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 If
there ever was a time that poolies could imagine that the New Jersey Devils
might not make the playoffs, this might be the season. Gone are Scott Gomez
and Brian Rafalski. Added are forward Dainius Zubrus, defencemen Karel
Rachunek and Vitali Vishnevski, and goaltender Kevin Weekes gets the
pleasure of playing maybe 10 games this year. In all, it’s not a good
substitute for the lost offense on a team that is seriously challenged to
score goals in the first place. Granted, the Devils will still go as Martin
Brodeur does, but last season seemed to signal a chink in the NHL’s premier
goaltender’s armor. Brodeur was at times just average, and when that
happened, the Devils were terrible. Bright spots appear to be the health of
#1 forward, Patrik Elias, as well as the continued development of Travis
Zajac and Zach Parise. That said, it’s just too much pressure to place on
two very good but very young NHL stars. Expect an even larger focus on
defence and the neutral zone trap for the Devils. But even with that, the
Devils are probably only an injury or two away from possibly missing the
playoffs. An intangible is the presence of new Coach Brent Sutter. How will
his disciplinarian approach work with the pampered pros at the NHL level?
Only time will tell if he can turn them on, or they tune him out.
 It
was clearly an off-season of up and downs for the Islanders. GM Garth Snow
lost out on attracting UFAs like Briere, Drury and Souray, and lost current
incumbents Viktor Kozlov, Ryan Smyth and Jason Blake. But on the positive
side, he finally bought out the remainder of Alexi Yashin’s contract. Trying
to fill the gaps will be Bill Guerin, Mike Comrie, Ruslan Fedetenko, Jon Sim,
Jozef Vasicek and defenceman Andy Sutton. Offensively, it may be a bit of a
wash, but the players they have brought in understand that defence and
goaltending win games, and the team as a whole should be able to prevent
goals against much better than in past seasons. Rick DiPietro is finally
showing pundits the skills that made him the #1 pick in the 2000 draft. He’s
intense, acrobatic and beginning to win games almost on his own. Bryan
Berard will get a chance to make the team this year in camp, but he is not
guaranteed a roster spot. If he makes the club, his strength will be the
power play – certainly not his plus/minus! The club could use some more
scoring up front and the Isles have what can only be described as a
workman-like blue-line. Expect more of the same for the Islanders this year.
They will be relying on veterans like Mike Sillinger to have big seasons
again if they expect to make the playoffs.
 Yet
another eastern conference team that made some serious noise in the
off-season with significant UFA signings. Searching for a more complete
pivot for Jaromir Jagr, GM Glen Sather convinced not only Scott Gomez but
also Chris Drury to join the Broadway blueshirts. The debate will rage on
about whether Gomez is a better playmaker than the departed Michael Nylander
but there is no doubting Chris Drury is a serious upgrade at the #2 pivot
position. Now, the Rangers have two very legitimate offensive lines that
will ensure that this team scores a lot. They also signed (through
arbitration) super-pest Sean Avery so there will be more than enough grit to
go around. The Rangers are currently right at the salary cap and this is the
reason it took the team too long to determine if Mike Peca was going to be a
fit. They could still use some help on the back end; blue-line acquisition
Andrew Hutchison has the opportunity to make a big impact for the Rangers on
the powerplay and may be worth a very late round pick in your drafts. Henrik
Lundqvist started off slowly last season and then was the 2nd best goalie
after the All-Star break. Consistency will be the key for him this season
and the team in front of him. Don’t expect many more changes for the Rangers
although they are in the market for a shut-down center on their 3rd line.
 The
Flyers made a serious splash late last season and over the off-season with
the acquisitions of Kimmo Timonen, Scott Hartnell, Joffrey Lupul, Jason
Smith and Daniel Briere, while at the same time subtracting Joni Pitkanen
and Geoff Sanderson. The biggest concern they have headed into camp is
trying to balance the chemistry between all the new faces and the core of
young stars led by Jeff Cater, Mike Richards and RJ Umberger. It’s almost
like they are an expansion team coming together for the first time. And
despite the improvements that they have made upfront, there are still plenty
of question marks on defence and in goal. Re-signing puck moving defenceman
Lasse Kukkonen will help. Derian Hatcher might get sent down while Martin
Biron takes over the full-time #1 spot between the pipes, and he’s got
something to prove. The Flyers are right at the cap, and are likely hoping
that Mike Rathje’s injury continues to be long term which would free up
close to $3.5M in cap space and give them a moderate amount of cap
flexibility. Team success will depend on how this team comes together early
but they sure have made attempts to bring together a group of players that
will change their recent history.
 It
almost scary just how good Sydney Crosby is, at the tender age of 20, He’ll
be a pool monster this season, and now the Penguins have surrounded him with
some pretty good talent. Evgeni Malkin is an excellent NHL caliber forward
and Jordan Staal has been excellent and far exceeded expectations last year.
The Pens also brought back excellent leadership by re-signing Mark Recchi
and Gary Roberts, while Petr Sykora will play on the wing on the 2nd line
and might be a nice dark-horse pick. On defence, the thin but offensive
minded Pens are led by Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney who give the Pens a
terrific 1-2 punch from the back end. Their +/- numbers will still be a
negative, but the Pens PP has the opportunity to bring back shades of the
Oilers PP juggernauts in the 1980’s. The Pens still need some grit on the
back end – and have some cap space to get it – and need to be committed to
playing both ends of the ice, not just the offensive one. In net, the
ever-improving Marc-Andre Fleury looks to continue to post great W-L
numbers, but his save percentage and GAA will not rival those of other
premier netminders…not just yet.
