mark Recchi, Jeremy Reich, Nolan Schaefer.
Group 6 UFAs: David Laliberte.
UFAs: Matt Dalton, Cody Wild.
Group 3 UFAs: Shane Hnidy, Tomas Kaberle, Kirk MacDonald, Mark Recchi, Jeremy Reich, Nolan Schaefer.
Group 6 UFAs: David Laliberte.
UFAs: Matt Dalton, Cody Wild.
Verdict: Will battle hard for the first place of the Eastern conference and will win the northeast division in the process. Ranking: 1-4 in the Eastern conference.
Buffalo Sabres
Sabres really strenhtened their squad during the offseason. Ehrhoff, Regehr, Leino and Kotalik are all good players and combined with the existing players this is a team with potential for anything. Thomas Vanek had the second best season of his career and Derek Roy scored a point per game until a season ending injury in December. Also Tyler Ennis flashed some promises of a breakthrough season, if he didnt already have it this year. Buffalo has wide variety of goal scores and no less than 10 Buffalo players scores 10 or more goal during the regular season.
Buffalo has one of the best goaltenders of the national hockey league in Ryan Miller. Miller won 34 of the 66 games he started including 5 shutouts. And two more in the first playoff round against Philadelphia which Buffalo lost in game 7. Miller has solid backup in Patrick Lalime and young Jhonas Enroth.
Buffalo signed Robyn Regehr and Christian Ehrhoff during the offseason. When thats added to Calder trophy winner Tyler Myers, playoff success Marc-Andre Gragnani and the cornerstones Andrej Sekera and Jordan Leopold we have one of the strongest defenses in the NHL. Buffalo is going to the playoffs and with this team it should do better than the first round.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Jhonas Enroth, Marc-Andre Gragnani, Dennis McCauley, Dennis Persson, Andrej Sekera, Travis Turnbull.
Group 3 UFAs: Tim Conboy, Matt Ellis, Mike Grier, Patrick Lalime, Rob Niedermayer, Mark Parrish, Colin Stuart.
Group 6 UFAs: Derek Whitmore.
Group 3 UFAs: Tim Conboy, Matt Ellis, Mike Grier, Patrick Lalime, Rob Niedermayer, Mark Parrish, Colin Stuart.
Group 6 UFAs: Derek Whitmore.
Verdict: Has a tough division and will again finish third in it. Ranking 5-8 in the Eastern Conference.
Calgary Flames
Calgary seems to be the home of aging talent. Jarome Iginla and Miikka Kiprusoff both aged 34 are among the best players in their position in the national hockey league. Calgary has only one forward under the age of 26 in their website roster. Defense is mainly prime aged so it wont need changing soon.
In my opinion Calgary traded Robyn Regehr and Ales Kotalik away quite cheaply.
Kotalik never really got it going in Calgary and his 11 points in 52 games is bad, but Robyn Regehr is the corner stone of Calgary defense with Jay Boumweester. Or let that be rephrased: was ht cornerstone of Calgary defense. Paul Byron has a grand total of 8 games in the NHL and Chris Butler has played 3 season with the Sabres but has not yet once played in over 60 games per season, when Robyn Regehr has not played under 60 games a season in a decade. Ales Kotalik Also has career high of 62 points with the sabres 05-06 season. But enough about the trade.
Miikka Kiprusoff, a Vezina and William M. Jennings award winner, is as i said earlier one of the best players in his position. His backup goaltender Henrik Karlsson is relarively inexperienced having only played 17 games in the NHL.
Mark Giordano, Jay Boumweester, Cory Sarich and Anton Babchuk are all to defenseman, but the third pair is quite dubious.Mikkelson and Carlson both recorded less than 20 games in the national hockey league. Newly acquired Chri Butler is probably starting the season as Flames 5th defenseman and Mikkelson or Carlson will get the 6th slot depending on preseason merits. The forward setup has and probably will remain similar to last year and why would it not? As unfortunate as it is Niklas Hagman and Matt Stajan just had a bad year and that cost Calgary the playoff spot. This year it is reachable but it takes a good year from everyone since the team did not get any significant new signings.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Leland Irving, Brendan Mikkelson.
Group 3 UFAs: Staffan Kronvall, Tomi Maki, Fredrik Modin, Brendan Morrison, Steve Staios.
Group 6 UFAs: Kris Chucko, Cam Cunning, Matt Keetley, Ryan Stone.
UFAs: John Armstrong, Gord Baldwin, Hugo Carpentier, Josh Meyers, Matt Pelech.
Group 3 UFAs: Staffan Kronvall, Tomi Maki, Fredrik Modin, Brendan Morrison, Steve Staios.
Group 6 UFAs: Kris Chucko, Cam Cunning, Matt Keetley, Ryan Stone.
UFAs: John Armstrong, Gord Baldwin, Hugo Carpentier, Josh Meyers, Matt Pelech.
Verdict: Nortwest division was easy last year and it will be harder to get the playoffspot this year. Ends up third in northwest. Ranking 9-12 in Western conference.
Carolina Hurricanes
You can´t get much closer to the playoffs, so close but yet so far away. In my opinion Carolina "played" fairly well on the free agent market. It really added depth to the team with Ponikarovsky, Boucher, Stewart, Soryal and Brent. Only major loss was top-6 forward Eric Cole who moved to Montreal. I believe that Carolina planned on stewart taking on the "Colish" power forward role, but its yet to be seen.
Cam Ward. The first rookie goalie to win the stanley cup as a starter after Patrick Roy. He also was the first rookie goalie to win the conn smithe trophy since Ron Hextall. He also was the fisrt player to be selected in the 2011 all-star game. After the acquisition of Brian Boucher he can finally get some rest. Cam Ward played 74 games out of 82 last season being the most playing goalie in the whole league.
Carolina was able to keep its core together after wild rumours Hurricanes decided to keep both out-of-contract finns Joni Pitkanen and Jussi Jokinen. Who piece together the core of Carolina along with Eric Staal, Jeff Skinner, Tuomo Ruuti and Joseph Corvo. Tim Gleason, Chad LaRose and Brandon Sutter are also important playersin Carolina.
Jeff Skinners Calder Trophy winning season was important in Carolinas attempt to make it to the playoffs ans now that Erik Cole is gone it is even more important that Jeff Skinner can maintain and maybe even top his score from the last season.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Derek Joslin, Oskar Osala, Bobby Sanguinetti, Brandon Sutter, Brett Sutter.
Group 3 UFAs: Brandon Nolan, Bryan Rodney, Cory Stillman.
Group 6 UFAs: Casey Borer, Nick Dodge, Zack Fitzgerald, Justin Pogge.
UFAs: Troy Bodie
Group 3 UFAs: Brandon Nolan, Bryan Rodney, Cory Stillman.
Group 6 UFAs: Casey Borer, Nick Dodge, Zack Fitzgerald, Justin Pogge.
UFAs: Troy Bodie
This division is slightly harder to predict since im not sure what will happen to Atlanta´s place in the division. Mainly whos going to take over it. Wild guess: Carolina will finish second in the southeast division. Ranking 5-8 Eastern conference.
Chicago Blackhawks
My personal favorite for the coming season. If there is a team that is good from the left winger to the third line defender its this. Why to the third line defender? Anyone who plays NHL 11 and edites lines can guess the metaphor. Only unreliable part is the goaltender. After the acquisitions of Andrew Brunette, Daniel Carcillo, Jamal Mayers, Rotislav Olez, Steve Montador and Sean O´Donnell the team is just perfect. There is young energy and skill on Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Michael Frolik. Old security and input in Andrew Brunette and Jamal Mayers. Ability to tackle on Daniel Carcillo and safety to feel around own net in Sean O´Donnel and Steve Montador. The only thing i am not sure about is in the goal. Corey Crawford. Before last season he had played 9 games in the national hockey league. Last year he took the number one spot in Chicago and played fairly well. If he can keep up and maybe even get a little better only the sky is limit for Chicago.
Marian Hossa should be able to bounce back from a "disappointing" 57 points in 65 games. Maybe it is not bad but you may except better from an previous 100 point scorer. All he needs is a full season without injuries around 80 games. Hossa is an offensive threat and one of the best snipers in the league.
In defense the familiar pair Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook will continue to sweep out players in the own end and cause havoc in the opposition end. New signings Sean O´Donnell and Steve Montador are defensive defenseman with a usual ~20 per season. Other two defenders will probably be Chris Campoli and Niklas Hjalmarsson.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Chris Campoli, Brian Connelly, Michael Frolik, Rob Klinkhammer, Alec Richards, Viktor Stalberg, Ivan Vishnevskiy.
Group 3 UFAs: Jassen Cullimore, Garnet Exelby, Jordan Hendry, Ryan Johnson, Fernando Pisani, Jeff Taffe, Hannu Toivonen, Marty Turco.
UFAs: Evan Brophey, Mathis Olimb.
Group 3 UFAs: Jassen Cullimore, Garnet Exelby, Jordan Hendry, Ryan Johnson, Fernando Pisani, Jeff Taffe, Hannu Toivonen, Marty Turco.
UFAs: Evan Brophey, Mathis Olimb.
