2009-10 NHL Season Preview

Without further adieu a break down of each division for the upcoming NHL season. Right down to the story lines and players to watch. Enjoy. (* denotes playoffs)

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division
1. Penguins*
2. Flyers*
3. Devils*
4. Rangers*
5. Islanders

Breakdown: By far the toughest division in the NHL. The top four teams made the playoffs last year and could make it there again this season. New Jersey, the defending champs, lost some offense with the departure of Winger Brian Gionta (Montreal), but still have a healthy Martin Brodeur to make them contenders. Philadelphia received standout Defensemen Chris Pronger from Anaheim in the offseason. New York received a gift in Marian Gaborik (Minnesota) in free agency. Not to mention Henrik Lundqvist is still in net for them. The Islanders got the supposed savior John Tavares in the Draft, but it won’t be enough to get out of the cellar this year. The defending Stanley Cup champs Pittsburgh are in line to repeat with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin leading the way. They have to fend off the losses of Rob Scuderi (Los Angeles) and Hal Gill (Montreal) on defense. Plus the rest of the NHL to win.

Storyline: Goaltending, goaltending, goaltending. That has to be in this division. The Islanders had ten goalies in camp it seemed. Who will they settle on between Martin Biron, Dwayne Roloson or Rick DiPietro? Philadelphia is going with Ray Emery. Yes, RAY EMERY. Good luck with that. The Rangers have the best in net with Lundqvist. Jersey has Brodeur to get them at least 30 wins. Can Penguins goalie Marc Andre-Fleury continue on the success of a Stanley Cup championship in net?

Player to watch: John Tavares NY Islanders. Being the first pick brings a lot of unnecessary pressure. And boy does he have pressure. The Islanders haven’t mattered in a long time. Tavares is being thrown into the ocean without a life vest. A good, all be it young core is in place, but the powers that be need to be patient and not rush to judgment on this team and its coach. Aka the Lightning from last year.

Northeast Division
1. Bruins*
2. Canadiens*
3. Senators
4. Sabres
5. Maple Leafs

Breakdown: You could argue this was the most disappointing division last year. Ottawa was expected to contend and Buffalo was better than they played. Boston finished with the best record last year in the conference, but could be the third best team this year. Trading Phil Kessel to division rival Toronto will hurt, but not in the long haul. The Leafs still have some holes, but are a year or two away from contention. Francois Beauchemin was a great pickup for Toronto by the way. The Bruins did add Defensemen Derek Morris and Tim Thomas is, well still Tim Thomas last I checked. Having Norris Trophy winner Zdeno Chara is not bad either. Montreal reloaded getting Gionta (New Jersey), Mike Cammalleri (Calgary) for the offense to replace Alex Kovalev (Ottawa) and Alex Tanguay (Tampa Bay). On defense they did add some good ones in Gill (Pittsburgh), Paul Mara (Rangers) and Jaroslav Spacek (Buffalo). The Sabres are going with the youth movement and are counting on another 40+ goal performance from Thomas Vanek. A healthy goalie in Ryan Miller wouldn’t hurt either. Ottawa got rid of the cancer to be in Dany Heatley (San Jose) and received Jonathan Cheechoo and Milan Michalek in return. Kovalev wasn’t a bad pickup either.

Storyline: Will a someone dethrone the Bruins? Highly doubtful, but anything is possible. With all the spending the Canadiens did this offseason and the moves Toronto made. Ottawa getting rid of the leftovers and Buffalo healthy. This could be a very competitive division. Key word “could.” I like surprises and that would be a surprise to me. Next year though, not so much.

Player to watch: Carey Price Montreal. After that great rookie season two seasons ago, the pressure got to him with all the bicentennial celebration of the franchise. It showed in his play. He has to bounce back and help them show all that spending was not for a 7th or 8th seed in the playoffs. 23-16 with a 2.83 GAA and a save percentage of .905 will not cut it.

