NHL Season Predictions!

Thank goodness it’s Pucktober! And not a moment too soon for us hockey fans!

The 2009-2010 NHL regular season officially gets underway tonight, and I’m stoked. I’ll bet you are too.

This season promises to be filled to the brim with interesting teams, players, stories and controversies. We had a very busy off season that saw a great draft in Montreal, a lot of players changing addresses in free agency, a tug of war over the Phoenix Coyotes, yet more turmoil within the NHLPA, and announcements of Olympic hockey team hopefuls.

No matter which team you follow, there’s something to look forward to, or to keep a very close eye on for signs of trouble. These things all set up the kick-off to the season, that begins tonight. Yes, TONIGHT! Mere hours from now! To quote Terrell Owens: “Getcha popcorn ready!”

Here’s some things I’ll be keeping a close eye on as the season goes along:

• Are the Penguins a dynasty in the making?
• Are the Red Wings going to take a step back? Competition is stiffer and a lot of their players are potential Olympians (will fatigue get to them?)
• Are the Blackhawks poised to overtake the Wings in the Western Conference’s Central Division?
• Can the Maple Leafs, with their lack of offensive punch grind their way to the playoffs through “truculence”?
• Will the Canadiens’ radical facelift pay off for GM Bob Gainey?
• Will the Los Angeles Kings’ & St. Louis Blues’ plethora of young horses bring them back to respectability?
• Is Jacques Lemaire going to turn the 2009-10 Devils in to the 1995-96 Devils?
• How are the top 3 picks of John Tavares, Victor Hedman and Matt Duchene going to fare with their teams?
• The Vancouver 2010 Olympic games…what’s better than Olympic hockey?
• Who will be the first coach to lose his job this season?
• Are the Bruins going to be as good without Kessel as they were last year with him? Can Thomas repeat his Vezina performance?
• How is Alex Kovalev, who left his heart in Montreal, going to perform with the new look Senators?
• Are the Flyers going to pound everyone in to submission? Will Ray Emery keep it on the rails?
• Will the San Jose Sharks, specifically Marleau and Thornton finally make a name for themselves in the playoffs?
• Will “Mr. Glass”, a.k.a. Marian Gaborik stay healthy long enough to make the Rangers competitive?
• Will we hear from Gretzky again this year?

Add your storyline in the comments below. Surely there are tons of other topics worth following this coming year that I have not listed here.

NHL Hockey Twitter Links July 7 2009

The following is a collection of today’s most important hockey links as found on the NHL Digest Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/nhldigest. I’ve added some of my thoughts and commentary to the links in order to expand on the subjects a little bit. Let me know what you think!

Joe Sakic To Retire

Joe Sakic is set to announce he’s retiring on Thursday according to Sportsnet.ca http://ff.im/-4VyQZ
Sakic turned 40 years old today and despite having the Winter Olympics in his home town of Vancouver next year, he has decided to hang up the blades.  Sakic will retire as one of the game’s most classy players, leaders and competitors. 

Joe Sakic is the current leader in career points per game (1.19) among active NHLers with more than 500 points (Guess who will be the leader after Sakic retires?)
You know I had to get Dany Heatley into the conversation somehow! Heatley will be the league’s leader in points per game (minimum 500 career points) once Sakic retires on Thursday.

Kovalev Speaks Out On Ottawa

 @kylerousselreports a nice farewell to Montreal from Alex Kovalev’s official site: http://www.ak27.com/

Kovalev says Stanley Cup within reach in Ottawa. http://ff.im/-4Vg7g
Kovalev believes that he can bring more offense to Ottawa in the form of a second line scoring presence that they didn’t have previously.  He believes that is what is holding the Senators back from success in the playoffs.  I agree with him to a point, but the Senators also need defense and a goaltender. I didn’t expect Alex to bash his new team off the bat, but something more realistic wouldn’t have hurt. 

