By: Ben Malley
1.
The Canucks have the best goalie in the NHL. Their problem will be finding the scoring to compliment that. The Sedins will have another fantastic year together, but the challenge will be production from former superstar Markus Naslund and his linemate Brendan Morrison. These two and Todd Bertuzzi formed the most potent line combination the year prior to the lockout. Both have seen their numbers decline in recent years. Any average hockey team with Luongo has a shot at making a deep playoff run. Adding some scoring at the trade deadline would be nice.
2.
Crazy Mike Keenan has been brought in to coach the Flames, a move that had hockey experts befuddled. The Flames still have many of the key players from their cup run of three seasons ago. Built from the net out Miikka Kiprusoff will probably play another 80 games this season. Dion Phaneuf has already established himself as an elite defenseman in this league with his hitting and scoring punch, and the team added Adrian Aucoin and Cory Sarich for probably too much money. They will join the top notch defensive corp with large bodied Robyn Regehr and Rhett Warrener.
Scoring was always secondary in the Flames game plan, but they have more offensive weapons than ever. Alex Tanguay hasn’t had
3.
The Wild have now let longtime goalie tandem Manny Fernandez and Dwayne Roloson go, but they’ve found a couple of equally capable replacements in Niklas Backstrom and Josh Harding. Backstrom played half a season last year and finished with a league leading GAA of 1.97. For his troubles the 29-year-old received a two year $3.1 million contract. The 23-year-old Harding is the goalie of the future, and the two may split time like Fernandez and Roloson used to do. Needless to say the already defensive minded Jacques Lemaire team looks set to be even better defensively this season, and set in goal for years to come.
On offense the oft-injured Slovakian duo of Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra are as good of a one-two punch as any in the league. Saku’s younger brother Mikko Koivu looks poised to step up as their first line center, and if they stay healthy he could have a big season. On the second line Brian Rolston should be good for another 60+ points.
In the playoffs it is important to have more than one good line. Last season
4.
The Avs had a good offseason adding Ryan Smyth and Scott Hannan. Smyth should play with Joe Sakic and Andrew Brunette. The second line will have rookie standouts Peter Stasny and Wojtek Wolski in their second seasons. We haven’t even mentioned Milan Hejduk, who has seen his numbers decline and one year wonder Marek Svatos who may be back to his rookie season form. John-Michael Liles is on the cusp of being a top NHL blue-liner and Jordan Leopold, who spent much of last season injured needs to be the number two guy on defense. Obviously goals will be easy to come by.
The question is in net. Peter Budaj and Jose Theodore haven’t proven to be anything more than average. Average goaltending should get this team to the playoffs, but it keeps them from being one of the elite teams in the West.
5.
The Oilers offseason was characterized by the RFA offer sheets desperate GM Kevin Lowe threw at Thomas Vanek and Dustin Penner. Both incredibly overvalued the Sabres matched Vanek’s offer not wanting to lose three of their top players in one season. The Ducks had the luxury of letting Penner go so Penner joins an Oilers team that looks to be near the bottom of the Western Conference. A lot of people are beginning to compare Penner to a young Ryan Smyth and that doesn’t bode well for him. Penner has gone from being a small part of a successful franchise in a non-hockey city, to being a highly paid go-to-guy on the Edmonton Oilers, a city where pressure will be applied daily. If Penner doesn’t live up to his contract early on (and it’s hard to see him being able to) expect people to turn on him quickly, especially if Smyth is racking up the goals alongside Joe Sakic.
This is a team that was a game away from winning the Stanley Cup two seasons ago, but Pronger is gone, team captain Jason Smith is gone and Smyth is gone. They splashed the cash for Sheldon Souray, who many experts criticize on defense and expect not to match his stellar offensive numbers last season. If he does he is a top five offensive-defenseman in the league. Ales Hemsky hasn’t turned into the player many thought he would. Considering the Oilers probably won’t make the playoffs and gave this season’s first round pick to the Ducks as compensation for Penner it could be a long year, with little to no payoff.
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