Player analysis

I will split this into to five categories: Who will improve next season, who will disappoint next season, who will take home the trophies and who will breakout this season..  By improving i mean scoring more points so the first two lists will be filled with forwards, but do not worry defenseman will get their turn.

Who will improve next season:
Alexander Ovechkin had the worst season of his life and will bounce back up next season. Ovechkin improving will also add significant amount of points for the fellow line players Alexander Semin and Nicklas Beckstrom.

Dany Heatley is, like Ovechkin, coming off from the worst season of his career. I believe that the change of team will help him Bounce back to ~80 points next season. Will boost the stats of first line center Mikko Koivu in the process.


Dustin Brown the Los Angeles Kings captain is coming off a good season but with Mike Richards and Simon Gagne coming in, probably to his line, he will have to struggle hard not to score more points than last season.

Rick Nash finally has a world class center to play with. Carter won´t be bringing much playmaking ability but will help Nash add assists and get in for some juicy rebounds.

James Neal will get either Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin centering his line and with players like that the points will almost appear out of nowhere. Might be a career defining year for the young left winger.

Runner Up´s: Marian Gaborik, Miikka Kiprusoff and Duncan Keith


Who will disappoint next season:


Lubomir Visnovsky is coming off a career best season in points and will be expected to play a similar season next year. I do not think the 34-year-old will be able to do so and will drop almost 20 points from last season.

Loui Eriksson will not be able to get as much points as last year after the departure of Brad Richards. Though the fans may have high expectations for the swede he will not be able to answer to their prayers.

Semyon Varlamov was fairly good with one of the top teams in the league, but seems to be relatively injury prone. The Avalanche risked a lot and the worse Varlamov plays the more Capitals will benefit from the deal.

Ilya Kovalchuk has not played a good season with the devils and giving the contract he was given the criticism, should the Devils fail to make playoffs next season, will be pointed to the Russian superstar.

Keith Yandle it will take a lot to match this season with the Coyotes. Not saying that Yandle is not able to do it, but losing Ed Jovanovski and Ilya Bryzgalov will add the defensive duties for everyone and will be seen as a worse +/- situation and maybe lack of motivation during the season.


Runner Up´s: Jason Spezza, Olli Jokinen, Mike Ribeiro


Who will breakout next season:

Nikita Filatov was the sixth overall pick in 2008 but never really got it together in Columbus, he is a talented player and i sincerely hope he will improve in Ottawa. Has potential to play fairly lot in, in my opinion, one of the weakest squads at the moment.

Eric Fehr is a good player, but with wingers like Ovechkin, Semin, Knuble and Laich plus the newly acquired Brouwer, Ward and Halpern you know it is going to eat out your minutes. Will be one of the best wingers at Winnipeg and with more minutes there will be more points. Would not suprise me if he would go and have the best year of his career.

James Van Reimsdyk if he can play with the same level as he did in the playoffs, it should be easily the best season for the youngster. He could even double the points he scored last season, maybe not next year but i believe that he will in the not too distant future. If he will be in the same line with Jaromir Jagr and Claude Giroux he might even be a contender for the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy.

Marc-Andre Gragnani was one of the best players in the Sabres during the playoffs. He should get his first full year in the NHL next season and if he plays anywhere near the level he played in the playoffs hes should have a breakout season.

Patrik Berglund had a good season with the Blues and then great world championships with the Sweden national team. He led the Swedish to the world championship where they suffered a bitter loss for the dear rivals Finland. He finished second in points leaving behind players like Tomas Plekanec, Jason Spezza, Mikko Koivu and Ilya Kovalchuk. Considering the squad Sweden has compared to other teams, he played really well.

Runner Up´s: Artem Anisiomov, Mattias Tedenby, Nazem Kadri


Trophy winners:

Hart Memorial Trophy: Sidney Crosby
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy: Pavel Datsyuk
Vezina Trophy: Tomas Vokoun
Calder Memorial Trophy: Adam Larsson
Art Ross Trohy: Sidney Crosby
James Norris Memorial Trophy: Shea Weber
Conn Smythe Trophy: Tomas Vokoun
Ted Lindsay Award: Alexander Ovechkin
Maurice Rocket Richard Trophy: Sidney Crosby
William M. Jennings Trophy: Tomas Vokoun & Michal Neuvirth
Frank J. Shelke Trophy: Pavel Datsyuk




Again, all feedback is greatly appreciated.