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2009-10 Eastern Conference Preview
by Dave Palmieri
Here are my early season order-of-finish predictions:
EASTERN
CONFERENCE
ATLANTIC DIVISION
PHILADELPHIA FEDERALS
Kurt's Feds excel at everything. Snipers, veteran leadership, solid defensemen
and great goaltending. Philly boasts five 4-rated defensemen. The offense will
be provided by vets Brind'amour, Alfredsson, Langkow and Gagne. Jonas Hiller
and Craig Anderson will share the netminding duties during the course of the
season. Philly has won the Atlantic Division two straight years.....'09-'10
will be their 3rd straight.
PITTSBURGH PYTHONS
Chris, who is probably the nicest guy in SPIHL, apparently did something in a
previous life to anger the Strat gods. My guess is that it would be running
around the streets of downtown Pittsburgh 15 years ago yelling, "PHIL BOURQUE IS
THE NEXT BIG THING!!!!" On paper, The Pythons are still one of the strongest
teams in the entire league, but for some reason, struggles at times. Pittsburgh
is another well-balanced, dangerous team to play. Beddick's offseason
acquisition of Vincent Lecavalier bolstered an already formidable lineup.
Bieksa and Phaneuf are two rocks on D. And team leader Shane Doan returns as
the heart and soul. Evgeni Nabokov must prove himself as the #1 goalie, as
Brent Johnson will battle for playing time.
NEW YORK GULLS
As with the previous two seasons, The Gulls will score goals....lots of goals.
The top 2 forwards of Pavel Datsyuk and some guy named Ovechkin conjour up
images of Gretzky and Messier in their prime. Nik Antropov, Jason Pominville
and Michael Ryder will be called upon to offer offensive support. NY just
doesn't quite have the depth of the two Pennsy teams. However, youngsters
Backlund and Artyukin will look to impress in the minors. On defense, NY is
very experienced, but aging. Brian Campbell will be lost to free agency and
Sergei Gonchar will only be able to play about 1/3 of the season. That leaves
the bulk of the responsibilities to veterans Adam Foote and Mathieu Schneider.
Dwayne Roloson will be a suitable goalie, but is only a temporary fix to the
impending goaltending needs of NY.
NEW JERSEY KNIGHTS
The big question regarding NJ will be how long can GM Ed Geles hold off before
pulling the trigger on a trade involving Zetterberg or Vanek that could bring in
some much-needed depth. Geles has stated his desire to hold onto both
superstars, but logisitically, he may not be able to. Rookies Mikkel Boedker
and Justin Abdelkader will look to make some waves in the minors. The Knights
signed veteran free-agent blueliners Rob Blake and Colin White to very high
contracts. They will help out a sparse group of D-men. Goalie Miikka Kiprusoff
is in the final year of his contract and will most certainly not be back in
Jersey. The Knights will have to get creative in order to right the ship in New
Jersey.
NORTHEAST DIVISION
BUFFALO XPRESS
A tough division to predict.....all 4 teams will be very competitive. The
defending SPIHL Cup Champions should win their 2nd straight division title. Led
by goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, Zach Parise and recently acquired Chris Drury,
Buffalo is largely unchanged from its Cup-winning lineup of last year. Despite
the fact that several of the core players (Koivu, Briere, Sullivan) will miss
significant time to injuries, Buffalo should be deep enough to overcome this.
Ryan Smyth and Derek Roy will light up the scoring sheet while Chris Phillips
anchors a solid group of defensemen.
BOSTON BANDITS
In this past rookie draft, the first three picks were pretty much
pre-determined. The first real drama of the evening would be who Boston would
take at #4 overall. By taking Blake Wheeler, then Kris Versteeg a few picks
later, The Bandits added two more promising young forwards to a group that
already boasts Patrick Kane, Bryan Little, Travis Zajac and Bobby Ryan. Blue
chipper Kyle Okposo will also see more playing time, while Kyle Turris hopes to
cash in on his high expectations. Pekka Rinne is poised to lead Boston deep
into the playoffs, while Carey Price provides more-than-adequate backup when
needed. I believe it's goaltending that allows Boston to finish 2nd in the
Northeast. Defensemen Jaroslav Spacek and Adrian Aucoin have very high
expectations in Boston considering their monster free-agent contracts in the
offseason.
