2010-2011 NHL season

On the reccommendation of Flash, an idea I endorse, since the new season is underway with prospect camps here is the NHL thread for 2010. I took the liberty of not including running thread in the title hed to cut down on redundancy.

Without further ado here are my 2010-11 bold predictions.

Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division
New Jersey Devils -- A full year of Parise, Elias and Kovalchuk will be too much for the Division to handle. Also I like the pick up of Arnott, gives them some solid depth down the middle. Last time there all they did do was win the Stanley Cup. Also a reinforced defence will be a godsend to Brodeur.
Pittsburgh Penguins -- New building, same scary depth down the middle. Salary cap issues have forced them to make some shrewed moves like the Comrie contract. Also Mark Letestu should have a solid if unspectacular rookie season up front (has produced at every level). Love the addition of Mihelick and Martin on the blue-line.
Philadelphia Flyers -- caught lightning in a bottle with Leighton and Boucher last season. Not counting on it again this year. Also not a big fan of moving Gagne in favour of the enigmatic Zherdev.
New York Rangers -- They have some nice pieces up front, I love the Frolov pick up for one year and $3-million (Why do I have the feeling tha last year he gets a 5 year $25 million deal from the Rangers if he was on the open market?). Their defence though is pretty weak after Mark Stall. Del Zotto has to lear how to play this thing called defence. Wade Redden just has to go away. It is going to be a frustrating year for Rangers fans out of the playoffs again despite another decent campaign from King Henrik in the blue paint.
New York Islanders -- Call me crazy, but I think this franchise takes a small but mighty step forward this season. I like a lot of the youth on the team, they just need a little more help on the back end. i think Roloson has one last hurrah left in him, and that will be getting them into a dogfight for the final playoff spot, but they will come up short.

Northeast Division
Boston Bruins -- An East Cup contender. Crazy depth up front. One of the top young goalies in the league between the pipes. Only question mark is the blue-line which is very underrated after Chara.
Ottawa Senators -- For whatever reason, I like this team. They have several young goalies that all took turns at holding the fort down last year and they made a huge addition to their PP unit with gonchar.
Buffalo Sabres -- It's close between this team and the one that follows it. As long as they have Miller they have a chance. Expect another big step forward from Myers, but they will be strapped for offence.
Montreal Canadiens -- I am not a believer in Carey Price. I do like Cammaleri and a full season out of Markov would be nice, but they need far mor out of Gomez, Gionta and Pouliot up front.
Toronto Maple Leafs -- More defenceman than you can shake a tree at. Too bad they weren't as focused on improving their forwards. It drops off drastically after Kessel and Grabovski. When Tyler Bozak is potentially your top centre, something is horribly wrong. You know who would have looked good here? Tyler Seguin. Also next year's lottery pick. Just sayin'.

Southeast
Washington Capital -- Do I really need to say why? The San Jose Sharks have a swimming mate.
Tampa Bay Lightning -- Everything new GM Steve Yzerman has done this year has been golden -- on paper. They should be much better than the Koules and Gang era Bolts. Stamkos is a stud and picking up Gagne for next to nothing was brilliant. Also signed the next big coach away form Montreal. All it has to do now is come togther.
Atlanta Thrashers -- I just don't understand this team. They should have tore it right down to the studs and built around Evander Kane and Bogosian and some of their good young players, because they certainly don't have a future Superstar in the making or really anything to get excited about. They should be decent but you should be shooting for better than just being decent as a potential high water mark.
Carolina Hurricanes -- One of two teams in rebuild mode in this division. Except when you still have Cam Ward, Eric Stall and Brandon Sutter all under the age of 26, that rebuild is going to be a little less painful than it is for the . . .
Florida Panthers -- I understand what they are doing, and it is neccesary, it just isn't fun to watch. Not a lot of hope for the here and now. Should be able to get something good for Vokoun at the deadline.

Western Conference
Northwest Division
Vancouver Canucks -- One of the best blue-lines in the business. Enough offence to get the job done. Strangely the biggest question mark is Luongo and whether he can get the job done in the playoffs, and it will be until he can prove otherwise.
Colorado Avalanche -- The best of the rest in the division, and that ain't saying a whole lot. But they are a young exciting team and are praying for a repeat performance from Anderson in net.
Calgary Flames -- Again, not impressed with this roster at all. Rehashing Jokinen is the most bizarre move I have seen in a long time, maybe ever. I do like the return of Tanguay at a discounted contract. He has a lot to prove. Their defence while big and physical is less than impressive. They NEED big bounce back years from the likes of Iginla and Bouwmeester and a few other forwards, otherwise they may miss the playoffs altogether.
Edmonton Oilers -- Not in the playoff hunt. Like I said this division is pretty shabby this year. But they will be a better team this year for a few reasons. 1) Their health. They lost 533 man games to injury last year, including their top forward, top goalie, top defenceman for the majority of the year. Then they lost much of what little depth they had interspirtnatly through out the remainder of the year. 2) Even if they have subpar rookie seasons, Eberle, Hall and Pajaarvi will be better than Pouliot, Nilson and O'Sullivan. 3) Although he will never play up to his contract, Horcoff has got to be better than he was last year, he sure can't be worse, will give him credit though he took full responsibility for his season last year. Still have work to do on their back end, and overall defensively but they should at least be fun to watch this year.
Minnesota Wild -- I really don't know what to say besides at least they kept Koivu? Should be OK defensively with Barker and Burns on the point and Backstrom in net, but defence has never been the issue with this team.

