The season has started and the more things change, the more they stay the same....Ovechkin is scoring goals in bunches and the Leafs have already lost another game in overtime....I wanted to do this earlier today, but I got caught up with booking the show for this afternoon and tomorrow, then co-hosting the NFL Preview Show from 5-6 p.m.
Unlike most people or columns that just give their predictions in a boring and tired sort of way....I wanted to present my thoughts for the upcoming season differently....So, my thought is to give you what each team needs to do to succeed and what they have to avoid to fail....really, either one can go hand in hand, but we'll keep it this way for the sake of format....
We never really know what the future brings 'cause things happen that we have no control over throughout the season....a team can be decimated by injuries or different players may end up with problems off the ice or it could be something that no one could ever think of....that's why I've always thought prediciting wins and losses was kind of silly....
Enough talk, here's my thoughts for each team in the Western Conference:
Anaheim Ducks
Will succeed if: They find secondary scoring to go with the top line of Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan.....they need Saku Koivu, Teemu Selanne and Joffrey Lupul to be on top form...
Will fail if: None of the younger defensemen step up to try and fill the void left by Chris Pronger going to the Flyers and Francois Beauchemin going to the Leafs...
Calgary Flames
Will succeed if: Jay Bouwmeester can live up to the hype that he garnered by playing in Florida all those years and Dion Phaneuf can raise his game back to where it was a couple of years ago...
Will fail if: Secondary scorers like Rene Bourque and David Moss regress after having career years last season...
Chicago Blackhawks
Will succeed if: The young defense corps can continue to progress like they did a year ago by reaching the playoffs for the first time...
Will fail if: The whole organization can't get past what was a tumultuous off-season filled with negative stories invloving players and management...
Colorado Avalanche
Will succeed if: Everyone on the team has career years...
Will fail if: They step onto the ice.....this should be the worst team in the league.....it's hard to pinpoint one thing that they will fail at this season....
Columbus Blue Jackets
Will succeed if: The full team continues to progress after making the playoffs for the first time in franchise history...
Will fail if: Steve Mason proves to be a one-year wonder and/or Rick Nash becomes complacent after signing such a big extension...
Dallas Stars
Will succeed if: Marty Turco can return to form after a terrible season last year...
Will fail if: The injury bug hits them again as hard as it did a year ago...
Detroit Red Wings
Will succeed if: The younger players like Justin Abdelkader, Ville Leino, Darren Helm and Valteri Filppula can replace the production lost with players like Marian Hossa, Jiri Hudler and Mikael Samuelsson leaving...
Will fail if: The aging core of this team finally starts to show some of that age and more importantly, some wear and tear....
Edmonton Oilers
Will succeed if: They can get over the fact that no one wants to play there.....I'm kidding, the young core needs to step up to that next level....they have the talent, but have not shown the consistency...
Will fail if: Bringing in Nikolai Khabibulin turns out to be a worse move than keeping Dwayne Roloson...
Los Angeles Kings
Will succeed if: Johnathan Quick can prove to be a number one goaltender in this league...
Will fail if: They didn't learn from the mistakes they made a year ago when they were squeezed out of the playoffs by a small margin...
Minnesota Wild
Will succeed if: Martin Havlat can stay healthy for a full year as opposed to the Wild's former superstar player, Marian Gaborik, who is now with the New York Rangers...
Will fail if: The plan to open up the offense ends up backfiring on a team that is still built to play a defensive style...
Nashville Predators
Will succeed if: The Preds can find three defensemen to complement the big 3 of Shea Weber, Dan Hamhuis and Ryan Suter...
Will fail if: Pekka Rinne ends up being a one-year wonder...
Phoenix Coyotes
Will succeed if: People in Glendale and surrounding areas even show up to watch a team in the midst of so much turmoil....
Will fail if: They use all the relocation and ownership talk to make themselves feel unmotivated...
San Jose Sharks
Will succeed if: They don't give into the pressure of being the team known for having so much potential but having so little results...
Will fail if: No one is willing to take a leadership role on the team after the fiasco involving the captaincy during the summer...
St. Louis Blues
Will succeed if: Erik Johnson and Alex Pietrangelo can step up and become contributing members of the defense corps....
Will fail if: They can't live up to their great special teams play from a year ago...8th in the league on the power play and 3rd in penalty killing last season....
Vancouver Canucks
Will succeed if: The younger players such as Mason Raymond, Sergei Shirokov and Michael Grabner can add just a little more scoring to a team with a great defense and world-class goaltending...
Will fail if: The new additions of Christian Ehrhoff, Brad Lukowich and Matheiu Schneider fail to gel with their rest of the defense corps already in Vancouver...
Eastern Conference predictions tomorrow..... :-)