MONTREAL BULLDOGS
Regarding goaltending, I believe it is Montreal's goaltending that means a 3rd
place finish in The Northeast. Huet, Harding and Ellis aren't bad per se, but
one of them needs to establish themselves as a legit #1 goalie. Up front,
Montreal is just as talented as anyone else in this division. Kovalchuk will
again lead the charge, but having Brad Boyes, Nathan Horton and #1 pick Jonathan
Toews helps tremendously. B.J. Crombeen and T.J. Oshie will also provide
initial help up front as well (come on, it's funny!). On the
blueline, underrated Duncan Keith returns to lead a capable corp of D-men. GM
Tony Grabowski continues to build up his team, while keeping a modest team
salary...no easy feat these days.
TORONTO DRAGONS
Goaltending seems to be the theme around here. The Dragons clearly have the
best goalie in the league in Tim Thomas. He will steal many a game for
Toronto. I'm fairly certain, though, that Tom will make the most of his team
and make a go of it this year. In the back of everyone in Toronto's mind is
that mainstay Nicklas Lidstrom could be playing in his final season as a
Dragon. An unrestricted free agent after this year, his future is uncertain.
Patrick Marleau will once again be counted heavily on to provide a scoring
punch. Hepatitus research spokesman Patrick Elias will compliment him just
fine. Petr Sykora looks to have a bounce back year in Toronto. The Northeast
is going to be a very competitive division all season. Barring any moves, The
Dragons may fall short this season....but stranger things have happened.
SOUTHEAST DIVISION
WASHINGTON CYCLONES
Though it pains me slightly, I'll have to pick the very non-cocky and always
gracious Cyclones to win the Southeast again. All-star Tomas Vokoun will once
again be between the pipes for Washington. The Cyclones play a mean,
forechecking, defensive game, able to counter-attack almost at will. Dustin
Brown, Mike Fisher and Cal Clutterbuck will sacrifice their well-being to score
a goal or smash you into the glass. #1 overall pick Sidney Crosby is hopeful to
lead Washington farther than they've ever gone in the playoffs. Unselfish and
excellent motor vehicle operator Dany Heatley should have another 40-goal
season. The defensive group of Jovocop, Brent Burns, Brooks Orpik and Matt
Greene will make life easier for Vokoun and difficult for any forward trying to
cut in. Is this your year Billy??
FLORIDA HOTSHOTS
It seems as though no matter how many moves Trader Dan makes, his team is always
competitive (the anti-Blaze??...just kidding Oly). As seems to be the norm with
my predictions regarding The Hotshots, I can only comment on their current
roster, which includes proven vets Jason Blake and Robert Lang. Newly acquired
Chuck Kobasew hopes to make an immediate impact for Florida, before he's
traded for Dainius Zubrus, John-Michael Liles and a 4th rounder (I keeed, I
keeed). Marty Biron and often-traveled Ty Conklin will be minding the twine.
Sheldon Souray finally appears to be healthy, which will mean a lot of ice
time. I think if Hotlanta and the Flair-owned Carolina franchise were a little
stronger, maybe, just maybe, Florida doesn't finish in 2nd. But in SPIHL, it's
all about opportunity and the ability to seize it. Watch out for Florida.
CAROLINA SAND CRABS
Carolina had quite the busy offseason. Riding in limos, purchasing designer
suits, stealing kisses from the ladies, traveling locally and abroad. All in a
few month's time for Jim Sorochen and The 'Naitch. The Sand Crabs used the
offseason and Flair's unorthodox team management to add some depth to their
lineup. In clearly one of the most controversial moves since a still-sober
Scott Hall showed up on Monday Nitro, Carolina traded the 6th and 7th overall
picks to Edmonton for the 1st overall, which netted them highly-touted goalie of
the future Steve Mason. In separate deals, The Crabs also acquired Scott Gomez
and Mike Ribeiro. The moves cost former franchise center Vin Lecavalier, but
Carolina vowes that the moves ultimately will help this proud organ-eye-zation.
The Carolina faithful, who have stuck with this team since its inception, hang
on every word that Ric Flair spouts. If he's predicting bigger and better
things, baby, he knows the fans will want to see it.
ATLANTA ASPSPSPSPSPPSPPSSS
Earlier, I had discussed how NJ could feel the pressure to move one of its elite
forwards to get some depth back in return. Atlanta may soon feel that same
pressure if someone doesn't step up to help out Marian Hossa. Atlanta did the
league in most time allowed to make a draft pick...somewhere in the neighborhood
of what felt like 7 and half minutes. Rookie Patrick Berglund should center the
1st line and be an immediate asset. Marek Svatos, Tuomo Ruutu and Drew Stafford
must continue to work hard. Mike Green could be the next Paul Coffey (minus the
playoff mohawk) and will once again be a dynamic two-way force on the blueline.
Both J.S. Giguere and Vesa Toskala must regain their form from a few seasons ago
in order for The Asps to compete. At the end of the day, this is still a tough
division, and wins will not come easily.
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