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NHL Team-By-Team Previews - Western
Conference
Yesterday,
the Bodog Beat brought you its NHL
preview for all the teams in the Eastern
Conference. Today, it's the Western
Conference.
Take a deep
breath...and here goes, in alphabetical
order: the Bodog Beat's very own Western
Conference NHL preview:
Anaheim
Ducks (Last year: 43-27-12, 6th)
Ironically the loss of the moniker,
“mighty” came with the
addition of Chris Pronger to defense.
The big defenseman with the blazing
blast from the blueline led the Oilers
to the Stanley Cup Finals and can
now be expected to work the same magic
for the Ducks. The combination of
Pronger on one line and Scott Niedermayer
on another will provide Anaheim’s
goalie Ilya Bryzgalov with plenty
of protection. Teemu Selanne played
great last season with 40 goals and
50 assists. More of the same can be
expected from him this year.
Calgary
Flames (Last year: 46-25-11, 3rd)
Calgary struggled to score last year.
That was the bad news. Miikka Kiprusoff
was once again stellar in goal. That
was the good news. Predictably, things
ended in a mediocre fashion for the
Flames, losing in seven games to Anaheim
in the second round. Their acquisition
of Alex Tanguay from Colorado should
provide Jarome Iginla, who slumped
to 35 goals last season, some help
up front. Still, the Flames should
remain an under bettors' best friend.
Chicago
Black Hawks (Last year: 26-43-13,
14th)
The Blackhawks are a dark horse to
make the playoffs. They have added
some offense and if Nikolai Khabibulin
can rebound from a dismal first year
in Chicago, expect victories to come.
Martin Havlat moves over from Ottawa
and instantly becomes the focal point
of the Blackhawks’ offense.
He’ll at least get hockey highlights
onto the nightly news in the Windy
City.
Colorado
Avalanche (Last year: 43-30-9, 7th)
The Avs have made playoffs every year
since moving from Quebec City. That
streak might be in jeopardy. No longer
in the line-up is Alex Tanguay and
Rob Blake, so that leaves an aging
Joe Sakic, Milan Hejduk, and Andrew
Brunette to provide the punch. Who
knows what to expect of goalie Jose
Theodore? His .881 save percentage
in 05-06 fell well below his career
mark of .911.
Columbus
Blue Jackets (Last year: 35-43-4,
13th)
Pascal Leclaire takes over in net.
That should tell you all you need
to know about the Blue Jackets’
chances. Rick Nash, if he’s
healthy, will give Columbus a scoring
threat and rookie Gilbert Brule will
add depth to the roster, but with
weaker goaltending and mediocre defense,
the Blue Jackets have no hope of making
the postseason.
Dallas
Stars (Last year: 53-23-6, 2nd)
Jason Arnott’s out and Eric
Lindros is in which should be fine
as long as the big guy manages to
stay healthy. And while the Stars
also lost Bill Guerin and Niko Kapanen
they got a hold of Darryl Sydor and
Jaroslav Modry. Marty Turco between
the posts is a concern. He was terrible
in the playoffs and owned a less than
impressive .898 save percentage in
the regular season. Mike Modano, Sergei
Zubov and Brenden Morrow should once
again help drive this team to the
playoffs.
Detroit
Red Wings (Last year: 58-16-8, 1st)
Steve Yzerman has moved from the ice
to the front office. Whether he likes
his first year as a press-box spectator
will depend largely on Dominik Hasek,
who’s back in Motown looking
to rekindle old glory. The Wings may
be in trouble, though. They’re
thin on defense and don’t have
their usual depth up front. One bright
light should be rookie forward Jiri
Hudler.
Edmonton
Oilers (Last year: 41-28-13, 8th)
The Oilers are coming off a Cinderella
playoff run all the way to the Stanley
Cup finals. Though they lost in seven
to Carolina, for a brief moment, the
city felt as if the glory days of
the 1980's might finally be returning.
Nope. Not even close. Chris Pronger
was moved to Anaheim after mysteriously
asking for a trade just days after
the season ended. That hurt, and though
Joffrey Lupul came over in return,
the Oilers are left thin on the back
end. In goal, Dwayne Roloson, though
brilliant in last year's playoffs,
is now 37 and, theoretically, even
more prone to injury.
Los
Angeles Kings (Last year: 42-35-5,
10th)
Somehow, last year, the Kings won
more regular season games than the
Oilers. Don’t expect them to
pull that off again this year. Not
only did they lose their sniper Pavol
Dimitra they now have goalie Dan “Don’t
Expect Much From Me” Cloutier.
Will the addition of Scott Thornton
from San Jose help? Don’t count
on it. Fortunately Rob Blake is back
from Colorado to help ease some of
the pressure that Cloutier will be
under.
Minnesota
Wild (Last year: 38-36-8, 11th)
The Wild have always been known as
a team built on heart and not talent.
This year, they're hoping the addition
of sniper Pavol Demitra will help
the talent part, as well as turn fellow
Slovak Marian Gaborik into a full-blown
superstar. Mark Parrish also joined
the team. Though relatively unheralded
playing for the Islanders, the power-forward
will bring both toughness and scoring
to the Wild.
Nashville
Predators (Last year: 49-25-8, 4th)
Lord Stanley, meet the Grand Ol’
Opry. It could happen. These Predators
are good. They have the best young
defense corps in the league in Mark
Zidlicky, Dan Hamhuis and Shea Weber
(who will earn plenty of comparisons
to Scott Stevens in his career). Add
a solid goalie (Tomas Vokoun), and
a deep forward unit, led by Paul Kariya
and new acquisitions Jason Arnott
and J.P. Dumont, and you have the
makings of a Cup contender.
Phoenix
Coyotes (38-39-5, 12th)
The Great One, Wayne Gretzky, returns
for a second season behind the bench,
this time with a brand new five-year
contract. The Coyotes signed free-agent
Ed Jovonovski from the Canucks who
will combine with Nick Boynton, Derek
Morris and Dennis Seidenberg to create
one of the best defensive corps in
the league. Cujo’s in net and
you never know for sure with him.
He had a
decent season last year but with a
little luck and his outstanding defensive
lines, he could have his best season
yet. Or he might just let your grandmother
park her car in the net.
San
Jose Sharks (Last year: 44-27-11,
5th)
NHL's Most Valuable Player Joe Thornton
and leading goal scorer Jonathan Cheechoo
are more than enough to make the Sharks
a serious threat. Now that they have
possibly an even better lineup than
last year and seeing as two seasons
ago they were conference finalists
and last year were eliminated by the
Stanley Cup Finalists they will be
looking for the cup themselves this
year.
St.
Louis Blues (Last year: 21-46-15,
15th)
With Manny Legace in goal, the Blues
solved their most puzzling problem
from a season ago. They also added
Bill Guerin, who had a great preseason,
and brought back Doug Weight to be
a top-line center. With young stars
like Lee Stempniak and Dennis Wideman,
St. Louis could again return to the
postseason.
Vancouver
Canucks (Last year: 42-32-8, 9th)
Vancouver's Todd Bertuzzi era came
to a close with a blockbuster trade
that sent the disgruntled forward
to Florida in return for top goalie
Roberto Luongo. The Canucks, once
a free-flowing offensive powerhouse,
will now preach team defense and accountability.
At least, that's the plan. Markus
Naslund and the two Sedin twins, Daniel
and Henrik, will be counted on to
provide most of the scoring while
newcomer Willie Mitchell should help
shore up a Canucks defense that was
ravaged by injuries in 05-06.
Eastern
Conference Preview >> |