Verdict: At the moment i am so in awe of the new Chicago roster that i say that they beat Detroit in the Central division and win it. Ranking Western Conference 1-4
Colorado Avalanche
Colorado General Manager Greg Sherman said "We certainly feel we´ve addressed our priority at the goaltending position." I could not agree with him more. I think that Varlamov, Giguere is nearly as good as Thomas, Rask duo at boston. Only difference is that Colorado does not have such a strong team in front of them. Otherwise i would nominate V/G duo as possible William M. Jennings Trophy winner.
Colorado has two All-star centers in Matt Duchene and Paul Stastny, but sadly that includes their Star players upfront. The Avalanche brought Jan Hejda in to replace retired captain Adam Foote and with Hejda the defense looks ok. The departure of John-Michael Liles is a chunk out of the core, but hopefully younger players like Kyle Cumiskey, Ryan Wilson and possible future superstar Erik Johnson fill fill the gap.
Colorado is a young team with a couple of older players (Hejduk, Hejda, Giguere) but Colorados time is not today it will have to wait a couple of seasons for reasonable chance of succes. Just be patient Colorado fans your team is on the right track. After Gabriel Landeskog is truly NHL ready Colorado will be a tough team to stop.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Kyle Cumiskey, T.J. Galiardi, Kevin Porter, Ryan Wilson.
Group 3 UFAs: Jason Bacashihua, Adam Foote, John Grahame, David Koci.
Group 6 UFAs: Shawn Belle, Julian Talbot.
UFAs: Philippe Dupuis, Tom Fritsche, Ray Macias, Harrison Reed.
Group 3 UFAs: Jason Bacashihua, Adam Foote, John Grahame, David Koci.
Group 6 UFAs: Shawn Belle, Julian Talbot.
UFAs: Philippe Dupuis, Tom Fritsche, Ray Macias, Harrison Reed.
Verdict: Will Battle with Edmonton and Calgary for the third spot but will still be fourth in the division. One more good rookie and Colorado is ready to be a long-term playoff franchise. Ranking 12-15 Western Conference
Columbus Blue Jackets
Columbus was one of the teams that grabbed the headlines during the transfer window. Jacub Voracek and first and third round picks for Philadelphia All-star center Jeff Carter. That transfer signals that Columbus are seriously looking to get to the playoffs this season. That would be the second playoffspot in the franchise history. Columbus did exactly what they had to in order to proceed to the playoffs. Replaced departured Jan Hejda with James Wisniewski and acquire a sure goal scorer in Carter. The only thing that has to happen is Steve Mason taking a step from a Calder trophy winner to a fighter for the Vezina trophy.
Blue Jackets Roster may not have the depth compared to others so it would require a reasonably injury free season to make it, but they have all the pieces to go for the playoffs. I honestly do not think that Blue Jackets can make it further than the second round, but would not be the first time when i see a suprise in sports.
So just to review my three points:
1. Carter gets his game on immediately
2. Injury free season
3. Mason becomes a top goaltender
Blue Jackets has same elements as Colorado so if we do not count Huselius or Pahlsson Blue Jackets have a relatively young squad. I would have built through draft picks since the experts believe its going to be a really good season for rookies, but either way i am curious to see what the Blue Jackets do this year.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Marc Methot.
Group 3 UFAs: Chris Clark, Trevor Frischmon, Ben Guite, David LeNeveu, Greg Moore, Ethan Moreau, Andrew Murray, Craig Rivet.
Group 6 UFAs: Jonathan Sigalet, Trevor Smith, Kyle Wilson.
UFAs: Petr Kalus, Tomas Kana, Sami Lepisto, Michael Ratchuk, Anton Stralman, Gustaf Wesslau.
Group 3 UFAs: Chris Clark, Trevor Frischmon, Ben Guite, David LeNeveu, Greg Moore, Ethan Moreau, Andrew Murray, Craig Rivet.
Group 6 UFAs: Jonathan Sigalet, Trevor Smith, Kyle Wilson.
UFAs: Petr Kalus, Tomas Kana, Sami Lepisto, Michael Ratchuk, Anton Stralman, Gustaf Wesslau.
Verdict: I believe that Detroits 17 consecutive playoff apperances are coming to an end and it would please if Columbus Blue Jakcets would be the combo breaker. Second in Central division. Ranking 6-9 in Western Conference.
Dallas Stars
Richardsless Dallas does not sound convincing. Vernon Fiddler is not the solution to the center problem Dallas faces after Richards departure. Mike Ribeiro is a good player but he is nothing compared to Richards, but to be fair there aren´t many centers that can be compared to Richards. Michael Ryder is a good sniper and will bring important goals to Dallas, but the brains of the power play are gone and what Dallas needs is a playmaker not sniper. Though goals you score can never harm you.
Radek Dvorak and Jake Dowell are decent players, but not the kinda players a playoff contender is looking for. Erikkson, Benn and Morrow are the three best players at Dallas and oddly enough they are all left wingers. Maybe change one of them to a top center...?
Defence lead by Stephane Robidas is good and Kari Lehtonen is a reliable keeper. His backup Andrew Raycroft won the CHL goalteder of the year, participated in the NHL young starts game in 03-04 season and won tha calder trophy that year. Ever since been a backup except for 06-07 season when he netminded the Toronto Maple Leafs.
I am afraid it is going to be an early holiday for the Texas boys this season.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 3 UFAs: Brent Krahn, Jamie Langenbrunner, Brandon Segal, Karlis Skrastins, Brian Sutherby, Jason Williams, Jeff Woywitka.
Group 6 UFAs: Trevor Ludwig, Ray Sawada.
UFAs: Sean Backman, Guillaume Monast.
Group 6 UFAs: Trevor Ludwig, Ray Sawada.
UFAs: Sean Backman, Guillaume Monast.
Verdict: Los Angeles and San Jose will dominate Pacific division and this time Dallas will be left behind with a bigger margin. Dallas will be fourth in Pacific. 12-15 in the Western Conference.
Detroit Red Wings
Would it be time to let other teams to the playoffs? 17 years in a row to the playoffs. It does not matter from what angle you look it from its just and incredible achievement. But like some girl once sang "all good things come to an end". The last top 10 draft pick Red Wings used was in 1991. Two decades ago.
I am sorry but when you watch the people The Red Wings have drafted in the last five years in the first round you can not help but to say who is that guy? Atleast if you live in Europe like me and do not get to follow AHL or other north American leagues. The harsh reality is that they can not keep up like that for long. Maybe it is not this season but it will come sooner not later.
At the moment Detroit has quality players like Henrik Zetterberg, Thomas Holmstrom, Johan Franzen, Valtteri Filppula and Nicklas Lidstrom not to forget maybe the best of all Pavel Datsyuk. Butmaybe i am wrong, maybe they will just snap up some good free agents next season. Maybe i am just pissed couse my favorite team does not get to the playoffs and these guys are there for the bilionth time in a row and if god has any sense of humor he will send the Pittsburgh Penguins to play against them in the finals...
But enough about my envy...
Jimmy Howard is not the best goalie in the league but he is good and solid, just what a consistent team needs. Presumably hes backup will be Joey McDonald. Howard will start 60+ games and McDonald take care of the rest. Solid duo in my opinion.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Dick Axelsson, Francis Pare, Jordan Pearce, Logan Pyett.
Group 3 UFAs: Kris Draper, Ilari Filppula, Joey MacDonald, Mike Modano, Chris Osgood, Ruslan Salei, Ole-Kristian Tollefsen.
Group 6 UFAs: Sergei Kolosov, Jamie Tardif.
UFAs: Jordan Owens
Group 3 UFAs: Kris Draper, Ilari Filppula, Joey MacDonald, Mike Modano, Chris Osgood, Ruslan Salei, Ole-Kristian Tollefsen.
Group 6 UFAs: Sergei Kolosov, Jamie Tardif.
UFAs: Jordan Owens
Verdict: Will face tougher competition from Chicago and Columbus but will beat Nashville and St Louis. Third in Central division. Ranking: 7-10 in western conference.
Edmonton Oilers
One more year seems to be the time line for the Edmonton Oilers. There are some doubts about the body (especially upper body) strength of No:1 Pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The rookie himself seems confident about being able to put up enough muscle to the body. Oilers season is pretty highly tied to the Nugent-Hopkins case. If he goes to the NHL Oilers might find themselves near the playoff line. Without him the team is about as good as last year which would predict the Oilers drafting withint the 5 first teams.
Also 25-year old goalie Deven Dubyk is at the verge of breakthrough. He put up a 2.71 GAA and Sv%.916 as the starter Nikolai Khabibulin had 3.40 GAA and Sv%.890.
In defensive aspect the signings of Cam Barker and Andy Sutton bring defensive ability, but the signing of center Eric Belanger seems pointless if Nugent-Hopkins will start in NHL. The acquirement of Darcy Hordichuk brings new kinda "toughness" to Rexall Place.
The future for Edmonton Oilers looks britght but the forecast for the following season is still cloudy.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Taylor Chorney, Andrew Cogliano, Ryan O'Marra, Liam Reddox.
