Conceding the fact that a dozen games or so are a small sample size, I don’t consider assuming that every team in the NE will make the playoffs to be a ridiculous statement.
The Boston Bruins, with star forward Bergeron back in the lineup, have gone nowhere but up. With good offensive depth, Chara anchoring the defense and All-Star Thomas in between the pipes, expect a solid season bettering the former.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have proven to all that hard work pays off. Of course, great defense, coaching and netminding surely doesn’t hurt. Rearguards like Tomas Kaberle, Pavel Kubina and their peers: Colaiacovo, Van Ryn, Frogren, Stralman(among others) round out a decent defensive unit. Proven number one Vesa Toskala will have another great season, always ready to shut the door. Albeit their offensive depth leaves much to be desired, effort beats out skill and the Leafs’ forwards are indicative of that; outshooting the opposition more often than not. Expect them to be in the hunt to make the playoffs.
The Buffalo Sabres have goaltending, offense and although to a lesser extent, defense. With Vanek leading the way and Roy, injury prone Conolly, Afinogenov, Pominville, Stafford completing their crop of forwards, they should end up in the mid-section for goals scored by season’s end. Essential will be to keep the pucks out of their net, as that part of their game has not shown promise, even though Miller is often there to shade their poor defensive efforts. Expect them to end up anywhere between 6th and 9th.
The Ottawa Senators lack, and have been lacking for the better part of their history, one thing and one thing only: Goaltending. With offensive stalwarts like Jason Spezza, Daniel Alfredsson and Dany Heatley and defensive experts like Jason Smith, Chris Phillips and Anton Volchenkov, a true-blue number one would truly shed some light upon them. Auld has proven to be one so far, but can he really maintain his Vezina-worthy numbers? Brian Elliott, whom many consider the cure to this problem, is a year away from grabbing the reigns in nets. Disgruntled fans dispute puckmoving as an issue, however, the replacements from last year’s crew have been superior offensively(Kuba is leading defensemen in assists, Picard shows flashes of brilliance and Schubert has been quite impressive) Also note-worthy: highly touted prospect Brian Lee is currently in the AHL and shall be called up, most probably, when the injury bug hits and he proves that he’s there to stay. Bryan Murray has publicly stated that he’s in search for a veteran defenseman with the right years on his contract.
The Montreal Canadiens, subsequently to a second round exit, still possess arguably the deepest offense in the league. Alex Kovalev, Tomas Plekanec, the Kostitsyn brothers, Alex Tanguay, Saku Koivu, Robert Lang and co. are a treat to watch, and a nightmare to play against. The defense varies from mediocre to great with the likes of none other than Andrei Markov leading the way. Goaltending shows promise with young and skillful Carey Price expected to make the jump and become the team’s number one goalie, latterly to shedding 20+ pounds.
All in all, this division may prove to be the best of all.
If you were to look at his rookie stats, you would think he would be a 30+ goal scorer by now but that is not the case. He broke into the league when the Penguins already had Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin on the roster, so there was no rush in making Jordan Staal play as an 18yr old. That is until he started to score goals and be a workhorse on the penalty kill. Jordan looked like he was poised to be a threat for the Penguins for years to come. Then the sophomore slump, a year in which Jordan established himself as a solid penalty killer, but his offensive numbers suffered while being switched back to center, a position he is natural at but was then switched back to wing this season only to be put back at center when that experiment failed Therrien, to re-create the magic Jordan had his rookie year as a winger.
As a fan, I can only give my two cents on the situation of Jordan Staal, a player that looked like he was going to be in the same mold as his brother Eric but a little more polished defensively. What was the problem? I blame the lockout for helping Eric, he had the same type of rookie year Jordan had, but his sophomore year was spent in the AHL where he was the go to guy. During his time in the AHL, Eric rounded out his game and worked hard at the things he saw as his flaws in his rookie year. On a smaller stage, Eric had the opportunity to be a 1st line player and the guy that was ‘the man’ for any crucial situation. You would have to be kidding yourselves if you think the full year spent in the AHL did not help Eric Staal be the player he is today. Because right after that full season in the AHL, Eric went from 31pts to 100pts and amazing playoffs in which he put up 28pts in 25 games on route to a Stanley Cup Championship.
Even with evidence like this, the Penguins still chose to keep Jordan Staal up the entire season in his sophomore year; yes he was great in the playoffs during the run to the finals in which the Penguins eventually lost in 6 games. But losing 1 year of his rookie contract in the AHL so he could round out his game and be a better player and a bigger help should have been something Shero and Therrien should have looked at.
Jordan Staal has the size, he has the speed and he has 2-way play that will definitely make him a Selke candidate more than a few times in his potentially long career in the NHL. But it seems as though it will not be with the Penguins when he rounds out his game and starts to put up offensive numbers that are comparable to his older brother Eric. It also doesn’t help that he seems to be firm on his 5m/yr stance on what he feels he is worth. For now, Jordan has 2 goals in his past 3 games and has found chemistry with Fedotenko to build on the 3rd line with Tyler Kennedy (a stand-out at this point in the season).
Gronk, as he known by his teammates, can still turn it around. He has the ability to do so and this season will be crucial for him as it might be his last as a Pittsburgh Penguin. It would have been interesting to see how he would have fared after a full year in the AHL but at this point, it is too late to try that experiment out by GM Ray Shero. All we Penguins fans can hope for is that Jordan can build on scoring 2 goals in the past 3 games and gets back to his rookie form with finding the back of the net.
Do note that this is actually Jeff posting in Steve’s name. I got a hold of him and asked if he’d like to take part, he said he would if he wasn’t busy, so for now we could post up the stuff he’s doing for the world.
Hockey jerseys have always had something too them that drew attention to them - maybe because they’re massively built compared to other jerseys. Anyway, with as many as eighteen teams announcing third jerseys in the coming weeks now that RBK has grown a pair and let them, lets go through the teams that desperately need a third a teams that should’ve never had their jersey in the first place.
THE WORST NON-THIRD JERSEYS TODAY
5. Nashville Predators
WHY IT SUCKS: They were smart to unveil it like they did, without anyone wearing equipment or anything, because these jerseys just scream “LONG SLEEVE T-SHIRT”. They also just look odd. The Predators logo is still very minor-league, though a bit managable, and this jersey shows just how bad the “Bettman Pipes” (read: yellow stripes) look on a jersey..a theme that for some reason several NHL teams thought would work. Again, its an awkward jersey, though I suppose as a $30 shirt it would be okay.