The Two-Line Pass

We’re now something like four days out from the start of the NHL season, which means I have to kick these season previews into overdrive because I’m a lazy idiot. This is mainly for two reasons: 1) I am lazy and there’s no way I’ll do one of these every day, and 2) These started early enough that if I just stop doing them entirely you’ll have forgotten by October anyway. Oh and I guess also to show off my near-infinite knowledge of the National Hockey League. I’ll be previewing the teams in reverse order of finish in the 2007-08 season. Please note, though, that this is the opinion of one man, however smart and handsome he may be.

Nashville Predators, you’re on the clock.

There’s been a lot of talk about the Predators this summer, and all of it has focused on bad things.

A member of the ownership group turned out to be a fraud (and really, with a name like “Boots,” who didn’t see that coming?) and one of their best players was all like, “Screw this, I’d rather play in Russia.”

More after the jump.

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We’re now something like five days out from the start of the NHL season, which means I have to kick these season previews into overdrive because I’m a lazy idiot. This is mainly for two reasons: 1) I am lazy and there’s no way I’ll do one of these every day, and 2) These started early enough that if I just stop doing them entirely you’ll have forgotten by October anyway. Oh and I guess also to show off my near-infinite knowledge of the National Hockey League. I’ll be previewing the teams in reverse order of finish in the 2007-08 season. Please note, though, that this is the opinion of one man, however smart and handsome he may be.

Buffalo Sabres, you’re on the clock.

I think this is probably the hardest team to get a read on in the NHL.

On the one hand, you’ve got loads and loads of talent. On the other, well, talent doesn’t always get you where it does on paper. Case in point, LAST year’s Buffalo Sabres, who despite losing just Chris Drury (meh), Dainus Zubrus (meh) and Dany Briere (actually damaging), saw their goal total drop from 298 in 2006-07 to 251 last season.

More after the jump.

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We’re now something like six days out from the start of the NHL season, which means I have to kick these season previews into overdrive because I’m a lazy idiot. This is mainly for two reasons: 1) I am lazy and there’s no way I’ll do one of these every day, and 2) These started early enough that if I just stop doing them entirely you’ll have forgotten by October anyway. Oh and I guess also to show off my near-infinite knowledge of the National Hockey League. I’ll be previewing the teams in reverse order of finish in the 2007-08 season. Please note, though, that this is the opinion of one man, however smart and handsome he may be.

Edmonton Oilers, you’re on the clock.

Note: In the interest of full disclosure, I am and have always been a Flames fan.

Here, then, is the most improved team in the NHL. Maybe not points-wise, but certainly personnel-wise.

Edmonton’s power play was just awful last year (16.6 percent) and as a consequence, it often relied upon its team’s incredible abilities to get to and then win the shootout over the last several years. It’s an often-repeated stat, but were it not for the shootout/overtime loss loser point, the team wouldn’t have even made the playoffs in 2005-06 when it went to the Stanley Cup Final.

More after the jump.

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TOEWSFACE !!!

We’re now something like 21 days out from the start of the NHL season, which means I have to get a move on  with these season previews. This is mainly for two reasons: 1) I am lazy and there’s no way I’ll do one of these every day, and 2) These started early enough that if I just stop doing them entirely you’ll have forgotten by October anyway. Oh and I guess also to show off my near-infinite knowledge of the National Hockey League. I’ll be previewing the teams in reverse order of finish in the 2007-08 season. Please note, though, that this is the opinion of one man, however smart and handsome he may be.

Chicago Blackhawks, you’re on the clock.

The last person you want to be like is Bill Wirtz. No one’s death should be a cause célèbre that actually makes people happy.

While he was philanthropic and loyal almost to a fault in some cases, Old Man Wirtz’s stranglehold on the team he owned for more than four decades had an entire city turned against him and it for the better part of the latter half of the 20th century and into the 21st.

More after the jump.

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We’re now something like 23 days out from the start of the NHL season, which means I have to get a move on  with these season previews. This is mainly for two reasons: 1) I am lazy and there’s no way I’ll do one of these every day, and 2) These started early enough that if I just stop doing them entirely you’ll have forgotten by October anyway. Oh and I guess also to show off my near-infinite knowledge of the National Hockey League. I’ll be previewing the teams in reverse order of finish in the 2007-08 season. Please note, though, that this is the opinion of one man, however smart and handsome he may be.

Vancouver Canucks, you’re on the clock.

This is the Sedins’ show now.

Before, they were kind of in that nebulous group of players that seem good enough for the first line, but are largely unregarded as such throughout the league. It has often been my contention that, were they not twins but remained the exact same players they are, no one outside of the Northwest Conference would really think about them too much one way or the other.

But the league is going to have to start thinking about them, and hard. Daniel and Henrik are two of the best players in the league that get very little credit for what they bring to the rink every night. I mean, LOOK at these guys (and enjoy the sounds of Molly Hatchet while you’re at it), and then think about how Vancouver fans continue to say they aren’t true first-line players.

More after the jump.

