I’m concerned, and for a variety of reasons. I’m concerned because saying you’re 29 plus two sounds even lamer than 29 plus one, and I might have to start admitting to the 3rd decade. I’m concerned because I’m a decent musician who played his first sold out show 10 long years ago. I’m concerned because I played my last sold-out show 3 years ago. I’m concerned what it says about my tastes when my favorite red wine switches to a screw cap. I’m concerned that I even have a favorite red wine. I could go on and on about this, but let's just skip to the point. What's most concerning of all is this:
My favorite team is on top of just about everyone’s pre-season poll, including mine.
Its proof positive of the mad, mad world we live in. One where insanely talented NFL wide receivers try to off themselves with pain pills, and dirtbag ex-NHL goons get it with party-hopping hottie politicians.
In honour of all of that concerns me right now, here’s my preseason picks for the East (with approximate point totals):
EAST
Atlantic
New York – 105pts – Lundqvist. Shanahan. Yagr. Watch for a stong 2nd half.
New Jersey – 100 pts – Any question Lamoriello learned the most from last year?
Pittsburgh – 90 pts – Goaltending talent will finally come through.
Philadelphia - 75 pts – Forsberg can’t stay healthy, goaltending can’t get it done.
Islanders – 60 pts – Alexei Yashin.
Northeast
Buffalo – 115 pts – Ryan Miller, 4 solid lines and a chance to feast on a weaker northeast.
Ottawa – 90 pts – Watch for a big drop off in Danny Heatley’s game.
Boston – 90 pts – Goaltending wealth, Rookie of the year Phil Kessel.
Montreal – 85 pts – The goaltending and smaller forwards won’t hold up.
Toronto – 70 pts – Rebuilding with a strong veteran presence is a recipe for disaster.
Southeast
Carolina – 120pts – The new Detroit, efficiency and skill throughout. MVP Eric Staal.
Tampa Bay – 110pts – Goaltending problem solved, too much talent for a 2nd down year.
Atlanta – 100pts – Most predictably improving team, this is years in the making.
Washington – 90pts – Much improved but still one year away.
Florida – 65 pts – Add front office turmoil to an over-rated roster, and this is what you get.
Do you truly believe the Rangers will finish ahead of New Jersey? Boy, I hope you're right. I just don't know what to think about the Rangers this season after that collapse at the end of the season.
Kstew, if the Rangers don't finish tops in the division, I expect them to be the hotter team at the end of the season. I look for a reversal of the late swoon from last season, because the team is the enviable position of being able to lean on a great core of Hartford grads and callups this year. I love the addition/return of boring but solid guys like Aaron Ward and Karel Rachunek, and a big fan of Jason Ward's game too.
I'm really surprised at how many people are hating on the Flyers this year. I mean in a way it's good the spotlight isn't on them as much this year, but I don't think they've slipped at all. In fact I'd say that they made changes to the team are reflective of the new style of play in the league.
As far as the goaltending situation, I don't know why so many people don't think Esche and Niittymaki can't get it done. These are two capable guys, with Niittymaki obviously having the most upside. Sure, he's having a problem now but he'll be fine in 6-8 weeks. Nitty is perfectly capable of taking a team far into the postseason, he showed that during the Olympics.
So I don't know where all the negativity toward the Flyers is coming from this year, but maybe it's in their favor.
In 6-8 weeks, the Flyers could be an afterthought. I'm very sold on Nittymaki's game, I'm not sold on goalies in the year of an injury. This isn't like Ryan Miller and his broken thumb from last year, this is a torn muscle. Not good.
As for hating on the Flyers, far from it. I'll hate on Hatcher and Baumgartner (who doesn't), but all-star names like Gagne, Carter and Richards alone give them a fighting chance. If Nitty comes back ok, if Forsberg beats the odds and stays healthy, look out. If if if though - you must admit there are odd's against them. Its sink or swim.
I'll hate on the Flyers. I'll show so much hate, you'll wish I hadn't shown so much ... hate? Rangers mentality, I guess.
Speaking of, I get this really scary feeling that they're not even going to make the playoffs this season. Could be that they were aweful for 50+ years, got hot for two years, and slumped back down to mediocrity again. Jagr's at the point in his career where he's just going to start getting hurt all the time, and Shanny will turn into the only shining light on the team. Even though I love to hate him.
Their whole farm team is practically bait these days. They call them up, then trade them off to somewhere over the horizon. Just where is Dominick Moore this season...
Hmmm very disturbing prediction for the Habs there bod, why exactly do you think that the goaltending won't hold up? Montreal has two #1 Goalies between the pipes this season, at least to start it with, and I would say that this Tandem is the first in the league.
Second, you chose Buffalo 1st overall and then you said that the habs' smaller forwards won't holdup. Just how big are the Buffalo forwards? If we learned something last season, the first in the new NHL, is that smaller faster forwards is the new way to go.
Habs, I totally understand where you're coming from, last year the Sabres walked a very fine line injury-wise. Here's the differences I see between them and the Habs though.
In regards to the goaltending, there's a big disparity in the track records. Not taking anything away from Huet, who was awesome last season, but he hasn't dominated on every single level the way Miller has. Huet is respectible, no question, he's just not dominant. League history is full of goalies who got hot for a year. As for Aebischer's, his career GAA tells the story.
The Sabres can stay healthier than other small teams because of the ice time. Rolling 4 solid lines is a rare luxury that teams like Montreal don't have yet. Its like my issue with the Flyers and Forsberg, I can't buy this team without a 70+ game season from Koivu, and there's long odds on that.
I attend and follow Montreal's AHL team a fair bit, seeing as they're 15 minutes from my house, and I'm definitely a fan of theirs. But unlike the Sabres, who were pleasantly surprised by their young guys last year, the Hamilton grads really didn't do much for the Habs. I was really high on Perezhogin and Plekanec going into last season, and neither one of them wowed me the way they did with the Bulldogs.
That said, of all the teams I'm down on this year, the Habs are the one team I'd most like to see prove me wrong.
I am a Sabres fan, a Cubs fan, a Boilermakers fan, a Ti-cat fan and a Hamilton Bulldogs fan. I'm an obvious sucker for punishment. I believe that while playing them can be a tolerable way to kill 5 hours, there is nothing more painful than talking golf or watching poker. There's no excuse for fantasy football, no matter how bored or lonely you are. I don't consider you an athelete unless you can beat me in a race to the corner and back. I'm landlocked and terrible, but I carry on an irrational love affair with surfing. We are in the midst of one of the greatest horseracing years in decades.