Pacific Division
San Jose Sharks -- This will be the best divisional title battle in the league. Their experience will win out, but they will miss Nabakov . . . at least during the regular season.
L.A. Kings -- This year's Blackhawks? Took a big step forward last year, just need more consistent goaltending. With Jonathan Bernier ready for prime time, there could be the potential for some goaltending controversey between Quick, Bernier and Ersberg. I actually love the makeup of this team.
Phoenix Coyotes -- Five big steps forward last year, about six backwards this offseason. Seemingly gone is any momentum from the playoff run. Now some of their big young guns are going to have to come through for them like Turris and Oliver Eckman-Larsson.
Anaheim Ducks -- The team is in a weird spot right now. Their blue-line is a mess. They have some terrifc young forwards and some terrific aging forwards. Then a lot of junk inbetween. But at least they are not the . . .
Dallas Stars --They will enjoy their lottery pick next spring. Blue-line is a mess. Offence is lacking in any real serious fire power beyond James Neal and Brad Richards. And all Lehtonen has proven in this league is he can't stay healthy.


Central Division
Chicago Blackhawks -- I'm not buying that they are one and completely done. Still too much fire power, and their defence is still the best in the game. Biggest question mark is between the pipes, but then that was a question mark all last year and they just won the cup.
Detroit Red Wings -- The real Red Wings finally showed up the last quarter of the season, but couldn't sustain their run in the playoffs. Will get better years out of Datsyuk, Zetterberg and the Mule. Their blue-line is still strong although old, but their team defence game shares the entire load. Still not sold on Jimmy Howard in net.
Nashville PRedators -- if a team is going to fly under the radar this year it is the Preds, they could even jump past the Wings. Terrific young defensive core, one of the best young goalies in the league and if Colin Wilson can take the next step in his development they could have an improved offence.
St. Louis Blues -- Some good young talent, but they are still a few years away.
Columbus Blue Jackets -- Welcome back to the lottery draft. When you need to vastly improve and make the playoffs in a make or break kind of year and the best you can do is Ethan Moreau off of waivers . . . I'm just going out on a limb in guessing the fan base isn't too excited for their 10th anniversary.

I'll take a stab at the Cup come playoff time.

Here are my award winners

Hart -- Crosby
Richard -- Ovechkin
Art Ross -- Crosby
Ted Lindsay -- Stamkos
I know, so unoriginal.
Norris -- Shea Webber
Vezina -- Rask
Calder -- Hall
Lady Byng -- Datsyuk, but who cares?
Selke -- Datsyuk
Adams -- Terry Murray
Jennings -- Rask

I don't think I missed any of the big ones.

And no, I have no life. ;D : ??? :-\ :'(


*Modified to add the Rangers and to fix Zherdev*

 

Zhamnov has not been around for a while, I think you meant Zherdev. What about NYR?

 

Nice review for the most part. Obviously there's things I agree on and disagree on.

I'm a believer in Carey Price. Even though his win/loss record last season wasn't all that great, he did have a good season. His team just didn't score any goals for him, and he had a way tougher opponents during the regular season then Halak in my book. Obviously, he let some awful goals in, but he did make some incredible saves to.

This is a huge year for Price, the Canadiens have shown confidence in him one again. Halak told the Habs that he wants to be the number one goalie or get traded. Montreal invested a lot in Price and still believe he's the future of this team, so they went on and traded Halak to the Blues for a couple of prospects(Eller has a chance to be a great addition to our team.) I believe that Price will rebound from his last few seasons.

Like you mentioned the Canadiens won't have Markov had the beginning of the year, but Suban will be able to take his spot on the first line. Markov is hard to replace and it would definitely help out the Canadiens if he was there from the get go, but PK showed last year in the playoffs that he's ready for the NHL. He's worked his butt-off this off-season, and I expect him to have a huge impact this year and contend for the Calder.

Montreal's offense is pretty strong. The have Cammalleri has their main sniper, and if Plekanec can have another strong year then that makes even more dangerous. If Gomez and Kostitsyn can be consistent and add a full season from Gionta then will have a dangerous offense in my book.

The Canadiens have four solid lines, and I wouldn't be surprised if they won the North East division. I don't see the Senators finishing on top of them. Leclaire and Elliott won't be able to carry this team. Daniel Alfredson is only getting older and his body his slowly breaking down, Spezza would of been traded if he didn't make so much money, and he makes to many mistakes. The addition of Gonchar was a good one, he'll help on the Power Play unit and be a mentor for Erik Karlsson. With that said though, I think they gave him to much money due to his age.

Other than that, their defense isn't all that great. Phillips is going down hill, and Carkner is horrible.

Mike Fisher will give you a lot, he's a good player that can score, lay body checks, play good defense and he's a team player.

