When a team is said to have potential year after year, at a certain point people start believing that potential is unfulfilled.
As the saying goes, potential is often a nice way of saying something simply is not very good right now.
Scratch the potential from Columbus Blue Jackets in that case. If you have not noticed, this team is very good.
How good? A playoff team, for sure, at this rate. Actually, at this rate, this might be much more than a playoff team.
With a 7-3-2 record -- good for 16 points in 12 games -- Columbus occupies a share of fourth place in the Western Conference heading into Friday night's games. Yes, the only team that has never qualified for the playoffs currently sits in a position that would give them home ice advantage in the first round.
To those who have followed the Jackets for several seasons, it comes as both a surprise and as no surprise. In reality, the team is certainly talented enough to be a contender. Rick Nash is one of the game's premier power forwards, and he is surrounded by a host of skilled forwards.
The defensive corps, led by Adam Foote and Rostislav Klesla, is more than adequate. And highly touted goalie Pascal Leclaire has more than lived up to the potential this season, posting four shutouts in October.
Yet little changed from the past two seasons in terms of personnel. Without question, coach Ken Hitchcock has had more time to implement his system, which features accountability at all times in all areas of the ice.
Columbus features a strong forecheck, yet the same five man unit is always backchecking to near-perfection. Even when they give up a large number of shots, as they did Thursday when the Ducks posted 34 shots on goal but scored just once, the chances are limited.
Wednesday at Staples Center, the Kings got their chances, but Leclaire was there to turn all but one away. The next night in Anaheim, the Ducks got plenty of shots, but backup goaltender Fredrik Norrena had to make very few spectacular saves.
When the opposing team creates sustained pressure, the Jackets are able to execute a bend but don't break philosophy to perfection. The goalies play with confidence, knowing the five skaters will be in solid defensive position. By the same token, the forwards and defensemen play with confidence knowing Leclaire or Norrena will come up with the big stop when called upon.
Columbus may limit goals against as well as any team in the league, but nobody would call them a boring team. The Jackets play with an entertaining, physical edge to their game, and two newcomers play a big part in creating that style.
Michael Peca, one of the game's best penalty killers and faceoff men, has brought his gritty game to the Ohio capital. Long considered a skill team lacking the grit to win, Peca is just what the Jackets needed.
Rookie Jared Boll has made far more of an impact than his two goals and roughly seven minutes of ice time per game would suggest. In the two California games, Boll was evident on every shift.
The rough and tumble Boll went from a one-dimensional enforcer to one of the best players on the USHL's Lincoln Stars between his first and second seasons, then continued his junior career with the OHL's Plymouth Whalers.
His career path has continued an impressive progression with Columbus. Against Los Angeles, he drew a penalty on an early shift, then it was his work screening Kings' goalie Jason LaBarbera -- Tomas Holmstrom-style -- that led to the second Columbus goal.
Against Anaheim, he made the most of limited ice time, throwing his weight around and taking on Travis Moen in an entertaining second period scrap.
The energy infused by the likes of Peca and Boll seems to have carried over throughout the lineup, as the Jackets play with a definite edge to their game.
It is probably early to sell playoff tickets in Columbus, but the thought of playoffs has to have front office staff excited. After drawing sell-0uts virtually every night since they entered the league in 2000, crowds have been down this year, frustrated with the lack of playoff berths.
Unless something drastic happens, look for all that to change. These Jackets are for real, and a playoff berth seems much more than likely.
Many observers seem surprised the Los Angeles Kings find themselves one point ahead of cross town rival Anaheim in late October - with one game in hand yet.
It should not be a surprise, and do not look for the trend to reverse any time soon.
The Kings feature a wealth of young talent up front, including Anze Kopitar, Michael Cammalleri, Dustin Brown, and Alexander Frolov. The defense is solid with a good mix of veterans, youngsters, and blueliners in their prime.
The only question coming into the season was goaltending, and Jason LaBarbera seems poised to step up as the starter.
After a 1-5-0 start, the Kings have won four of five games, and arguably outplayed Calgary in the lone loss. For the first time in several years, Kings fans have reason to be truly optimistic. Barring injuries, there is no reason this team will not make the playoffs.
It is a different story 30 miles to the southeast. The wheels are coming off in Anaheim, and the Ducks already face an uphill battle to make the playoffs, never mind repeat as Stanley Cup Champions.
With a 4-7-1 record after 12 games, Anaheim likely needs 87 points over their final 70 games to grab a playoff spot. In other words, a 42-25-3 record would get the job done, but there is no indication that will happen.
Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne look more retired by the day, and without them, Anaheim is full of holes. Sure, injuries have taken their toll, but there is no reason to believe that will change.
