2008 NHL Season Preview

1 – Detroit Redwings W1 – Entering the 2008-09 season, the defending champs are the decisive, odds-on favorite to repeat. That said, Detroit GM Ken Holland didn’t spend the summer drinking champagne from the Cup…he was busy. After locking up deadline-acquisition Brad Stuart to a long-term deal, he shocked the hockey world by signing Marian Hossa to a one-year, go-for-the-Cup contract. The pieces are certainly in place for a back-to-back run.

2 – San Jose Sharks W2– The San Jose Sharks’ post-season failures are well documented, yet once again they field one of the best teams in the NHL. This time around they hope new coach Todd McLellan, along with the addition of three former Stanley Cup champion defensemen — Dan Boyle, Rob Blake, Brad Lukowich — will be enough to finally climb the post-season mountain.

3 – Montreal Canadiens E1 – Montreal returns one of the most complete teams in the league, as they once again look to pace the Eastern Conference. Fans have already anointed 21-year-old, phoneme Carey Price the next Patrick Roy and his continued development will be pivotal to the Canadiens’ success. With normally high expectations amplified, there is only one thing that will satisfy the Montreal fan base — a 25th Stanley Cup!

4 – Pittsburgh Penguins E2 – With Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin both signed long-term, the Penguins should contend for conference supremacy on a yearly basis. The two looming questions immediately facing the Pens are whether Miroslav Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko can adequately replace Marian Hossa and Ryan Malone’s on one end of the ice and whether they can withstand the losses of Ryan Whitney and Sergei Gonchar on the other?

5 - Anaheim Ducks W4 – Last year the Ducks broke camp with a Stanley Cup hangover and without their two best players: Teemu Selanne and Scott Neidermayer. Yet, despite the distractions, they still managed 102 points and the fourth overall seed in the West. With Selanne and Neidermayer both in camp and the team refocused, expect Anaheim to get off to a fast start and possibly challenge Detroit for the President’s Trophy.

6 – Dallas Stars W5 – With Brad Richards now onboard for a full season and Sean Avery lured to Texas with a four-year, $15.5M deal, expect the Stars to maintain their place among the Western Conference elite.

7 – New Jersey Devils E4 – Lou Lamoriello had a relatively quiet off-season, but not before making a splash in the free-agent pond by bringing Bobby Holik and Brian Rolston back to New Jersey. If the Devils can stay healthy, these additions may be enough to put them back on top of the Atlantic.

8 – Philadelphia Flyers E5 – Philadelphia battled injuries and a 10-game losing streak last season before getting hot at the right time and charging to the Eastern Conference Finals. With expectations sky high, fans in Philly are hoping the injury bug doesn’t bite twice. So far so good, as reports from camp have former 40-goal-sniper Simon Gagne back at 100% after missing most of last year with a concussion.

9 – Washington Capitals E3 – Bruce Boudreau did an excellent job last season stepping in mid-year to lead the Capitals to a division title. Now Boudreau’s job is to mold Washington’s explosive, young core of Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green into a Stanley Cup championship nucleus. With Sergei Federov around for a full season, the learning curve could be expedited in the nation’s capital.

10 – Edmonton Oilers W3 - This offense will give Oiler fans flashbacks of their late-80’s team, who lit up the NHL. Goaltending will be an ongoing adventure, but should hold up enough for Edmonton to win the Northwest.

11 – New York Rangers E6 – Once again the Rangers had a busy off-season, turning over a good portion of their roster. Life without Jaromir Jagr will be judged by how well enigmatic winger Nikolai Zherdev adjusts to life on Broadway.

12 - Buffalo Sabres E7 – The positive thing about Buffalo’s disappointing ’07-08 season was that they began to establish a new identity without Chris Drury, Daniel Briere and Brian Campbell. The remaining stable of snipers includes Derek Roy, Jason Pominville, Thomas Vanek, Maxim Afinogenov and Jochen Hecht. With Ryan Miller picking up the rear, this team will light up the scoreboard on a nightly basis.

13 – Colorado Avalanche W6 – With starting goalie Jose Theodore and second-leading-scorer Andrew Brunette both gone, many prognosticators have Colorado missing the playoffs. However, this team still boasts one of the best defensive groups in the league, along with a host weapons on offense. Maybe the prognosticators are forgetting that the Avalanche lost more manpower to injury last season than any other team in the league. Well guess what…they’re healthy!

14 – Chicago Blackhawks W7 – Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane exploded on the NHL scene last season, immediately raising expectations in Chicago to a fever pitch. With things on a definite upswing, Chicago was able to land high-end free agents Brian Campbell and Christobal Huet. Exciting hockey has finally returned to Chicago, as this team could become the darling of the NHL.

15 – Boston Bruins E8 – Boston GM Peter Chiarelli knew that in order to build off last season’s success, he would need to improve an offense that ranked 24th in goals. Boston dabbled in the Marian Hossa sweepstakes before settling for Michael Ryder and Stephane Yelle. Chiaraldi is hoping that those signings coupled with the return of Patrice Bergeron will provide a spark to the Boston offense. While it’s unlikely that the Bruins deliver another championship to Title Town, they do have a legitimate chance of returning to the playoffs.

