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NHL Northeast Division Preview PDF Print E-mail
Fantasy Hockey Blog
Friday, 04 September 2009 22:21
Hello again, hockey fans! Today on Fantasypros911.com I will continue my NHL previews which today with focus on the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference! Over the rest of the weekend, will come the Southeast Division and next week it will be time to focus on the Western Conference! Thanks for reading and feel free to leave comments! Off to the previews!

alt(1) Boston Bruins--- The Boston Bruins last season were the top regular season team in the Eastern Conference, losing out on the Presidents’ Trophy by only one point to the Western Conference champion San Jose Sharks. Sadly for the Bruins, their season ended in a second round loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. Looking ahead to this season, there are many questions about the future of this team.

Forwards--- Some may argue that the fate of the Bruins rests on the shoulder of one man, C Phil Kessel (36g 24a). As of right now, the restricted free agent is not signed, and his monetary demands may be too much for the Bruins to pay. If Kessel does not come back, for this season, no matter how the Kessel situation works out, watch out for LW Milan Lucic (17g 25a). Lucic can do mostly anything on the ice, he can fight, as seen on some clips that are floating on the internet, and he can also score timely goals as he had three game winning goals last season.

Defense--- On defense, the Bruins still have probably the top defensemen in the East in D Zdeno Chara (19g 31a). He has a rocket shot and is deadly on the power play, as he can create scoring opportunities for Bruins forwards just by putting the puck on net and creating rebound chances. One less heralded signing by the Bruins this off season was D Derek Morris (5g 15a). He is a puck moving defensemen who split time last season between the Phoenix Coyotes and the New York Rangers.

Goalie--- G Tim Thomas is still among the league's top goaltenders. The funny thing is that he is similar to another Boston sports player, pitcher Tim Wakefield of the Boston Red Sox in that both have really ascended to the top of their craft as they get older. They are getting better with age, especially Thomas who went 36-11-7 last year. The only thing for Thomas and the Bruins is that they no longer have Manny Fernandez as his backup, but Dany Sabourin comes over from the Pittsburgh Penguins and provides just as good, if not better backup goaltending. 
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(2) Montreal Canadiens--- The Montreal Canadiens are continuing to celebrate their 100 year anniversary this season, and the product on the ice will probably be among the most fun to watch in years. Not because they are assured of being one of the top teams, but rather due to the changes up and down the roster.

Forwards--- After a complete overhaul of the forwards on this team, where this team ends up looks to be one of the main questions of the NHL this season. The Habs could be the best team in the East, or they could miss the playoffs entirely. In my opinion they will be right in the middle. Two of the key pickups this off-season included the trade for C Scott Gomez (16g 42a) from the New York Rangers and the signing of RW Brian Gionta (20g 40a) from the New Jersey Devils. The two combined as one of the top duos in the league when they played together for the Devils. Those are going to be the two players to watch this season for the sheer fact that they have history playing together and to see if they can reproduce the numbers they put up in New Jersey.

Defense--- Andrei Markov is still the star of this unit as he made the All-Star team this past season and led the team in ice time during the months of November, December, February and March. He is great on the power play and is an asset to the Habs defense. A pick-up in the Gomez trade, D Paul Mara (5g 16a) is underrated as a defenseman. He does get caught out of position at times, but really, he was a great pickup in that trade.

Goalie--- Carey Price has shown flashes of being a topflight NHL goalie on some nights. One night he will get a shutout and look like a brick wall, the next night he will let in two soft goals. He is only 22 and really had a good year last year considering his age: a 23-16-10 record with a 2.83 GAA and a .905 save percentage. In terms of his backup, Jaroslav Halak could even push Price for time during the year. He is among the best backups in the league. 

alt(3) Ottawa Senators--- Will LW Dany Heatley (39g 33a) be in a Ottawa Senators uniform when they open the season on October 3rd at Madison Square Garden in New York against the Rangers? That is the big wild-card in the Senators season. When he plays, Heatley is among the top pure goal scorers in the league (he has 260 goals at age 28 and has had two 50 goal seasons). Once this scenario plays itself out, the Sens can get back to improving on the ice after last season's disappointment.