Defenseman Mathieu Schneider is entering the twilight of his career, and injuries have bedeviled him the past couple of years. Still, his injury history pales in comparison to the team's other key free agent signing.
Todd Bertuzzi has struggled with back injuries the past couple of seasons, and he is currently out of the lineup with a concussion. Earlier this year, Bertuzzi told the media he is finding injuries he never knew he had.
Not exactly what you want to hear from a $4 million per year player.
Ryan Getzlaf is currently out of the lineup with an upper body injury, leaving Anaheim with a second line of Mark Mowers, Drew Miller, and Petteri Wirtanen.
To top it off, the Ducks are running their big horses as if it was game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals. Francois Beauchemin and Chris Pronger lead the league in ice time, each averaging about a half hour per game.
With the key players logging so much ice time this early in the year, the potential for more injuries is very real.
Meanwhile, things keep looking up at Staples Center. Cammalleri leads the league with 10 goals, two more than any other player.
Kopitar continues his progression as one of the league's young superstars. A top-notch playmaker, he also possesses a sniper's hands and is one of the squad's best defensive forwards.
Brown is among the league leaders in hits and provides the perfect complement to Kopitar and Cammalleri on a top line that is arguably as good as any in the league.
The reviews on free-agent signings Ladislav Nagy, Kyle Calder, Michael Handzus, Tom Preissing, and Brad Stuart have been mixed, but all have looked stronger in recent games. Nagy had a breakout game Tuesday against Nashville, while Handzus responded with a solid effort after being demoted to the fourth line Tuesday against Dallas.
In fact, that fourth line of Handzus, John Zeiler, and Raitis Ivanans played a nearly perfect fourth line game against Dallas. Each player ate up more than 10 minutes of ice time and the unit created significant sustained pressure in the offensive zone.
With four lines clicking and six solid defensemen, the Kings are for real. LaBarbera is looking more comfortable between the pipes, and Los Angeles fans are optimistic.
At the moment, it is hard to find optimism in Anaheim. The team cut off season ticket sales at 15,000, but there are thousands of empty seats many nights. Fans arrive late and leave early -- one estimate put less than 5,000 fans left in their seats with three minutes remaining in a recent 3-1 Ducks win. Prime seats posted below face value are going unsold on the team's online ticket exchange.
It may be early to press the panic button, but with a couple of more losses, the Ducks find themselves facing must-win games as early as November.
In downtown Los Angeles, however, the opening of the L.A. Live development adjacent to Staples Center is not the only cause for optimism in the area.
"Just stop enough of the limitless critical comments on my life, just drop the judgement and all the pseudo-involvement in my life." -- Disturbed, "Just Stop."
It is unlikely the band knew Brian Burke when they wrote the song, which is ironically played at most Anaheim Ducks home games, but it could not be any more appropriate.
Just ask Kevin Lowe.
Or, for that matter, anyone else who is tired of the gong show in Anaheim.
At one point, the bombastic general manager of the Anaheim Ducks was entertaining. He seemed to be a breath of fresh air, a bit of honesty, a front office man with an entertainment factor.
That seems like such a long time ago.
Yes, Burke presided over last year's Stanley Cup championship squad, so it seems a bit odd to criticize him at this point. However, at a certain point, it is hard to take anymore.
Like most people who grew up in Canada or the United States' hockey belt, I have a tremendous amount of respect for the game. I also have a tremendous amount of respect for the people in the game, so writing a column criticizing anyone who has reached this level is not something I aim to do.
Having said that -- Burke, please quit talking.
And while you are at it, please show some of that aforementioned respect to your colleagues.
At some point, it goes from entertaining and honest to self-centered and bombastic. That line seemed to be crossed months ago, but if there was any question, just look at his recent interview on TSN.
"If I had run my team into the sewer like that I wouldn't throw a grenade at the other 29 teams and my own indirectly," Burke told TSN's James Duthie. "So I have no intention of speaking to him anytime soon."
Burke went on to say would not even talk to Lowe if he wanted to talk trade with the Oilers later in the season, saying assistant GM Bob Murray would contact the Oilers.
Don't bother. There's no reason for Lowe to listen to anything coming from Anaheim at this point.
The comment that Lowe has run the team into the sewer is absurd. For years, Lowe found a way to get the low-budget Oilers into the playoffs, even at a time when the loonie dipped as low as 61 cents U.S.
In the 2005-06 season, Lowe's Oilers came one game away from winning the Stanley Cup. The next year, they found themselves a few points out of the playoff picture at the trade deadline, and at that point, the wheels indeed came off.
Without their top two goal scorers from last season, as well as Scott Niedermayer, there is no guarantee the same thing will not happen to Anaheim this year, which makes Burke's comments even more odd. Still, the Oilers could easily be playoff-bound once again this year, thanks to rookies like Sam Gagner and Andrew Cogliano, as well as free-agent additions such as Sheldon Souray, Joni Pitkanen, and.... Dustin Penner.
