The Atlantic Division

Instead of working on a team-by-team preview for the entire league, I wanted to zoom in a little closer, to the division I'm most familiar with. Arguably the most (if not second most) competitive division in hockey, the Atlantic Division enters 2008-09 with lots of unanswered questions, which I will now attempt to answer. I went through the teams in the reverse order of where I expect them to place in the final standings this year. So naturally the first team up is the...

5. New York Islanders
IN: Mark Streit, Doug Weight
OUT: Miroslav Satan, Ruslan Fedotenko, Josef Vasicek, Wade Dubielewicz
Forget the summer, this season could not end fast enough if you're an Islanders fan. One needs only to look at the players lost and compare that to who's left to know that the worst scoring team in the NHL last season actually has LESS scoring help this year. Fear not, skeptics, even Islander fans will agree with you this year. The most optimistic of predictions has this team finishing in the deadest of last places. Doug Weight may prove a good signing, but you can bet it won't be for his goal scoring ability. Adding Mark Streit certainly upgrades the blueline, but combine the sheer atrocity that is the Isles' forward corps with Rick DiPietro starting this season on the shelf and you have a team whose highlight of the season will be the day they draw the balls for the draft lottery.

4. New York Rangers
IN: Wade Redden, Markus Naslund, Nikolai Zherdev, Dan Fritsche, Dmitri Kalinin, Aaron Voros, Patrick Rissmiller
OUT: Jaromir Jagr, Sean Avery, Martin Straka, Brendan Shanahan, Fedor Tyutin, Ryan Hollweg, Christian Backman
The sheer amount of change in the Rangers roster in the course of one offseason can either produce one of two results: either all of the new faces work out exactly as planned and the Rangers turn out even better than last year; or what I feel is the more likely situation, that all that team chemistry that was built by the end of last year is now lost, and will have to be rebuilt from the bottom up. That doesn't mean this is a bad hockey club, but it didn't take 3/4 of last season to build true team chemistry with three new additions for no reason. This year, the Blueshirts need to accomodate 7 new faces. Will they be a better team for all these moves, or will the firesale backfire? Truth is, as long as they have Henrik Lundqvist, anything is possible. The success or failure of the Rangers depends on him, but more importantly it depends on how quickly each player builds complete trust and chemistry with the 19 other players in the locker room. It will happen, but how long it takes will be the true defining factor in how the Rangers finish this season.

3. New Jersey Devils
IN: Brian Rolston, Bobby Holik, Fedor Fedorov
OUT: Sergei Brylin, Karel Rachunek, Arron Asham
Don't take this third place business the wrong way...I'm doing my best to keep objective about the team I love, and it's not easy. I have full confidence that the Devils will make the playoffs. While hockey critics will continue to predict each year that the Devils will finally fall out of the playoff picture for the first time since 1996, it continues to not be a smart pick. Say what you want about the defense, but replacing Sergei Brylin and Arron Asham with Brian Rolston and Bobby Holik is most certainly an offensive upgrade. The true test for the Devils this year, however, is not their new additions, but the players around them. Brian Gionta, Patrik Elias, Jamie Langenbrunner and others will need to score goals the way they are capable of for the additions of Rolston and Holik to have any impact at all. In addition, the defense which many say "overplayed" their own skill level last season will need to have another stellar year, as the club focused their offseason on improving the offense. Martin Brodeur will always keep this team in games, so it's up to those under-producing forwards to really carry this team over the edge.

2. Philadelphia Flyers
IN: Glen Metropolit, Steve Eminger, Arron Asham, Ossi Vaananen, Tim Ramholt, Jean-Sebastien Aubin
OUT: Jason Smith, R.J. Umberger, Sami Kapanen, Jaroslav Modry, Patrick Thoresen, Stefan Ruzicka
The Flyers made it all the way to the Conference Finals last season, and in order to do so again, a few unknown factors will need to work themselves out. Their defense, for example, took a considerable hit when Jason Smith departed for Ottawa. Ossi Vaananen is not exactly a valid replacement for Smith, but the emergence of young Ryan Parent, as well as the continued development of Braydon Coburn makes this Flyer defense younger and quicker, and that can only work to their advantage. The already physical Flyers added an extra dose of sandpaper by bringing in Steve Eminger and Arron Asham, while Glen Metropolit--easily the best offseason addition--brings a considerable dose of skill to an already skilled group of forwards. The Flyers are a bit of a tough read this year. Does the extra grit make them better? Did they really need it? Are we returning to the glory days, when Philly was a perennial conference powerhouse? I believe we are.