 @fatheaddesign Also thinks Kovalev is as close to the Stanley Cup in Ottawa as he will ever get saying- “Ottawa is a short train ride away from the HHOF, they can visit it there easily”.

Bonus NHL Goodness

  If you are a Penguins fan in Ohio or Pennsylvania, visit your local Giant Eagle store. @Kicksavetwenty and @Brian_Metzer say the Penguins newly released Stanley Cup Championship DVD is only $12 there with your Giant Eagle advantage card.

 @HabsIO says Scott Gomez will wear #91 and Mike Cammalleri will wear #13 in Montreal next season http://snipurl.com/maycc . According to Habs fan Michael Kuyaz, they will form part of the Montreal Canadiens new “Smurf Line” next season as seen here.

Chris Pronger signs 7-year extension in Philadelphia -… http://ff.im/-4Vn6Y
Pronger stated a few days ago that he would like to finish his career in Philadelphia.  This 7-year extension will do just that for the 35 year old rearguard.  In fact, I’d be willing to bet that Pronger retires in 5 years.

 @hosea24hoursWhat’s so exciting about Jonas Gustavsson? It’s Burke’s way of giving Leafs fans false hope. Remember Fabian Brunnstrom?
He’s right, and as Kyle Roussel said: “If Gustavsson is so great, then why did it take him so long to get to the NHL, and If he’s so great, why did he only get a 1-year deal?”  This highly touted “Monster” has a lot to prove and he will be asked to prove it under the bright lights and pressure of the cynical and fickle Toronto spotlight.

NHL Trivia:Which active NHL player has the best plus/minus rating at +409

Answer: N. Lidstrom

The good folks over at the Pensburgh blog have taken some lessons from this down economy and posted an article today about defending a championship on a budget. http://bit.ly/11gTvj

2nd Round Impressions and Conference Finals Predictions

Raise your hand if you think this is the best hockey you ever seen? Outside of International hockey which tends to always be this good, I can’t recall a playoff year being so full of exciting end-to-end hockey. For years we were used to guys “water skiing”, chipping their way through the playoffs with stifling defense and sluggish flow.

Not this year. And it’s not likely to start any time soon.

 
Thoughts on the Second Round

Boston vs Carolina 

The Hurricanes have made me, and I suspect most of us look silly twice now. I don’t know if many predicted them to beat the Devils (though I did), and I think even fewer predicted them to beat the Bruins (I did not). I don’t know what it is about this team, but it sure feels like they’re a team of destiny, doesn’t it? How can you not like this team? From Paul Maurice and Ron Francis , to Eric Staal and Cam Ward , what’s not to like? I guess if you’re a Bruins fan, you don’t like Scott Walker very much now…the guy who kayoed Aaron Ward , and then kayoed the Bruins entirely . I thought the Bruins played well enough to win game 7, but they slipped in games 3 and 4, which cost them dearly. The Bruins have never overcome a 3-1 series deficit, and that history will continue for at least 1 more year. I feel bad for Tim Thomas, Claude Julien , and Aaron Ward, but the Bruins had a great year and should be back next year to challenge again. The questions will begin to circle around Tim Thomas now, especially now that he has a fat long-term deal. He’s now 0-2 in playoff game sevens and he’ll be dogged by that until he wins one.

Pittsburgh vs Washington 

What can you say about this series that hasn’t been said already? A series featuring several of the games brightest stars, highlighted by Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin . This series was hyped as a showdown between these 2 stars as if they were the only ones playing, and for long stretches, it seemed like they were the only 2 doing anything. Crosby had 13 points in the series while Ovechkin had 14. But in the end, Crosby was there in game 7 while Ovechkin seemed to fade after being robbed by Marc-André Fleury early in the first period. That save was the turning point of the game. It looked like this series was going to be a quick one after Washington took a 2-0 series lead, but the Penguins battled back on home ice and won 4 of the next 5 games, which many thought would be next to impossible. Again, the old adage of “you’re never in trouble until you lose on home ice” proves true. As for the Crosby/Ovechkin feud, I think it’s time to say that Crosby gets the edge. Sure Ovechkin has the flair and the personality – no debate there. But at 21, Crosby has already been to the Cup finals and is 1 series away from doing it again. He brought it and delivered big time in game 7 when it mattered most, and without a doubt understands the team game and how to use his teammates better than Ovechkin does. The poignant image in this series for me is when Crosby stole the puck from Ovechkin, streaked down the ice and beat Jose Theodore to seal the series. If that was not the series in a nutshell, what is?

