Abba ... and your Question of the Week responses
I have arrived in beautiful Stockholm.
I know I have because there were a string of posters at the airport detailing the hometown celebrities, and the first one I saw was Abba. So there. I am indeed in Sweden.
I will hook up with the Pittsburgh Penguins tomorrow morning at practice. The Ottawa Senators are actually in Goteborg until Thursday night -- Daniel Alfredsson's hometown. Who says being the captain doesn't have any privileges?
While I was traversing the Atlantic, you guys were certainly busy! Nearly 500 comments to my simply question from Friday -- which of last season's Eastern Conference playoff teams would not make it in this time around.
Interesting to see the bulk of you pick Ottawa to miss out. Not a lot of faith in Jesse Winchester!
Here's a few comments we singled out:
Fade2black44: New Jersey ... like the Yanks, this team's run is finally over. Who will score goals for them? Can't expect Marty to win every game 2-1 or 1-0 for you. Besides, he's getting long in the tooth. The days of system teams being successful are over in the NHL. You need talent to win and they don't have it.
prashanthiyer: I firmly believe that until Marty Brodeur retires, the Devils will not miss the playoffs. His will to win is unmatched by any goaltender in this league. The Devils have made the playoffs 10 straight years and i just don't see that streak stopping.
My take: Two opposing views here and both make valuable points. I've mentioned a few times since early September that I wondered if this was the year the Devils finally missed out. But let me say this about Brodeur; I saw him earlier this month and he looked amazing, apparently working out this summer like he hasn't in a long, long time. Didn't look to me like he was ready to slow down at 36. I still don't like the Devils' offense, but I'm beginning to waffle on my no-playoff gut feeling for New Jersey. When I put in my final picks for the Eastern Conference, I suspect I'll have them in.
Epeebill: Ottawa is going to miss out. They fell apart completely last year and will probably not bottom-out until just before the All-Star Game. They will start the recovery process sometime after that, but they'll be out of the playoff hunt by then. Then, if their front office has a good offseason, they'll be back in playoff contention in 2009-10.
My take: I agree the Senators, it appears, have missed their window of opportunity when it comes to the Stanley Cup. After years of being among the NHL's elite teams, at least on paper, it appears they no longer are. But I will warn you about this -- much of what happened last season during their tumble down the standings had to do with dressing-room issues. Ray Emery is gone now. And character guys like Jason Smith and Jarkko Ruutu were brought in. Smith, in particular, is a former captain who won't stand for anyone cutting corners. There's a new coach, too, in Craig Hartsburg, and he won't let anyone off the hook, either. There's still enough talent here to win games and now they'll have a better framework with which to do so. I suspect they may still make the playoffs as a low seed.
MaltaMicallef: New Jersey and Boston drop and Buffalo and Tampa make it. I see Montreal, New York Rangers and Tampa winning the divisions with New York winning the conference. After that, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Washington, Ottawa and Buffalo, in that order, from 4 through 8. I think New York will have a slow start, as will Tampa with that Euro trip initially; but at least this year they have about 4 days off before they play again.
My take: I'm going to focus on one team here -- Tampa Bay. I don't agree with MaltaMicallef. I'm not drinking the Kool-Aid yet. Yes, the Lightning have had a facelift, and yes, they're going to score lots of goals with an offense led by Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Vaclav Prospal and rookie Steven Stamkos. But they'll also allow a bunch of goals. They've got holes on their blue line, big time, which is why I didn't understand the Dan Boyle move (other than wanting to shed his long-term deal). And in goal, you've got the aging Olaf Kolzig and the unproven Mike Smith. Listen, I hope I'm proven wrong because I love that new ownership group; they're good for the league. But I'm not a believer for this season. Out of the playoffs.
Inman129: i gotta stick up for my boys the bruins here. they're definitely making the playoffs; no one realizes the talent that they have in younger guys. if ryder and savard click, that could be huge for the success of their season and getting bergeron back is just like signing a guy in the offseason. look for kessel to show his stuff this year after julien showed him what was up in the playoffs.
My take: All great points. A healthy Patrice Bergeron is indeed like a massive free-agent signing since the Bruins made the playoffs last season without him. Don't forget young guys like David Krejci, Milan Lucic and Phil Kessel are just getting better. They should in the mix for seeds 6 through 10 in the East, maybe in, maybe out. But if I had to guess, I'd say in.
Rj2162: The Caps are a team that have the biggest question mark with Theodore in net. Will the former Vezina winner be in net, or the head case that patrolled in Colorado be the guy? If it's the latter, the Caps are going to struggle to make the playoffs with the improvements that Carolina and Tampa have made.