Southeast Division
1. Capitals*
2. Hurricanes*
3. Lightning
4. Thrashers
5. Panthers

Breakdown: The Capitals are the class of this division. It starts with Alex Ovechkin and pretty much ends with Ovechkin. Washington will miss Viktor Kozlov, but Mike Knuble (Philadelphia) was a great veteran addition. Carolina surprised everyone making it to the conference finals last year. They have taken two huge steps forward and can’t afford to take any steps back. Goalie Cam Ward needs to remain the rock for this team and the offense needs to improve on last years success at the end. Florida will be hurt without Jay Bouwmeester (Calgary) on defense. He was the best player they had, but this young team needs to improve upon the fact that they almost made the playoffs. Unfortunately for Florida, Atlanta and Tampa Bay made moves that improved their chances. Atlanta signing Nik Antropov (Rangers) and trading for Pavel Kubina (Tampa Bay) were huge moves. Ilya Kovalcuk is happy and might stay if Atlanta can contend with the likes of Washington and Carolina. The Lightning, after a disastrous start last year, have one thing on their side. It can’t get any worse from here on out. Signing Mattias Ohlund (Vancouver) and Alex Tanguay (Montreal) were great additions and this young team will be looking to prove everyone wrong about last year.

Storyline: Scoring. I foresee some high scoring games from these teams this year. No disrespect to the goalies, but all five of these teams can score. We know about Washington with Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and Mike Green. Carolina with Eric Staal, Erik Cole and Chad LaRose. Tampa Bay with Vincent Lecavalier, Ryan Malone and Martin St. Louis. Florida with David Booth, Nathan Horton and Michael Frolik. Atlanta with Kovalchuk, Colby Armstrong and Rookie Evander Kane. Those are some pretty interesting scoring lineups. Scary good.

Player to watch: Alex Ovechkin Washington. There really isn’t anyone else. The most electrifying hockey player today is darn near impossible to stop. Will he finally get the Capitals into the conference finals this year? Could very well happen. They have to avoid the goalie problem they had last year and not look tired and out of it at the end. You shouldn’t lose a Game 7 at home and they unfortunately did. Against the soon to be champion Penguins and rival Sidney Crosby. Ovechkin I’m sure is looking to get back and take the cup this time.

Western Conference

Central Division
1. Red Wings*
2. Blackhawks*
3. Blue Jackets*
4. Blues
5. Predators

Breakdown: We all know who the class of this division is. Chicago is right on the cusp of taking over though. Detroit lost two players to Chicago in free agency. Marina Hossa will be a great addition to the offense that includes Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. Adding John Madden (New Jersey) will help for the Hawks defense and penalty killing. No one knew if they could replace Martin Havlat (Minnesota), but they did with Hossa. Detroit also lost Mikael Samuelsson (Vancouver), but picked up Todd Bertuzzi (Calgary) and Patrick Eaves (Hurricanes). With Niklas Lidstrom leading the defense, Detroit should be in line for another playoff berth. St. Louis shocked the hockey world by blowing past everyone for the 6th seed last season. The young core of Erik Johnson on defense and Patrik Berglund on offense should be ready to capitalize on the early success. Goalie Chris Mason was a nice surprise, but they must keep his minutes down. Hence the addition of backup Ty Conklin (Detroit). Columbus didn’t go all out in the offseason, but made the smart moves. Locking up star Rick Nash was huge. Adding Sami Pahlsson (Chicago) was a subtle move, but will prove to be a big one come playoff time. Goalie Steve Mason can’t have a sophomore slump for Columbus to contend. Nashville might have the worst record in the league this year. Defensemen Shea Weber is the lone star of a roster that lacks the offensive explosion to compete in this division. The team is in financial turmoil and it could be their last in Nashville.

Storyline: Can Chicago dethrone Detroit? Last years conference finals were really a pre cursor to what is going to happen this year. The Blackhawks will have it go down to the wire for who wins this division and maybe the conference. Will Hossa be in his third straight Stanley Cup final with a different team? Another intriguing plot line in this season long scenario.