Detroit vs Anaheim 

This series seemed to be littered with blown calls, missed calls, weird brawls involving lightweights, stars and mismatches and of course, controversy. In the end I believe everything balanced out and the better team won, though it took longer than it ought to have taken. If not for the heroics of Jonas Hiller , this series is over in 5. Even with Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom sound asleep this playoff year, the Wings are still getting consistent scoring from “the Mule” Johan Franzen, Henrik Zetterberg, Nik Lidstrom, Marian Hossa and Jiri Hudler . Anaheim seemed only to be able to go as far as Hiller and Getzlaf could take them. Niedermayer and Pronger are not the players they used to be, nor is Teemu Selanne . It may be time for a changing of the guard in Anaheim, as many of their key veterans are unrestricted free agents.

 
Vancouver vs Chicago 

Who says young teams can’t win this deep in to the year? The Blackhawks are the youngest team in the league and are impressively showing everyone that you can’t lose if you don’t know what losing is. Call them the Canada killers, but they’ve knocked out the 2 Canadian representatives in the Western Conference in impressive fashion. They rattled and eventually shredded Miikka Kiprusoff , and did the same to Roberto Luongo . Speaking of Luongo, what a bad time for the team captain to play his worst hockey of the year. For a guy that everyone expects to be named Canada’s #1 goaltender at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, he sure didn’t play like he can handle the pressure (In fact, neither did Brodeur , which begs the question – is Cam Ward the best Canadian goaltender in the game right now? One thing is for sure today, if Luongo is named Team Canada’s #1 guy, it will be in large part due to the politics of having the home town guy between the pipes. Hopefully Team Canada General Manager Steve Yzerman and the coaching staff can see through this and make the correct call. It may end up being Luongo come next year, but right now it’s not.).

I wonder how the Canucks feel today about bringing in Mats Sundin , as he did not quite live up to expectations, despite respectable playoff stats. It’s evident that skipping training camp hurt him, and father time is catching up. Will he be back next season? Will the Canucks want him back? If the Sedins leave, they may be forced to bring him back just to keep them competitive. The rest of the Canucks seemed not to be able to raise their game in the playoffs. Steve Bernier, Ryan Kesler and Pavol Demitra were not able to match the skill and production of the Hawks. Going back to the Hawks, there’s no shortage of extremely talented kids that can flat out get the job done. From Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, to Patrick Sharp, Kris Versteeg and Martin Havlat , the scoring is there in spades. And with role players like Burish, Byfuglien, Bolland, Ladd, and Sammy Pahlsson, the sandpaper and intangibles are there too. The defense is able, and more importantly, willing to take abuse and give it out. Joel Quenneville is to be commended for what he’s done with this collection of youngsters. It’s clear that the firing of Denis Savard so early in the year was the right move, after it left so many shaking their heads.

