Wild Nation’s Ridiculously Early Season Predictions: Northeast Division

Well, it’s ridiculously early season preview time again.

Last time, we took a look at the Atlantic Division, with many of the teams taking much different approach to the season than they did last season. In other words, spending money and spending money on areas of need, in some cases, and to shore up strengths in others.

This time, though, we’re taking a look at the Nord-east Division, the home of some of the more intriguing teams coming into this season.

Boston Bruins – The Bruins have some work left to do this off season, as they are already about $3.1 million over the salary cap (though that will be temporarily relieved when the team places Marco Sturm on the Injured Reserve).

The good news for the Bruins are that they have just two contracts that are worth $5 million or more (Tim Thomas and Zdeno Chara), but the bad news is that one of those contracts is for Thomas, who is both a 35-plus contract (meaning that, if he retires, it counts against the salary cap regardless) and has a No-Movement Clause that prevents him from being traded or moved to the minors prior to July 1, 2012.

In other words, it makes him darn hard to move.

What the Bruins do have, however, is a strong core.

They have Tukka Rask in net, a goalie who you could have made a strong case for the Vezina for last season, and a core of solid young forwards led by David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that Tyler Seguin will be on the opening day roster and really, the Bruins are looking pretty good heading into the season despite the questions surrounding whether or not Tim Thomas and Marc Savard will be moved.

Buffalo Sabres – There are many intriguing teams in the Northeast Division this season and many intriguing storylines – unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it), none of these involve the Sabres.

The team’s biggest off season acquisition?

Rob Niedermayer.

But, for a team that won the Northeast last season that could be a good thing.

They have eight of their ten top scorers returning and that’s not mentioning Tyler Ennis, who scored at nearly a point-per-game pace in his ten-game cup of coffee last season.

The one area that this team could be lacking in is their defense. They lost a lot of experience and talent in Lydman and Tallinder and I’m not so sure that Leopold and Morrisonn are necessarily an upgrade on defense. If you’re a Sabres fan, this unknown could be a scary proposition. But, with Ryan Miller in net, these losses could go unnoticed, as the Vezina Trophy winner remains one of the top goalies in the league.

The bottom line? The Northeast is Buffalo’s to lose, but if their defense doesn’t live up to what it will need to, you could easily see them do just that.

Montreal Canadiens – So, how do you reward a goalie that many heralded as the revelation of the playoffs?

Trade him, of course.

That is the type of puzzling logic that Canadiens fans saw themselves subjected to over the off season.

Let us not forget that the player that they dubbed their number one immediately following the Halak trade, Carey Price, has yet to be re-signed.

But, it’s not all bad news for the Habs. Price is a restricted free agent and will be back with the team next season, one way or the other. The Halak trade brought in a great young player in Lars Eller and their top forwards still remain.

The team also has one of the most exciting young defensemen in the league in P.K. Subban, who proved himself to be a terrific addition on the blueline and will most certainly be a welcome addition to a defense that is looking better and better as the season nears.

The team’s forwards are set and should prove effective once again as their “big four” of Gomez, Cammalleri, Plekanec and Gionta have another year with one another, which can only mean good things. The biggest question marks at forward are how Andrei Kostitsyn will respond to the trade of his brother as he comes off a sub-par season and whether or not career under-achiever Benoit Pouliot can build on the strong play that he showed last season.

With all of these questions, however, there’s no doubt that their season all hinges on their play in net. If Price is signed and performs up to expectations, there’s no doubt that the Habs could be back in the playoffs. That being said, though…That’s a LARGE if.

Ottawa Senators – Ottawa arguably made the biggest splash this off season in the Northeast, signing Sergei Gonchar to a three-year deal.

Apart from that singular splash, however, Sens chose to maintain the status quo.

Whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen, but he does immediately make the Sens a much better team.

Once again, however, the Sens biggest question remains in nets. Whether Brian Elliott or Pascal Leclaire can step up and be the team’s top goalie remains to be seen, but there is some optimism surrounding this team.

Jason Spezza had 38 points in the 30 games after he came back from injury, which lends to the idea that he might be back to his 90-plus point form. Daniel Alfredsson and Milan Michalek will also help spur on an offense that struggled at times last season. The most optimistic showing, however, was the emergence of Peter Regin during the post season as both a scorer and a clutch scorer, at that.