Player to watch: Cristobal Huet Chicago. It’s his job to lose now. Khabibulin is out of the picture now Huet has to prove he is the man. Chicago is a potential cup contender this year. The only weakspot is with the goalie. A 30 win season would be a tremendous accomplishment. It is possible with Brian Campbell, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook in front of him. Don’t be too fancy, just do enough not to lose the game. Like they say with rookie quarterbacks. Just manage the game.

Northwest Division
1. Flames*
2. Canucks*
3. Wild
4. Oilers
5. Avalanche

Breakdown: It’s really going to be a fight between Calgary and Vancouver for this division. The Flames have probably the best trio of defenders this year in Bouwmeester (Florida), Dion Phaneuf and Robyn Regehr. Captain Jarome Iginla leads the offense with goalie Miikka Kiprusoff the constant winner in the net. Vancouver lost Mattias Ohlund (Tampa Bay) on defense, but gained Mikael Samuelsson (Detroit) for their offense. The Sedin twins came back and with the best goalie in the NHL Roberto Luongo in net, the Canucks will be back in contention. Minnesota added Martin Havlat (Chicago) who is coming off a career year. The Wild lost their star player Marian Gaborik (Rangers) in free agency. The new regime will let loose the conservative attitude in Minnesota and let Owen Nolan, Andrew Brunette and Havlat run Wild (pardon the pun). Edmonton lost a piece of their offense in Ales Kotalik (Rangers). With the rumors of getting Dany Heatley in the offseason, they now have to focus on coming together for new coach Pat Quinn. Defensemen Sheldon Souray is the one constant on both sides of the ice. New goalie Nikolai Khabibulin (Chicago) will look to make the Oilers contenders. It is a full on rebuilding mode for Colorado. Joe Sakic has retired. Ryan Smyth (Los Angeles) was traded. The future lies with first round pick Matt Duchene to succeed Sakic and Paul Stastny could very well be a great player for many years.

Storyline: Roberto Luongo vs. Miikka Kiprusoff. Every time the Calgary Flames play the Vancouver Canucks, it will be a low scoring affair. Kiprusoff had 40+ wins last year and Luongo is capable of matching Kiprusoff in wins and saving over 92 percent of shots coming his way. Luongo is hands down the best goalie right now. In his prime and with a new extension. Kiprusoff is one of the best, but can he overthrow Luongo for the crown. It will interesting to see.

Player to watch: Olli Jokinen Calgary. When he was acquired last year at the trade deadline, everyone assumed the Flames would run away with the division and possibly pass Detroit for the second seed. It didn’t happen though. In large part to a stumbling Jokinen and company that couldn’t buy a goal. They got kicked out of the first round by Chicago as the 5th seed. Jokinen needs to have a good season in Calgary or that defense and goaltender will be under enormous pressure to win for the Flames.

Pacific Division
1. Sharks*
2. Ducks*
3. Kings*
4. Stars
5. Coyotes

Breakdown: GM Doug Wilson said he would not dismantle the team after finishing with the best record in the NHL and getting knocked out in the first round. Instead he added another piece with the acquisition of Dany Heatley (Ottawa). Rob Blake and Dan Boyle are still the mainstays on defense. Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau are both the leaders on offense. Evgeni Nabokov is still a solid goaltender that gets you 30+ wins. The Ducks have perhaps the best starting line in the game. Ryan Getzlaf in the middle with Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan on the wings. These three gave the Sharks and Red Wings fits last year in the playoffs. J.S. Giguere will battle emerging goaltender Jonas Hiller for the starting job, but who ever wins, the Ducks have a great tandem. Los Angeles is the dark horse here. Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty emerged last year as future stars that will get the Kings to the postseason sooner rather than later. All they need is for Jonathan Quick to take hold of the goaltender spot and they’ll be in. Acquiring Ryan Smyth (Colorado) and Rob Scuderi (Pittsburgh) were the best moves of the offseason. Dallas is not quite rebuilding, but retooling is more like it. A new coach and new style are in place. An uptempo system that relies on the defensemen to push the puck up the ice more. Captain Brenden Morrow needs to stay healthy and goalie Marty Turco needs to rebound from a dismal season. Phoenix has had a tumultuous summer. With all the court hearings and whether or not Wayne Gretzky would coach has come to an end for now. Gretzky is gone and replaced with former Dallas coach Dave Tippett. A great move considering this is a lost year for them. Captain Shane Doan might be trade bait from the jump and the young stars might take a few steps back after showing such promise.