Group 3 UFAs: Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers, Martin Gerber, Steve MacIntyre, Brad Moran, Ben Ondrus, Jason Strudwick.
Group 6 UFAs: Gregory Stewart.
UFAs: Jordan Bendfeld, Jean-Francois Jacques, Matt Marquardt, Kevin Montgomery, Bryan Pitton, Zack Stortini.
Group 3 UFAs: Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers, Martin Gerber, Steve MacIntyre, Brad Moran, Ben Ondrus, Jason Strudwick.
Group 6 UFAs: Gregory Stewart.
UFAs: Jordan Bendfeld, Jean-Francois Jacques, Matt Marquardt, Kevin Montgomery, Bryan Pitton, Zack Stortini.
Verdict: Edmonton has a small team filled with players who are just about to be ready for the national hockey league. Will still be last in the Northwest Division and maybe the whole league. Ranking 12-15 in the Western Conference.
Florida Panthers
"It is not the amount, it´s the quality" This old wisdom pops to my head when i follow the Panthers signing new players. No more than 10 players have their new home in the sunny suburbs of Florida. Ok maybe they do not live in suburbs but if the Florida GM Dale Tallon keeps buying players like this they will need to move to a suburb.
Florida did not sign superstars but they focused on getting the whole lineup in condition and their course upwards. Florida did not only sign players it also lost a couple. Maybe the most significant loss was Tomas Vokouns move to the Capitals. Florida is now a team that has evenly strong lines, but lacks the presence of a superstar. I guess Vokoun might have been counted as one...
Defenders Ed Jovanovski and Brian Campbell bring both defensive and attacking aspects to the game. Especially on the power play. Sean Bergenheim and Tomas Kopecky play good 2way game and bot probably had the best season of their lives in 2010-11. Bergenheim with scoring 9 times in the playoffs and Tomas Kopecky by scoring career high 15 goals and 42 points to go with it. Upshall, Versteeg and Fleischmann add purely offensive talent to the squad.
Also joining the squad is Jose Theodore from Minnesota who will work as backup for Scott Clemmensen.
It will be interesting to see how the Florida management will build the lines since all the players seem pretty even. (This conclusion comes from the skill levels of NHL 11, but also from pretty similar amounts of points during seasons)
Florida is one of the teams that i really wanna see in action next year and hope that they respond in a positive manner after the huge changes in the squad.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Michael Caruso, Mike Duco, Shawn Matthias, Kenndal McArdle, Tyler Plante, Mike Santorelli.
Group 3 UFAs: Joe Callahan, Ryan Carter, Triston Grant, Hugh Jessiman, Patrick Rissmiller, Sergei Samsonov, Alexander Sulzer, Bill Thomas.
UFAs: Steve Bernier, Byron Bitz, Brady Calla, James Delory, T.J. Fast, Jordan Knackstedt, Jeff Lovecchio.
Group 3 UFAs: Joe Callahan, Ryan Carter, Triston Grant, Hugh Jessiman, Patrick Rissmiller, Sergei Samsonov, Alexander Sulzer, Bill Thomas.
UFAs: Steve Bernier, Byron Bitz, Brady Calla, James Delory, T.J. Fast, Jordan Knackstedt, Jeff Lovecchio.
Verdict: Hard to say due to the Atlanta/Winnipeg changes, but Tampa Bay has been quiet during the market so maybe there is a newcomer in Florida... Washington is out of range, Carolina might be beatable, but not sure whats the fourth team. Florida third in southeast. Ranking: 7-10 in Eastern conference.
Los Angeles Kings
Finally the Los Angeles Kings have the glamour fit for Hollywood. With the signing of Simon Gagne and Mike Richards the king made itself one of the title favorites. Atleast in my eyes. It just gives me shivers to think that Anze Kopitar will be the No: 2 Center... Kings have not yet tied down their defensive superstar Drew Doughty, but he will probably remain with the franchise. All we need is a season worth Vezina from Jonathan Quick and the Kings are really close of getting their hand on the Stanley cup.
Kings Roster is quite competitive for future years also. They only have 3 players aged over 30 (Simon Gagne, Willie Mitchell and Rob Scuderi). That means that the LA has more than one shot at the Stanley cup.
Also the kings have to elite defenseman in Jack Johnson who was number three pick at the 2005 Entry Draft and Drew Doughty who went number two in 2008.
Kings acquired Colin Fraser from the Edmonton Oilers to bring some checking power to the team.
LA has just the right amount of depth in the squad that has lots of players with the capability to score: Simon Gangne, Mike Richards, Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar, Justin Penner and Jarret Stoll
The down side is that whit a team like this everything else than the Finals will feel like a complete failure. Its kind of hard to explain but like there´s only something to lose.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Andrew Campbell, Marc-Andre Cliché, Richard Clune, Drew Doughty, Corey Elkins, Johan Fransson, Bud Holloway, Trevor Lewis, Alec Martinez, David Meckler, Oscar Moller, Patrick Mullen, Brad Richardson, Jeff Zatkoff.
Group 3 UFAs: Peter Harrold, John Zeiler.
UFAs: Rob Bordson.
Verdict: Has to battle for the championship. I would say second in the Pacific division, third in the western conference.
Minnesota Wild
Minnesota had one major problem last year: Scoring. They were among the last five in scored goals last season and the GM Chuck Fletcher decided that that is not going to be the stumbling block between them and the playoffs this season. Wild made two trades with San Jose. The first saw Davin Setoguchi, Charlie Coyle and the San Jose first round pick travel to Minnesota on exchange for Brent Burns. The other on saw Martin Havlat and Dany Heatley swap teams. The former San Jose duo scored a combined 48 goals and 105 points.
Now Chuck Fletcher believes that Minnesota has its say in the playoff run. And likely it will. Setoguchi has scroed ove 20 goals on each of his three season with a career high 31 goals in 08-09 season. Danny Heatley has scored 50 goals on two season and amassed over 100 point in both of them. With Mikko Koivu feeding the two snipers it is relatively easy to think that the scoring problems are over.
Minnesota can lean on a top goalkeeper in Niklas Backstrom. He has silver and bronze medals from the olympics and he is a one time William M. Jennings trophy winner. Hes backup will be Josh Harding who is a long serving Minnesota player who has also played a lot in Minnesotas AHL affiliate Houston Aeros.
Although Wild acquired to world-class wingers they lost a very good puck playing defenseman in the process. Burns was one of the better power play defenseman in the wild roster. His departure and the lack of free agen signings signals that the wild are looking to play some of the younger defenseman like Marco Scandella or Justin Falk.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Justin Falk, Colton Gillies, Jarod Palmer, Jeff Penner, Darroll Powe, James Sheppard, Casey Wellman.
Group 3 UFAs: Jean-Michel Daoust, John Madden, Antti Miettinen.
Group 6 UFAs: Robbie Earl, Jamie Fraser.
UFAs: Patrick O'Sullivan.
Verdict: Minnesota had a relatively easy division with two of the worst team in the league part of it but still failed to make a push for the playoffs. It will not be any easier this year, but with the talent they have acquired they should be able to secure the second spot in the northwest division. Rankin 6-9 in western conference
Montreal Canadiens
Perhaps the smallest team measured in average height in the league added some size by signing Erik Cole from Carolina. Among with his size Erik brings goal scoring ability coming off his best season with 26 goals and 52 points. Also Montreal will be getting back long serving defender Andrei Markov whose injury limited him to just seven games last season.
Montreal squad witnessed two breakthroughs last season as goalie Carey Price went 38-28-6 and grabbed 8 shutouts to go with it. Other player to really blossom was P.K. Subban who scored 14 goals to go with his 24 assists. Montreal also added backup goalie Peter Budaj to replace Alex Auld who moved to Ottawa.
Montreal suffered a bitter defeat to dear rivals Boston in the eastern conference fist round playoffs game 7. Boston went on to win the stanley cup in 7 games against Vancouver.
Montreal will be going to the next season with an experienced team and only one thing in sight: the playoffs.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Mathieu Carle, Josh Gorges, Kyle Klubertanz, Ryan Russell, Frederic St. Denis, Ryan White.
Group 3 UFAs: Marvin Degon, Drew MacIntyre, Paul Mara, Alexander Perezhogin, Brent Sopel.
UFAs: Dustin Boyd, Nigel Dawes, Alexandre Picard, Tom Pyatt.
Verdict: They´re a good team and they should do well. Honorary mention for passionate fans. They will end up second in Northeast division. Ranking 4-7
Nashville Predators
Nashville wrote its own history by advancing to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. Thanks for that go mainly for the team captain Norris trophy nominee Shea Weber and Hart Trophy nominee goalie Pekka Rinne.
Predators signed Nicklas Bergfors from Florida and Brett Lebda from Toronto. They lost Joel Ward to Wahsington, Steve Sullivan to Pittsburgh and Marcel Goc to Florida.
The main thing for the Predaors was that they managed to keep their captain Shea Weber who was nearing free agency.
Without another Hart and Vezina trophy nominee year for Pekka Rinne the Preds are not near the playoffs. Few more players would also be needed to strengthen the squad or atleat fill gaps left by Sullivan, Goc and Ward.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Brodie Dupont, Matt Halischuk, Sergei Kostitsyn, Linus Klasen, Chris Mueller, Cal O'Reilly, Nick Spaling.