Hardrockhockey: "I'd have to say Washington. Every team in the Southeast Division is improved (except the Thrashers, I suppose). The Caps needed a huge, late run to catch Carolina last season. Florida made big improvements to its defense in the offseason, and Tampa did a complete overhaul. In a division where one, maybe two teams make the playoffs, Washington will be on the outside looking in this year.
My take: I want to know if these two readers have fallen on their head. The Caps are on the upswing. Making the playoffs last season was just the first step. This is a team building toward a championship window. I think they'll win the Southeast over Carolina. The made the playoffs last season without captain Chris Clark and veteran playmaker Michael Nylander in the second half of the season. Now that they've got those guys back, it's like adding a pair of top-six forwards through free agency. Calder Trophy nominee Nicklas Backstrom has one NHL season under his belt. And I haven't even mentioned the Hart Trophy winner yet. Jose Theodore will have his ups and downs, but he's a lateral move from Cristobal Huet. They're in the playoffs!
rpeyster: I think the Rangers are definitely in trouble. The other team is Boston. Boston had a minus-11 goal differential last year, and yet still somehow ended up with 94 points. Most teams with that goal differential struggle to reach 84 points. Even if you assume that Boston gets the shockingly good goaltending it got last year (Thomas' save percentage was better than all No. 1 goalies in the NHL except Giguere), Boston still needs to greatly improve its goal scoring or else it'll take a step back. And the goaltending could easily come back to earth.
My take: Interesting points here on the Rangers. And they're probably the team that's the hardest to figure out in the East. They made massive personnel changes; sometimes when that happens, teams take a while to come together as everyone tries to find their role. They were 25th in the league in scoring last season. They replaced the losses of Jaromir Jagr and Martin Straka with Markus Naslund and Nikolai Zherdev -- a tie? But the big thing with them will be to quickly jell and find an identity. Having to cut down the roster quickly and come over here to Europe might be the best thing that ever happened to them. The players will spend more time together than they would have otherwise. Still, I'm really on the fence with this team right now.
Mabell009: My question, is what about Montreal? There were a lot of shifts there to a very proud and distinguished franchise. Pleks, Kovalev and the Kosti twins are looking strong, but will Price produce or fall apart again? (Remember: high blocker side.) Plus, WHY would they pick up Denis? He boasted the worst save percentage and GAA of any regular-playing goaltender; that pick up makes no sense to me. Solid D and the pick up of Lang should make this organ-i-zation better and yet I'm skeptical after their poor playoff performance & was it a postseason problem or sign of things to come?
My take: Well, I think we all agree the Habs will make the playoffs, but some good points raised in Mabell009's comment. Just how good are they, really? There's so much hype right now in Montreal with the team's 100th anniversary year. After the Canadiens finished first in the East last season, maybe we're getting a little ahead of ourselves. Certainly, young Carey Price is a huge key. He has to recover from the playoff meltdown he had last spring. That was a lot of pressure for a 20-year-old goalie and clearly he wasn't ready. But that's happened to a lot of great ones.
GM Bob Gainey added star forward Alex Tanguay, veteran center Robert Lang and monster tough guy Georges Laraque without giving up any roster players. So that's a real improvement. The Canadiens have three forward lines that can score, something most teams in the NHL can't boast. Marc Denis, meanwhile, was a depth signing. He's breaking camp as the No. 3 goalie. Why not take a chance on him and hope he can rediscover his form from the Columbus days? If Denis gets off to a great start in the AHL, then Gainey can dangle young Jaroslav Halak and see if there's any interest. To end a long point -- the Habs will contend again for the conference if the Price is right.
Ranjassss: If I have to pick a team not to make it, well it would be the Penguins. A lot of the other teams really seemed to get better in the offseason, or at least do their best to maintain the status quo. The Penguins just got older. The X factor would be Fleury. I believe he could put them in the postseason by himself if he has a stellar year, but reality says they won't make it back.
My take: Ah, Ranjassss. Please retrace your steps and look to see if you've lost your marbles. Yes, the Penguins lost some guys like Marian Hossa and Ryan Malone, but the core remains intact. Two of the greatest players in the world (Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin) for a 1-2 punch at center and Marc-Andre Fleury showing last spring he was indeed worthy of the first overall pick in 2003. They're a lock to make the playoffs. But they will be slowed down, no question, from having both Sergei Gonchar (out indefinitely pending more tests) and Ryan Whitney (December) out. Those are huge blows. Might mean losing the division title to Philly.
Pierre LeBrun
