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 Just
think…in a few years, the Blackhawks will be able to ice a team that is
composed of Martin Havlat, Tuomo Ruutu, Jason Williams, Patrick Kane,
Jonathan Toews, Jack Skille, David Bolland and Michael Blunden up front with
Cam Barker, Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith along the blue-line. On paper,
and based on potential, that team should be devastating. And of course,
that’s in a few years. For 2007/08, the Blackhawks are in for another long
season. There is no doubting Havlat’s ability – but there is doubt about his
durability. Robert Lang comes over to replace Handzus, and Lang looks to be
showing signs of slowing down. Jason Williams is under-rated, but with #1
line ice-time comes the premiere attention of the other teams' checkers and
it will be interesting to see how he responds. Tuomo Ruutu should continue
his development, but right now, he needs to gain the consistency that will
make him an impact fantasy pool player - not to mention the durability.
There are some glaring weaknesses on defence for the Hawks, and Seabrook
right now is the best of the bunch, but the Hawks PP is not going to be very
good as a result. They would also love to off-load Khabibulin and his $6.75M
but there is no team prepared to do that as he’s signed into 2010; he’ll see
lots of rubber on a team that won’t win more than 30 games. The future is
bright, but this year, the Hawks won’t be.
 The
Blue Jackets have been relatively quiet this off-season. They changed head
coaches mid-stream last year, and then cleaned the upper-management house
just prior to the draft. Partially as a result, the Jackets have been
unsuccessful in luring any UFAs to town and pretty much kept their heads
down after hosting the draft. Consequently, they will be in tough at the
start of the season given their current roster. On the good news side, Rick
Nash was showing signs of the Rick Nash of old after the All-Star break. At
the World Championship, Nash was again a force and that is good news for
fantasy owners eyeing what sort of season Nash should have. Sergei Fedorov
ended last season playing about 50% on defence, and for many poolies’ this
is where he should stay as his fantasy value would rise substantially. The
Jackets are depending on turn around years from Zherdev, Brule and a big
season from perennial call-up Alexandre Picard. Also providing some serious
veteran leadership is the addition of Mike Peca. He’ll anchor the 3rd line,
so don't look to him for fantasy help. Depth on the blue line remains almost
non-existent, and there will need to be some more help there via UFA
signings, but their experience last year with free-agent bust Anson Carter
will make the team a little gun-shy. In goal, the Jackets are going with
Pascal Leclaire and Fredrik Norrena; both of whom are good but not great.
The biggest change for this team is behind the bench – while he took over
mid-season, Ken Hitchcock has had an off-season now to work on his defensive
systems and the Jackets should play better in their own end at least, though
credibility still seems at least a year away.
 It’s
hard to imagine a veteran laden team that has been as successful as the Red
Wings have been, despite the introduction of the salary cap. Even with the
departure of Bertuzzi, Lang, Williams, Calder and Schneider, this year’s
version of the Red Wings appears to be quite impressive. Led by the ageless
Nik Lidstrom on defence, new acquisition Brian Rafalski alleviates some of
the offensive load that would normally have fallen to Matthieu Schneider.
Pavel Datsuyk and Henrik Zetterberg are in the primes of their careers so
the offense will continue to flow through them. Detroit will be relying on
continued and surprising offensive contributions from the likes of Franzen,
Cleary and Filppula, while Jiri Hudler and Nik Kronwall will have to step up
and take more responsibility. One youngster to watch is Igor Grigorenko. The
young Russian would likely have made the team two years ago if not for a
devastating car crash that left him rehabilitating for a full year. Dominek
Hasek is back for another season after a very good 06/07 that was not marred
by his antics or by a prolonged injury. The team could use some youthful
exuberance and toughness up-front, and despite being at $43M against the
cap, we are confident that management will address that weakness prior to
the start of the season.
 After
amassing a team that appeared to be a Stanley Cup favorite and then
disappointingly bowing out to the more physical (!) San Jose Sharks in the
first round of the playoffs, the Predators seemed poised to let success slip
away this off-season. Ownership issues and an accompanying “salary
rationalization” process saw the team opt not to re-sign Peter Forsberg,
Paul Kariya, Kimmo Timonen or Scott Hartnell and trade Tomas Vokoun.
Additions include Radek Bonk, Martin Gelinas and Greg de Vries; not exactly
fantasy pool phenoms. Clearly the club will be relying on JP Dumont, the
continued emergence of David Legwand and the emerging Alexander Radulov to
pick up the pace as well as the hope that Sullivan and Arnott can stay
healthy. The strength of the Preds remains the skill of the team’s blue
line, and if they are able to keep it intact, they will compete every night.
The biggest question outside the distraction of the ownership one, is will
Chris Mason prove he is a legitimate #1? Mason’s proven to be a very
valuable back-up, and there were times last year that Vokoun looked shaky.
Mason’s a good bet to prove he’s a keeper, but we think the questions of
ownership are going to be too distracting. At $33M and the team sale still
not complete, don’t expect any more activity as far as major player
personnel additions go for the Preds.
 The
change that started last off-season seems to be continuing as the Blues seem
intent on ensuring that they are showing their fans that they can re-build
with a good mix of both young and veteran talent. Keith Tkachuk is back for
another stint with the Blues, to show that he can be still a useful power
forward. Joining Tkachuk is newly signed Paul Kariya. However, the Blues
strength is in their core of young talent: McClement, Stempniak and Boyes.
This group will likely be the engine that will make the Blues offense go,
particularly Stempniak. On the blue line, super rookie Erik Johnson will
make the team, but mostly out of necessity rather than appropriate
development opportunity. Eric Brewer is the best of the bunch, but 3 Brewers
won’t make Blues fans forget about losing Pronger. Surprise! Jay McKee was
hurt for most of the season, and if he plays 55 games this year, we’ll be
stunned. Manny Legace was a great surprise last season, and he’ll be pushed
by recent acquisition Hannu Toivenen. The Blues still need some toughness
upfront and big contributions from their top 6 forwards if they plan on
making the playoffs. Some veteran help along the blue line would benefit the
development of their young guys as well as help Legace’s GAA. But don’t
count the Blues out. They were one of the better teams in the league for the
second half of last season, and only a truly abysmal start kept them out of
the playoff hunt. This year, they should be much better out of the gate.Last
season, the Flames started slowly, played much better in the middle of the
season and then played ok at the end and into the playoffs. The result was a
first round exit. The Flames new offensive style of play did not translate
into better results for the hockey club. New coach Mike Keenan, inherits an
excellent nucleus of players in Kiprusoff, Iginla, Tanguay, Phaneuf and Regher. The challenge is that they seem to be a team searching for an
identity. They’ve overhauled the back half of their defence with the
additions of Aucoin, Eriksson and Sarich. Coupled with Mark Giordano and
Ritchie Regher pressing for playing time, rumors have the Flames looking to
move Rhett Warrener for more help up-front. Amonte, Friesen and McCarty are
gone and their rosters spots have been filled with Owen Nolan and…. The real
test for this team will be how it adopts to the fiery and unpredictable
coach Keenan. Anticipate that there will be at least one player, if not two,
that Keenan will make a constant example for the rest of the team, as well
as one guy that he will favor among all others. Early odds are it will be
Daymond Langkow and Kristian Huselius finding lots of dog-house time and
Lombardi and Iginla being the “teacher’s pets”. If nothing, it will be quite
a circus around the Flames training camp this season. |