Storyline: Will Phoenix be able to compete with all the distractions? Regardless of the what happened and didn’t happen in the offseason, the players still have to play. Shane Doan is all but gone. Youngsters Peter Mueller and Keith Yandle showed great skills the last two years under Gretzky, but they couldn’t get Phoenix to the next level. Tippett should be able to do that, but how long will he be around? Things look to get worse for this franchise. The NHL need to do what’s best for Phoenix and not the league.

Player to watch: Dany Heatley San Jose. He got his wish. Now he needs to just stay low and play hockey. The Sharks are counting on him being a contributor not the centerpiece in their offense. His 35 playoff points in 34 career games are what San Jose was after. Heatley has not performed well under pressure in his career. San Jose is a small market, but they have been a disappointment the last couple seasons. Doug Wilson is betting his job that Heatley will get the Sharks out of the first round and possibly into the conference finals. They are still contenders with or without him, but a lot of blame will come his way if they don’t get out of the first round.

Conference Finals
Chicago vs. Detroit
Pittsburgh vs. Washington

Stanley Cup
Chicago vs. Pittsburgh

Racism & Sports

If you’ve seen my other columns, you can tell that I don’t like steroid users. Especially those that lie or try to cover it up in some way. Well, thanks to Floyd Mayweather Jr., who beat the urine drinker Juan Manuel Marquez (yes he does) this past Saturday. I can no longer hide my disdain for those who bring race into the discussion of why they’re disliked so much. It’s difficult enough to talk about racism in a civilized way now a days. For those, like Mayweather, who go out of their way to use racism as the reason why they are not liked as much as other athletes of a different skin color sickens me. My reason for this column comes directly from Mayweather’s mouth a few days before his fight against Marquez Saturday. He calmly told reporters what he thinks has been unfair treatment from the media and the public, based on his race.

“If you’re rich, you’re a rich n—–,” he said. “If you’re poor, you’re a poor n—-. If you’re smart, you’re a smart n—–. At the end of the day, they still look at me as a n—–.”

He compares race to his last fight against Ricky Hatton in England.

“This country needs to be more positive,” he said. “We’re already at war. We’re in a recession, we’re at war and we continue to be negative. The fans in the UK showed me more love than in my own country. That’s crazy … Sometimes I’ll sit back, I’ll be in my theater sometimes, and I’ll think: ‘Imagine if I was the same fighter that I am, and I was the same person that I am, and I was from another country. Can you just imagine how big I’d be?’

“But I wouldn’t change my life for nothing in the world. There’s nothing like being young, black and rich. But there are certain things you think about. If Floyd Mayweather was white, I’d be the biggest athlete in America. The biggest, the biggest. I know that for a fact.”

He went on further by saying Oscar De La Hoya never gets criticized by the media.

“One thing you never hear. You never hear anything negative about Oscar De La Hoya,” he said. “Anything he do negative, it gets swept under the rug.”

He also managed to jab (pardon the pun) HBO Boxing analyst Larry Merchant, “he don’t know nothing about boxing,” and the worst was to Emmanuel Steward, “He’s an Uncle Tom.”

Now the most beautiful, and I’m being sarcastic when I say “beautiful,” thing about this tirade is the fact that Mayweather just doesn’t get it. He never will. When you talk about “I’ll be in my theater sometimes, and I’ll think.” And this gem, “There’s nothing like being young, black and rich.” What is a person supposed to think when you say things like that and you try to include race into your argument? People don’t like you because you come off as arrogant, asinine and selfish. Mayweather did a correspondent piece for Jim Rome and his TV show a few years ago. Here is a quote that will always be played in the back of mind, “You know I keeps a private jet.” Yeah, I’m sure you do with a theater in it to.