Predictions for the Conference Finals

Carolina (6) vs Pittsburgh (4)

I don’t want to make the mistake of disrespecting Carolina again, since they seem to be proving just about everyone wrong, but I have a tough time making a case for them to beat the Penguins. I can easily say that fortune is smiling on the Canes and that will somehow carry them through the series, but I’m not going to do that. I think that the Penguins have the 2 best, or at least 2 of the 3 players in the league. And in Crosby’s case, he looks as though he’s just warming up. The Canes don’t have the defense to contain all of the Penguins up front talent…do they? Paul Maurice will have to roll lines because he won’t win many matchup battles. On the other hand do the Penguins have the necessary defensemen to lock up Eric Staal? Does it matter? Staal asserted himself quite well against Norris candidate Zdeno Chara , so maybe it doesn’t matter who the Penguins run out there. On the Penguins front, Sergei Gonchar came back for game 7, and had a positive contribution in the outcome. Will his knee be able to last for whatever amount of hockey is left in their season? I expected this to be another fast-paced series, with the Penguins talent being the difference. Though I will NOT be surprised to see the Canes advance. After all, Cam Ward STILL has never lost a playoff series (6-0), including a sparkling 4-0 record in 7th games. If that’s not clutch, I don’t know what is. Even after being seemingly rattled after the Bruins dominated games 5 and 6, he came back with a stellar effort in game 7. I don’t want to keep betting against this guy, but I also don’t want to bet against Sidney Crosby on a mission. The Canes are certainly battle tested, with both series this year going down to the wire in 7 games (to the last minute vs the Devils and OT vs the Bruins). That’s invaluable experience, but begs the question – how much do they have left in the tank. This is a team that will heavily rely on Staal to carry the mail offensively, as they have in both series to this point. Can he do it again? Maybe, but not quite enough.

Pittsburgh in 6 (though if it gets to a 7th game, I can’t help but think the Canes will win).

Chicago (4) vs Detroit (2)

Let’s hope that this original six matchup provides better entertainment than the Canadiens / Bruins series, which was as anticlimactic as it gets. In this matchup, we have division rivals, original six rivals, defending champs & league’s oldest team (Detroit) against the upstart, youngest team in the league with their sights set on the prize (Chicago).

This series has major potential for fireworks and drama, the same way the Penguins / Capitals series gave it to us. I think a lot of people are waiting for the air to slip out of the Blackhawks balloon, but so far it has not happened. People thought that the rougher, bigger defense of the Flames and Canucks would punish and smother the smallish, inexperienced Hawks forwards. But the Hawks have proven that they are more than up to the challenge. They’ve fought back and dished out as much as they took. On the flip side, the Red Wings do not play a bruising type of hockey. They play smart, they move the puck and they are disciplined. They are led by guys with multiple cup rings, guys who have been here many times and know precisely what it takes to get the job done. How much more can Quenneville get out of his troops? For Detroit, Mike Babcock also has a tremendous amount of experience at this time of year and can handle anything. So far he’s beaten a Columbus team that rode an extremely hot Steve Mason in to the playoffs, he’s beaten an Anaheim team that wanted to grind the Wings to a halt, and now they’re playing a Hawks team that will try to skate and finesse them in to the ice.

It’s time to throw the inexperience argument out the window. The Hawks don’t care. Whether they are right in thinking this remains to be seen. I’m calling the talent on both sides as a draw. In my mind this series will boil down to Osgood vs Khabibulin and how well their defensemen can contain the skill. I think now is the time we will see Datsyuk and Holmstrom wake up and make their contribution. Notice has been served however, that the Chicago Blackhawks are for real, and they’re going to challenge Detroit for the division title starting from game 1 next season. But for now, the champs will continue their march towards a rare Stanley Cup repeat.

Detroit in 6.

I believe we are looking at a rematch of last year’s Stanley Cup Finals, which should be even better this year. The Penguins are a better team, and the Wings…well, when aren’t they great?

As an interesting side note, 3 of the 4 coaches still standing were hired DURING the season after the previous coach had been fired (Therrien, Laviolette, Savard). As a copycat league, where teams try to mimic the Stanley Cup champ, I wonder if we will see a rash of firings next season as teams try to capture lightning in a bottle?

Please leave your thoughts and predictions below!

Torts, Jumbo Joe and Comeback Kids

Torts Lands in Hot Water

The NHL has suspended New York Rangers head coach John Tortorella for one game after a dispute involving a fan Friday night in Washington. Tortorella responded to a fan who allegedly poured beer on him during the game.

