Special Contributor // Thom Cich
The beginning of the NHL season is just around the corner and whether you’re a diehard puck head or someone who just asked “What’s the NHL?” we’ve got the insight to help you get caught up on all 30 teams one division at a time. You’ll find the teams listed in the order we predict them to finish within the division. If you want to respectfully disagree or laud our foresight, sound off in the comments below!
1. Buffalo Sabres
The Big Picture:
Sure, Buffalo finished behind both Montreal and Boston last season and neither of those two teams has changed too much in the offseason. However, the Sabres have made some big changes that should propel them to the top of the Northeast. Chief among the differences in this year’s Sabres team is that new owner Terry Pegula has had a whole offseason to begin shaping Buffalo into what he calls “Hockey Heaven.” Pegula says the purpose of the team is to win a Stanley Cup, and so far he’s backed up his words with his checkbook. The Sabres broke the bank adding forward Ville Leino and defensemen Christian Ehrhoff and Robyn Regehr to an already solid roster. Did they spend too much? Probably. But are they better? Definitely. And that’s all Pegula cares about.
Up Front:
Buffalo does not have elite talent at forward. Veteran winger and constant net presence Thomas Vanek is as close as it gets. But what this team’s offense does have is incredible depth. After suffering sever injuries last season, Jason Pominville and Derek Roy are in excellent shape and both could contribute between 60 and 80 points. Tyler Ennis and Nathan Gerbe are young and undersized, but it doesn’t show up in their games. Drew Stafford is coming off his first 30 goal season in the NHL and he missed 20 games due to injury. Even if newcomer Leino struggles to live up to his $4.5 million cap hit, the Sabres will have no problem putting the puck in the net.
The Blue Line:
You’d be hard pressed to find a better D corps in the NHL than what they have in Buffalo. Robyn Regehr gives them their first true shutdown defenseman since Jay McKee left for St. Louis in 2006. If the preseason is any indication, newcomer Christian Ehrhoff and his laser shot will vastly improve the Sabres’ power play. Add those two to a promising young corps featuring Mike Weber, Andrej Sekera and Marc-Andre Gragnani and you’d have a mighty fine back end for your hockey club. But Buffalo also has future Norris winner Tyler Myers, making this unit all the more impressive.
In the Crease:
Ryan Miller won the Vezina in ‘09-’10 but took a step back last season. This year, with a very strong group of defensemen keeping him clean, expect Miller’s numbers to jump back up. Miller also has a new backup in Jhonas Enroth, who appears to be a much more reliable replacement than Patrick Lalime was last year, which should give coach Lindy Ruff the confidence to give Miller the rest he needs.
2. Boston Bruins
The Big Picture:
No team has won back-to-back Stanley Cups since the ‘97-’98 Detroit Redwings and there’s a reason for that: It’s really tough. The Bruins played their brand of hard-nosed, two-way hockey all the way into the middle of June last year, which has got to take its toll on the players’ bodies and minds. Tim Thomas had an amazing season winning the Vezina with a 2.00 goals against average and .938 save percentage. But Tim Thomas is also 37 years old and played 82 games total last year. It’s going to be hard for him to duplicate those numbers. The team also lost veteran forwards Mark Recchi and Michael Ryder without doing too much to replace them (no offense to newcomer Benoit Pouliot.) This is still a strong team, but don’t expect them to still be around in June again this year.
Up Front:
The Bruins have great depth at center. David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron make for a fine 1A-1B combination. Former number two overall pick Tyler Seguin could improve on a lackluster season and provide more offense from the pivot. Throw in Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley and you have an abundance of vets who can play down the middle. The problem is finding solid wingers to chip in some goals. Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton combine with Krejci for a physical and talented scoring line. But beyond those two, the Bruins don’t have much going for them now that Recchi and Ryder are gone.
The Blue Line:
While the Bruins may not have the wingers to light it up on offense, they’re not exactly in danger of giving up goals in bunches. Captain and former Norris winner Zdeno Chara will continue to bring his unique brand of defensive dominance as well as a glass-shattering slapper to the table. Dennis Seidenberg, Johnny Boychuk and Andrew Ference round a dependable top four. The Bruins signed offensively-minded Joe Corvo in the offseason to provide the power play support that Tomas Kaberle just couldn’t provide enough of last year.
In the Crease:
Tim Thomas won the Vezina after the ‘08-’09 season. In ‘09-’10 he struggled and eventually played second fiddle to Tuukka Rask. Last season it was another Vezina for Thomas. The pattern could continue this year. Look for Rask to stir up a little controversy over who should be getting starts in Beantown.
3. Montreal Canadiens
The Big Picture:
The Montreal Canadiens followed up a 96 point season with a pretty quiet offseason, making very few changes to a roster that lost to Boston in the first round of the playoffs. The team added veteran winger Erik Cole in free agency but also lost defensemen Roman Hamrlik and James Wisniewski. Their group of forwards remain pretty underwhelming while the defense corps is still solid. While those adjectives may not inspire a lot of confidence in this team, the name Carey Price should. Price logged his first full season as a number one goalie last year and he was fantastic. He lead the league in wins with 38 and posted a solid .923 save percentage. If Price is as good or better this year, the Habs will be back in the playoff picture.