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We’re now something like 26 days out from the start of the NHL season so I figure this is as good a time as any to start doing the season previews. This is mainly for two reasons: 1) I am lazy and there’s no way I’ll do one of these every day, and 2) This is early enough that if I just stop doing them entirely you’ll have forgotten by October anyway. Oh and I guess also to show off my near-infinite knowledge of the National Hockey League. I’ll be previewing the teams in reverse order of finish in the 2007-08 season. Please note, though, that this is the opinion of one man, however smart and handsome he may be.

Florida Panthers, you’re on the clock.

Oh man is this going to be a bad team.

Bryan McCabe is the big offseason pickup is proof enough of that. The Panthers franchise is one with a complete lack of direction right now. It just traded its best player, malcontent though he was, and replaced his offensive production with almost literally nothing.

Not that being bad is an unknown situation in Florida, or anything, but this is going to get ugly even by Florida Panthers standards.

On offense, there’s.. well, there’s Nathan Horton and Stephen Weiss who are pretty good and after that.. umm.. I guess David Booth. After that, there’s a bunch of guys who scored less than 40 points. Repeat: less than 40.

More after the jump.

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We’re now something like 28 days out from the start of the NHL season so I figure this is as good a time as any to start doing the season previews. This is mainly for two reasons: 1) I am lazy and there’s no way I’ll do one of these every day, and 2) This is early enough that if I just stop doing them entirely you’ll have forgotten by October anyway. Oh and I guess also to show off my near-infinite knowledge of the National Hockey League. I’ll be previewing the teams in reverse order of finish in the 2007-08 season. Please note, though, that this is the opinion of one man, however smart and handsome he may be.

Phoenix Coyotes, you’re on the clock.

We saw a little bit of this team’s capabilities last year. Very little. But there’s reason for optimism in the desert.

Yeah, the Coyotes were pretty bad last year. Granted they finished above .500 (by a game) and ended with 83 points in a very strong Pacific Conference that sent three teams to the playoffs and saw two teams get out of the first round (the one that didn’t, Anaheim, lost to Dallas). However, I liked the Coyotes’ style of play last year and could stomach their announcers, so I watched a fair number of their games, and I can tell you what their problem was.

More after the jump.

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We’re now something like 29 days out from the start of the NHL season so I figure this is as good a time as any to start doing the season previews. This is mainly for two reasons: 1) I am lazy and there’s no way I’ll do one of these every day, and 2) This is early enough that if I just stop doing them entirely you’ll have forgotten by October anyway. Oh and I guess also to show off my near-infinite knowledge of the National Hockey League. I’ll be previewing the teams in reverse order of finish in the 2007-08 season. Please note, though, that this is the opinion of one man, however smart and handsome he may be.

Toronto Maple Leafs, you’re on the clock.

For the record, I’m still laughing about that Jeff Finger contract.

Jeff Finger. For $3.5 million dollars. Holy hell.

And the best part, it might not even be the worst contract on the team. Jason Blake at $4 million’s right up there. And yeah, the Leafs fans out there are going to argue that he had 52 points last year and that’s no so terrible, which is true enough. But here’s the problem, and it points to a problem we’ve seen with a lot of these bottom-of-the-barrel teams I’ve previewed so far: no offense at all.

Last year, the Maple Leafs were paced by a 78-point season from Mats Sundin. Pretty solid. After that, the next closest guys are Nik Antropov, Tomas Kaberle and the aforementioned Mr. Blake. Point totals for those three: 56, 53, 52. What do they all have in common? Sundin was the player with whom they combined to score the most points. He and Antropov combined on 25 goals (45 percent of Antropov’s scoring), 22 for Kaberle (42 percent) and 16 with Blake (31 percent).

Now the Leafs might have to live with the idea of not having Sundin around any more. That’s a scary thought.

More after the jump.

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We’re now something like 32 days out from the start of the NHL season so I figure this is as good a time as any to start doing the season previews. This is mainly for two reasons: 1) I am lazy and there’s no way I’ll do one of these every day, and 2) This is early enough that if I just stop doing them entirely you’ll have forgotten by October anyway. Oh and I guess also to show off my near-infinite knowledge of the National Hockey League. I’ll be previewing the teams in reverse order of finish in the 2007-08 season. Please note, though, that this is the opinion of one man, however smart and handsome he may be.

Columbus Blue Jackets, you’re on the clock.

This isn’t the first time the Blue Jackets have dropped big money in the offseason in hopes of reaching the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. Right after the lockout, the team spent tons of cash on over-the-hill versions of Adam Foote and Sergei Fedorov. Fedorov was pulling down $6.08 million on the cap, and Foote was getting $4.6 million.

Money not-so-well spent. In the nearly three years both were with the team (they were traded at the deadline this year to Colorado and Washtington), Columbus won 35, 33 and 34 games. Ouch.

But with that $10-plus million freed up — along with a bunch more from letting some overpaid players go — it allowed the Jackets to either sign or trade for a number of players. It’s been a very busy offseason. Some of the moves help them now, some down the road, and some simply don’t.