Of course, the latter is the cause for Burke's comments. Burke flew off the handle when Lowe offered Penner -- a restricted free agent -- a five-year offer sheet worth $4.3 million per year.
In rejecting the chance to match the offer sheet, Burke said he would be as stupid as the guy who made the offer if he matched the offer.
Keep in mind Penner had 29 goals last season. Burke gave $4 million per year to Todd Bertuzzi, a similar player to Penner, except he had just 3 goals last season and is battling chronic back injuries.
It is very hard to understand why Burke thinks Lowe's offer was stupid, given his signing of Bertuzzi at that amount. Yet somehow, this is not surprising.
Burke has made some off the wall comments in the past, such as defending Donald Brashear's taunting of the opposition bench after scoring a goal. Burke said after the incident Brashear had done nothing wrong and if people did not like that, to pass a rule against excessive celebration.
As is so often the case, he missed the point. Celebrating goals is part of hockey -- thankfully, this is not the No Fun League (NFL). Taunting is not. But Burke failed to grasp the lack of class in Brashear's actions.
Ironically, Brashear's taunting of the Boston bench a few months later helped lead to the infamous incident involving him and Marty McSorley.
On an interview with Home Ice XM 204 last season, Burke defended his decision to vote against meaningful change to the NHL schedule. He said the team polled season ticket holders, and there was "only" 16 percentage point difference between those who wanted change and those who did not.
Last time I looked, 16 percentage points was pretty overwhelming.
At the same time, Burke went on TSN and said he strongly opposed every team going to every arena every year -- the only solution that pleases most fans. The next night, he went on the Ducks' pre-game show on FSN Prime Ticket and said the fans wanted change and he definitely wanted some kind of change.
Which is it, Brian? You keep opposing every team in every arena, saying the most you will go to is seeing teams from the opposite conference every other year in each arena. Yet you seem to indicate to the home fans you favor meaningful change.
Perhaps something is being lost in the translation. Half the Eastern teams in the West every year is not meaningful change -- it is only two or three more games against the other conference. And that is not meaningful by any standards.
In the current situation with Lowe, Burke simply does not make sense. Yes, Burke won the Stanley Cup last year, and he seems rightfully aware. But it was far from all Burke -- a lot of the credit goes to former GM Bryan Murray.
Burke inherited an organization with Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Andy McDonald, Chris Kunitz (who actually left through waivers and was claimed back under Burke), and perhaps most importantly, Rob Niedermayer.
Scott Niedermayer signed with the Ducks largely because of his brother's presence. The brothers are very close, and Rob was the one without a Stanley Cup. Winning a Stanley Cup with his brother completed the elder Niedermayer's career, and many feel he would have signed anywhere his brother was playing.
Burke did a good job in dumping salaries such as Sergei Fedorov, Petr Sykora, and Sandis Ozolinsh, and the Chris Pronger trade worked out well. Yet once again, Anaheim would not likely have been on Pronger's list of potential teams had it not been for the ground work done prior to Burke's arrival.
Unfortunately, too much of the time, it all seems to be about Burke. What other organization can say their highest profile person is not a player or a coach, but rather, a general manager?
1. Buffalo Sabres (Northeast Division Champion) -- The departures of Chris Drury and Daniel Briere got most of the off-season headlines, but the Sabres are as much about system as individual players. And the Sabres have plenty of offensive firepower in the likes of Thomas Vanek, Jason Pominville, Maxim Afinogenov, Drew Stafford, Derek Roy..... you get the idea. The Sabres might not match last year's point total, but they will be close.
2. Pittsburgh Penguins (Atlantic Division Champions) -- With Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Jordan Staal, the Pens have more than enough firepower to contend for the Stanley Cup. Ryan Whitney is one of the league's most underrated blueliners, but that could change soon as Pittsburgh continues to get more media attention. If Marc-Andre Fleury plays as he is capable of, Pittsburgh will win the tough Atlantic Division.
3. Tampa Bay Lightning (Southeast Division Champions) -- Talk about a close division -- it is easy to see anyone in the Southeast finishing anywhere from first to fifth. The Lightning feature a potent attack with Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, and Brad Richards, but it is the blueline that could make or break the team. Dan Boyle will miss significant time at the start of the season due to injury, but Paul Ranger and Shane O'Brien could be set for breakout years. The question, as always, is goaltending. If they cannot solve the problems in-house, look for Tampa to trade for a goalie by mid-season.
4. New York Rangers -- Most hockey fans know the Rangers can score goals, and most hockey fans know Henrik Lundqvist can keep the puck out of the net. The question will again be the blueline. In every other way, the Rangers look like a Stanley Cup contender, but question marks on the back end mean Lundqvist could face a lot of rubber. The potential of multiple 5-4 and 6-5 games in North America's largest market can only make the NHL salivate at the thought.
