September 30, 2008

Atlantic Division Preview

5th place
New York Islanders

Does it ever seem like the Islanders get better? Do they think it's 1996 and Bill Geurin and Doug Weight can lead them into the playoffs? Will Rick Dipietro carry this team into the playoffs? I say the answers are "No" all around. The only bright spots are Kyle Okposo and Blake Comeau. They will both get singnificant playing time this year, but are probably a year or two away from being impact players.

4th place
New Jersey Devils

I think Martin Brodeur has now hit his "twilight years", but he's still pretty damn good! Scoring should be improved with the return of Brian Rolston, but the team is just not good enough to beat the Rangers, Flyers and Penguins on a consistent basis. Bobby Holik and Scott Clemmensen are back. Faceoffs should improve with Holik and the backup goalie position in New Jersey should be renamed "Official Team Bench Warmer"

3rd place
Pittsburgh Penguins

A lot of people were saying that the Pens were the new Oilers of the 80's. The salary cap era is proving that you have a 3-5 year window of building and keeping a core set of players. Pittsburgh is heading into year 4. Last season in the Finals, Malkin disappeared and didn't seem interested in taking the lumps needed to win the Cup and that leaves Crosby to do things on his own, with Hossa out now. Staal has to be moved up from the 3rd line to progress him into the offensive threat that he can be. Defence may struggle early this season as Gonchar and Whitney are both out for a significant period of time. Fleury will have to be spectacular again as reliable backup, Ty Conklin has moved onto Detroit. I say the Pens biggest weakness is their coach, who is hidden behind a good team right now. In games 1 & 2 of the Finals he could not find a way to get Crosby and Malkin away from the top defensive unit of Detroit's.

2nd place
New York Rangers

Naslund, Redden and Zherdev should add some scoring that was lacking at times last season. They should also replace the points lost with Jagr going to Russia. Redden should regain his 2006 form which found him on Canada's Olympic team. Lundqvist may be the best goalie in the league. Shannahan wants to return to New York, but that may end up being a mid season addition and a contract may have to be moved out. Mark Staal might prove himself as the Rangers' #1 defenceman this season.

1st place
Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers had seven 20 goal scorers last season and only one of them left the team (Prospal). The natural improvement of new captain, Mike Richards and Jeff Carter should fill that void. Braydon Coburn will emerge as the Flyers #1 D-Man this season with the departure of Jason Smith and Jaroslav Modry. Goaltending is solid and proven after Martin Biron finally got his chance.

September 27, 2008

Western Conference Preview

After previewing the three divisions I've now put together this graphic which has my predictions on it.

Northwest Division Preview

5th place
Vancouver Canucks

It's amazing how the Canucks went out and got Luongo, yet have gotten worse each year. I expect that trend to continue. They still lack scoring yet they have added Pavol Demitra. I don't believe the Sedin's are top 10 players in the NHL, nor do I think that they can lead a team to a championship. Are they always going to be on the same team or will they ever have to prove themselves on their own?

4th place
Colorado Avalanche

Joe Sakic came back, but he's not the Joe of old. Ryan Smyth needs to play more than 55 games and score more than 14 goals, as he did last season, if the Avalanche have any hope of making the playoffs. Of course the goaltending is a huge question and whether or not Andrew Raycroft can recover after being thrown to the curb in Toronto.

3rd place
Calgary Flames

Same team as last season with one major change. Mike Cammalleri replaces Alex Tanguay on the top line, pressumably. Todd Bertuzzi is on the team, but he is not even a shell of the player he once was. Defence stays the same, and if Kiprusoff has another "OK" year people will start to question his big 6 year, $35 million contract. Of course, Dion Phaneuf will be a rock in the backend, but it may not be enough.

2nd place
Edmonton Oilers

Gagner and Cogliano should improve on their great rookie stats from last season. Erik Cole is added to the offensive mix, and if Sheldon Souray is able to stay healthy he may be able to return to his dominating form of 2 seasons ago in Montreal. Garon has come into his own as a number 1 goalie, which means you should expect to see Dwayne Roloson moved if some teams are having goaltending troubles. Horcoff had 50 points in 53 games last season before an injury ended his season. If he can stay healthy he should be good for at least 30 goals and 80 points and of course the same should apply to Dustin Penner.