Tortorella squirted a water bottle at a fan and also took a stick from the bench and shook it at the spectator, who was directly behind the Rangers’ bench in Game 5.

Maybe Sean Avery can recommend a good anger management therapist!

Ducks Wake Sleeping Giant!

Patrick Marleau scored his second game-winning goal of the playoffs 6:02 into overtime, and the top-seeded San Jose Sharks avoided first-round elimination with a 3-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks in Game 5 on Saturday night.

The Sharks needed a big victory and Nabakov stepped up to the plate with some huge saves.   Sharks superstar, Joe Thornton, has been almost as absent as the Sharks third jersey during the first round of the playoffs.  However, the Ducks may have awoken the sleeping giant as Jumbo Joe exploded for 3 points Saturday night.

Penguins Cap Comeback – Eliminate Flyers

After staring the game out with what seemed to be an insurmountable 3-0 lead at home, the Philadelphia Flyers squndered the lead and their season – losing 5-3 to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Penguins started the comeback after Max Talbot took on Flyers tough-guy Dan Carcillo in an attempt to turn the tide. While Carcillo easily got the best o f Talbot, it was the Penguins that grabbed the momentum, finishing off the Flyers with 5 unanswered goals!

Blackhawks Don’t Mind Physical Play

Adam Burish doesn’t agree with those who say the Chicago Blackhawks are intimidated or cowering from the Calgary Flames’ aggressive play.

Easy for Burish to say as he breaks his stick over Rene Bourque with a cross-check! It is ridiculous that the only player suspended in this rough and tumble series was Andre Roy for an incident that didn’t even happen during the game.

The Playoff Game That Never Ended!

My favorite Hockey Historian, Joe Pelletier, writes about the playoff game that never ended.

On March 31st, 1951 the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins battled in what was described as “one of the most gruelling NHL playoff games on record.” The game went into overtime, but was never completed.Why was it never finished? Because of Sunday.Back in those days the city of Toronto had a municipal bylaw that forbade events such as professional sports on a Sunday.

With two games on the schedule today, we can certainly see that times have indeed changed!

Blues Charging Fans More For Certain Games

Brad From St. Louis Game Time Presents:

Monday the Blues issued a brief news release announcing that single game tickets go on sale Aug. 16. Ok, fine. Until you get to the third paragraph.

In addition, the Blues are introducing Premium Pricing for 10 key match-ups

Pardon me? What the heck? The Blues are going to charge more for select games? Didn’t they already raise ticket prices for this season? Oh yeah, they did raise ticket prices an average of 3.8 percent. And remember what owner Dave Checketts said at the time? We do.

I think it’s a fair price increase. I don’t think it’s aggressive. And I hope by now that we have done our part in terms of showing fans that we’re serious about providing a better experience and putting a winning club on the ice.

Really? Anything change from February until now? The list of the Blues’ most notable off season moves begins with trading away the popular/gritty Jamal Mayers and ends with trading for a backup goaltender in Chris Mason with a bunch of nothing in between. The only other moves have been for depth at Peoria.

Free Agency Fumbles

In all fairness, few if any of the players available in free agency would make the Blues much better or would even consider signing with the Blues at this point. But that’s not the point. When they announced higher prices for this season, they didn’t say anything about charging $10 OR $20 more for select games. And how stupid is making the premium that different based upon the seat location? And by adding to the cost for some seats for some games, how much is the average ticket increasae for the premium games?

Here are the premium games (don’t worry, none of the thrilling Columbus games will cost you more):

• Blackhawks on Oct. 18, Jan. 17, and Feb. 13
• Red Wings March 3 and 14
• Holiday match-up against the Oilers Nov. 29
• Holiday match-up against the Sharks Dec. 27

They also chose three Eastern Conference games (the press release lists it as the Atlantic Conference — thanks for not knowing the league) to charge more for: the Penguins on Nov. 1, the Flyers on Jan. 31 and the Rangers on Feb. 16.