 The
soap opera at the ownership-level of this team is starting to impact the
players on the ice – as player personnel decisions are being dictated in the
board room and not the GM’s office. Apparently, the marching orders for
management are to keep this team’s payroll at about $40M. In order for that
to happen, some tough decisions are going to have to be made regarding one
of this team’s superstars. The smart money is that Ilya Kovulchuk is about
to be dealt – if the right buyer can be found. However, with Marian Hossa
entering the final year of his contract, and likely demanding upward of
$6-$7M per season, it’s very possible the team would grudgingly move him.
Re-signing Pascal Dupuis and Slava Kozlov, while adding new 2nd line center
Todd White, should help the offence, but scoring goals was never the issue
for the Thrashers last year; preventing them was. More help on the blue-line
is needed, and Kari Lehtonen needs to rebound as the Thrashers proven #1
guy, rather than tiring and losing confidence down the stretch and into the
playoffs. It’s an understatement to say that it will be a very interesting
year in Atlanta.
 After
winning the Stanley Cup two years ago, the Hurricanes were the classic
championship hangover team. They looked out of sync early last season, and
by the time they finally got it together, the playoffs were just an
afterthought. This season, the two Erics (actually one Eric and the other an
Erik) are expected to lead the team in offence. Staal and Cole are
legitimate NHL talents. Staal needs to prove that he can be the #1 center,
while Cole just needs to prove that he can stay healthy an entire season!
The supporting cast remains very similar to their Stanley Cup winning club
with Stillman, Brind’Amour, Whitney, Williams and Walker all returning.
After a disastrous season in New York, under-rated Matt Cullen is back with
the ‘Canes and will be a big addition, but mostly on the PK. On defence,
Carolina has the same non-descript blue line corps that simply rolls out 6-8
deep and prides themselves on trying not to get scored upon. In net, Cam
Ward has got to be better than he showed last season. Right now, the team
has some cap room, but if the Hurricanes’ think they have a shot to return
to the Cup finals, and goaltending is the missing link, expect GM Jim
Rutherford go on the hunt for a top ‘tender.
 Questions
still abound about the strength and conviction of the Florida Panthers’
ownership and the long-term success of the team in south Florida. The team
has very little to show for the Todd Bertuzzi – Roberto Luongo trade;
Bertuzzi was dealt at the trade deadline last year and Alex Auld was not
re-signed as a free agent and ended up in Phoenix. Bryan Allen did re-up
with the team, but he is hardly the answer on the blue-line for any fantasy
owner. Newcomers Radek Dvorak and Richard Zednik are soft, perimeter players
and - while talented - may simply not play with enough conviction to make
them pool-worthy. The heart and soul of the team is still Olli Jokinen who
remains the team’s only legitimate offensive weapon. Jay Bouwmeester is
rumored to be looking to sign a long term deal with the club, and that
almost assuredly needs to happen if the organization is going to send any
kind of positive message to their fans. Newcomer, Tomas Vokoun will patrol
the crease after being jettisoned in a salary dump by the Predators. We’re
not convinced it will be a great experiment. Vokoun has not been able to
remain at the upper echelon of netminders due to injuries and some serious
confidence issues. If he doesn’t step up, this season could be another long
one for the Panthers.
 Tampa
Bay Lightning – as the ‘Ning approach this coming training camp, it’s
evident that they have made minor attempts to try and alleviate the
offensive workload that is placed on the big 3 – Lecavalier, Richards and
St. Louis. Chris Gratton is back to try and patrol the wing with Richards,
and they are also auditioning Michel Ouellet (from Pittsburgh) and recycling
Jan Hlavac as well. The team’s management expects much better seasons out of
Vaclav Prospal and youngster Ryan Craig, and continued improvement from Paul
Ranger. The Lightning have some cap room, but their focus has to be on
trying to improve their blue-line and leaving themselves some wiggle room to
address any issues that may not be resolved between the pipes. Dan Boyle
still logs a lot of minutes amongst the defence corps, while Marc Denis and
Johan Holmqvist have not been able to distinguish themselves as viable #1s.
If push comes to shove, the Lightning would likely try and move St. Louis
for a legitimate #1 goalie.
 Washington
– this appears to be the season where the Capitals may actually begin to
turn the corner to respectability. There is no doubting Alexander Ovechkin’s
goal scoring ability. He might be the single most dangerous player
one-on-one, and he’d rival Crosby as the next best thing for the league if
he played in a larger media center. This year, the Capitals decided to
support Alex, and went out and spent some UFA $ to bring in a legitimate
play-making center in Michael Nylander. Alexander Semin will have another
year under his belt and the Capitals also added Tom Poti to help generate
some offense from the blue-line. The Caps have a number of decent offensive
prospects in their system (Backstrom and Klepis are two) but in order to
grow with them, the team has to expect to make mistakes – and there will be
plenty. On defence, the team is led by Poti and the unheralded duo of Bryan
Pothier and Steve Eminger. In goal, it’s Olaf Kolzig who will continue to
lace them up for the team and at age 37 he’s seen a lot of rubber. But, by
all accounts, his desire still remains strong. The Capitals are on a plan
that will see them grow their own and add a few missing pieces along the
road to success. Don’t expect them to make much in the way of moves prior to
the beginning of the season despite the fact they are way under the salary
cap.
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