1st place
Minnesota Wild

Niklas Backstrom proved himself as a number 1 goalie when he had a sensational stretch run at the end of last season. The Wild lost Pavol Demitra (15 goals - 54 points), but gained Andrew Brunette (19 goals - 59 points). The bigger loss was that of Brian Rolston who took his 31 goal season to New Jersey. The entire team will be expected to pick up that slack. Defence looks very solid with Burns, Johnsson and newly acquired Marek Zidlicky. Of course any Lacques Lemaire coached team has to be solid defensively.

Jerseys on Icethetics

I'm a big fan of the stuff posted at Icethetics. Lots of good alternate jersey news and concept posts. Well, yesterday one of my jersey posts was used on the site.
See it here.
See my post here.

September 26, 2008

Central Division Preview

5th place
St. Louis Blues

For a team that missed the playoffs last year, the Blues didn't add much of anything to their hockey club. While they started strong last season, the faded quickly in the second half. Now they have lost Erik Johnson for the season and have not been able to replace him. The Blues need to make some roster moves if they hope to contend for a playoff spot this season. The only promising thing about the Blues this year is their new alternate jersey.

4th place
Nashville Predators

Again another team that hasn't really made any additions. I believe their goaltending is still a little questionable with Dan Ellis. He'll have to have a great year for the Preds to compete with the likes of the Wings and improved Hawks

3rd place
Columbus Blue Jackets

Many additions to a team that again, started strong and faded late. New players include; RJ Umberger, Kristian Huselius, Andy McDonald, and Raffi Torres. Also Mike Commodore and Fedor Tyutin on the backend. On paper the Jackets look like a playoff team, but they do have to face the Wings, Hawks, Ducks, Sharks, Wild, and Stars a total of 28 games this year. I'm picking them to miss the playoffs, but just barely.

2nd place
Chicago Blackhawks

Toews and Kane are ready to be top players in the league now and with Brian Campbell on "D" and Huet in net the Hawks seem ready to jump back into the playoffs this year. It might be a tight squeeze but they should make it. Expect Khabibulin to be moved at some point this season.

1st place
Detroit Red Wings

The Stanley Cup champions are the same team as last year, except they've added the biggest offensive threat against them in the Finals last season. Don't think there will be much of a Cup hangover here as many players may get the attitude of, "Lets win it for Hossa". Scoring, defence, goaltending, the Wings may be the best TEAM ever...

September 21, 2008

St. Louis Blues New Alternate Jersey

The St. Louis Blues have released their new alternate jerseys. Here's a couple pics of them from the website.

Here was my guess

Another one incorrect.

Steven Stamkos' First Game

Last night Steve Stamkos played his first NHL pre-season game. The Lightning beat the Penguins 5-4 in a shootout. Stamkos scored on of the goals in the shootout. The game was held at The Igloo (Mellon Arena) in Pittsburgh. Attendance was just over 16,000 which is believe is a sellout if not very close. Here are a couple screen shots from the game.

Pacific Division Preview

5th Place

LA Kings
- This is not the year for the Kings. Their time is 2 or 3 years down the road. With the apparent contract dispute between the Kings and Patrick O'Sullivan, the Kings will be very weak in the scoring department.

4th Place

Phoenix Coyotes
- This team really solidified itself when they added Bryzgalov last year. They made a strong push for the playoffs, but their struggles at the begining of the season crushed that. They should be better this season having added Jokinen and Turris, along with a full season of Bryzgalov. This is a very conservative 4th place. They very well could finish higher. I think they will make the playoffs.

3rd Place

San Jose Sharks
Same team as last year, but this year they have a first time NHL head coach. I expect them to do well in the regular season and flop in the playoffs again. I am now convinced that Joe Thornton doesn't have what it takes to play in the playoffs. I hope he proves me wrong.

2nd Place

Anahiem Ducks
Last year after both Niedermayer and Selanne returned, the Ducks went 20-5-1. The Pacific division will be very tight at the top 3 spots. I expect them to rebound this year after not defending last year. I think they will make an appearance in the Conference Finals against this next team.