The moves at the blue line seem nice. Free agent signing Mike Commodore is well-traveled and a very solid player. He’s well worth the $3.75 million he’ll get the next couple years, but by the end of this five-year deal, I’m not so sure. But maybe one of the best trades of the offseason for any team was what really beefed up the once-thin Jackets blue line. Offloading troublesome winger Nik Zherdev and promising but underperforming center Danny Fritsche for Christian Backman (eh) and Fedor Tyutin (hey!) addresses where Columbus really had problems. Flashy forwards like Zherdev make highlight reels but they don’t play defense, and that’s been Columbus’ problem, theoretically at least.

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At least there's one reason to watch the Islanders. (Nice shoes, Comrie)

We’re now something like 36 days out from the start of the NHL season so I figure this is as good a time as any to start doing the season previews. This is mainly for two reasons: 1) I am lazy and there’s no way I’ll do one of these every day, and 2) This is early enough that if I just stop doing them entirely you’ll have forgotten by October anyway. Oh and I guess also to show off my near-infinite knowledge of the National Hockey League. I’ll be previewing the teams in reverse order of finish in the 2007-08 season. Please note, though, that this is the opinion of one man, however smart and handsome he may be.

New York Islanders, you’re on the clock.

Funny, isn’t it, how a team with this kind of money and this kind of history can be so blitheringly bad.

I mean, the New York Islanders organization is a positively dreadful one. A quick swing by the Isles’ wikipedia page yields the most hilariously understated subheading: “1995-2000: Management issues.” Yeah, you could say that. Since about that time, the Islanders have traded away more high-quality players (Roberto Luongo, Zdeno Chara, Bryan McCabe, Todd Bertuzzi, Olli Jokinen, the pick that became Jason Spezza, Tim Connolly, Taylor Pyatt, etc. etc.) for very little in the way of good return. They also drafted Rick DiPietro, 15-year man though he is, ahead of Dany Heatley and Marian Gaborik.

It’s difficult to imagine where this team would be today were it not for the hideous mismanagement that has plagued the franchise since the mid-1990s and still maintain the ability to understand why it has any fans left at all. After making the playoffs in four of the previous five years, the Islanders finished dead last in the Atlantic division last season and 25th in the NHL.

This is a team that hasn’t won the division since 1987-88, and hasn’t advanced out of the first round of the playoffs since 1992-93. Its first-round picks have been largely so-so the last 10 years, and still, only four remain with the team (2000’s first overall pick DiPietro, 2002’s 22nd pick Sean Bergenheim, 2007’s seventh pick Kyle Okposo, and 2008’s ninth pick Josh Bailey). The rest were traded for parts that include a quarter-season of Ryan Smyth, AHLer Ben Walter, Mike Peca, and Janne Niinimaa.

The sad part is, things are going to be appreciably worse this year.

A capable new coach has arrived in former Providence Bruins boss Scott Gordon, but this is a team with a serious, serious identity crisis that not even a good coach and better guy like Gordon is going to be able to sort out any time soon. It doesn’t know whether it wants a team of veterans (nine players are over 30, and three of those are 37-year-old forwards) or a team of kids with which to begin rebuilding (only seven are under 27). That’s a fine mix and strategy if you, say, have any chance whatsoever of making the playoffs, or have any real star players in their late 20s and early 30s. But the Islanders don’t have that at all. Their top-paid players as far as cap hit are Bill Guerin ($4.5 million at 37), Rick DiPietro ($4.5 million at 26), Doug Weight ($4.3 million at 37), Mark Streit ($4.1 million at 30), and Mike Comrie ($4 million at 27). Does that seem insane to anyone else?

Granted, most of those guys are gone after this season, but they should be gone right now. Doug Weight was a poor signing from Garth Snow (there has yet to be any other kind) and Mark Streit is a hell of a gamble at $4.1 million per over the next five years. A whopping 34 of his 62 points last season came on the top-ranked Montreal power play, and though he wasn’t getting those points despite being bad, he also benefitted tremendously from playing alongside Tomas Plekanec and Alex Kovalev when the Habs were a man up.

At the other end of the spectrum, some kids will be leaned on very heavily. Okposo, the aforementioned 2007 first-round pick that the Isles violently signed from the University of Minnesota midway through last season, scored five points in his nine games up with the Isles and 28 more in 35 down in the AHL. They’re going to look for more of the same output from him. Another promising thing to which Islander fans to look forward, of course, is the young but very impressive blue line pairing of Chris Campoli and Bruno Gervais. Both are very mobile, and wise beyond their years (though at just 23, each has parts of three years’ experience). The problem is that both are also very injury prone. Campoli has missed 66 games over the last two years, but still put up impressive numbers when he was healthy. Gervais has missed 55. Ditto on the numbers.

What the Isles really need to do is blow it up as soon as the season looks lost (I’m thinking that’ll be around Oct. 8 ) and let the kids get their minutes without those pesky 37-year-olds hanging about and trying to tell them about the good ol’ days when skates cost a Loonie. Snow should get whatever he can and start laying the foundation for the team that might eventually make the playoffs again. Pity he won’t have the job when it does.

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