By Mike Beasley /
Montreal Canadiens: The Habs won’ take anybody by surprise this year after last season’s Eastern Conference championship. Although they will have a hard time replacing D Mark Streit who signed as a free agent with the New York Islanders. Streit was a key component to the Canadiens powerplay unit that finished first overall in the league. Also gone is Michael Ryder who signed with Boston. Montreal picked up F Alex Tanguay from Calgary in a trade at the draft as well as Robert Lang from Chicago in early September. The club also signed free agent Georges Laracque to add some much-needed toughness to their line-up.
Ottawa Senators: It’s a new look Senators line-up after last year’s disappointment, starting at the top with Craig Hartsburg, the club’s new head coach. Wade Redden, Andrej Mezsaros, Ray Emery, and Brian McGrattan are gone with Jason Smith, Jarkko Ruutu, Filip Kuba and Alex Auld joining the team. Ottawa also signed Brad Isbister, Ryan Shannon and local boy Brendan Bell for some depth.
Toronto Maple Leafs: Ron Wilson will have his biggest coaching challenge of his NHL coaching career in with the Leafs. Toronto moved Darcy Tucker, Bryan McCabe and Kyle Wellwood in the off-season with the likelihood that Mats Sundin has played his last with the Buds as well. The Leafs are completely overhauled this season adding free agents Jeff Finger and Niklas Hagman. Other new faces include Mikhail Grabovski, Ryan Hollweg, Jamal Mayers and a new, old face G Curtis Joseph.
New York Rangers: The Rangers were easily the biggest spender in the off-season scooping up D Wade Redden from Ottawa along with premiere forward Markus Naslund from the Vancouver Canucks. Naslund signed a two-year, $8 million dollar deal with the blue-shirts while Redden’s is worth around $6 million. New York also added highly skilled forward Nikolai Zherdev from Columbus along with rugged forward Aaron Voros from the Wild and Patrick Rissmiller from San Jose.
New Jersey Devils: New Jersey will rely on G Martin Brodeur and their usual stingy style of play once again this season. Head coach Brent Sutter begins his second year behind the Devils bench and will have a couple of former Devils back in their line-up. Forwards Bobby Holik and Brian Rolston made their way back to New Jersey after stints with the Atlanta Thrashers and Minnesota Wild.
New York Islanders: New head coach Scott Gordon has a big task ahead of him this season. The Isles have a mix of young and old players centred around all-world goaltender Rick DiPietro. Finding the right chemistry for success will be the team’s biggest challenge.
New York made a great acquisition signing D Mark Streit to a free agent contract. C Doug Weight is paired up with Bill Guerin once again after joining New York from Anaheim. Watch for the Isles to introduce a whole crop of new players this year.
Washington Capitals: With F Alex Ovechkin in your line-up anything is possible. The Russian born player was terrific last season and turned it up a notch in the playoffs. Washington could very well be the to team watch this year in the Eastern Conference. The Caps gained some valuable experience in last spring’s post season. Their defence is young, aggressive and mobile. The Capitals signed G Jose Theodore over the summer replacing Christobal Huet who bolted ?to Chicago.
Buffalo Sabres: Buffalo didn’t do much to improve their squad in the summer. Among others, the Sabres recently resigned key, young forward, Jason Pominville. Expect G Ryan Miller to see a lot of rubber this season. The Sabres didn’t make the playoffs last year and will be challenged to qualify this year. Head coach Lindy Ruff is one of the best in the league but will be challenged to get his team into the post-season.
Carolina Hurricanes: The good news for Carolina is that the Hurricanes locked up Eric Staal, signing the talented C to a seven-year, $57.15 million dollar contract extension before the season started. Captain Rod Brind’Amour went under the knife in mid-September to repair his left knee but will be back for the start of the regular season. F Justin Williams ruptured his Achilles tendon and will be gone for four-to-six months. The Hurricanes narrowly missed the playoffs season last year failing to qualify in the last couple of days of the regular season. Watch for Carolina to bounce back with a strong 2008/09.
Tampa Bay Lightning: Easily the biggest newsmaker over the summer. Brian Lawton is the Bolts new GM with Barry Melrose back in coaching after more than decade as a color commentator. Steven Stamkos, the league’s first overall pick in 2008, will suit up in T-Bay this fall along with their other acquisitions, Andrej Meszaros, Ryan Malone, Gary Roberts, Adam Hall, Vaclav Prospal, Radim Vrbata, Mark Recchi, Matt Carle and Olaf Kolzig. The lightning should be interesting to watch.
Florida Panthers: The Panthers desperately need to make the playoffs. GM Jacques Martin is feeling the pressure in South Florida. Florida traded C Oli Jokinen, one of the best players in team history, to Phoenix in return for defencemen Nick Boynton and Keith Ballard. Martin reshuffled his coaching staff in the summer, bringing in former OHL bench boss Peter DeBoer from the Kitchener Rangers. De Boer will be assisted by Jim Hulton, another OHL alumni with Mississauga, Kingston ?and Belleville.
Atlanta Thrashers: This is another team that didn’t do a whole lot to improve their position in the Eastern Conference. C Bobby Holik returned to New Jersey after a couple of seasons in the South, leaving the team with a void at centre. GM Don Waddell brought in John Anderson as the new head coach and signed free agent Jason Williams from Chicago to help the Thrasher offensive attack. Atlanta did shore up their blue line a little bit with the addition of Ron Hainsey from Columbus but the Thrashers lack of depth at most every position may be exploited this season.
Pittsburgh Penguins: The Penguins were hit hard with the departures of Malone, Hossa, and others but should still have more than enough skill to contend for top spot in the Eastern Conference. With a great one-two punch at centre with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, the opposition will be hard pressed to match their offensive strength. Pittsburgh added a couple of skilled Euros to the team in Miroslav Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko. Last year’s Cup final experience could put the Penguins into the Stanley Cup equation this year.
Boston Bruins: Claude Julien showed that his team is one of the hardest working in the league last season. Everybody thought that when Patrice Bergeron went down early last season with a serious concussion the B’s would fold the tents and cruise the rest of the way. It was the complete opposite. They scratched and clawed their into the way in the playoffs forcing Montreal to seven games before being eliminated. Boston added RW Michael Ryder over the summer, which should give the Bruins some offensive punch.
With Bergeron back at 100 percent, the Bruins could surprise a lot of people.
Philadelphia Flyers: The most difficult part of the year has probably passed for the Flyers. Attempting to keep all their players in Philly was the most challenging job for GM Paul Holmgren. Besides D Jason Smith, who signed with Ottawa, the Flyers roster stayed pretty much intact. After finishing fifth overall in the Conference, Philadelphia picked up their game at the right time and made it all the way to the Eastern final before being chased out by Pittsburgh. The future is bright in Philadelphia. Watch for Jeff Carter and Mike Richards, the Flyers new captain, to have big years. |