There are legitimate reasons why they dislike you. The ones I mentioned above plus you play in a dying if not a dead sport. Boxing is gone in my mind. It ended when I saw Mike Tyson bite both of Evander Holyfield’s ears off. That was it. It has become too flashy with the weigh-ins and the pre-fight pressers. It’s all drama and when the fight actually starts, it bores you to death with the stupid chess game. Guys, it seems to me, go out and try not to ruin their pretty faces. I’m not accusing anyone of throwing a fight, but that’s the impression I get watching most fights now a days. If your going to throw racism into the discussion irresponsibly, you will and should get called on it.

Yes, there are those that still live in the Pre-Civil Rights era. It’s true, but to put everyone into the same group is just dumb in my opinion. Those that want to blame their trials and tribulations on a different race, look no further than to the President of the United States Barack Obama. He is of color and he is in that position only forty years after the Civil Rights Movement. Some thought it would never happen in this country, but it did. Tiger Woods is probably the greatest golfer ever. He is also of color and is in a predominately white sport. Jackie Robinson changed Baseball and really the entire culture by his play and the way he conducted himself on and off the field. You want an example of minorities making it to the top without race getting in their way. I give you three. I could give you many more.

Mayweather, Milton Bradley who was suspended by the Cubs for his comments about the organization and fans. Saying, “you understand why they haven’t won in 100 years here.” Bradley has really complained everywhere he has been in the MLB. Most of the time it doesn’t include him playing the race card, but he needs to get his act together and realize that’s how it works in this culture. You don’t perform, you don’t get the love. It’s not because of your color. If that’s what you want to believe that’s your problem. Kanye West is another one with his act at the VMA’s. I could say that his act was racist because the person he upstaged (Taylor Swift) was white. But I won’t. It wasn’t racist, just stupid. Would it be brought down on a white person if they upstaged someone of color like that. Absolutely. Legitimately or not. Enough with the branding and blaming. Just perform, keep low and do plenty of good things outside of sports that will outweigh the bad. Example: Serena Williams and her scathing of a line judge at the US Open.

The Art of the Walk-Off Home Run Celebration

As of September 7, 2009 the Milwaukee Brewers were 14 games back in their division and 10 1/2 games back of the Wild Card lead. They were coming off a victory over the San Francisco Giants at their home park. Milwaukee dropped the first two games, but came back in the third to tie and eventually win in extra innings. In dramatic fashion mind you. Bottom of the twelfth, self proclaimed vegetarian slugger Prince Fielder drives a ball to deep right field. It does clear the wall for a game winning walk-off home run. We all get caught up in the moment whether we are the player, fan or broadcaster. It’s an exciting moment that I have been present for both as a fan and a broadcaster. I was there in 2002 as a season ticket holder for the Angels when they had that magical season. Many come from behind walk-off wins that year. I was a broadcaster for the 2008 Long Beach Armada team that had four straight walk-off wins in a row. You don’t see that very often. There are many unwritten rules in this sport and you don’t know how someone will react to the way you celebrate that dramatic win. Many took issue to Mr. Fielder’s.

Prince approached second base and began to untuck his shirt. Rounding third he gives his teammates a look and they all began to brace for something. I thought he was going to slide into home like Rickey Henderson did when he set the all time runs scored record with a home run. Nice. Anyway Prince didn’t do that. He jumped as high as he could, came down on home plate and the entire Brewer team proceeded to fall down like an earthquake just happened (see above). My first reaction was, “I’ve never seen that before.” My second thought was, “that was very creative.” My last, “someone is going to get pegged.” Luckily that was the last of a three game series between the two. And luckily for Prince, the last meeting of the season.

Torii Hunter of the Angels said this after being asked about the celebration,

“It’s all TV, acting, until someone gets hit with a pitch in the chin. I’m old-school. I could never do that.”

