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2009-10 Western Conference Preview
by Dave Palmieri
CENTRAL DIVISION
ST. LOUIS SLASHERS
The 2007-08 Central Division champs should capture their 2nd division title
this year. The Slashers will be led once again by Jason Spezza, a healthy
Martin Havlat and Olli Jokinen. Aging vets Bill Guerin, Kris Draper and Vinny
Prospal will be asked to contribute and mentor rookies Derick Brassard and Jakub
Voracek. St. Louis is very deep at the blueline, boasting Boumeester, Jackman,
Timonen and Johnsson. This group should make life easier for newly signed
goalie Nikolai Khabibulin. Either Osgood or Lalime must provide solid backup
goaltending for St. Louis to truly succeed this year.
NASHVILLE STALLIONS
The Stallions did not make too many personnel moves in the offseason. Perhaps
the best move they made was deciding to resign Joe Thornton to a multi-year
deal, after offering him to teams prior to the trade deadline. Rick Nash and
Anze Kopitar should once again provide great offensive support, while Brooks
Laich, Alex Burrows and Patrick Sharp look to improve on last season's success.
Cam Ward will be the starter and must prove he is a playoff goalie. The
Stallions are not as deep on defense as The Slashers.... .after Boucher, Oduya
and Mitchell it becomes somewhat suspect. I think what really prevents The
Stallions from finishing in first in The Central is GM's Balogh's tendency to
watch his favorite DVD, Kiss...Xposed, over and over in the locker
room, when he should be going over game film.
DETROIT WINGED WHEELERS
Mike Kuduk's youth movement is finally starting to pay off. Young superstars Malkin,
Perry, Kessel and Stastny are the core of The Wheelers. Stastny must try to
remain healthy, while Malkin continues to become one of the best in the entire
league. Brian Gionta and Milan Hejduk, both the subject of offseason trade
rumors, return and round out Detroit's top 2 forward lines. Motown's D-line is
average at best, with youngster Jack Johnson the lone star. Goaltending could
be the Achilles' Heel this season...it will be a merry-go-round of goalies this
year. Former Golden Bear Peter Budaj will log the majority of the
minutes. Detroit has a lot of potential in net, depending on how Varlamov,
Schneider and Rask develop...but all 3 are probably at least a year away from
making a difference. The bottom line with this team....with Malkin in the
lineup, anything is possible.
CHICAGO BLAZE
Welcome to Extreme Makeover...SPIHL Edition. Due to time restraints and fear of
finger cramping, let's just say Chicago overhauled a large majority of the team
late last season, acquiring mostly draft picks in return. The top lines include
David Moss, Andrew Brunette, Todd White and grinder Steve Ott. Winger Ville
Leino and goaltender Jonathan Quick were the most significant rookies drafted by
Chicago, and both will need to excel in order to help the team. Quick will look
to impress early, as he will be given a chance to be the #1 goalie. The Blaze
have a little more depth at the blueline, which includes Tom Gilbert, Mark
Giordano, John-Michael Liles and former Bulldogs' d-man Brad Stuart. The Blaze
don't have much team defense, nor will they score many goals.... a recipe for a
long season. Hopefully, Oly has a long-term plan.
NORTHWEST DIVISION
COLORADO CHAOS
The defending Northwest Division champs should repeat this year. The big
question is whether Colorado can prove themselves in the playoffs as they have
in the regular season. Two straight disappointing playoff performances have
loomed large for The Chaos. As Jarome Iginla goes, so do The Chaos. Forwards
Clowe, Hartnell, Setoguchi and Staal have seen their stock rise with each
season, while Nicklas Backstrom is quietly becoming a top tier centerman.
Veteran Mats Sundin was signed in the offseason, which Colorado hopes will get
them over their playoff hump. Colorado is very talented at the blueline. Chris
Pronger was part of the huge deal with The 66'ers that also netted Martin
Brodeur. Talent-wise, Colorado might have the deepest lineup in the West. Will
that lead to a deep playoff run?
MINNESOTA WOLVES
After two seasons of near .500 hockey, The powerful Wolves look to have a
breakout season. Led by high-scoring Jeff Carter and Mike Richards, Minnesota's
offense is also bolstered by Ryan Callahan, Ryan Malone and still-productive
Jason Arnott. Lucic and rookie Fabian Brunnstrom hope to make impacts as well.
On D, The Wolves are stacked. Highly touted rookie Luke Schenn fits right in
with group that includes bruising Mike Komisarek, steady Tobias Enstrom and
handsome/hunky Shea Weber.....whoops, did I say that out loud? Goalie Ryan
Miller is hoping this is the year he leads Minnesota to a long playoff run. And
why not?....this is by far the most potent lineup Minnesota has dressed in 3
years. Minnesota will challenge Colorado for The Northwest title all year.
VANCOUVER SCREAMIN EAGLES
Vancouver remains a work in progress. After snipers Eric Staal and Joffrey
Lupul, scoring drops off quite a bit. Higgins will miss significant time with
injury, Patrick O'Sullivan hopes to regain his scoring touch and Byfuglien
looks to round out his game. Vancouver's defensive corp don't excel at one
thing, but are solid enough to keep games close. Top 10 pick Alex Pietrangelo
will develop his game in the minors and hopes to make the big squad next year.