1. Pittsburgh Penguins
IN: Miroslav Satan, Ruslan Fedotenko, Matt Cooke, Eric Godard, Danny Richmond
OUT: Marian Hossa, Ryan Malone, Georges Laraque, Ty Conklin
Marian Hossa, a definite factor in the playoffs last year, crossed conference lines to the team that defeated his Penguins, the defending champion Red Wings. Ryan Malone "bolted" (sorry) for the Tampa Bay Lightning, taking Gary Roberts with him. Despite this exodus, is it possible that the defending Eastern Conference champions got better this offseason? Among the other substitutions, Montreal-bound enforcer Georges Laraque was replaced by Matt Cooke, and a pair of Islanders--Ruslan Fedotenko and Miroslav Satan--were brought aboard to alleviate the departed offensive skill of Hossa and Malone. Ty Conklin, the goalie who carried this team during Marc-Andre Fleury's high-ankle sprain, joined Hossa in jumping ship for Detroit. Small loss here, though, as capable backup Dany Sabourin remains. Despite a few key players departing the Steel City, the Pens still appear to be the best team in the division, and with Crosby and Malkin still developing their already legendary careers, are likely to remain so for the forseeable future.

They Said WHAT??

Just thought I would take a moment to put on record how the three annual hockey yearbooks are predicting the Devils to finish. I'm putting them all in one place for easy reference when we surpass all of them and, once again, perform way better than anyone will ever give us credit for. Here they are:

The Hockey News: 4th in Division, 7th in Conference
The Sporting News: 4th in Division (They did not give conference predictions, although strangely enough, at 4th in the division we still got an overall ranking of 84.)
Faceoff Magazine: 4th in Division, 9th in Conference

As usual, no credit. And, not that they're wrong or anything, but they all manage to say basically the same three things about the Devils: the offense can't score (or sometimes..."The Devils have an offense?"), the defense is a shell of its former self (read: "The Devils have a defense?"), and Brodeur needs to play way less (a.k.a., "Kevin Weekes played last year?").

Let's be sure to revisit this blog in April, and pray that they're not as correct as they always seem to think they're going to be.

All-Time Greatest

Although NHL training camps officially begin less than a month from now, from where we stand it feels like an eternity. ESPN's E.J. Hradek has found a clever way to pass the time, by going through all 30 teams and listing the franchise's all-time greatest player at forward, defenseman, and goaltender. To date, he has only completed the Pacific Division, so I'd like to do him a favor and list the all-time greatest Devils forward, defenseman, and goaltender. Of all the teams in the league, the Devils list may perhaps be one of those least up for debate, but it should be interesting to see how a fan's opinion stacks up against that of an objective analyst.

Greatest Forward: John MacLean
Of the three categories, this is likely the only one to garner any sort of disagreement. Patrik Elias was really the only other strong contender, and maybe one day down the line, Elias will in fact hold the title. However until Elias catches up with the team's all-time leading scorer, Johnny Mac will reign supreme.

Greatest Defenseman: Scott Stevens
Stevens is also the team's greatest captain, leader, etc., and is only one of two choices for greatest Devil of all time, at any position (guess who the other one is...). His open ice hits are infamous around the league, and will leave you with nightmares for years (just ask Slava Kozlov, Eric Lindros, or Paul Kariya.) It's amazing to think of what could have been had the arbitration court not ruled in favor of the Devils when the Blues signed away Brendan Shanahan in 1991.