Should be interesting to see how Kovalev will play, he's coming back from a big injury, he's on his final year of his contract, and we all know he usually puts up incredible numbers when that happens.

I wouldn't be surprised if Ottawa missed the playoffs entirely.

 

I can't believe I did that, either of those two screw ups. The kicker is I even looked up Zherdev to make sure I had it right, but I guess I had Zhamnov on the brain. This is what I get for doing this while talking to my sister online at the same time.
I wll add the New York Rangers in an edit to the previous post.
My apologies all

 

It's just a weird hunch I have about Ottawa, in writting these things I like to think I'm entitled to a couple of them.

For one they are an extrememly well coached team. They will still have enough fire power with Spezza, Kovalev on a rebound, Fisher, Michalek, and Alfredsson -- only one of the games most underrated players, period (he still scored 71 points in 70 games last year). Their defence does have a bit to prove this year but their young Swedish rookie on the backend -- Erik Karlsson -- should have a big year and enter the race for the Calder. And while they may have overpayed for Gonchar, which they totally did, in the meantime he is still back their to QB their PP.
Also Pascal Leclair has a lot to prove as well in net, and even if he fails they got some good young goalies that stepped up last year and played very well when he got hurt.

I just have a hunch about this team.

 

Also, the Pens signed Paul Martin, not Colin White.

 

You sure are entitled to them, I just don't see it happening to be honest with you.

Cory Clouston is alright, he makes a lot of bad calls in key situations in my opinion, his assistants Carvel, Richardson and Lauer are nothing special.

Spezza makes to many mistakes and isn't really reliable, he tries to do it by himself to many times and coughs up the puck way to many times. He's also terrible on defense.

Kovalev is hard to judge like I mentioned above, it's his contract year, I wouldn't be surprised if he put up 70 points if healthy.

Mike Fisher is a good gritty player, he always plays like his last game. He's one of their best overall players.

If Milan Michalek can stay healthy then he's a good second line player, he's good for about 50 points.

Alfredsson might be underrated in the United States, but not here in Canada. I just don't see him playing more then 60 games this season, if that's the case he'll be good for a point a game, meaning I don't see him getting more then 60 points this season. If he stays healthy which is a big if, he'll be good for 70-75 which isn't all that bad for his age.

Karlsson isn't a rookie my friend.

No disagreements there from me.

Elliott did play well in his absence, but I don't believe he's a goalie that can bring them pass the first round.

I just don't see them making the playoffs to be honest with you, they'll finish 9th or 10th.

 

We obviously disagree about them. Out east you've probably watched them a little more than I have, but I think Clouston did a hell of a job to get the team to the playoffs last year and I think they are only going to build on that. Every young coach makes mistakes early on, you have to look at the total overal package of what they accomplished. Is it a little over the top to say they don't employ Spezza for his defensive capabiilities? He is still one of the top play making centres in the league. Last year was the first injury plagued season of his career for Michalek, when helathy he's more than capable of a 60 point season, which is very respectable from the second line, never said he was a first liner. Alfredsson is also only 37,and hasn't played less than 70 games since 2000-01 when he played 68. He has a couple of good years left in him. As far as Karlsson goes, I didn't realize he got 60 games in last year, should take the next step this year then, is that better? Also I said nothing of how far the team would go in the playoffs, this is purely a regular season prediction.

 

Aw for crying out loud. I really have to stop doing these things at 4 in the morning after work. Yes I meant Martin, not White.

 

Alright, I gave an indpeth, and apparently flawed, set of predictions. Anyone else?

 

I live in Ottawa, and personally I can't stand the team. I guess it's going to be agree to disagree on this one.

I agree with you on this one, Clouston is a good coach, and it's understandable if he makes coaching mistakes, and the players respect him which is always a plus. But I don't believe they've accomplished much with him under the helm.

I think it's a little over the top to say he's one of the best play making centers in the league. Don't get me wrong, I believe he's a talented player but he commits to many errors on the ice, doesn't shoot enough and turns the puck over to many times.

I never gave signs that you said Michalek was a first line player, all I mentioned was that he's good for 50 points which is good for a second line player.

I think he's on the decline and will get injured this season, just a hunch that I have with Daniel.

I didn't mean anything personal when I said Karlsson isn't a rookie this year, I was just correcting you. I apologize if I offended you. I do agree that he has a chance to take the next step this year. He needs to add muscle to his frame though. That will come with time.

I thought it was fairly good, everyone makes mistakes. I just believe it's a bit early to give a preview of the year like this right now, but hopefully you don't take anything I said seriously. I just love to debate hockey, and I enjoy doing it with you.

 

Don't worry, man, didn't take any of it personally, just trying to back up some of my statements, even if some of them needed correcting. I enjoy debating as well. I suppose I could have worded Karlsson's bit a little less harsh, probably should have said "more appropriate" as opposed to "is that better?" Just got caught up in it, and with frustration of my own errors that admittedly kept popping up.
It's never too early to make predictions in my books, as long as some camps are up and running. Hell, just look at all the Hockey preview and prediction mags already out.