Eastern Conference Preview
By Frank Rekas
No way do I claim to be an expert in this sort of stuff. More like a guy shooting from the hip, or from his six pack of Molson Canadien. However, since I’ve made my predicted finish of our beloved Florida Panthers, it’s now time for me to pick how the rest of the conference will stack up. So in two sentences or less, here’s my fearless Eastern Conference prediction for the 2010-2011 NHL season.
1) Washington Capitals. When you have Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, and Niklas Backstrom supplying your offence, and Bruce Boudreau pushing the buttons it would seem to make sense that this will be another run away year for the Caps in the East. I am concerned about goaltending, but they seem to have enough firepower to overcome that.
2) Boston Bruins. Tyler Seguin, a healthy Dennis Seidenberg, and new scenery for Nathan Horton would be the reasons for this pick. The Bruins should be out to prove that last year’s playoff failure is not going to happen again.
3) Pittsburgh Penguins. Crosby, Malkin, Staal, provide the scoring. Aaron Asham the grit, and Mike Comrie the looks, as the Pens should be able to overcome the loss of Sergei Gonchar and Bill Guerin. Other than that, it’s very hard for me to say anything else about this team, mostly because I just don’t like them. But as a regular reader, you’d alredy know that.
4) New Jersey Devils. Might be kind of a high pick here, as I’m not sure how Ilya Kovalchuk really fits. Whether he is made for this team or not, is something that the Devils will have 15 years to prove. Or choke on.
5) Philadelphia Flyers. With a full year of the Peter Laviollette regime and a superb Stanley Cup run, the Flyers will be able to prove that they aren’t an eighth place team. Once they got their heads out of their arse last season, they showed how good they were, and this is a more realistic spot for them.
6) Buffalo Sabres. Ryan Miller. It’s all up to him. As he goes, so go the Sabres. While making the playoffs isn’t a problem, will they have enough offence, grit, and stamina to do any damage beyond the first round?
7) Ottawa Senators. It woulds seem that Ottawa may have some question marks especially in goal and on defence. Hoping that Sergei Gonchar and a healthy Pascal Leclaire can get the job done to go along with Daniel Alfredsson, the Sens should make the playoffs. But can they get past the first round?
8) Montreal Canadiens. This was a tough choice and had nothing to do with the fact that I’m not a fan of Uncle Jack, or that this team is still tool small. It’s more of the fact that I do question their goaltending. Carey Price will have the weight of the entire province on his shoulders.
9) Tampa Bay Lightning. Steve Yzerman has come in and added instant credibility here. Offensively this team is gifted and having a young Steven Stamkos will provide nightly highlights. Defence and goaltending is their combined weak spot. Those two attributes keep them out of the post season.
10) Atlanta Thrashers. Or Blackhawks South. Big changes here with ex Blackhawks Andrew Ladd, Dustin Byfuglien, Ben Eager and Brent Sopel bringing their Cup winning experience to the South. It won’t be enough to vault them into the post season yet, but things could be looking better.
11) Toronto Maple Leafs. Too many question marks and a group of forwards that may not be as good as Burkie thinks they are. There will be improvement, but not enough to get playoff tickets yet. Captain Phanuef will be very interesting to watch.
12) Carolina Hurricanes. Other than Cam Ward in goal, I’m not sure what this team brings other than their inconsistent effort every night. Not much offence, and a pretty average defence. Well at least there’s Greek Lightning to stir things up once in awhile.
13) New York Rangers. John Tortorella , Marian Gaborik and Henrik Lundqvist. And reporter Larry Brooks from the NY Post. Unless you really think that Sean Avery and Derek Boogaard will trash talk and pummel the Rangers to the post season, there’s no reason to get too excited in the Big Apple.
14) New York Islanders. Lots of young talent with John Tavares and the coming out party of Matt Moulson. That’s where it ends though. They may excite and may be interesting on many nights, but they are still a ways away.
15) Florida Panthers. I’d pick lower if I could, but there’s only 15 spots. Peter DeBoer is on a short leash, and the offence will struggle. Tomas Vokoun is one of the top five goalies in the conference, but there’s no way he’s enough to get this team out of the cellar.
That takes care of the East. Curious to see how this turns out of course.
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