Greatest Goaltender: Martin Brodeur
Do I really need to explain this one? No one even comes close! Brodeur, the only active player of these three, already holds every Devils goaltending record ever except for one (best career GAA as a Devil belongs to John Vanbiesbrouck at 1.75), and should he finish out his current contract, there is little doubt he will hold the NHL's all-time marks for wins and shutouts.

While we're at it, I think we should throw in greatest offensive line, which in the case of the Devils would go to the 'A' line: Patrik Elias, Jason Arnott, and Petr Sykora.

For the record, Devils training camp starts September 15th, and I personally cannot wait for hockey season!

2008-09 Predictions

That’s right folks, it’s my favorite part of the summer…the part where you still have some time left before normal life resumes, yet hockey season is so close you can almost taste it. (In case you were wondering, it tastes like Cracker Jack.) And so, it is time for my 2008-09 predictions. I assure you that I purposely wrote and published this blog before so much as glancing at anyone else’s predictions, including the Hockey News 2009 Yearbook currently sitting next to me. What follows are my predictions for final division standings and playoff seedings, as well as a shot in the dark at the Cup Finals matchup and winner. (I will probably revise these around the All-Star break, since there are things which will happen between now and then that surely will make me change my mind.) Enjoy.

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division
1. Pittsburgh
2. New Jersey
3. Philadelphia
4. NY Rangers
5. NY Islanders

Northeast Division
1. Montreal
2. Boston
3. Ottawa
4. Buffalo
5. Toronto

Southeast Division
1. Washington
2. Tampa Bay
3. Carolina
4. Florida
5. Atlanta

Playoff Seedings
1. Pittsburgh
2. Washington
3. Montreal
4. New Jersey
5. Tampa Bay
6. Philadelphia
7. Boston
8. NY Rangers

Western Conference

Central Division
1. Detroit
2. Chicago
3. Nashville
4. Columbus
5. St. Louis

Northwest Division
1. Edmonton
2. Calgary
3. Colorado
4. Minnesota
5. Vancouver

Pacific Division
1. Dallas
2. San Jose
3. Anaheim
4. Phoenix
5. Los Angeles

Playoff Seedings
1. Detroit
2. Dallas
3. Edmonton
4. San Jose
5. Chicago
6. Anaheim
7. Calgary
8. Colorado

2009 Stanley Cup Finals
Detroit vs. Montreal

WINNER: Montreal

Why Hockey Is The Best Sport

As a hockey fan in America, I sometimes find myself in a situation which I'm sure some of you have faced before as well. When talking sports with someone, you may happen to mention that your favorite sport is hockey, and in response you receive nothing but a blank stare. It's almost as if the other person is silently answering, "No, seriously, what sport?" It is indeed frustrating on many levels, but mostly because as a sport, hockey has everything that America loves about its other three sports all rolled into one, and yet in this country it is taken about as seriously as roller derby (probably looks the same to them too). And it is with this thought in mind that I write this blog, not to convince the hockey fan of anything that they don't already know, but rather to serve as a reference to explain to the uninformed that everything they love about football, baseball, and basketball is present in the great sport of hockey. Should you ever find yourself in this situation, feel free to pull from this whatever you deem necessary to defend your love of hockey.

Football
Let's start with what is clearly America's favorite sport, football. Typically what attracts people to football is first and foremost the physical play. Each sport is rife with contact, and there is nothing to say that a big tackle or sack in football is any more exciting than a bone-crunching check into the boards or a Stevens-esque open ice hit. Toughness is certainly equaled in both sports, with the only difference being that hockey players are allowed to release their aggression by fighting.

In addition, football preaches the concept of teamwork. Every player on the field, both on offense and defense, has their specific job to do, and the whole does not succeed without all of the individual parts performing their jobs to the best of their ability. So too does this concept exist in hockey. Each team is made up of snipers, playmakers, penalty killers, face-off specialists, defensive forwards, grinders, puck-moving and stay-at-home defensemen, and goaltenders...and it is only when all of these players do their specific part that the team as a whole enjoys success on the ice.

Baseball
Ah yes, the great American pasttime...a sport which values above all else, its rich tradition and history. The history and tradition of hockey go back around the same time as baseball, and despite the advance of time, the simplicity and integrity of the game in both instances is carefully maintained.