Group 3 UFAs: Steve Begin, Wade Belak, Matt Ellison, Aaron Johnson, Shane O'Brien, Brett Palin.
Group 6 UFAs: Grant Lewis, Kelsey Wilson.
UFAs: Dan Gendur, Mark Santorelli.
Verdict: As said it will take a top season from Rinne, otherwise Preds will be drafting early. I believe that Columbus will be better this season so Nashville fourth in central division. Ranking 10-13 in Western Conference
New Jersey Devils
Devils missed the playoffs for the first time in 12 years, and for that they got Adam Larsson with number 4 pick overall. There are many factor why the devils missed playoffs this year. Ilya Kovalchuk had his worst full season ever. Zach Parise only played 13 games before a season ending injury. Martin Brodeur had the worst Sv% since 1994-95 season. (2010-11 Sv%.903)
The Devils will be a serious playoff contender in the coming year, but i do not think that they have enough depth to make it till the end. Own guess is that theyre division proofs to be too hard.
The Devils will need a new goalie in a couple of seasons and even though Martin Brodeur is a living legend and very well capable of playing at that level the Devils should find a potential replacement, but not necessarily for the next season or even the one after that but they will need one and a plan can not hurt anyone. 38 year old Johan Hedberg is not the solution they need a long term answer.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Matthew Corrente, Mark Fraser, Jeff Frazee, Maxim Noreau, Nathan Perkovich, Matt Taormina, Alexander Vasyunov, Steven Zalewski, Vladimir Zharkov.
Group 3 UFAs: Rob Davison, Adam Mair, Mike McKenna, Bradley Mills, Chad Wiseman.
Group 6 UFAs: Olivier Magnan-Grenier, Tim Sestito.
UFAs: Anssi Salmela.
Predict: Will remain as number four in the Atlantic divsion. Rangers, Philly and Penguins are just too tough at the moment. Ranking: 9-12 in the Eastern Conference.
New York Islanders
The Islanders... They have a tough division, With Devils, Philly, Rangers and Pittsburgh. They are going to have to play really well outside division cause no easy points going to come from there. Though is there such a thing as easy points in the Nationak hockey league?
Islanders has a pretty young core with players like Michael Grabner, Kyle Okposo, John Tavares, Josh Bailey, Travis Hamonic, Ty Wishart and Kevin Poulin not forgetting the newest comer Ryan Strome. The situation at Islanders is good because they are in a position when their players develop and get better every yeas, so they will raise their bar even without signing fancy free agents.
Of course they have mixed the young talent with older players like Mark Streit, Trent Hunter, Marty Reasoner and Trevor Gillies, but the main part of the team is young developing talent.
Even though that the Islanders get better every year the National Hockey League is filled with teams that have players to fight for the title now and that drops Islanders off the title bid.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Josh Bailey, Blake Comeau, Micheal Haley, Jesse Joensuu, Dylan Reese, Ty Wishart.
Group 3 UFAs: Andy Hilbert, Zenon Konopka, Nathan Lawson, Joel Martin, Radek Martinek, Doug Weight, Jeremy Yablonski.
Group 6 UFAs: Jeremy Colliton.
UFAs: Robin Figren, Jack Hillen, Rob Hisey, Dustin Kohn.
Verdict: Islanders just does not posses the players required to win every night and they just have to wait until their time comes. They will occupy the last place in the Atlantic division and will finish among the last four in the Eastern Conference.
New York Rangers
This summer the wind of change blew in New York and more precisely to the team that plays at Madison Square Garden. First they bought out the final year of Chris Drurys contract (if you ask me you could do the same for Sean Avery). Then THE free agent of this summer, Brad Richards, decided to sign a contract
with the Rangers. Rangers also signed Mike Rupp from Pittsburgh to add depth an body to the roster.
Even the Rangers too a few bullets on the free agent frenzy as defenders Justin Soryal and Matt Gilroy departed from the club to join Carolina and Tampa Bay. At this moment Rangers has not replaced them.
Rangers now has firepower in slightly disappointing Marian Gaborik, 40 points a season scoring Brandond Dubinsky, The new superstar Brad Richards, Wojtek Wolski and breakthrough forward Derek Stepan.
As soon as they add couple of defenders they have the potential to go all the way to the Stanley Cup.
Henrik Lundqvist, Rangers goalie, led the whole league in shutouts (11) and had fifth best Sv% among the starting goalies in the league. Hes backup is Martin Biron who went 8-6 with a Sv% of .923
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Artem Anisimov, Stu Bickel, Brian Boyle, Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky, Chad Johnson, Michael Sauer, Andreas Thuresson.
Group 3 UFAs: Steve Eminger, Alexander Frolov, Bryan McCabe, Vaclav Prospal, Todd White, Jeremy Williams.
Group 6 UFAs: None.
UFAs: Devin Didiomete, Tysen Dowzak, Matt McCue
Verdict: Will do better than last year. Will finish second in the Atlantic division and fifth or sixth in the eastern conference. Potential all the way to the Stanley cup but mire likely a losing Eastern Conference finalist.
Ottawa Senators
The Senators had a season somehow similar to New Jersey Devils. Both expected to go to the playoffs and failed in an embarrassing manner. As a result the Senators ended the season in the 26th placeof the National Hockey League.
Senators are expected to bounce back after a "accidental" season. They were really impressing in the eraly 2000 and made the playoffs four times in a row between the 03 and 07 season, they actually made it to the finals in the 06-07 season but lost to the Anaheim Ducks 4-1
Senators have some quality players in Jason Spezza, Milan Michalek, Erik Karlsson and Sergei Gonchar, but in my opinion is that as long as the goalie tandem is Craig Anderson, Curtis McElhinney they will have trouble getting to the playoffs. They are not bad but they most certainly are not outstanding and that´s what Ottawa would need to be a credible playoff contender.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Erik Condra, Kaspars Daugavins, Geoff Kinrade, Roman Wick.
Group 3 UFAs: Michal Barinka, Andre Benoit, Mike Brodeur, David Hale, Ryan Keller, Pascal Leclaire, Ryan Shannon, Marek Svatos.
Group 6 UFAs: Derek Smith.
UFAs: Jason Bailey, Cody Bass
Verdict: Without any miracles Ottawa will lose it´s division and get stronger by draft picks. Ranking: 12-15 in the Eastern Conference.
Philadelphia Flyers
By far the most interesting team during the offseason. Sent away two all-star center in Mike Richards and Jeff Carter and got two potential all-star centers back in Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturier. Did not get to terms with Leino and signed a future hall-of-fame Jaromir Jagr in his place. Also loading the right wing are Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds who were acquired in the Richards and Carter trades. Maxim Talbot was a nice touch to add for the checking late lines (physical center for third ora pure checker for fourth line)
What is even more impressing is the goalie tandem in Philly. Bryzgalov, Bobrovsky is one of the best, if not best goalie tandem in the entire league. Only downside is that neither one has merits in the playoffs where this team will surely be going.
Defense is pretty much the same than last year which is good. Sean O´Donnel was big part but Andreas Lilja is good enough cover for him. Philly is in my opinion in the same level as last year but more balanced. Along with Chicago my favorite team for the upcoming season. Do not think that i think they will win but i hope they will. I fear that the biggest winner candidates are Boston, Vancouver and Washington but it remains to be seen.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Jon Kalinski, Wayne Simmonds.
Group 3 UFAs: Nick Boynton, Michael Ryan, Patrick Thoresen, Nikolay Zherdev.
Group 6 UFAs: Danny Syvret.
UFAs: Garrett Klotz, Brian Stewart.
Verdict: Philadelphia will have a bigger job with the division considering that Rangers have improve aswell and Pittsburgh played big part of the season without its top to forwards. Someone might even claim that the players Pittsburgh lacked couple of the best forwards in the National Hockey League.
Philly will end up second in the Atlantic division rank between 4-6 in the Eastern Conference.
Phoenix Coyotes
Coyotes lost their number one goalie Ilya Bryzgalov and top 3 defenseman in Ed Jovanovski couple of valuable centers in Eric Belanger and Vernon Fiddler. And what do they sign? Tyler Eckford, Alexander Bolduc, Raffi Torres, Mike Smith and Boyd Gordon. Ok players, similar to the ones lost except Smith who has a lot of catching up to do for Bryzgalov.
Smith and Eckford are not good enough to step in for Bryzgalov and Jovanovki. But that´s what Phoenix gathers decent bunch of players with depth and ability for every position. It just might be worth it in the long run.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Jonas Ahnelov, Mikkel Boedker, Lauri Korpikoski, Brett MacLean, Marc-Antoine Pouliot, Viktor Tikhonov, Kyle Turris, Matt Watkins, Keith Yandle.
Group 3 UFAs: Matt Climie, Andrew Ebbett, Ryan Hollweg, Bracken Kearns, Petr Prucha.
Group 6 UFAs: Dane Byers, Matt Clackson, Alexandre Picard.
