NHL Preview

While the finals drift into the summer months, Ice Hockey is a winter sport, and as such it has the decency not to start till the weather actually gets cold.  Having said that I do wish the season would hurry up and begin already!

 

The first dropped puck of the new campaign will happen outside of North America as the Carolina Hurricanes play the Minnesota Wild in Helsinki, Finland.  The first of 6 games played on this continent this autumn.  (For the others click on the link http://bit.ly/doY8yr) 

 

Not only will there be games in Europe, but this year there will be two, count ‘em, TWO outdoor games.  This season’s Winter Classic, held as usual on New Years day, pits the Penguins against the Capitals at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.  It should be a tasty affair, two teams who expect to be serious contenders or the cup last season, and knocked seven bells out of each other whenever they met last year.

 

As an added bonus the powers that be have re-introduced the Heritage Classic.  Like the Winter Classic, but Canadian.  The Canadians (Montreal, not the national team) will take on the Calgary Flames, on the 20^th February 2011 at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta.  Average temperature for that area of the world in February, minus 6.

 

Moving from specifics to generalities I thought I’d wet your appetites/stoke up some interest by having a look at the players, and teams to watch out for this season.  Those to make headlines, highlight reels, and rack up points.

 

Much of what I am going to say about these first two players will have already been said before, but a top players list looks incomplete at best, deliberately altered and misleading at worst.

So we begin with Sid the Kid, and the Great 8.  These are the two best players in the NHL today, and interestingly for the rest of us, they are different in almost everyway.

 

Sidney Crosby is the clean cut, small town, point machine.  He has won everything.  Youngest player to lead the league in scoring, youngest captain of a Stanley Cup winning team, and scorer of the OT goal in the Olympics to clinch the Gold Medal on home ice for Canada.

 

First overall pick after the lockout season, the draft lottery that followed was nicknamed the ‘Sidney Sweepstake.’ (http://bit.ly/91MXn6)

 

Ovechkin was the first pick prior to the lockout.  From Moscow he’s a hero in Washington (how times have changed).  He aims for the body when he checks.  Shoots at every opportunity, and deliberately looks to get in the opposition’s face.

Wearing a tinted visor, he takes out a false tooth before he takes to the ice and is friends with famous sportsman, from other sports, who like limelight. (http://bit.ly/8YfstG)

 

These two are again likely to lead the points table as the season creeps towards the playoffs.

 

So who else is worthy of the part time NHL watcher’s viewing time?

 

Well, last season Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightening was the best of the rest.  And this year the Lightening look stronger, with the team improving, and backed up by the likes of Vinnie Lecavalier, Martin St Louis, and new this year Simon Gange, both he and them are worth keeping an eye out for.

 

Over on the other side.  The Sedin twins are climbing the ladder from very good players to franchise players.  Plus there are two of them, and as twin cliché goes, they read each other’s play better than anyone else in the league.

 

In goal there are some interesting developments ahead.  Ryan Miller, Roberto Luango and Martin Brodeur will once again lead to charge of elite goalies looking to backstop their team to glory.  Heroics from Jarolav Halak in last years playoffs, Montreal decided to stick with Cary Price leaving Halak to move to St Louis making this year a big one for both these players.  Cup winning goalie Antti Niemi also moved, after he was awarded a contract in arbitration Chicago couldn’t afford San Hose swooped in to claim him.  

 

Remaining in Chicago Jonathon Toews and Patrick Kane will once again form one of those partnerships that other clubs envy.  Namely not one star player, but two, both young, both getting better and better and forging an identity for their club.  Like Crosby and Malkin, The Sedin Twins, Gretzky and Messier.

 

Which moves us on to teams to watch.  Last year Edmonton were abysmal.  Finishing bottom of the league, by a fair distance.  This year they got the first pick in the NHL entry draft (http://bit.ly/9vJVAv).  In recent years, the top picks have achieved big things.  Six previous 1^st Overall picks are mentioned in this article alone (as well as 3 who were never drafted, strangely enough).

 

With this valuable commodity they chose Tyler Hall.  In previous drafts they’ve collected a nice assortment of talented youngsters.  They are hoping to show signs that they have turned a corner, or at least that the corner is in sight.

 

The Colorado Avalanche have adopted the same tactic, although are a few years ahead of the Oilers, and I expect them to be a force in this season playoffs.

 

Another team hard on the rebuilding trail are the Toronto Maple Leafs.  Last year, with Brian Burke as the GM, they are starting to make strides towards the playoffs, unfortunately for their die hard fans, this has been the case for a number of seasons.

 

Last year the Capitals were the team to beat all through the regular season.  Then the playoffs hit and they folded.  In the same way the Buffalo Sabres battled, then ran out of steel when it mattered.  They will have been scratching their heads this summer wondering why, and both teams may change their style slightly this time around, happy to forfeit a few regular season points for a prolonged stay next spring.

 

The Sharks, Red Wings, Penguins and Canucks are also looking to make that final push to serious contenders.

 

With such a long season ahead the favourites for possible the largest trophy in sport will change many, many times.  It would be foolhardy for me to pick the winner.  So here goes.  From the East - Capitals, from the West – Sharks.  The San Jose Sharks to clinch it in 6 games and Antti Niemi (the goalie) to win back to back cups.

 

We will see.

 

(Here is a few more sights and sounds to get you counting down the days - http://bit.ly/bnsS7N  - http://bit.ly/d3UsIt)

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