Along with being a game of tradition, baseball carries an heir of grace and elegance about it. There are times when the flow of the game is one of discipline and finesse, not unlike watching a player like Sidney Crosby alone on a breakaway. Just as with the perfect execution of a double play, there are times in hockey, such as watching a talented goal scorer execute a deke to perfection and gently slip the puck past the goaltender that the game of hockey is one of pure beauty, so much so that you are at a loss for words.

Basketball
Basketball is a sport which requires a great deal of athleticism and hand-eye coordination. It is certainly no easy task to execute an alley-oop or a wide array of spinning dunks and no-look passes, let alone with the continuity and accuracy displayed by professional players. Hockey is no different in this sense, either. Everything from tape-to-tape passes and shot accuracy to performing drop passes and dekes, to the goalies being able to stop pucks traveling at 90-100 mph coming from all angles all requires and incredible amount of skill and hand-eye coordination.

It is a shame that more people can't look at hockey for what it is, rather than regarding it with the same impression they get from watching cricket. If they would look a little closer, they'd be able to see that hockey contains everything they already love about sports. Hockey is contact, teamwork, strategy, tradition, grace, skill, and athleticism all rolled into one beautiful game.

Five Burning Questions

Earlier today on NHL Home Ice (XM Radio), they were discussing the five burning questions surrounding the New Jersey Devils as we head into the 2008-09 season. And from those five questions, they derived five incredibly biased answers. I love my XM and couldn't live without it, but the truth is that they certainly make no attempt to hide their allegience to Leaf Nation...you know, the poor souls who have nothing better to do but criticize successful teams because they themselves have not even been to the Finals let alone won a Stanley Cup since 1967. But I digress...the point of this blog is not to knock the XM staff; rather, I wanted to answer their five burning questions from the perspective of the Devils fan, the people who truly know their team and don't care how much Haterade the rest of the NHL seems to love drinking so much.

Question 1: How much do Brian Rolston and Bobby Holik help the Devils' forward unit?

The answer is they each help in very different ways. The key to Rolston being a successful signing is that he has to be able to put up 35-40 goals each season like was doing in Minnesota. It's not that coming to New Jersey decreases his ability to do so; more like the chemistry he had developed with the other Wild forwards played a role in his point production, and he is going to have to build that level of chemistry with his new teammates from scratch. When so many of the NHL's premier teams build their success on the ability to score goals, Rolston's ability to help score goals and anchor the powerplay will be crucial to the Devils building on last year.

Bobby Holik helps a lot if he can fill a different role. In both the 2007 and 2008 playoffs, the Devils suffered from a severe lack of physical play. In 2007 they were pushed around by the Ottawa Senators with not so much as an afterthought. Last year, they were in desperate need of a player who would stand up to Sean Avery during his crease antics, as well as retaliate on Henrik Lundqvist -- something which was promised, but never delivered.

The success of the Devils' offense is largely dependent on all of the forwards producing the way they are capable of, but it is also heavily related to the success of these two new players. If Rolston can add a 40-goal season to our offense, and Holik can use his size and bravado to keep opponents honest, then the answer is they help our front end a lot.

Question 2: Did the Devils forget how to draft?

I have to clarify something here...they deliberately left out the drafts from 2006-2008, since those players have not yet developed and therefore cannot be judged. Their argument was that from 2000-2005, the Devils have not drafted with the same success rate as they did throughout the entire span of the 1990s. Okay, the problem with that, however, is that no team is immune from drafting dry spells. Drafting is such an inexact science that its bound to happen, and for the Devils it just happened to fall within the comfortable little time frame that is recent enough to measure its direct effects on the pipeline. If one were to guess, based on current progress, as to the success of draft classes 2006-2008, it would appear that they will prove far better than their predecessors. The one truth in this situation is that the Devils roster is not as homegrown as rosters past. There is more of a recent dependence on free agency, a direct result of the aforementoned drafting dry spell. Only time will tell, but the immediate impression of our future troops is that all is well in draft land yet again. Patrice Cormier has been pegged by many as the steal of the '08 draft, and high picks Tedenby and Burlon join a growing corps of future Devils such as Corrente, Bergfors, Vrana. By the way, this group should be pegged The Future Five.