UFAs: Joel Gistedt, Josh Lunden, Jeff May.
Verdict: Will not make it to the playoffs. Fourth in the Pacific division. Rating 10-13 in the Western conference.
Pittsburgh Penguins
The team that was expected to be an all fours after losing two key players, but no. They gathered 106 points and lost to the future conference finalist Tampa Bay Lightning in game 7 with one goal.
I don´t even dare to think what they will do now that they have healthy roster. Sidney Crosby was going to a 132 point season if he was to continue like he started.
The loss of Max Talbot to Flyers probably does not concern the Penguins since they have enough depth in the squad to cover for losses like that.
The defensive setup is one of the best in the league and it´s supported by Marc-Andre Fleury who saves allowed Penguins to go back to back Stanley cup finals winning it on the second time.
Probably one of the best teams in the league led by the best hockey player of the moment. Only sky is the limit for the Penguins
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Dustin Jeffrey, Brad Thiessen.
Group 3 UFAs: Arron Asham, Mike Comrie, Chris Conner, John Curry, Daniel Fernholm, Eric Godard, Andrew Hutchinson, Alex Kovalev, Steve Wagner.
Group 6 UFAs: Tim Wallace.
UFAs: Joey Haddad.
Verdict: Will win the Atlantic division and be a serious contender for the Eastern Division as well as the president Trophy. First or second in the Eastern Conference.
St. Louis Blues
The Blues will face a bigger challenge for the playoff run than last year, and they did not manage last year so would not rate them high this year. They have a good solid bunch off player for every position, but lack the superstars. It´s the reason they will not make it to the playoffs this year.
Especially Alex Pietrangelo impressed me last season. There is a player who has bright future in the national hockey league.
Goalie tandem Elliot-Halak does not convince me, but i hope they can proof me wrong. It would not be too surprising if they would split the starts.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Ben Bishop, Ryan Reaves.
Group 3 UFAs: Dean Arsene, Ty Conklin, Cam Janssen, Graham Mink, Nathan Oystrick, Dave Scatchard, Dave Spina.
Group 6 UFAs: Tyson Strachan.
San Jose Sharks
Part of some blockbuster moves this summer. Paid a high price for Brent Burns by sending Davin Setoguchi, Charlie Coyle and first round pick that turned out to be Zack Phillips. Then again with Minnesota swapped Dany Heatley for Martin Havlat. San Jose needed speed, but Heatley is an elite goal scorer and they lost another one in Setoguchi so it will be interesting to see who will score the goals next season. Havlat is a solid 20 per season contributor and will bring the speed back to top 6 forwards which they lost in Setoguchi departure.
Other signings are Michael Handzus who will cover for Scott Nichol and Jim Vandermeer who will cover with Burns for the holes left by Ian White, Kent Huskins. Handzus who will get time on the penalty kill. Handzus has also been a solid 30+ points contributor in his career.
Antti Niemi played a good regular season, but struggled in the playoffs. The San Jose season ending goal by Kevin Bieksa was, at least, lucky but a goal anyways.
The Sharks also lost Jamal Mayers to the Blackhawks and Ben Eager to Edmonton so their checking line is quite torn apart. Hopefully next year will be the first full year for Jamie McGinn who might be able to help the Sharks on that departement.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Benn Ferriero, John McCarthy.
Group 3 UFAs: T.J. Trevelyan, Niclas Wallin, Kyle Wellwood.
Group 6 UFAs: Thomas Greiss.
UFAs: Patrick Davis, Kevin Henderson, Carter Hutton, Joe Loprieno, Nick Schaus, Michael Swift.
Verdict: Will be tough again this season. I think they will win Pacific division and the Western conference.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Tampa lost Simon Gagne, playoff miracle Sean Bergenheim, and defender Randy Jones and backup netminder Mike Smith. Coming in Bruno Gervais from Islanders, Richard Petiot, TrevorSmith, Matt Gilroy, J.T. Wyman and Mathieu Garon from free agency. The big news at the moment is that they have not been able to form a new contract with rfa Steven Stamkos.
It would seem that Tampa Bay will us Cedrick Desjardins as backup goalie in the coming season. I don´t know how many starts Dwayne Roloson can handle at the age of 41, but i guess that Cedrick Desjardins will get his fair share of starts next season.
The defense at Tampa looks solid and infact they have 7 defenders who played in 50 or more matches in the National Hockey League last season. To those who think who is that possible Matt Gilroy and Bruno Gervais played with the New York sideds Rangers and Islanders and got their starts there.
Simon Gagne took some serious goal scoring skills with him as he left the team. He scored 17 goals and 40 points in 63 games which is disappointing for a winger who has broken the 30 goal mark on four seasons and the 40 goal mark on two of them.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Johan Harju, Riku Helenius, Scott Jackson, Teddy Purcell, Steven Stamkos.
Group 3 UFAs: Chris Durno, Mitchell Fritz, Mathieu Roy.
Group 6 UFAs: Cedrick Desjardins.
UFAs: Alex Berry, Stefano Giliati, Mike Lundin, Vladimir Mihalik, Levi Nelson, Kevin Quick, Matt Smaby, Paul Szczechura.
Verdict: Will finish second in the southeast division, again, and will probably occupy some ranking between 5 and 7 in the eastern conference.
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Leafs, in my opinion, seriously improved their squad in the offseason. Tim Connoly, Matthew Lombardi, Cody Franson and John-Michael Liles. Connolly is known to be injury prone and has not played a full season after the NHL lockout. Lombardi suffered a concussion last preseason and was limited to only 2 games during the whole season. Liles missed only 3 games and recorded a career high 40 assists and Franson played 80 games and scored 8 goals and 29 points on the side.
The maple leafs have one of the best defenses in the league with Phaneud, Komisarek, Schenn, Liles, Franson they have to pick the last defenseman from Keith Aulie, Carl Gunnarsson and Matt Lashoff.
Leafs lost Giguere to Colorado, but it sure is not going to slow them down considering that James Reimer already took the starting role last season. Jonas Gustavsson will be his backup.
The only thing slowing them down is the tough division with champions Boston Bruins, Always tough Montreal Canadien and seriously improved Buffalo Sabres and next season pushover Ottawa Senators. It would be really nice to see the Maple leafs in the playoffs next season so i am hoping for them to finish right above the playoff line.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Tyler Bozak, Matt Lashoff, Luke Schenn.
Group 3 UFAs: Joey Crabb, Fredrik Sjostrom, Aaron Voros, Mike Zigomanis.
Group 6 UFAs: Darryl Boyce, Alex Foster, Christian Hanson.
UFAs: Fabian Brunnstrom, Brayden Irwin
Verdict: Will be tougher than next season and even though they will finish fourth in the Northeast division they will Battle hard for the playoffspot. Ranking 7-10 in the Eastern Conference.
Vancouver Canucks
The last season president trophy winner and a bitterly lost Stanley cup runner up had to give up some of its core during the offseason. They lost one of the best offensive d-man in the league when Christian Ehrhoff left for Buffalo. (First he negotiated with the Islanders without succes).
Ehrhoff posted two career high season in Vancouver by scoring 14 goals and adding 30 assist in the 09-10 campaign and then scoring 14 goals and 36 assists gathering a grand total of 50 points.
Other leavers were Rick Rypien, Tanner Glass, Alexander Bolduc and Raffi Torres. Glass and Torres were first team regulars during the past season.
In the `nucks have signed so far Steve Pinnizotto who has been an Hershey Bears regular in the AHL, Marco Strum from the Capitals and Marc Mancari who played 20 games for the Sabres last season.
Vancouver has quite easy division and should not have any problems winning it for the fourth time in a row. They only lost toughness so far on the offseason so they should be able to score the same way as last season.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Jannik Hansen, Sergei Shirokov.
Group 3 UFAs: Colby Genoway, Nathan Paetsch, Jeff Tambellini, Tyler Weiman.
UFAs: Mario Bliznak, MacGregor Sharp, Lee Sweatt.
Verdict: Will win the division and finish among the top three in the western conference.
Washington Capitals
The Capitals are going for the third consecutive number one finish in the eastern conference. My favorite to win the Presidents trophy next season. Signed a great bargain in Thomas Vokoun and they now have what they have lacked: A super goalie who is hungry for succes.
They signed Troy Brouwer, Jeff Halpern, Roman Hamrlik, Ryan Potulny and Joel Ward to add depth and fill in the void left bu the departures of Boyd Gordon, Marco Sturm and Matt Bradley.
The departure of Semyon Varlamov might be the best thing that has happened to the Capitals in the near past. They get the Colorado´s first pick in the coming season and the second round pick in either 2012 or 2013. They might have even more promising netminder in Michael Neuvirth and for sure better goalie in Tomas Vokoun, so they lose little and gain, possibly, a lot. Considering the Colorado squad, Washington will draft early next year.
They have killer first line in Semin-Backstom-Ovechkin, but after that the team is filled with physical players so the fisrt line will have to step up their game. The fact that everyone thought that Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom had disappointing seasons and the Capitals still went on to top the Eastern Conference after the regular season and advanced to the second round of the playoffs where Tampa was clearly better.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Karl Alzner, Francois Bouchard, Troy Brouwer, Mathieu Perreault.
