NHL Season Predictions Part 1: Northwest
As the NHL season begins year two from its lockout, teams and players are eagerly trying to get ready and make a favorable impression to the rest of the league. This season aims to provide conundrums in terms of victors and loser similar to last year’s winners of Carolina, Edmonton, and Buffalo or the losers of Toronto, Boston, and Vancouver. This update I will tackle the Northwest division in hopes of finding new changes, surprises, and disappointments. The Calgary Flames have gone from being the worst Canadian team in the past few years to one of the best overall teams in the NHL. Making the playoffs on the back of Miikka Kiprusoff and other notables, the Flames look to make the playoffs yet again this season. Dion Phaneuf, one of the leagues best young defensemen looks to improve this season even more helping an already potent defense including Rhett Warrener, Robyn Regehr, and added depth newcomers such as Andrei Zyuzin. Having potentially one of the best defenses and goalie tandems in the league, it will be a hardship trying to score many points against the Flames. While the defense and goalie situation is almost second to none, there still are concerns with the offense. It’s true that the Flames added Alex Tanguay to the lineup to compliment Jarome Iginla, but besides the first line, the lack of depth will haunt the team some nights. While the team does have notable players such as Kristian Huselius and Daymond Langkow, the team also has underachieving players such as Jamie Lundmark, Jeff Friesen, and Tony Amonte. If these players are able to step their game up this coming season, I can see the Flames winning the division easily. If not, the Flames still should make the playoffs but not potentially where they would like to be at, facing the toughest division in a difficult schedule. One of the top powerhouses of the NHL during the late 1990s, the Colorado Avalanche look to extend the team’s playoff streak by trying to contend again this year. However, with financial problems, a loss of players, and old age, the Avalanche may not look like the monster of years past. Losing Rob Blake hurt a lot. Yes, he was old and not as productive as during his glory days, but he still was one of the best defensemen in the league and will be missed immensely in Denver. While the Avalanche did add Jordan Leopold to a now mediocre defense, the team did so with the loss of Alex Tanguay, severely hurting the offense. While the team still has notable stars such as Milan Hejduck and Joe Sakic, both, especially in Sakic’s case, are getting older and are on pace for negative margins in terms of productivity. While there are some bright spots in Andrew Brunette, Marek Svatos, and Steve Konowalchuk, there are also many notable underachievers such as Tyler Arnason and Patrice Brisebois. Also with Jose Theodore’s instability, this could be a very tough year for Avalanche fans. The Edmonton Oilers had a dream playoffs a few months ago, defying all predictions from experts with the team’s amazing run. While some may call this a Cinderella situation, especially with the loss of notables such as Peca, Pronger, and Tarnstrom, I believe the Oilers will have another great season based on chemistry more than anything. Adding some depth players such as Joffrey Lupul, Petr Sykora, and Ladislav Smid I believe this group of younger players will overachieve this year trying to get back to Stanley Cup contention. Having a full year of a true number one goalie in Dwayne Roloson should also help as well. While there are some questions with the defense, I believe any critics are over exaggerating when they say the Oilers have the worst defense core in the NHL. Will it be a problem in some games? It might, but with an excellent offensive core and an underrated goalie, Edmonton should be atop the Northwest division come April. The Vancouver Canucks surprised many spectators last season in a negative way more than anything. Underachieving to only contend for the ninth spot in the West, the Canucks tried to revamp this off-season trading Todd Bertuzzi to Florida for Roberto Luongo. While this was a slightly better upgrade to the likes of Auld and Coultier, besides in the playoffs, the Canucks have not had many problems accumulating wins to put them in the playoffs. While Luongo could be a better goalie in the playoffs, the team first has to make the postseason before illustrating some playoff competence. With acquiring Luongo, the Canucks were forced to give up star Todd Bertuzzi, who, despite the notorious alteration a few years back, has played an excellent role as a power forward adding both passion and goals. With his absence, along with notables such as Anson Carter, there is little to be optimistic about in terms of offense minus Naslund, the Sedins, and potentially Morrison. In terms of the defensive end, losing Jovanovski, no matter how overrated some critics label him, will hurt. Despite adding Willie Mitchell, with the added losses of Keith Carney and Bryan Allen, there should be a negative impact to the already mediocre defense. With the added problem of facing the toughest division in the Canuck’s schedule, I do not see much optimism for Canuck fans. The defensive mindset of the Minnesota Wild has altered a bit this off-season which potentially has the positive impact of putting this team back into the playoffs. Adding Pavol Demitra with Marian Gaborik will produce a stealthy pair on both the power play and full strength with each being a good compliment to each other. Along with other notables such a Mark Parrish, the offensive outlook for Minnesota is looking up. In terms of defense, while the Wild did lose some key players such a Kuba, Minnesota did add some depth in Kim Johnsson and Keith Carney. With a favorable amount of depth on both offense and defense along with a goaltender in Manny Fernandez who challenged some of the goaltender stats last season, the Wild has the tools to make the playoffs after some drought. Final Northwest Results for the 2006-2007 Season (Rank based on Western standings): 3. Edmonton Oilers
7. Calgary Flames
8. Minnesota Wild
11. Colorado Avalanche
13. Vancouver Canucks Dennis Biray presents advice on all kinds of topics ranging from finance and investing to fitness to sports. For more information email him at dbiray@gmail.com, or to view other articles written by him visit http://www.biraynetworks.co.nr |
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