Question 3: Is the defense corps good enough?

This is a hard question to answer, because the truth is they really surpassed anyone's expectations last year. We saw Paul Martin seize the reigns as the #1 defenseman, Johnny Oduya finally have the breakout the scouts saw in him when they signed him as a free agent, Mike Mottau rise from the depths of obscurity and Colin White look a career-ending injury in the face and say "too bad, but I'm going to play anyway." On the other hand, we also saw a few million dollars spent on Vitaly Vishnevski fly out the window as he battled with mediocrity, we saw Andy Greene rotting in the press box because he could not keep up, and we saw why bringing aboard Sheldon Brookbank doesn't exactly better your chances of doing much of anything.

There were too many ups and downs to fairly pass judgment in my opinion, so I'll just go with a "I hope so."

Question 4: How many games will Martin Brodeur play this season?

The answer should be no more than 70. I know it's Martin Brodeur, arguably the greatest goalie ever, and I know that he "never gets tired," but it doesn't matter; rest helps everyone. It also helps Kevin Weekes, who should start the other 12 games. This is much simpler than the Devils have ever made it out to be. Weekes plays more, stays on top of his game, is ready and waiting whenever needed. Marty rests more, is sharper, come playoff time doesn't lose a step. If anyone can step in and make this happen, it's Brent Sutter. You need to say to Marty, "look, I know you want to play every game, and that's really terrific. But I'm the head coach and you're going to play when I tell you to play." 70 games is not a small number, other than by Brodeur standards.

Question 5: Are the Devils legitimate Cup contenders?

As I see it, the Devils are no less a contender than your Pittsburghs and Philadelphias. What they lack in star power, they make up for in discipline and putting the team above all else. That's how they won it the last three times, and its a system that works. I'm not saying they are going to win, all I'm saying is that you need to include them in the list of teams which could potentially win. Most people won't, but then again, they didn't in 1995, 2000, or 2003 either...and we all know how that worked out.

2008-09 Season Preview

While it is not yet the end of July, it's hard not to think about the upcoming hockey season, especially given the current state of the Devils and everything that has happened since last season's disappointing playoff loss. It seems as though the Devils have addressed their most pressing needs, and in just two months time, we finally will get to see how the seeds planted this summer will begin to grow. I realize that there is still plenty of time left to add and remove pieces, but I feel that enough has been done and sufficient time has passed in order to properly make a prediction for the upcoming season.

Arrivals:
Brian Rolston, Bobby Holik, Scott Clemmensen

Departures:
Sergei Brylin, Arron Asham, Karel Rachunek

Offense:
There is not a doubt in anyone's mind that if you replace Sergei Brylin and Arron Asham with Brian Rolston and Bobby Holik, you made out pretty darn good. Player loyalty is all well and good to a point, but Brylin is a prime example of when too much blind loyalty is not a good thing. "Sarge" had not been much more than a body on the ice for the past few years, and likely would have been shown the door years ago had he not just happened to have been a part of all three Stanley Cup winning teams. Given the option to give either sign Brylin or Jay Pandolfo, the Devils made the right decision. Arron Asham is why one-year contracts can be a great idea sometimes. Asham and the Devils were a terrible match from the start, and thankfully, we only had to watch it for one season. While his only real strength is his fighting ability, he barely even used that during his Devils tenure, rendering him dead weight on skates. He's on his way to Philadelphia where his services fit the Flyers' mold far better than they ever would ours.