Henrik Lundqvist, surprisingly the subject of trade rumors, is a game changer
and will no doubt steal games for The Eagles. If Vancouver's players can return
to form, while getting healthier, they have the team to make a go at it.
EDMONTON GOLDEN BEARS
It seems like ages ago that Edmonton was skating on home ice with the SPIHL
Championship. A busy offseason led to some interesting moves, which included
trading the #1 pick overall to Carolina. The Golden Bears were able to draft
highly touted defenseman Zach Bogosian and Russian phenom Nikita Filatov. But
the big news was the trade that brought in All-Star goalie Niklas Backstrom.
The big question is whether Edmonton can eventually field a team that is capable
of benefiting from having Backstrom in net. Youngsters Grabovski, Neal, Bolland
and Bogosian now form the core of The Bears' rebuilding process. Richards and
Tkachuk are still the go-to guys, but will be lost to free agency. Veteran
Mattias Ohlund, one of the few remaining members of the SPIHL Cup team,
anchors the defensive group, while hoping to mentor young Bogosian as he
develops. A lack of scoring, a penchant for taking ill-advised penalties and
poor team defense means a second straight playoff miss for Edmonton.
PACIFIC DIVISION
LOS ANGELES 66'ers
Another season, another division title.....that' s how I see it. The big news,
of course, is that Eric traded Martin Brodeur. Coming to LA were Jaroslav
Halak, who will battle Marty Turco and Scott Clemmensen for playing time, but
perhaps more importantly, 40-goal scorer Mike Cammalleri. Gone too is 2-way
forward Chris Drury. However, LA still has Martin St. Louis, the Alexei's
(Kovalev and Ponikarovsky) , Chris Kunitz and Shawn Horcoff to handle the
scoring. Despite losing Drury, The 66'ers still play a responsible, two-way
game, capable of shutting down opponents. The blueline will be guarded by
Tyutin and slightly overpaid Paul Mara. LA has proven it knows how to win in
the past. This year will be no different.
SAN JOSE THUNDER
Yet another team that remains largely unchanged. The Thunder entered and won
the Teemu Selanne sweepstakes, making the point that they do intend on making a
run this year. Having Luongo in net doesn't hurt. Alexander Frolov leads a
talented group of 20+ goal scorers, the likes of Getzlaf, Kotalik, Koivu and
Huselius. Zdeno Chara looms large on D and will log a lot of ice time in front
of Luongo. The Thunder have made the playoffs the previous two seasons. They
should have no problem making it three in a row. While not quite as responsible
defensively as LA, it's very possible they could make some waves in the Pacific
this year and challenge LA for the top spot in the division.
PHOENIX FIRE ANTS
HEAVE-HO, STATUS QUO!!! The motto of MILLAAHHHHHH' s Fire Ants. Despite a
gaggle of trade offers, Phoenix decided not only to not trade, but also resign
injured stars Brenden Morrow and Marian Gaborik. This could be a long season in
the desert. Not because of lack of talent....just the sheer amount of games
lost due to injury. Gaborik, Morrow, McDonald, Meszaros and (not feeling
so)Wellwood will all miss significant amounts of time. In their place, emerging
David Backes, Ryan Kesler and Stephen Weiss must pick up the slack. Phoenix has
assembled quite a talented group of defensemen, including Marc Staal, Zbynek
Michalek (ugh, what a name), Meszaros, Alex Edler and someone named Drew
Doughty. The pressure will be even greater this season on goalie Kari
Lehtonen. After two straight seasons of missing the playoffs, and with a third
straight looming, inevitably, a team's goalie will be closely looked at.
Lehtonen has plenty of help in front of him, but time may be running out if he
can't keep his numbers respectable. Ultimately, it looks like a 3-peat for
Phoenix missing the playoffs. HOWEVER, despite all the negativity, I will make
a BOLD prediction and say that Phoenix makes the playoffs.... ......... next
season.
DALLAS OTTERS
I break down Dallas as such: Forwards: pretty good; Defensemen: not that
good; Goaltending: even less gooder. Unquestionably, the lead story for The
Otters in the offseason was......... ..keeping Kolzig on this year's roster. No
wait, I mean keeping 78-year old Jason Smith on the roster. Wait, it might be
drafting Steve Stamkos in this year's rookie draft. Dallas does have some
talented forwards.... Stamkos, Semin, Franzen and Bourque. Lapierre and Paille
are making strides while Modano is still a productive 2-way forward. Jonathan
Cheechoo remains a mystery, as he has not been able to come close to scoring
like he once did. Veterans Robidas and Rivet anchor the blueline, but there is
not much help after that. The one saving grace is that Ian White plays RD, LD,
RW, LW, equipment manager, trainer, zamboni driver, hot dog vendor, ticket
agent, parking attendent, goal judge and public address announcer. Greg better
hope Jose Theodore has a good season because, just like Obi Wan, he's their only
hope.
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