The Blues last season did have 20 sellouts in 41 home games with attendance increasing by 43 percent compared to 2006-07. So we guess the team is trying to build on that uptick in attendance and justify charging more for those high profile games. But this team isn’t noticeably better than it was the last day of the season.

Why Charge A Premium?

Obviously these premium games are designed to push fans toward buying season tickets, but for a lot of fans that’s either not affordable (even with the cheap Scottrade seats) or practical (41 games is a huge time committment). This from Peter McLaughlin, CEO of St. Louis Blues Enterprises:

As we announce Single Game pricing, including our new 10-Game Premium Pricing, we want to remind our fans that their best value, as always, is to purchase Season Tickets.

Thanks for all the proper nouns, Peter. And John Davidson is obviously smart enough to not connect his name to increasing the price of tickets, especially for a team that is already picked to finish last in the Central Division.

What a way to creat a buzz about the team, Blues. If beer prices are any higher come opening night (if that’s even possible), we may have to teepee the Drinkscotch Center. Allegedly.

What are your thoughts on charging a “premium for certain games?

The Kevin Lowe and Brian Burke Saga Continues

Wild Ink Nolan

The Minnesota Wild continued their off-season makeover Sunday, signing gritty winger Owen Nolan to a two-year contract worth $5.5 million US.

Here is What Wild GM Doug Risebrough had to say about the gritty forward:

“Owen Nolan is a true power winger who can score goals, play a physical brand, play either wing and take faceoffs”

Nolan should be a nice addition to the Wild who have been very active in signing fre agent forwards this off-season.  Minnesota will, no doubt, benefit from Nolan’s experience, leadership and tenacious style of play.

Lowe and Burke At It Again

Edmonton Oilers general manager Kevin Lowe tore into Brian Burke on Friday when he made an appearance on Edmonton’s Team 1260 radio station. Lowe called him a moron, described the Anaheim hockey market as pathetic, and then discussed how Burke destroyed the Vancouver Canucks.

Lowe went on to describe Burke as a “Media Junkie” and then makes reference to Burke’s single Stanley Cup compared to Lowe’s six.  To be fair, I don’t think that Lowe is comparing apples to apples as his cups came courtesy of his playing days.

It doesn’t appear that Burke wants to continue the “feud” as he is reportedly not commenting on the remarks made by Lowe.

Penguins Cooke-ing!

The NHL Eastern Conference champion Pittsburgh Penguins went the free-agent route to replace agitator Jarkko Ruutu on Saturday, signing forward Matt Cooke to a two-year contract.

While Ruutu was clearly an asset for the Penguins last season, it is believed that Cooke is a better two-way player with more offensive upside than Ruutu.  Cooke is known as a character player throughout the league and should fit in nicely with the Penguins as Shero continues to mold an exquisite supporting cast for Crosby and Malkin.

Leafs Have High Hopes

The Toronto Maple Leafs signed centre Mikhail Grabovski to a one-year, US$850,000 contract on Friday, one day after acquiring him in a trade with Montreal. The 24-year old had three goals and nine points in 24 games with the Canadiens last season.

The Maple Leafs sent prospect Greg Pateryn and a second-round draft choice to Montreal in exchange for Grabovski.  I think Montreal got a steal of deal here.  A prospect and a pick for Grabovski who has a questioanable future in the National Hockey League.

Players Feel Buffaloed By Sabres

The Buffalo news is reporting what we have known for years, the Sabres have a poor reputation among players.

Gleason goes on to comment that It has become increasingly evident that the only way to get quality veterans into Buffalo is to force them here through trades. It’s an unpleasant way to survive.

“Forget the woe-is-Buffalo excuse. Everybody knows this is a passionate hockey town, but the word has spread about the organization’s business practices. The Sabres are known more for their commitment to the bottom line than their commitment to winning. To players, it might as well be Edmonton.”

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