Joe Saunders voiced a similar opinion,

“It was original. Fans like to see it. But as a player, it’s a little over the top.”

Fielder thought of the celebration in a different light,

“It was fun, especially the way the season is going now for us,” Fielder said. “It’s always good to have some fun.”

Now all three are correct in their quotes. Torii is of the old school sector of Baseball that doesn’t like an entire team to show up the other in victory. Joe was right that the home town fans will love it, but what about the opposing dugout? Prince is also right. You are playing a game and you want to have fun no matter what place in the standings you are at that point. I had no beef with the celebration, but if I were to do something different, I wouldn’t have untucked my shirt going to second. It sounds weird to complain about that, but it just seemed to be too much. You do need to realize that you didn’t win the World Series. It was a September game that ended in dramatic fashion that affected the Giants season more than the Brewers. Oh, and a triple play was turned by the Brewers in that game to. You gotta love Baseball.

Football starts with a punch to the face

Well, I have returned from my mini vacation. Re-energized to bring you weekly columns and updates from the mind of yours truly. The NFL season starts in less than a week and College Football got started last night with a few interesting games of note. Utah continued its win streak to 15. South Carolina got their first win over NC State. And Boise State started their run for a shot at the BCS with a win over Oregon. But lost in all that was the unsportsmanlike thuggery of Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount (see above).

The NCAA has encouraged a pregame hand shake before the start of games this season. Fifteen players from both teams did this, including Blount. After the very sloppy game, which saw Oregon’s offense produce only fifteen total yards in the first half, Blount was approached by Boise’s linebacker Byron Hout. Hout proceeded to touch Blount’s shoulder pad and say something to him. Without hesitation, Blount turned and punched Hout right on the chin, bringing him down. Now if that wasn’t bad enough, Blount went after a teammate who was pulling him away from the Boise players that wanted a piece of him. Blount made things worse by wanting to “Ron Artest” his way into the stands to go after some knucklehead fans. Blount had to be restrained by police, security and Oregon staff back to the locker room.

Of course realizing he made a terrible mistake, he apologized right after the game,

“I should have handled that situation a lot better than I did,” he said. “I apologize. We will never have a game like this again. … The game, as it went on, just got more frustrating and more frustrating for me in general. I shouldn’t have said anything. I shouldn’t have done anything.”

It becomes a case of should have, would’ve, could have. You did make a mistake, a stupid one, and now you will pay. Today Oregon suspended him for the entire season. Was the punishment just? Yes I think it was. You don’t react to an opposing team like that, no matter what. Get off the field, get on the bus and get out. If that is all he would’ve done was punch Byron Hout, then he wouldn’t have been suspended for the year, I don’t think. But the fact that he made things worse by confronting and trying to go after fans warranted the season suspension. The knucklehead in him came out and now he has to pay for it. I don’t buy that the Boise player should be punished to. That’s what some players do on the winning team. They will say things and it’s up to the losing team to conduct themselves in a respectable fashion. Hout should not be punished, but I’m sure that he was told to go about it a different way from now on.

Blount has officially ruined his season and Oregon might not recover from this loss or incident. It’s a shame that this is how the Football season starts, but lets be honest, this probably would’ve happened at some point. The fact that we have to understand is this doesn’t happen very often, but when it does the punishment has to be swift and tough so it can possibly be stopped in the future.

A Birthday Wish for the Sports Fan

Just before you blow out the candles you make a wish. That wish could be for that ultimate gift. Whether it be for that new video game, toy or the simple one of what would a sports fan want to do? The possibilities are endless.

With the pennant races heating up in baseball, how about spending a day in the clubhouse of your favorite team. NFL training camps have started. Spend a week seeing everything the coaches see on the practice field as a coach. Sit in the broadcast booth with Vin Scully during a Dodgers game and see how it is done. Again the ideas are endless. Think real hard about your wish and get back to me. In the meantime I will be on vacation for a week, so I leave you with my sports fans’ birthday wish. No major headlines, controversies or funny stories until I get back. Keep thinking about that wish. It just might come true.