Alright, here comes part two of the NHL Offseason Review, and I'm writing this from Montreal, which is probably the best place in the world to be if you're writing about hockey. Also, if you like to have fun, I highly suggest it. Anyways, onto the teams and their offseason moves, and a tiny little prognostication.
Anaheim Ducks
Anaheim, hockey hotbed.... oh, who am I kidding. It's Anaheim, where people don't even show up to baseball games on time, and pretty much never show up to hockey games. The Ducks were pretty exciting last year, what with Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf, but it wasn't enough to get them past the first round. This year they went out and traded forMathieu Carle (D, Montreal) and Andrew Cogliano (F, Edmonton) to bolster the front and back lines, without losing too much in the process. So, mild improvement. With Hedburg back in goal and the offense slightly improved, they might get past round 1 this time.
Calgary Flames
Calgary's been on the decline for a couple years now, as their formerly all star core starts to age. This offseason looks like an attempt to get a little younger- they traded Robyn Regehr to Buffalo in return for young, somewhat promising Chris Butler and Paul Byron, and signed a couple new faces from around the league. Is it enough to return Jerome Iginla to the playoffs? This team still looks understaffed and not ready for any postseason success.
Chicago Blackhawks
The gist of the Blackhawks offseason was to get tougher. They lost some good two way forwards, but then just decided to sign and trade for bigger, tougher guys up front. Andrew Brunette, from Minnesota, adds a physically big scoring threat to the team, Carcillo (Philly) brings some dickishness, and the Blackhawks might be able to develop Rostislav Olesz (Florida) into a more consistent scoring threat. Overall, after getting out-toughed in their first round series against hated Vancouver, the Blackhawks responded this offseason by bulking up. This is a Cup contender in the West, once again.
Colorado Avalanche
Colorado missed out on the playoffs last year; and it appears they've made moves to try and get back. Without losing too much, they infused a massive amount of talent all over the ice- three new goalies, Hejda (Columbus) and O' Brien (Nashville) on D, and Kobasew (Minnesota) up front. Building around Paul Stansy after trading Chris Stewart last year is the path their taking, and they might be able to sneak into the playoffs.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Will Columbus ever be relavent? They just remain unknown, a team disappearing in what David Foster Wallace would call the Great Ohio Desert (English Nerdiness over now). This team might be trying to do something about that, though, with a ton of moves they made (probably to counter all the departures, as well). Most notably, they traded for Jeff Carter (Philadelphia) and picked up James Wisnewski (Montreal) and Vaclav Prospal (New York). They've got two pretty decent lines now, so, who knows, maybe someone will be watching when Rick Nash does something awesome in Columbus.
Dallas Stars
In news that I am glad to hear, there was a pretty big talent drain in Dallas this year (still not forgiven for their 1999 Stanley Cup. Never). They lost Brad Richards to New York, as well as Langenbrunner (St. Louis) and some other good players. For replacements sake, they brought in Michael Ryder (Montreal) and some others (Shelden Souray, for one), but the damage is still done. Dallas is going to have some trouble scoring consistently, and they'll have some trouble staying in contention.
Detroit Red Wings
The Red Wings' core of aging stars might not have many runs left in them. The team stayed effectively neutral this offseason, picking up Mike Commodore (Columbus) and Ian White (San Jose), while losing Kris Draper and Brian Rafalski to retirement. The team will still be near the top of the West, as per usual, but not Cup contenders anymore.
Edmonton Oilers
Edmonton hasn't done much of anything since their surprise run to the Stanley Cup finals in the mid 2000s. This team is very young, but they did bring in some nice additions to bring some experience to the team, and maybe some winning. The pickups of Ryan Smyth (LA), Ben Eager (San Jose), Eric Belanger (Phoenix) and Cam Barker (Minnesota) offset some of the losses this team faced, such as Sheldon Souray (Dallas), Andrew Cogliano (Anaheim), and Colin Fraser (LA). This team could be one on the rise, but they have a pretty big mountain to climb to get back to the playoffs.
Los Angeles Kings
The LA Kings are riding a resurgence right now, and they had a big offseason to try and take that next step. They brought in Mike Richards from Philadelphia and Simon Gagne from Tampa Bay to add scoring to an already dangerous offense. This offsets some of their loses, like Ponikarovsky (Carolina), Smyth (Edmonton) and Handzus (San Jose). The Kings will once again be near the top of the West, and maybe even get to the Conference Finals. Hockey in LA...I guess it'll work.
Minnesota Wild
Minnesota has such a rabid fanbase, but they haven't really done much in the playoffs to convert any legions from outside Minnesoh-ta. They traded Martin Havlat and Brent Burns to San Jose in exchange for Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi, which seems like a steal for the Wild offense (even if losing Burns is a big hit to their defense). They also lost Brunette (Chicago) and Cam Barker (Edmonton). This team looks to be little improved from last season, all told, and they might scrape the playoffs, but I doubt it.
Nashville Predators
Ok, nobody really cares about this team. It's Nashville. To be honest, their offseason was nothing special- lost some guys, brought in able replacements. They'll keep playing defensive hockey, leaning on Pekka Rinne, and improbably finish well in the playoffs, infuriating teams with their ability to win despite seemingly no offensive weapons.
Phoenix Coyotes
Phoenix is like Nashville, except a million times less people could care about them. They made a bunch of signings, and they're all really...decent players. Nothing special. Then note that they lost Jovanovski, Belanger, and this kind of important guy, Ilya Bryzgalov, and it looks like Phoenix will come tumbling out of the playoffs this year.
San Jose Sharks
Ah, the Sharks. It is so easy to predict when you'll lose in the playoffs. It seems as if it will never ever even be in the Stanley Cup Finals, with the level of chokitude this team exhibits. The biggest move they made was the trade with Minnesota where they picked up Marty Havlat and Brent Burns (a huge defensive addition). They lost Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi, though, which is a hit to the offense. Still, it looks like this team is trying to bolster up on defense, and that might get them deep into the playoffs again, but I don't see any addition that will take them to the Stanley Cup finals.
St. Louis Blues
St. Louis is another pretty forgettable hockey team, and their offseason is one of the most boring I've seen. Lose no one too big, don't bring in any one too big. All the losses are offset with some decent signing. I can't muster any enthusiasm for anything this team has done. They'll be same old St. Louis. Nothing doing.
Vancouver Canucks
I started with Boston, and now I finish with Vancouver, the team Boston beat in the Stanley Cup finals. Vancouver didn't do much either this offseason, besides bringing in Marco Sturm from Washington and losing Christian Ehrhoff to the Sabres. They'll once again dominate the Regular Season, but with Luongo still in net... they won't be Cup winners, sorry.
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