Group 3 UFAs: Jason Arnott, Brian Fahey, Todd Ford, Scott Hannan, Jakub Klepis, Michael Nylander, Brian Willsie.
UFAs: Trevor Bruess, Joe Finley, Josh Godfrey.
Verdict: Will win the Southeast division and the Eastern conference in the process. Like i said earlier there are some teams that are so dominant favorites that they sorta have nothing to win just meet the expectations. I believe that Washington is one of these teams.
Winnipeg Jets
The biggest move of the year was not Mike or Brad Richards it was not Tomas Vokoun or Dany Heatley it
was Atlanta Trashers for the Winnipeg Jets. Personally i am really excited to see another team from Canada to enter the national hockey league. They don´t yet have the squad required to be a playoff contender but considering the position of hockey in Canada, it won´t take them many years to be one.
They started with a surprise draft in Mark Scheifele who was ranked only number 16 North American skater before the draft. Winnipeg have a potential superstar goalie in Ondrej Pavelec. He played a solid season and a good World Championship whit the Czech national team.
They have a young promising talents with players like Evander Kane, Alexander Burmistrov and Zach Bogosian to go with a not old core of players like Andrew Ladd, Tobias Enstrom, Dustin Byfuglien, Mark Stuart and Bryan Little. The old Atlanta franchise built a strong base and for that i take my hat off.
I sincerely hope that the new/old Winnipeg franchise will flourish and i hope everyone knows that the hard ground work was done in Atlanta.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Zach Bogosian, Brett Festerling, Riley Holzapfel, Arturs Kulda, Spencer Machacek, Ben Maxwell, Blake Wheeler.
Group 3 UFAs: Eric Boulton, Jason Krog, Freddy Meyer, Jared Ross, Jaime Sifers, Noah Welch.
UFAs: Andrew Kozek, Ian McKenzie, Rob Schremp
Verdict: Will play this season in the southeast division and have a tough time due to all the travel it will have to do to get to even own division games. Will finish at the bottom of southeast division and look for the future in some other division. Probably the northwest which is easy(ier) than the current one.
Like i said earlier all feedback is welcome and i would really much like to see what you think about my text and the national hockey league in general. Leave your thoughts in the comment section and ill read and try to answer if its directed to me.
Group 2 FAs: Andrew Campbell, Marc-Andre Cliché, Richard Clune, Drew Doughty, Corey Elkins, Johan Fransson, Bud Holloway, Trevor Lewis, Alec Martinez, David Meckler, Oscar Moller, Patrick Mullen, Brad Richardson, Jeff Zatkoff.
Group 3 UFAs: Peter Harrold, John Zeiler.
UFAs: Rob Bordson.
Verdict: Has to battle for the championship. I would say second in the Pacific division, third in the western conference.
Minnesota Wild
Minnesota had one major problem last year: Scoring. They were among the last five in scored goals last season and the GM Chuck Fletcher decided that that is not going to be the stumbling block between them and the playoffs this season. Wild made two trades with San Jose. The first saw Davin Setoguchi, Charlie Coyle and the San Jose first round pick travel to Minnesota on exchange for Brent Burns. The other on saw Martin Havlat and Dany Heatley swap teams. The former San Jose duo scored a combined 48 goals and 105 points.
Now Chuck Fletcher believes that Minnesota has its say in the playoff run. And likely it will. Setoguchi has scroed ove 20 goals on each of his three season with a career high 31 goals in 08-09 season. Danny Heatley has scored 50 goals on two season and amassed over 100 point in both of them. With Mikko Koivu feeding the two snipers it is relatively easy to think that the scoring problems are over.
Minnesota can lean on a top goalkeeper in Niklas Backstrom. He has silver and bronze medals from the olympics and he is a one time William M. Jennings trophy winner. Hes backup will be Josh Harding who is a long serving Minnesota player who has also played a lot in Minnesotas AHL affiliate Houston Aeros.
Although Wild acquired to world-class wingers they lost a very good puck playing defenseman in the process. Burns was one of the better power play defenseman in the wild roster. His departure and the lack of free agen signings signals that the wild are looking to play some of the younger defenseman like Marco Scandella or Justin Falk.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Justin Falk, Colton Gillies, Jarod Palmer, Jeff Penner, Darroll Powe, James Sheppard, Casey Wellman.
Group 3 UFAs: Jean-Michel Daoust, John Madden, Antti Miettinen.
Group 6 UFAs: Robbie Earl, Jamie Fraser.
UFAs: Patrick O'Sullivan.
Verdict: Minnesota had a relatively easy division with two of the worst team in the league part of it but still failed to make a push for the playoffs. It will not be any easier this year, but with the talent they have acquired they should be able to secure the second spot in the northwest division. Rankin 6-9 in western conference
Montreal Canadiens
Perhaps the smallest team measured in average height in the league added some size by signing Erik Cole from Carolina. Among with his size Erik brings goal scoring ability coming off his best season with 26 goals and 52 points. Also Montreal will be getting back long serving defender Andrei Markov whose injury limited him to just seven games last season.
Montreal squad witnessed two breakthroughs last season as goalie Carey Price went 38-28-6 and grabbed 8 shutouts to go with it. Other player to really blossom was P.K. Subban who scored 14 goals to go with his 24 assists. Montreal also added backup goalie Peter Budaj to replace Alex Auld who moved to Ottawa.
Montreal suffered a bitter defeat to dear rivals Boston in the eastern conference fist round playoffs game 7. Boston went on to win the stanley cup in 7 games against Vancouver.
Montreal will be going to the next season with an experienced team and only one thing in sight: the playoffs.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Mathieu Carle, Josh Gorges, Kyle Klubertanz, Ryan Russell, Frederic St. Denis, Ryan White.
Group 3 UFAs: Marvin Degon, Drew MacIntyre, Paul Mara, Alexander Perezhogin, Brent Sopel.
UFAs: Dustin Boyd, Nigel Dawes, Alexandre Picard, Tom Pyatt.
Verdict: They´re a good team and they should do well. Honorary mention for passionate fans. They will end up second in Northeast division. Ranking 4-7
Nashville Predators
Nashville wrote its own history by advancing to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. Thanks for that go mainly for the team captain Norris trophy nominee Shea Weber and Hart Trophy nominee goalie Pekka Rinne.
Predators signed Nicklas Bergfors from Florida and Brett Lebda from Toronto. They lost Joel Ward to Wahsington, Steve Sullivan to Pittsburgh and Marcel Goc to Florida.
The main thing for the Predaors was that they managed to keep their captain Shea Weber who was nearing free agency.
Without another Hart and Vezina trophy nominee year for Pekka Rinne the Preds are not near the playoffs. Few more players would also be needed to strengthen the squad or atleat fill gaps left by Sullivan, Goc and Ward.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Brodie Dupont, Matt Halischuk, Sergei Kostitsyn, Linus Klasen, Chris Mueller, Cal O'Reilly, Nick Spaling.
Group 3 UFAs: Steve Begin, Wade Belak, Matt Ellison, Aaron Johnson, Shane O'Brien, Brett Palin.
Group 6 UFAs: Grant Lewis, Kelsey Wilson.
UFAs: Dan Gendur, Mark Santorelli.
Verdict: As said it will take a top season from Rinne, otherwise Preds will be drafting early. I believe that Columbus will be better this season so Nashville fourth in central division. Ranking 10-13 in Western Conference
New Jersey Devils
Devils missed the playoffs for the first time in 12 years, and for that they got Adam Larsson with number 4 pick overall. There are many factor why the devils missed playoffs this year. Ilya Kovalchuk had his worst full season ever. Zach Parise only played 13 games before a season ending injury. Martin Brodeur had the worst Sv% since 1994-95 season. (2010-11 Sv%.903)
The Devils will be a serious playoff contender in the coming year, but i do not think that they have enough depth to make it till the end. Own guess is that theyre division proofs to be too hard.
The Devils will need a new goalie in a couple of seasons and even though Martin Brodeur is a living legend and very well capable of playing at that level the Devils should find a potential replacement, but not necessarily for the next season or even the one after that but they will need one and a plan can not hurt anyone. 38 year old Johan Hedberg is not the solution they need a long term answer.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Matthew Corrente, Mark Fraser, Jeff Frazee, Maxim Noreau, Nathan Perkovich, Matt Taormina, Alexander Vasyunov, Steven Zalewski, Vladimir Zharkov.
Group 3 UFAs: Rob Davison, Adam Mair, Mike McKenna, Bradley Mills, Chad Wiseman.
Group 6 UFAs: Olivier Magnan-Grenier, Tim Sestito.
UFAs: Anssi Salmela.
Predict: Will remain as number four in the Atlantic divsion. Rangers, Philly and Penguins are just too tough at the moment. Ranking: 9-12 in the Eastern Conference.
New York Islanders
The Islanders... They have a tough division, With Devils, Philly, Rangers and Pittsburgh. They are going to have to play really well outside division cause no easy points going to come from there. Though is there such a thing as easy points in the Nationak hockey league?
