NHL Season Preview
The Northeast Division
Courtesy: Richard Wolociz/Getty Images
1. Boston Bruins
Subtractions: Tim Thomas, Andrew Bodnarchuk, Joe Corvo, Benoit Pouliot, Greg Zanon
Additions: Garnet Exelby, Christian Hanson, Aaron Johnson, Michel Ouellet
The Bruins are always a threat in every game they play. Tyler Seguin is become a star. Brad Marchand is one of the best two-way fowards in the game. Patrice Bergeron is an amazing defensive-forward with a nice touch around the net. Lucic is mean and can score. Krejci is solid in both ends. The list can go on. The Bruins are good and a short season will prove well for them.
The B’s defense is pretty tough. Chara, Boychuk, Ference, McQuaid, and Seidenberg is one of the best line ups in the league and they will be hard to beat. Rookie Dougie Hamilton will make an appearance and will learn well from these guys.
Tim Thomas has decided to sit out the season because he’s weird, so it’s finally time for Tuuka Rask to start a new era. He’s a good goalie with a great team in front of him.
2. Buffalo Sabres
Subtractions: Brad Boyes, Dennis Persson, Derek Roy, Michael Ryan, Paul Szeczechura
Additions: Mark Mancari, Steve Ott, Adam Pardy, Kevin Porter, John Scott
I really like the Sabres. Always have since the days of Pat LaFontaine. But they struggled bad last year. The offense couldn’t get anything going last year. Thomas Vanek needs to earn his contract and put pucks in the net. Tyler Ennis, Nathan Gerbe, Jason Pominville and Drew Stafford will have more time and responsibility as Derek Roy is now gone. Steve Ott was a great addition and will bring some much needed grit. Ville Leino is another player that should be bought out in the new accelerated complience buyout. It will be interesting to see how Cody Hodgson does in his first full year (sort of) with the Sabres. He should add some scoring.
Tyler Myers made a name for himself in his rookie year. Then he disappeared. The towering defenseman needs to regain his scoring touch and become mean. He’s big and strong and needs to show it. Christian Ehrhoff will need to step it up as well and Robyn Regehr needs to make his presence known. Jordan Leopold could be moved (the Kings?) but he is a good puck mover and the Sabres need that.
Ryan Miller is one of my favorite current players in the league. Although, the Sabres were awful last year, he still got 5-6 shutouts and played his butt off. His team was terrible and it wasn’t hsi fault. He will not let this happen again and he could compete for the Vezina. Jhonas Enroth is solid as backup and will take the stress off of Miller if things get bad again.
3. Montreal Canadiens
Subtractions: Andreas Enqqvist, Brad Staubitz, Mathieu Darche
Additions: Colby Armstrong, Francis Bouillon, Cedrick Desjardins, Brandon Prust
The Canadiens are still a mess. They will buy out Scott Gomez under the new accelerated compliance buy out and get rid of his horrible contract and Erik Cole is threatening to retire because he doesn’t like the new CBA. The Habs do have some steady players who can be great players if they can find some consistency. Max Pacioretty, David Desharnais, and Tomas Plekanec need to step it up and take charge of the offense. Captain Brian Gionta will hopefully be healthy this year after missing almost all of last year with a torn bicep. Rene Bourque, Colby Armstrong and Brandon Prust are good grinders and antigonizers and will add to the scoring of they can stay out of the box.
The Habs really, really need to sign P.K. Subban, but he’s asking way too much. They could trade his rights to another team, but who will want to deal with him? He’s sitting out training camp and can’t play until something happens. Andrei Markov really, really needs to return to form. He can be the best offensive defenseman in the league, but injuries have slowed him down immensely in the last few years. Tomas Kaberle might be the most bizarre signing behind Gomez, but if he can step up he can add some offense from the backend. They don’t have much depth back there and players like Josh Gorges, Alexi Emelin and Yannick Weber will need to come through when the top players don’t.
Carey Price is one of the best goalies in the league but he doesn’t have much help in front of him. He will win games by himself this year as he always does. Peter Budaj is still a good back up and can keep Price healthy just in case they accidentally make the playoffs.
Courtesy: Blair Gable
4. Ottawa Senators
Subtractions: Bobby Butler, Matt Carkner, Nikita Filatov, Nick Foligno, Rob Klinkhammer, Zenon Konopka, Filip Kuba
Additions: Andre Benoit, Tyler Eckford, Hugh Jessiman, Guillaume, Latendresse, Nathan Lawson, Mike Lundin, Marc Methot
The Senators were a surprise last year. Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza looked ten years younger and Milan Michalek was a machine netting over 30 goals. Kyle Turris came in late in the season and showed signs of brilliance at times, but needs to make more of a consistent impact. They have a good group of grinders in Chris Neil, Colin Greening and Zack Smith. The Sens are a dangerous team because their offense can sneak up on you.
The league was in awe of young Erik Karlsson as he racked up over 70 points and brought home the Norris (I still have issues with that) and he sparked a rejuvination in the aging offense. Chris Phillips seems to be settling into his role as elder statesman, finally, and Sergei Gonchar is still solid as always on the power play. Unfortunately, the Sens have lost Jared Cowen for the season with a hip injury and need to fill that gap. Marc Methot and Mike Lundin will need to step up.
The Sens have a pretty good set of goalies in Craig Anderson and Ben Bishop. Anderson had a great year last season and will do well with a shortened year. Bishop will be a great back up and start to make a name for himself.
5. Toronto Maple Leafs
Subtractions: Colby Armstrong, Joey Crabb, Philippe Dupuis, Jonas Gustavsson, Luke Schenn, Brian Burke
Additions: Keith Aucoin, Mike Kostka, Jay McClement, James van Riemsdyk
It’s been an interesting week for the Leafs as they fired GM Brian Burke just after the CBA’s ink dried. The Leafs haven’t made the playoffs since 2004, before the last lockout, but Burke was trying to build a foundation that could be jeopardized by trade. Phil Kessel had a break out year last year as did linemate Joffrey Lupul. Mikhail Grabovski was solid and Clarke MacArthur stunned everyone by showing some offense. The addition of James van Riemsdyk should hopefully make that second line more of a threat if he can stay healthy. The Leafs need these guys to come through every night if they want to win.
The defense looks decent on paper with captain Dion Phaneuf, John-Michael Liles, Mike Komisarek and Jake Gardine, but they need to be more impactful in their respected roles. Phaneuf needs to take charge of this core and make other teams scared to face them – like Chara does in Boston and Weber does in Nashville.
The Maple Leafs haven’t had a good goaltender in about 20 years since Felix Potvin lead them to the Conference Finals. Only three goalies since 1999 have had a GAA over .900. The Leafs either need James Reimer and Ben Scrivens to step up or make that trade for Luongo and risk the foundation Burke built.