Up Front:
It’s plain and simple: Montreal forwards just don’t put up points. Tomas Plekanec, the team’s top center, lead the club with 57 points last year. That would be a very nice number for a number two center, but somehow the Habs make it work. Brian Gionta and Mike Cammalleri can be counted on to score some big goals, but for the most part, this team will rely on steady two-way play up front. Mathieu Darche and Travis Moen may not be big names, but they’re a big part of the defensive-minded team philosophy. Montreal could take a big step forward if $7 million dollar man Scott Gomez bounces back from an abysmal 38 point season, but don’t count on it.
The Blue Line:
Despite the losses of Wisniewski and Hamrlik this is still a decent D corps that could get even better if P.K. Subban continues to blossom. Subban chipped in 14 goals in his rookie year and looks like he wants to get 20 this season. If Andre Markov can bounce back and stay healthy, he’ll put up some serious points on the power play. Add Josh Gorges, Hal Gill and Jaroslav Spacek to the mix and this unit should be able to contribute offensively as well as make Carey Price’s job a little easier.
In the Crease:
In case you skipped The Big Picture, Carey Price is the be-all and end-all for this team. He’s only 24 and has shown a lot of promise in his young career. If he can continue to develop, we could be talking about a net minder who gets his team into the postseason every year. But if things begin to sour, the Habs will be in trouble for years to come.
4. Toronto Maple Leafs
The Big Picture:
The Big Picture:
Brian Burke has made no shortage of moves since taking over as GM of the Leafs. It was the same this offseason with Burke making a major play for top free agent prize Brad Richards. Unfortunately for Burke, Richards went to the Rangers, leaving the Leafs to settle for Tim Connolly to fill their void at number one center. However, Connolly has a terrible (and justified) reputation for being fragile. If he gets hurt again this year, the Leafs are back where they started. Burke made a few other moves that should help like picking up offensive D-man John-Michael Liles and locking up promising goalie James Reimer for three years. Still, the Leafs are in a very tough division and that should make it difficult to improve upon last year’s fourth-place finish.
Up Front:
Make no mistake. There is scoring talent on this team. The aforementioned Connolly is set to center skilled winger Phil Kessel and one of Burke’s favorites, Joffrey Lupul. The second line of Clarke MacArthur, Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolai Kulemin was the most potent combination on the team last year. Even the third line shows some promise with the Leafs seventh overall pick in 2009, Nazem Kadri, set to get a chance there. Despite all this talent, there are no proven leaders among the forward ranks. You might be able to count on a decent goal output, but probably not when you need it the most.
The Blue Line:
It’s very difficult to assess the Leaf’s defense corps. There are plenty of big names there: Dion Phaneuf, Luke Schenn, and Mike Komisarek spring to mind. But it’s tough to buy into these guys living up to their reputations. Phaneuf is capable of putting up 60 points (he did it in Calgary in ’07-’08) but last year he scored just 30 as Toronto’s top blue liner. Schenn, a former fifth overall pick hasn’t played up to his draft status, notching 22 points and a -7 rating last season. And Komisarek can barely stay on the ice, averaging under 15 minutes per game last year. If there’s one piece to feel optimistic about, it’s John-Michael Liles who put up 46 points on a terrible Colorado Avalanche team last year.
In The Crease:
Both James Reimer and Jonas Gustavsson have shown some promise in net for Toronto. The big issue here is that the sample size is so small. The two have just 102 NHL games under their combined belts. With no proven veteran on the roster, Burke could be making some trade calls should either of his backstops flame out.
5. Ottawa Senators
The Big Picture:
“If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” Something our mothers have told us for years. Luckily this is largely ignored in the world of journalism so it’s okay to talk about the Ottawa Senators. This was a bad team last year. They finished near the bottom of the Eastern Conference and last in the Northeast Division with 74 points. After such a disappointing season you’d think they would make big moves in the offseason to right the ship. No such luck. Trading for Columbus forward Nikita Filatov was the only major move the team made and even that doesn’t promise to make much of an impact. Filatov has a whopping 13 points in the NHL since Columbus took him sixth overall in ’08. Add the signing of journeyman goaltender Alex Auld and you come out with one word: meh.
Up Front:
Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson were stars in the NHL once upon a time. Simply put, those days are behind them. Spezza missed 20 games last year and 22 the year before. Alfredsson played just 54 games because of an injury last year and put up only 31 points in that amount of time. Milan Michalek and Nick Foligno might be able to chip in 40 points apiece, but beyond that there’s really no promise of offensive output among the forward ranks. At least they still have Chris Neil to make things tough on the other team. The seasoned agitator had 210 penalty minutes last year.
Blue Line:
There’s a little room for optimism when discussing the Senators’ blue line. 21-year-old Swede Erik Karlsson scored 13 goals and 32 assists in only his second NHL season last year. However, he also had a plus-minus of -30. The Sens’ best bet on defense could be continuing this trend toward youth. 2009 first round pick Jared Cowen could be ready to step up and make an impact in the NHL this season. The D corps could also get a boost from David Rundblad who comes to the NHL after being named last year’s Swedish Elite League defenseman of the year. A boost from these young players could be huge for Ottawa as the veterans Sergei Gonchar, Filip Kuba and Chris Phillips combined for a -76 rating.
In the Crease:
Not much to write home about here. Craig Anderson is the number one and he pretty good for Ottawa after coming over from Colorado toward the end of last season. In 15 games he put up some great numbers with .939 save percentage and a 2.05 goals against average. But don’t expect those numbers to hold up. His career GAA is 2.78 to go along with a .913 save percentage. Backup Alex Auld has played for eight different NHL teams since the lockout. Not a great sign.
Thom Cich can be reached at info@thefivedaily.com and on Twitter @TC_on_WGR
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