Islanders has a pretty young core with players like Michael Grabner, Kyle Okposo, John Tavares, Josh Bailey, Travis Hamonic, Ty Wishart and Kevin Poulin not forgetting the newest comer Ryan Strome. The situation at Islanders is good because they are in a position when their players develop and get better every yeas, so they will raise their bar even without signing fancy free agents.
Of course they have mixed the young talent with older players like Mark Streit, Trent Hunter, Marty Reasoner and Trevor Gillies, but the main part of the team is young developing talent.
Even though that the Islanders get better every year the National Hockey League is filled with teams that have players to fight for the title now and that drops Islanders off the title bid.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Josh Bailey, Blake Comeau, Micheal Haley, Jesse Joensuu, Dylan Reese, Ty Wishart.
Group 3 UFAs: Andy Hilbert, Zenon Konopka, Nathan Lawson, Joel Martin, Radek Martinek, Doug Weight, Jeremy Yablonski.
Group 6 UFAs: Jeremy Colliton.
UFAs: Robin Figren, Jack Hillen, Rob Hisey, Dustin Kohn.
Verdict: Islanders just does not posses the players required to win every night and they just have to wait until their time comes. They will occupy the last place in the Atlantic division and will finish among the last four in the Eastern Conference.
New York Rangers
This summer the wind of change blew in New York and more precisely to the team that plays at Madison Square Garden. First they bought out the final year of Chris Drurys contract (if you ask me you could do the same for Sean Avery). Then THE free agent of this summer, Brad Richards, decided to sign a contract
with the Rangers. Rangers also signed Mike Rupp from Pittsburgh to add depth an body to the roster.
Even the Rangers too a few bullets on the free agent frenzy as defenders Justin Soryal and Matt Gilroy departed from the club to join Carolina and Tampa Bay. At this moment Rangers has not replaced them.
Rangers now has firepower in slightly disappointing Marian Gaborik, 40 points a season scoring Brandond Dubinsky, The new superstar Brad Richards, Wojtek Wolski and breakthrough forward Derek Stepan.
As soon as they add couple of defenders they have the potential to go all the way to the Stanley Cup.
Henrik Lundqvist, Rangers goalie, led the whole league in shutouts (11) and had fifth best Sv% among the starting goalies in the league. Hes backup is Martin Biron who went 8-6 with a Sv% of .923
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Artem Anisimov, Stu Bickel, Brian Boyle, Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky, Chad Johnson, Michael Sauer, Andreas Thuresson.
Group 3 UFAs: Steve Eminger, Alexander Frolov, Bryan McCabe, Vaclav Prospal, Todd White, Jeremy Williams.
Group 6 UFAs: None.
UFAs: Devin Didiomete, Tysen Dowzak, Matt McCue
Verdict: Will do better than last year. Will finish second in the Atlantic division and fifth or sixth in the eastern conference. Potential all the way to the Stanley cup but mire likely a losing Eastern Conference finalist.
Ottawa Senators
The Senators had a season somehow similar to New Jersey Devils. Both expected to go to the playoffs and failed in an embarrassing manner. As a result the Senators ended the season in the 26th placeof the National Hockey League.
Senators are expected to bounce back after a "accidental" season. They were really impressing in the eraly 2000 and made the playoffs four times in a row between the 03 and 07 season, they actually made it to the finals in the 06-07 season but lost to the Anaheim Ducks 4-1
Senators have some quality players in Jason Spezza, Milan Michalek, Erik Karlsson and Sergei Gonchar, but in my opinion is that as long as the goalie tandem is Craig Anderson, Curtis McElhinney they will have trouble getting to the playoffs. They are not bad but they most certainly are not outstanding and that´s what Ottawa would need to be a credible playoff contender.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Erik Condra, Kaspars Daugavins, Geoff Kinrade, Roman Wick.
Group 3 UFAs: Michal Barinka, Andre Benoit, Mike Brodeur, David Hale, Ryan Keller, Pascal Leclaire, Ryan Shannon, Marek Svatos.
Group 6 UFAs: Derek Smith.
UFAs: Jason Bailey, Cody Bass
Verdict: Without any miracles Ottawa will lose it´s division and get stronger by draft picks. Ranking: 12-15 in the Eastern Conference.
Philadelphia Flyers
By far the most interesting team during the offseason. Sent away two all-star center in Mike Richards and Jeff Carter and got two potential all-star centers back in Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturier. Did not get to terms with Leino and signed a future hall-of-fame Jaromir Jagr in his place. Also loading the right wing are Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds who were acquired in the Richards and Carter trades. Maxim Talbot was a nice touch to add for the checking late lines (physical center for third ora pure checker for fourth line)
What is even more impressing is the goalie tandem in Philly. Bryzgalov, Bobrovsky is one of the best, if not best goalie tandem in the entire league. Only downside is that neither one has merits in the playoffs where this team will surely be going.
Defense is pretty much the same than last year which is good. Sean O´Donnel was big part but Andreas Lilja is good enough cover for him. Philly is in my opinion in the same level as last year but more balanced. Along with Chicago my favorite team for the upcoming season. Do not think that i think they will win but i hope they will. I fear that the biggest winner candidates are Boston, Vancouver and Washington but it remains to be seen.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Jon Kalinski, Wayne Simmonds.
Group 3 UFAs: Nick Boynton, Michael Ryan, Patrick Thoresen, Nikolay Zherdev.
Group 6 UFAs: Danny Syvret.
UFAs: Garrett Klotz, Brian Stewart.
Verdict: Philadelphia will have a bigger job with the division considering that Rangers have improve aswell and Pittsburgh played big part of the season without its top to forwards. Someone might even claim that the players Pittsburgh lacked couple of the best forwards in the National Hockey League.
Philly will end up second in the Atlantic division rank between 4-6 in the Eastern Conference.
Phoenix Coyotes
Coyotes lost their number one goalie Ilya Bryzgalov and top 3 defenseman in Ed Jovanovski couple of valuable centers in Eric Belanger and Vernon Fiddler. And what do they sign? Tyler Eckford, Alexander Bolduc, Raffi Torres, Mike Smith and Boyd Gordon. Ok players, similar to the ones lost except Smith who has a lot of catching up to do for Bryzgalov.
Smith and Eckford are not good enough to step in for Bryzgalov and Jovanovki. But that´s what Phoenix gathers decent bunch of players with depth and ability for every position. It just might be worth it in the long run.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Jonas Ahnelov, Mikkel Boedker, Lauri Korpikoski, Brett MacLean, Marc-Antoine Pouliot, Viktor Tikhonov, Kyle Turris, Matt Watkins, Keith Yandle.
Group 3 UFAs: Matt Climie, Andrew Ebbett, Ryan Hollweg, Bracken Kearns, Petr Prucha.
Group 6 UFAs: Dane Byers, Matt Clackson, Alexandre Picard.
UFAs: Joel Gistedt, Josh Lunden, Jeff May.
Verdict: Will not make it to the playoffs. Fourth in the Pacific division. Rating 10-13 in the Western conference.
Pittsburgh Penguins
The team that was expected to be an all fours after losing two key players, but no. They gathered 106 points and lost to the future conference finalist Tampa Bay Lightning in game 7 with one goal.
I don´t even dare to think what they will do now that they have healthy roster. Sidney Crosby was going to a 132 point season if he was to continue like he started.
The loss of Max Talbot to Flyers probably does not concern the Penguins since they have enough depth in the squad to cover for losses like that.
The defensive setup is one of the best in the league and it´s supported by Marc-Andre Fleury who saves allowed Penguins to go back to back Stanley cup finals winning it on the second time.
Probably one of the best teams in the league led by the best hockey player of the moment. Only sky is the limit for the Penguins
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Dustin Jeffrey, Brad Thiessen.
Group 3 UFAs: Arron Asham, Mike Comrie, Chris Conner, John Curry, Daniel Fernholm, Eric Godard, Andrew Hutchinson, Alex Kovalev, Steve Wagner.
Group 6 UFAs: Tim Wallace.
UFAs: Joey Haddad.
Verdict: Will win the Atlantic division and be a serious contender for the Eastern Division as well as the president Trophy. First or second in the Eastern Conference.
St. Louis Blues
The Blues will face a bigger challenge for the playoff run than last year, and they did not manage last year so would not rate them high this year. They have a good solid bunch off player for every position, but lack the superstars. It´s the reason they will not make it to the playoffs this year.
Especially Alex Pietrangelo impressed me last season. There is a player who has bright future in the national hockey league.
Goalie tandem Elliot-Halak does not convince me, but i hope they can proof me wrong. It would not be too surprising if they would split the starts.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Ben Bishop, Ryan Reaves.
Group 3 UFAs: Dean Arsene, Ty Conklin, Cam Janssen, Graham Mink, Nathan Oystrick, Dave Scatchard, Dave Spina.
Group 6 UFAs: Tyson Strachan.
San Jose Sharks
Part of some blockbuster moves this summer. Paid a high price for Brent Burns by sending Davin Setoguchi, Charlie Coyle and first round pick that turned out to be Zack Phillips. Then again with Minnesota swapped Dany Heatley for Martin Havlat. San Jose needed speed, but Heatley is an elite goal scorer and they lost another one in Setoguchi so it will be interesting to see who will score the goals next season. Havlat is a solid 20 per season contributor and will bring the speed back to top 6 forwards which they lost in Setoguchi departure.
