2010-11 Preview: Chicago Blackhawks

2010-11 Preview: Chicago Blackhawks

2010-11 Prediction 4th Western Conference

The Blackhawks finished the 2009-10 season in 2nd place in the Western Conference with a 52-22-8 record and 112 points. They were also crowned the Stanley Cup Champions by defeating the Philadelphia Flyers in six games. It will be quite difficult for the Hawks to repeat as Cup Champions this season after being forced to move a lot of players to get their payroll under the Salary Cap. GM Stan Bowman had to trade away or release 7 players during the off-season which included Dustin Byfuglien, Kris Versteeg, Ben Eager, John Madden, Andrew Ladd, Brent Sopel and Goalie Antti Niemi. Bowman was able to sign veteran goaltender Marty Turco. Captain Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane will once again be among the top scorers in the NHL and will help guide the Hawks back to the Playoffs this season but they will have trouble going far in the Playoffs with their lack of bench depth.

Player to Watch: F Jack Skille

2010-11 Preview: Boston Bruins

2010-11 Prediction 6th Eastern Conference


When you talk (or type) about the B's, defense and goaltending come to mind. Zdeno Chara monitors the blue line in front of G Tukka Rask, and can send the puck the other way at over 100 mph. Nathan Horton also will help the Bruins after being traded from Florida. Surprisingly, where the Bruins figure to have trouble is putting pucks in to the net. The problem isn't a lack of talent, but a startling inconsistency. Patrice Bergeron and Marc Savard are world class talents. Milan Lucic and Shawn Thornton add the grit. Tyler Seguin, the #2 overall pick, has generated quite a buzz and all signs point to him making the team and (from a Boston perspective) hopefully helping to relieve the pressure on the offense. Watch for Bruins to be featured during the NHL Premiere festivities in Prague, Czech Replic October 9th and 10th.
 
Player to Watch: G Tukka Rask

2010-11 Preview: Atlanta Thrashers

2010-11 Prediction 13th Eastern Conference

The Atltanta Thrashers roster experienced major changes between the trade deadline last season and now. F Ilya Kovalchuk was shipped off to New Jersey after turning down a huge deal to stay as the face of this franchcise. Other players of note that have departed are F's Slava Kozlov, Maxim Afinogenov, and Colby Armstrong. While the Thrash do not appear to have gained a glut of talent, they definitely got tougher. Add to the lineup guys like D Brent Sopel and F's Andrew Ladd, Ben Eager, and Dustin Byfuglien. Goaltending would appear to be the biggest question mark for this squad, with veteran Chris Mason battling 19 year old Ondrej Pavelec. Aside from Byfuglien and his exciting two-way play, the highlight of this team figures to be Evander Kane. Unfortunately for him, the rebuild in Atlanta doesn't appear to have provided him with many players near his talent level.

Player to Watch: C/W Evander Kane

2010-11 Preview: Calgary Flames

2010-11 Prediction 7th Western Conference

The Flames finished the 2009-10 season in 10th place in the Western Conference with a 40-32-10 record and 90 points. Look for the Flames to make their return to the NHL Playoffs this season. They certainly will not be among the elite NHL teams but they should be strong enough to finish in 7th place in the West. There were no major players lost during the off-season and Darryl Sutter signed veteran forwards Alex Tanguay and Olli Jokinen (both former Flames). Jarome Iginla has played with both forwards before and maybe this time they will be able to find better chemistry and help the Flames improve on their 29th ranked offense from last season. The defense is very solid (ranked 5th in 2009-10) and number one goalie Miikka Kiprusoff looks to have a bounce back season.

Player to Watch: C Mikael Backlund

2010-11 Preview: Anaheim Ducks

2010-11 Prediction 11th Western Conference

The Ducks finished the 2009-10 season in 11th place in the Western Conference with a 39-32-11 record and 89 points. They will have a hard time improving on that record this season with the loss of arguably their best defensemen Scott Niedermayer to retirement. Teemu Selanne will return for one more NHL season and he will add some much needed offense but the Ducks will have a hard time keeping other teams from filling the net behind Jonas Hiller with their sub-par defense. As of today they still have not come to an agreement with F Bobby Ryan who is an RFA. Ryan is a major cog in their offense and is paired on the top line with Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf. Ryan hopes to sign a new contract before camp begins in two weeks. After the top line the forwards consist of Selanne, Jason Blake, Saku Koivu and Joffrey Lupul who bring veteran leadership and tons of experience but they are certainly no longer in their primes. 2010-11 will be another long season for Jonas Hiller and the Ducks.

Player to Watch: D Luca Sbisa

2010-11 Team Previews

With only 31 days left until the puck drops for the first game of the 2010-11 NHL season in Helsinki Finland (Carolina vs Minnesota) we are going to write a preview for all 30 NHL teams. Dave will cover the Western Conference and Ern will cover the Eastern Conference.

...And It Begins.

When the calendar turns the page to September, many sports fans minds turn to the start of college and pro football. For a select few, the start of football only serves as a placeholder until life begins again…the drop of the puck on another NHL season!


The 2009-2010season was a disappointing one for fans of the flightless bird, but overall the league and fans of the sport had to be thrilled. The games kicked off in Helsinki and Stockholm, celebrated a Winter Classic at Boston’s Fenway Park, took a slight detour to Vancouver for some gold trinkets, and concluded in Philadelphia when Patrick Kane scored what he will always remember was the prettiest goal of his career, replays be damned. In between there were plenty of exciting moments.

In the West, Phoenix emerged from a disastrous off-season to make the playoffs. Exciting teams in Vancouver, Colorado, and Los Angeles also had strong seasons. San Jose overcame many years of disappointment by advancing to the conference finals, but coming up short as Chicago’s young, pricey core proved that age really ain’t nothin’ but a number.

To many, the East was much less exciting. Many fans felt that the entire season was nothing but a dress rehearsal for the inevitable, a matchup of Washington and Pittsburgh meeting as mere formality, with the winner moving on to claim the Stanley Cup. Montreal and a goalie named Jaroslav Halak (his name will certainly come up both in the Montreal and St. Louis team previews) didn’t much care for these opinions, and managed to come up a little bit short when Philadelphia edged them out in the Conference Finals.

Individually, both young and established stars provided the excitement. Tampa’s Steven Stamkos topped the 50 goal mark in his 2nd year. Established stars like Crosby and Overchkin may have bowed out of the playoffs early, but Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and Mike Richards lead their teams to the Stanley Cup Finals. Martin Brodeur set the NHL’s all time shutout record against the Penguins. Henrik Sedin went on to claim the Art Ross Trophy for league top scorer.

Most of the time, the off-season is a mostly uneventful time to be a fan. Free Agency is usually a short blip on the radar, but this time that wasn’t the case. Coming off a Stanley Cup win, Chicago was forced to dismantle much of their team based on salary cap issues. The Salary Cap also loomed large in the case of Ilya Kovalchuk. He attempted to sign a 17-year, $102m contract with New Jersey. Even though there is not a rule specifically prohibiting this in the NHL collective bargaining agreement, the NHL decided to reject the deal on the basis that it violated the salary cap. This ended up in court, and to the surprise of many the revocation was upheld.

That’s the abridged version of how we made it from September 2009 to now. Over the next few weeks we will be rolling out team previews (very original of us) and maybe a few other surprises that will be sure to keep this the least read hockey blog in the world. Well, aside from any blogs about the Atlanta Thrashers...