1st Place

Dallas Stars
I'm going to say it, these guys are my early pick to win the Cup this year. They have the same team as last year and now they have learned how to lose. They now know what it takes to win as a group. They may stuggle out of the gate with Zubov being out to begin with. Also, Phillipe Boucher needs to get back into form after a tough season for him, one in which his dad died. That would give the Stars 3 top D-Men; Zubov, Robidas, and Boucher.

September 20, 2008

Sabres Thirds

The Sabres unveiled their new alternate jerseys this afternoon. I saw that the leaked design (seen here) was confirmed when, during the inter-squad game played before the unveiling, some players were wearing the new socks.
After the game the new jersey was released.

Craig Rivet (left), Ryan Miller (right)

If you look closely you can also see that Miller is wearing the new style RBK goalie pads for this season.

Here is the difference between the two logos.

Also noticed that this season, on the boards where the markings are for the blueline and centre ice line, the old RBK logo will be replaced by the new one.

OLD


NEW


Pacific division preview next.

September 19, 2008

Revised St. Louis Jersey [Part 2]

So earlier today I revised my guess for the Blues jersey. Well, after seeing the image of their new shoulder patch today on the web, and reading about the jersey on their site (here), I have made some slight revisions.

First, here is the shoulder patch.

And here is the new guess. I know the drawing is crappy, but the idea is there.

Revised St. Louis jersey

I read a statement from the Blues' general manager saying that the new alternate jersey will be released two days from now (Sunday) and will feature the "Note Logo" inside a silver Gateway Arch. This will be encompassed in a cirlce with the wordmark above and below the arch. I drew up a concept:

Also, I put the logo on my Blues jersey. This is now my new official guess as to what the alternate will look like. You can see my old guess here.
I will begin with my season preview and predictions tomorrow starting with the Pacific Divison.

September 17, 2008

Third Jersey Photos

I took some time editing some photos I found on the internet. I made them look somewhat like what we should expect to see this upcoming season.

Toronto Maple Leafs
The NHL logo at the neck will probably have a white background such as their current white jersey does now.

Philadelphia Flyers
Again, not much to say. It's a retro jersey.

Pittsburgh Penguins
Same as their Winter Classic jersey, just obviously without the patch.

Boston Bruins
I didn't edit this photo, I just found it on some site that I cannot remember now.

Concept post:
Philadelphia Flyers
Simple and clean. Maybe too much black for a Flyers uniform.

September 14, 2008

Remaining Guesses For Alternate Jerseys

Start with Ottawa;

This is a crappy design for a crappy team. Enough said.

Philadelphia Flyers

Flyers will go with their retro jerseys from the 70's. The name tag on the back may be a white square with orange lettering.

Tampa Bay Lightning

I had a previous post using this logo. You can see it here. This is based on rumours that I have read. Of course these rumours also said there would be stars on the bottom of the Hurricanes new jersey. WRONG!

Pittsburgh Penguins.

Simple, they are going with last year's Winter Classic jersey. I think everyone pretty much assumed that they would. This is also a retro look. This is pretty much gauranteed seeing as you can no longer purchase the RBK Edge Penguins Winter Classic jersey from nhl.com anymore.

Ty Conklin & Outdoor Games

When Chicago and Detroit meet at Wrigley Field on January 1, 2009 it will be the third outdoor game in NHL history to actually count towards the final standings. It may also be the third time that Ty Conklin starts an outdoor NHL game.

Edmonton, November 22, 2003 - Heritage Classic

Conklin started this game which the Oilers lost 4-3 to the Montreal Canadiens. Tommy Salo, the Oilers starting goalie that year was injured during this time, so Conklin got the call.


Fast forward 4 years to January 1, 2008. Winter Classic. Marc Andre Fleury of the Penguins is injured earlier in the season, and who happens to be the backup? Ty Conklin. Conklin plays his second outdoor game, winning 2-1 in a shootout.

When January 1, 2009 rolls around, will Conklin still be a Red Wing? Probably. I just hope Chris Osgood doesn't think about past history. If he finds himself on the shelf come December he should know who to blame.

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