5. Ottawa Senators -- There is no reason to believe Ottawa will not be competitive. After a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals, the Sens had a solid pre-season. Still, something seems off-kilter in Ottawa. Ray Emery's health is an issue, while Dany Heatley's contract requests have been met with shock and dismay by many. Perhaps everything comes together, but at the same time, something just seems unsettling in Ottawa.
6. New Jersey Devils -- Scott Gomez is gone. Brian Rafalski is gone. Colin White's status is in doubt as a result of an eye injury. So why the cause for optimism in New Jersey? New coach Brent Sutter became one of the league's best bench bosses the day he took the job. His work with the WHL's Red Deer Rebels and the Canadian national junior team is legendary, and there is every reason to believe he will find similar success in Newark.
7. Toronto Maple Leafs -- Vesa Toskala's days in Toronto got off to a shaky start in pre-season, but anyone who has watched the San Jose Sharks knows this goalie is for real. If Toskala plays up to his capability, the Leafs will challenge for the Northeast Division title. Jason Blake may or may not be the long-awaited sniper to play with Mats Sundin -- do not be surprised if the Leafs continue to play Sundin with Alexei Ponikarovsky and Nik Antropov -- but he adds another weapon to an already strong attack.
8. Florida Panthers -- The way the Roberto Luongo for Todd Bertuzzi trade turned out -- or failed to turn out -- for the Panthers, you would think negativity would prevail in the Everglades. Nothing could be further from the truth. Tomas Vokoun came over in a trade with Nashville, solidifying the situation between the pipes. Jay Bouwmeester seems ready to take the next step towards being a top-flight defenseman, and the Panthers' young guns up front continue to progress. If it all comes together, there is no reason the Panthers will not make the playoffs.
9. New York Islanders -- In many ways, this team is a classic Ted Nolan squad. Nolan has always excelled at taking a group of players and having them overachieve, and this team seems perfectly suited to that philosophy. Bill Guerin is the key addition, but look for Ruslan Fedotenko to regain his pre-lockout form. No contract disputes between the pipes here -- Rick DiPietro still has 13 years left on his contract. The way he played last year, they might be talking extension if he repeats last year's performance.
10. Washington Capitals -- The Caps stayed in the playoff race longer than last year's finish indicated, and they have high hopes for this season. Alex Ovechkin continues to be one of the game's best young talents, and his goal scoring prowess is second to none. Olaf Kolzig has been a fixture in goal for Washington, and he seems to have a few more good seasons left. In a super-tight Southeast Division, it would not be a surprise if Washington soared to the top of the pack.
11. Philadelphia Flyers -- The Flyers made more moves than any other team over the past several months, even if many of them came during the final half of last season. The contract for Daniel Briere could go either way -- if Briere produces like he did in Buffalo, it could be reasonable. But many feel Briere was the beneficiary of an up-tempo system in Buffalo, and adjusting to Flyers hockey could be difficult. The talent is there in Philadelphia, but it remains to be seen how it all comes together.
12. Carolina Hurricanes -- Just two seasons removed from a Stanley Cup victory, the Canes continue to be a team of question marks. Cam Ward has looked solid through preseason, and the offensive firepower still remains. If Carolina is to be in the midst of the playoff race, they must get a big season from Eric Staal. He fell 30 points last season from his 100-point campaign in 2005-06, and the Canes fell accordingly.
13. Montreal Canadiens -- The Habs surprised many by keeping rookie goalie Carey Price on the roster, but it will not be a further surprise if he is the starter by November. After a stellar junior career with the WHL's Tri-City Americans, Price joined the Hamilton Bulldogs for the AHL playoffs and led the squad to a Calder Cup championship. If Price comes up with a Patrick Roy-like rookie performance, Montreal could be in the thick of the Northeast Division race.
14. Atlanta Thrashers -- After a fast start last season, the Thrashers were average for the second half of the season. A four-game first round exit to the New York Rangers highlighted the team's weaknesses, and significant change has occurred. Atlanta has become one of the league's smallest teams in a season when most teams are getting bigger, and that could go either way. Coach Bob Hartley has been hesitant to show confidence in Kari Lehtonen, and that is rarely a good sign.
15. Boston Bruins -- The Bruins should be better this year in just about every way. Zdeno Chara should be better than last year. Claude Julien comes in with an impressive track record behind the bench. A full season from Brandon Bochenski could establish him as a legitimate 30-goal scorer. Still, in a competitive Eastern Conference where there is little to pick and choose between teams, the Bruins face an uphill battle to make the playoffs.
Rankings in a balanced-schedule league, followed by actual predictions:
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