Other signings are Michael Handzus who will cover for Scott Nichol and Jim Vandermeer who will cover with Burns for the holes left by Ian White, Kent Huskins. Handzus who will get time on the penalty kill. Handzus has also been a solid 30+ points contributor in his career.
Antti Niemi played a good regular season, but struggled in the playoffs. The San Jose season ending goal by Kevin Bieksa was, at least, lucky but a goal anyways.
The Sharks also lost Jamal Mayers to the Blackhawks and Ben Eager to Edmonton so their checking line is quite torn apart. Hopefully next year will be the first full year for Jamie McGinn who might be able to help the Sharks on that departement.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Benn Ferriero, John McCarthy.
Group 3 UFAs: T.J. Trevelyan, Niclas Wallin, Kyle Wellwood.
Group 6 UFAs: Thomas Greiss.
UFAs: Patrick Davis, Kevin Henderson, Carter Hutton, Joe Loprieno, Nick Schaus, Michael Swift.
Verdict: Will be tough again this season. I think they will win Pacific division and the Western conference.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Tampa lost Simon Gagne, playoff miracle Sean Bergenheim, and defender Randy Jones and backup netminder Mike Smith. Coming in Bruno Gervais from Islanders, Richard Petiot, TrevorSmith, Matt Gilroy, J.T. Wyman and Mathieu Garon from free agency. The big news at the moment is that they have not been able to form a new contract with rfa Steven Stamkos.
It would seem that Tampa Bay will us Cedrick Desjardins as backup goalie in the coming season. I don´t know how many starts Dwayne Roloson can handle at the age of 41, but i guess that Cedrick Desjardins will get his fair share of starts next season.
The defense at Tampa looks solid and infact they have 7 defenders who played in 50 or more matches in the National Hockey League last season. To those who think who is that possible Matt Gilroy and Bruno Gervais played with the New York sideds Rangers and Islanders and got their starts there.
Simon Gagne took some serious goal scoring skills with him as he left the team. He scored 17 goals and 40 points in 63 games which is disappointing for a winger who has broken the 30 goal mark on four seasons and the 40 goal mark on two of them.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Johan Harju, Riku Helenius, Scott Jackson, Teddy Purcell, Steven Stamkos.
Group 3 UFAs: Chris Durno, Mitchell Fritz, Mathieu Roy.
Group 6 UFAs: Cedrick Desjardins.
UFAs: Alex Berry, Stefano Giliati, Mike Lundin, Vladimir Mihalik, Levi Nelson, Kevin Quick, Matt Smaby, Paul Szczechura.
Verdict: Will finish second in the southeast division, again, and will probably occupy some ranking between 5 and 7 in the eastern conference.
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Leafs, in my opinion, seriously improved their squad in the offseason. Tim Connoly, Matthew Lombardi, Cody Franson and John-Michael Liles. Connolly is known to be injury prone and has not played a full season after the NHL lockout. Lombardi suffered a concussion last preseason and was limited to only 2 games during the whole season. Liles missed only 3 games and recorded a career high 40 assists and Franson played 80 games and scored 8 goals and 29 points on the side.
The maple leafs have one of the best defenses in the league with Phaneud, Komisarek, Schenn, Liles, Franson they have to pick the last defenseman from Keith Aulie, Carl Gunnarsson and Matt Lashoff.
Leafs lost Giguere to Colorado, but it sure is not going to slow them down considering that James Reimer already took the starting role last season. Jonas Gustavsson will be his backup.
The only thing slowing them down is the tough division with champions Boston Bruins, Always tough Montreal Canadien and seriously improved Buffalo Sabres and next season pushover Ottawa Senators. It would be really nice to see the Maple leafs in the playoffs next season so i am hoping for them to finish right above the playoff line.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Tyler Bozak, Matt Lashoff, Luke Schenn.
Group 3 UFAs: Joey Crabb, Fredrik Sjostrom, Aaron Voros, Mike Zigomanis.
Group 6 UFAs: Darryl Boyce, Alex Foster, Christian Hanson.
UFAs: Fabian Brunnstrom, Brayden Irwin
Verdict: Will be tougher than next season and even though they will finish fourth in the Northeast division they will Battle hard for the playoffspot. Ranking 7-10 in the Eastern Conference.
Vancouver Canucks
The last season president trophy winner and a bitterly lost Stanley cup runner up had to give up some of its core during the offseason. They lost one of the best offensive d-man in the league when Christian Ehrhoff left for Buffalo. (First he negotiated with the Islanders without succes).
Ehrhoff posted two career high season in Vancouver by scoring 14 goals and adding 30 assist in the 09-10 campaign and then scoring 14 goals and 36 assists gathering a grand total of 50 points.
Other leavers were Rick Rypien, Tanner Glass, Alexander Bolduc and Raffi Torres. Glass and Torres were first team regulars during the past season.
In the `nucks have signed so far Steve Pinnizotto who has been an Hershey Bears regular in the AHL, Marco Strum from the Capitals and Marc Mancari who played 20 games for the Sabres last season.
Vancouver has quite easy division and should not have any problems winning it for the fourth time in a row. They only lost toughness so far on the offseason so they should be able to score the same way as last season.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Jannik Hansen, Sergei Shirokov.
Group 3 UFAs: Colby Genoway, Nathan Paetsch, Jeff Tambellini, Tyler Weiman.
UFAs: Mario Bliznak, MacGregor Sharp, Lee Sweatt.
Verdict: Will win the division and finish among the top three in the western conference.
Washington Capitals
The Capitals are going for the third consecutive number one finish in the eastern conference. My favorite to win the Presidents trophy next season. Signed a great bargain in Thomas Vokoun and they now have what they have lacked: A super goalie who is hungry for succes.
They signed Troy Brouwer, Jeff Halpern, Roman Hamrlik, Ryan Potulny and Joel Ward to add depth and fill in the void left bu the departures of Boyd Gordon, Marco Sturm and Matt Bradley.
The departure of Semyon Varlamov might be the best thing that has happened to the Capitals in the near past. They get the Colorado´s first pick in the coming season and the second round pick in either 2012 or 2013. They might have even more promising netminder in Michael Neuvirth and for sure better goalie in Tomas Vokoun, so they lose little and gain, possibly, a lot. Considering the Colorado squad, Washington will draft early next year.
They have killer first line in Semin-Backstom-Ovechkin, but after that the team is filled with physical players so the fisrt line will have to step up their game. The fact that everyone thought that Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom had disappointing seasons and the Capitals still went on to top the Eastern Conference after the regular season and advanced to the second round of the playoffs where Tampa was clearly better.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Karl Alzner, Francois Bouchard, Troy Brouwer, Mathieu Perreault.
Group 3 UFAs: Jason Arnott, Brian Fahey, Todd Ford, Scott Hannan, Jakub Klepis, Michael Nylander, Brian Willsie.
UFAs: Trevor Bruess, Joe Finley, Josh Godfrey.
Verdict: Will win the Southeast division and the Eastern conference in the process. Like i said earlier there are some teams that are so dominant favorites that they sorta have nothing to win just meet the expectations. I believe that Washington is one of these teams.
Winnipeg Jets
The biggest move of the year was not Mike or Brad Richards it was not Tomas Vokoun or Dany Heatley it
was Atlanta Trashers for the Winnipeg Jets. Personally i am really excited to see another team from Canada to enter the national hockey league. They don´t yet have the squad required to be a playoff contender but considering the position of hockey in Canada, it won´t take them many years to be one.
They started with a surprise draft in Mark Scheifele who was ranked only number 16 North American skater before the draft. Winnipeg have a potential superstar goalie in Ondrej Pavelec. He played a solid season and a good World Championship whit the Czech national team.
They have a young promising talents with players like Evander Kane, Alexander Burmistrov and Zach Bogosian to go with a not old core of players like Andrew Ladd, Tobias Enstrom, Dustin Byfuglien, Mark Stuart and Bryan Little. The old Atlanta franchise built a strong base and for that i take my hat off.
I sincerely hope that the new/old Winnipeg franchise will flourish and i hope everyone knows that the hard ground work was done in Atlanta.
Quick look for the current free agency situation:
Group 2 FAs: Zach Bogosian, Brett Festerling, Riley Holzapfel, Arturs Kulda, Spencer Machacek, Ben Maxwell, Blake Wheeler.
Group 3 UFAs: Eric Boulton, Jason Krog, Freddy Meyer, Jared Ross, Jaime Sifers, Noah Welch.
UFAs: Andrew Kozek, Ian McKenzie, Rob Schremp
Verdict: Will play this season in the southeast division and have a tough time due to all the travel it will have to do to get to even own division games. Will finish at the bottom of southeast division and look for the future in some other division. Probably the northwest which is easy(ier) than the current one.
Like i said earlier all feedback is welcome and i would really much like to see what you think about my text and the national hockey league in general. Leave your thoughts in the comment section and ill read and try to answer if its directed to me.
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