16 – Columbus Blue Jackets W8 – Is this finally the year that Columbus makes the playoffs? One thing is certain: There are more pieces in place then ever before! Free-agent acquisitions Kristian Huselius and R.J. Umberger will join Rick Nash to suddenly form one of the top lines in hockey. If Goalie Pascal LeClaire and a very strong D can duplicate last season’s success, Columbus fans might experience playoff hockey for the first time.

17 – Calgary Flames W9 – The Flames lost over 170 points of offensive production in off-season defections, and plan on replacing most of it with the additions of Mike Cammalleri and Todd Bertuzzi. If that plan backfires, Mike Keenan’s group will be taking a step back in his second year, and miss the playoffs for the first time since 2002-03.

18 – Carolina Hurricanes E9 – Questions were raised last season when Carolina moved former top-five pick Andrew Ladd to Chicago, then got even louder this off-season when Erik Cole was shipped to Edmonton. Couple that with losing Justin Williams during camp to a torn Achilles and scoring depth has suddenly become a major issue in Carolina.

19 – Ottawa Senators E10 – Ottawa hung on for dear life last year to make the playoffs for the 11th consecutive season, before promptly being swept by Pittsburgh in the first round. The Senators still have Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson, but not much else. The window for a Cup Run has officially closed in Ottawa.

20 – Minnesota Wild W10 –Minnesota’s season center’s around the pending fate of superstar, free-agent-to-be Marian Gaborik. With the two sides apparently deadlocked after failing to come together on a long-term deal in the off-season, Gaborik’s time in Minnesota appears to be numbered. If your team is one explosive player away from making a serious Stanley Cup run, I would monitor this situation closely.

21 – Nashville Predators W11 – Barry Trotz is one of the league’s best coaches, as evident by his ability to get Nashville in the playoffs last season and push the eventual Cup-winning Red Wings to six games in the opening round. This time things will be much tougher, especially considering Alexander Radulov split Nashville for Russia in the off-season, despite still being under contract for one more year. Things will get worse before they get better for the Preds.

22 – Tampa Bay Lightning E11 – What’s up in Tampa Bay? Let’s start with a new ownership group who lured Barry Melrose back behind the bench for the first time in 13 years. Then Tampa Bay won the Steven Stamkos draft lottery; acquired Ryan Malone, Gary Roberts, Vaclav Prospal, Radim Vrbata, Andrej Meszaros, Matt Carle, Mark Recchi and Olaf Kolzig; and in addition locked up franchise stud Vincent Lecavalier to a 11-yr, 85M contract. Can it all come together in time to make a serious playoff push?

23 – Vancouver Canucks W12 – Vancouver tried to throw a boatload of money at Mats Sundin, but he balked at the idea of playing in Western Canada. The offense remains anemic, and once again Roberto Luongo will need to be the best goalie on the planet for the Canucks to have a serious shot of making the playoffs.

24 – Phoenix Coyotes W13 – Wayne Gretzky’s reclamation project continues to progress. At some point pressure will mount to finally make the playoffs, but in the meantime the Great One will preach patience as his team continues their ascent out of the NHL’s basement.

25 – New York Islanders E12 – Rick DiPietro, Rick DiPietro, Rick DiPietro. If the Islanders have any chance of keeping things respectable in the enormously difficult Atlantic division, DiPietro’s name will need to be mentioned among the Vezina finalists at season’s end.

26 – Florida Panthers E13 – Some would argue that trading away your best player is not a remedy for success. And they would be right! After shipping Olli Jokinen to Phoenix in the off-season, my guess is that teams are already lining up to acquire Jay Bouwmeester. The rebuilding process is heading in the wrong direction down in Florida.

27 – Toronto Maple Leafs E14 – Mats Sundin has left Maple Leaf fans, the team’s front office and the rest of the NHL blowing in the wind. Whether or not he returns to the league is anybody’s guess, but either way life post-Sundin has officially begun in Toronto – at least for now.

28 – St. Louis Blues W14 - The loss of Erik Johnson to a season-ending knee injury is simply devastating for St. Louis. This leaves the Blues staring down the barrel of another lost season and the unenviable fortune of remaining an NHL doormat.

29 – Atlanta Thrashers E15 – Ilya Kovalchuk remains one of the best players in the league, but with Marian Hossa dealt at last year’s trade deadline the rebuilding process is underway. The NHL is starting to lose traction in Atlanta and this upcoming season doesn’t appear likely to reverse the trend.

30 – Los Angeles Kings W15 – LA has accumulated a plethora of young talent, including Andres Kopitar, who just signed a 7-year, $47.6M extension. Unfortunately for LA, most of that talent is not ready to contribute. This puts the Kings in a very familiar place — the NHL Draft Lottery. The good news is that this year’s crowned jewel is Canadian forward John Tavares, who by all accounts is a franchise-changing player. The potential one-two punch of Kopitar and Tavares might have LA fans rooting for the other team this season.