Forwards--- Without talking more about Heatley, there are still some very talented players on the roster who actually want to play in Ottawa. RW and Captain Daniel Alfredsson (24g 50a) is a quiet superstar up in Ottawa. He had only known the Senators as his home in the NHL and it seems may see his number 11 raised to the rafters in Scotiabank Place. In terms of a younger player to keep an eye on, look at LW Nick Foligno (17g 15a). He may improve and if Heatley leaves Ottawa, could see his ice time increase.

Defense--- D Chris Campoli (11g 19a) begins his first full season in Ottawa and has shown over the years to a quality two-way player. He can score and play solid defense. He doesn’t take many shots (91), but he makes them count as he put over 12 percent of them in the net. As for his outlook for this season, he will probably be in the second pairing of the Senators defensemen, but he has the ability to be a number one in the not too distant future.

Goalie--- The Senators have two young goalies coming into this season. G Brian Elliott had a fine rookie season as he went 16-8-3 with a 2.77 GAA and a .902 save percentage. The only question is if he can both improve those numbers and play in a full season. Pushing him for playing time will be former Columbus Blue Jacket Pascal Leclaire. It appears to be Elliott’s job to lose at this point though.
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(4) Buffalo Sabres--- The Buffalo Sabres came within two points of making yet another postseason appearance last year. It was a rough year on a few fronts for the Sabres, mostly due to some key injuries that saw the team on the outside looking into the playoffs once they began in mid April. Looking ahead to this season, I have the Senators passing the Sabres in the standings not really due to anything the Sabres did, and that’s the issue. During the off season they did nothing to improve. The Senators may be without Heatley, but should be able to get at least a key player in return while the Sabres stuck with the status-quo for the most part. If anything, the losses on the blue line will hurt this team.

Forwards--- The team returns all four of their top scorers from a year ago. The key is going to be the return to health of C Tim Connolly (18g 29a). He put up those numbers in only 48 games. If he can come back and play up to his abilities, then watch out, he is going to have a great season. Also, look out for Derek Roy (28g 42a). He had a bit of a down year last season, and he should return with a vengeance.

Defense--- The loss of D Jaroslav Spacek (8g 37a) is painful for the Sabres as he was key on the power play and had the ability to feed his teammates as was evident with his 37 assists. The team also lost D Teppo Numminen to retirement, so they lost two of their top defensemen from a year ago. This is going to be the weak link for the Sabres this season.

Goalie--- Last season, G Ryan Miller only played in 58 games but when he played, he showed why the Sabres think so highly of him. At 34-18-6 with a 2.53 GAA and a .918 save percentage, he had another great year. He is 29 years old and is in the prime of his career. As for his backup, Patrick Lalime is simply not that good, and that could mean if Miller goes down, goaltending could be an issue for this team.

alt(5) Toronto Maple Leafs --- The Maple Leafs are one of the most storied franchises in the NHL. Over the past few seasons however, the team has found itself stuck in the mires of mediocrity at best, and complete ineptitude at worst. Still, the team played better than expected last season but what is going to happen this year? As with most of the teams in this division, it could go either way.

Forwards--- The Leafs have a pretty big issue when it comes to forwards. They can’t really score. Jason Blake (25g 38a) led the team in points with 63, and his 25 goals led the team. It is not going to be possible in this league to only have your top scorer score 25 goals and expect to be successful. There are a few younger players that are coming into their own however, and one example is C Matt Stajan (15g 40a). He, at age 25 has four full NHL seasons under his belt, and he looks primed to have a breakout year.

Defense--- Tomas Kaberle (4g 27a) is still a Maple Leaf and he is definitely the leader of this group which is full of average players. Nobody really sticks out as a true star, which is why making Kaberle happy is so important. Without him, the Leafs would be in serious trouble. Jeff Finger (6g 17a) is a pretty good player, not great but solid. The rest of the defensemen are tough, including new signings Garnet Exelby (0g 7a) and Mike Komisarek (2g 9a), but they won’t provide offense.

Goalie--- G Vesa Toskala looks to still be the number one goalie for the Leafs. Last season he was 22-17-11 with a 3.26 GAA and a .891 save percentage. He will need to improve on those numbers if he is to win the job in training camp as the Leafs signed one of the more intriguing players out there this summer in G Jonas “The Monster” Gustavsson from Sweden. The 24 year old is looking to get the starting job sooner rather than later, and it appears he will have his chance. The other backup is former New York Islander Joey MacDonald.
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