Brian Rolston returns to the Devils following a season in which he was one of the best forwards on the Minnesota Wild. He brings with him 59 points that the Devils' anemic offense certainly could have benefitted from last year. Rolston also provides an instant solution to the Devils powerplay, an area nearly as vapid as the offense in general. Rolston also brings great veteran leadership and playoff experience, and can easily assume the right wing position on the top line with Patrik Elias and Zach Parise. Bobby Holik was a slightly more questionable signing at first glance, although given the performance of Dainius Zubrus last season, it could very well work out to be a great move on the part of Lou Lamoriello. Holik will fill two critical roles on the Devils; Holik, like Zubrus, is a big body and can fight the battles in front of the net while patrolling for rebounds. He's also very strong on the puck and is hard to shake off, and provides the team with a necessary dose of sandpaper. Holik's second role will likely be to provide relief to John Madden, who upon Holik's original departure in 2002, assumed his duties. Just as Rolston bolsters the powerplay, Holik's presence will prove beneficial on the penalty kill, as one half of the second unit which follows Madden/Pandolfo. In addition, Holik is proficient in the faceoff circle, another aspect of his game which will come in handy should Madden be too fatigued to take a key faceoff. Even if the Holik signing does not appear to be working out, it is a one year deal, therefore it is an easy mistake to fix.

Defense:
What the Devils lost on defense this offseason was not much. Karel Rachunek was brought aboard last summer for his point shot alone, though it became clear when he rarely if ever used it that his time in New Jersey would be short. Even with his departure, there remain eight defensemen under contract. There are those who say that the young and inexperienced Devils defense corps overachieved last year; that their "defense-by-committee" was nothing more than youthful drive, and that they worked well as a group but were nothing more than a bunch of no-name minor leaguers. Even Colin White and Paul Martin, blueline regulars going back to the pre-lockout days, seemed lost in the shadow of those who came before them and those on the other teams around them. Not that you can entirely blame the hockey media...after all, who outside of the Devils' development coaches had ever heard of Mike Mottau? But the "pleasant surprise" that was the Devils defense now has experience and chemistry, and figure to play even better this year.

Whether you're looking for the quick puck-movers like Johnny Oduya and leading minute-getter Paul Martin, the hard hitting stay-at-homers like Bryce Salvador, Vitaly Vishnevski, or the workhorses Colin White and Mike Mottau, this incarnation has players of all types who are good at what they do, and that perhaps is one of the underlying reasons for their success. You don't just walk into the 5th best Goals Against per game average in the league (2.35 if you're counting).

Goaltending:
Oddly enough, here lies the true challenge for the Devils this season. Say what you will about whether or not Martin Brodeur is consistently overworked, the truth is that doesn't matter. Every goalie benefits from rest, and if Marty truly doesn't feel tired come playoff time when he racks up 78 games, imagine what an extra 8 games of rest could do for him. Brent Sutter has already proven that he is a coach that does what he wants, therefore there is nothing to say that he can't demand of Marty, by the power vested in him by Lou Lamoriello, that Kevin Weekes will start 12 games, and that Marty will handle the other 70. Last January, Weekes had one bad game, entirely due to the fact that he hadn't played in two months, and from that point on he did not start a game the rest of the way. But think back to early last year, when Kevin was recieving normal minutes for a backup goaltender; he was extremely solid in goal. Combine fewer games for Marty with more playing time for Kevin, and you solve two problems at once. It is only if this happens that the Devils can truly get the most out of a goaltending duo that most teams would kill for. Scott Clemmensen returns to the Garden State just one year after publicly complaining about his lack of playing time. Fortunately for him, that will not be an issue this time around. Clemmensen was signed to mentor up-and-coming goalie Jeff Frazee in Lowell, similar to what he did for Justin Pogge last season with Toronto.

Outlook:
I know I sound like a blind optimist, but you cannot argue that this team did not lose much this offseason, but it did gain a lot, particularly up front. It is for this reason that I predict no worse a finish than last year. With the added offense brought in on July 1, '07-08's 99 points is a mark that can be surpassed, and the club's 12th consecutive postseason appearance is far more reality than fantasy. If Rolston and Holik can deliver the way they were brought in to, the defense essentially picks up where it left off, Brodeur plays less and Weekes plays more, and all of that is supplemented by the further growth of franchise future Zach Parise, there is nothing to say that the Devils can't contend for the Stanley Cup this season.