featuring Team 1200's Phil Melanson
Since Canada only ices 6 of the 30 teams in the NHL, we as Canadians discuss and debate before every season and finally decide on which Canadian city will be given the title of “the Great Canadian Hope.” The Vancouver Canucks have held that title for the past couple of seasons, but unlike past years, the expectations are sky-high this year and the belief is there from many prognosticators and publications that the Canucks will actually get the job done this season.
Whether the Canucks are successful or not all depends on their former captain and highly polarizing goaltender, Roberto Luongo. For so many years, we’ve tried to figure out just what the Canucks have with Luongo. On some nights, he can look spectacular and like the best goaltender in the world. Other nights (especially in the playoffs), he can look like someone that’s lucky to have a starting job.
Much was made of the fact that the Canucks coaching staff took away his captaincy. They'll tell you that it was due to the high demands and pressure that come with wearing the all-important “C” for a hockey club. With seemingly less pressure on him to perform, does that mean we’ll see more consistency out of Bobby Lu?
He’ll certainly be helped out by a defence corps that is improved from a year ago as GM Mike Gillis and staff worked diligently during the off-season. Dan Hamhuis comes over from Nashville in what was a busy summer for him...well, his negotiating rights and not so much him. Keith Ballard also comes over after a trade with Florida that saw the departures of Michael Grabner and Steve Bernier.
Willie Mitchell departs after the Canucks found it too risky to re-sign him after his concussion problems last season and Sami Salo could be out for the year with an Achilles tendon injury after a floorball accident back in Sweden during the off-season.
The forwards should be strong again with the Sedin Twins leading the way. Henrik is coming off an MVP season and his brother Daniel could have been right up there with him if it weren’t for an injury costing him almost 20 games last season.
Their success can also be attributed to how many players had career years all at the same time. Ryan Kesler had 75 points, Mason Raymond had 25 goals, Mikael Samuelsson had 30 goals and Alex Burrows led the team in goals with 35. The obvious question here is: Are these guys capable of these numbers again or was it just a one-year blip? We saw what happened last year with the Boston Bruins after a bunch of guys had career years two seasons ago.
Two players to watch out for in camp are Manny Malhotra and Raffi Torres. Both were brought in during the off-season because of their two-way play and experience, but I’m sure that the Canucks wouldn’t mind if they scored a little bit as well. After the Top 6 forwards, the next highest scorer for Vancouver last year was Kyle Welwood with 25 points. Yikes!
I’m just so glad that I’m writing about the New Jersey Devils as a complete unit and not just about Ilya Kovalchuk. It was infuriating to have to talk about his contract saga on a daily basis, but with it being the only major hockey story during what is always an agonizingly slow summer, it’s all we could do to talk for three hours every day.
However, saying all that, Kovalchuk has to be the major storyline heading into the season for the Devils. Kovalchuk was brought in via trade from Atlanta and was expected to be the major piece of the puzzle to allow them to be a Stanley Cup contender. Kovalchuk was able to pick up 27 points in 27 games and 6 points in 5 games in the playoffs, but he couldn’t elevate the play of his team and the Devils were bounced in the opening round by the Flyers.
The Devils and specifically new head coach John MacLean will have to find a way to keep Kovalchuk contributing at his same pace, but elevating the contributions of others that share ice time with the Russian sniper.
Now, contrary to popular belief, the Devils are more than just about Kovalchuk. Their leading scorer from a year ago is still there in Zach Parise. Parise had 82 points in 81 games last year and will be looking to pick up even more points as he is in the final year of a contract that will make him a restricted free agent at the end of the year.
Defensively, there were major changes in the off-season and the Devils defence looks completely different from 12 months ago with all the changes over the last 12 months. Paul Martin was lost to the Penguins, but as everyone in Ottawa knows by now, Anton Volchenkov signed hours into free agency with the Devils and was joined on July 1st by Henrik Tallinder as he moved over from Buffalo.
In the past, we didn’t even need to talk about the goaltending because we knew Marty Brodeur would play 70-75 games and would be solid throughout. But with Brodeur struggling in the last couple of playoff appearances, the thought throughout the off-season was that this season would be the campaign in which the coaches would finally lower the workload for Marty and that it would allow for him to be fresh for the post-season.
Johan Hedberg could be a guy to watch in camp because he may be counted on the play 15-20 games this year. Usually being the backup for the Devils means a paycheque to sit on the bench, but by all accounts, the Devils bacup will have to earn his paycheque. Another player to watch out for is Travis Zajac. After finishing second on the team in scoring with 67 points in a full season a year ago, could Zajac be the third superstar that the Devils desperately need in order to fulfill the expectations of being a Stanley Cup contender.
If you were the GM of a sports team that just lost in the second round of the playoffs and was accused of being too old and tired, what would you do? 99% of people would try to make the roster a little younger to fend off the signs of old age, but the real GM decided to actually make them even older. Guess Ken Holland and company are hoping that a shorter season and all that experience will allow them to be a Stanley Cup contender yet again.
On paper, the Wings are still a formidable opponent for any of the other 29 teams in the league. But the core of this team is another year older and there are signs that all the major players on this club may be starting to slow down. It’s normal to see Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk lead the team in points, but it’s abnormal to see that 70 points was the magic number.
Zetterberg had a career year in 2007-2008 with 92 points and Datsyuk only had 70 points after back-to-back seasons with 30-plus goals and 97 points. After playing so many regular season and playoff games over the last few years, how much will these two be helped by the fact that they lost in the second round a year ago?
Another problem that the Wings suffered from was a lack of scoring outside of Datsyuk and Zetterberg. The next highest scorer after the two superstars was Nick Lidstrom with 49 points. The next highest scoring foward was Tomas Holmstrom with 45 points. Valteri Fillpula and Johan Franzen were highly affected by injuries last season, so they can help with secondary scoring if they can stay healthy.
Defensively, it all starts with Nick Lidstrom like it has since man invented the wheel. At 40 years old, he doesn’t have the same explosiveness that he once had, but he can still be a force in this league because of his natural ability and his vast experience. His partner, Brian Rafalski, is no spring chicken either as he just turned 39, but he’s coming off a season in which he was plus 23 and had 42 points last season.
The goaltending looks pretty solid with the 1-2 combination of Jimmy Howard and Chris Osgood. Howard took hold of the starting spot last year with a great season which included: 61 starts, 37 wins, a 2.26 GAA and a .920 save percentage.
Two players to watch out for in camp are Niklas Kronwall and Mike Modano. Kronwall missed major time last year because of knee problems. The Wings are hoping that his knee troubles are a thing of the past and that he can stay healthy. His 22 points in 48 games suggest that he can be a good contributor from the back end. Modano is going to be a sentimental favourite in the D as a 40-year-old coming back to his hometown team. How much does he have left to offer the Wings?