As with Montreal, however, Ottawa’s questions lie in net. If Elliott and Leclaire can hold down the fort in net, Ottawa could be the sleeper team in a division of some of the NHL’s most storied franchises.

Toronto Maple Leafs – This is the part where Toronto fans are hoping that whoever is doing the preview is going to say that they’re the sleeper team in the East and going to win the division and so on, and so on.

Sorry Leafs fans. It’s not going to happen just yet. The operative word, though, is yet.

As it stands now, the Leafs have one of the best defensive units in the East. Phaneuf, Komisarek, Kaberle and Beauchemin could all be top-two defensemen in the right situations, while Schenn and Lebda round out a very impressive top six. Throw in the fact that they have J.S. Giguere in nets who looked much closer to the Giguere of old after being traded to Toronto from Anaheim last season and you’ve got an impressive back end.

The biggest question mark for Toronto, though, is their offense. When your leading scorer has 55 points, there is a big problem. The addition of Kris Versteeg should help this immediately, while Kulemin and Bozak will continue to grow and should put forth more impressive seasons than they did last year.

It’s very apparent that Brian Burke is still trying to mold this team into the one that he wants them to be and it’s apparent that he’s taking steps in that direction, especially after the signing of Colby Armstrong.

The best compliment that a rebuilding franchise can get is that it’s hard to play against and Toronto will definitely be that. They will be difficult to play against and they will be competitive but, at the end of the day, I don’t foresee them making it into the playoffs this season.

Predictions

So, now that the previews are behind us, let’s see how I think the Northeast will break down:

1) Buffalo Sabres
2) Boston Bruins
3) Ottawa Senators
4) Montreal Canadiens
5) Toronto Maple Leafs

Last season four of the five Northeast teams made the playoffs and I don’t see that happening again. I think that the Sabres and the Bruins will be squarely in the midst of the playoff race, while the Senators and Habs will be a bubble team. The Leafs will once again be on the outside looking in.

Up Next: The Southeast Division

On My Soapbox: Post-Hit Fights

Here’s the deal.  It’s not like I think that Steve Ott is a horrible human being… 

Well, okay.  Let me rephrase that.  While I may think that he’s a horrible human being, I’m sure that he’s actually a really nice guy. 

Wait, let me rephrase that again.  I’m not sure, but he probably is actually a really nice guy—just a nice guy who enjoys annoying the hell out of anyone and everyone on the ice. 

But I’m going to be flat out honest here.  What he did not once, but twice last night might not have been wrong, but it was certainly was dishonorable, as Puck Daddy made mention of. 

Here’s the deal.  I am a Wild fan.  I make no bones about it.  While I try my hardest to remain objective, there are many times that I view plays during Wild games through Iron Range Red tinted lenses. 

But what Steve Ott did last night is a growing epidemic in the NHL in general, as Bob McKenzie pointed out at TSN.ca. 

I’m all for fighting in the game, and I’m all for spontaneous fighting at that.  But there’s one thing that gets me on both of the fights that Ott started. 

Each one followed a 100% good, clean check by Cal Clutterbuck. 

Why, pray tell, should Clutterbuck be expected to defend himself against someone other than the man that he just embarrassed by knocking his brain about ten rows up into the seats?

A couple seasons ago, Wild defenseman Brent Burns jumped in on something that was much similar to this when he set up forward Stephane Veilleux to get Phaneufed, so to speak. 

My response then was the same as it is now.  Why in the world should the hitter have to defend themselves against anyone but the recipient of the hit for a good, clean hit? 

Don’t get me wrong.  I love seeing players skate with such raw emotion.  But this is now bordering on ridiculous. 

In his post-game comments, Ott brought up the 60’s and 70’s bench clearing brawls saying that a hit like that on a star player simply can’t go without a response. 

Yeah.  He may be right, and you at least have to respect his sentiment.  But at what point did we start saying that this response has to be in the way of a fight?  Or even that the star players can’t respond, themselves?

McKenzie brings up a great list of what he believes would constitute as “appropriate responses” in his column, and I happen to agree 200% with him: 

I suppose I’m old fashioned but for me the appropriate response to the Stuart hit would have come from a menu that includes the following: a) Kopitar gets up and exacts revenge by scoring a goal against Boston; b) If Kopitar was really incensed by the hit, he drops the gloves himself with Stuart (don’t laugh, the point is the game had more honor when players fought their own battles); c) the Kings take Stuart’s number and the first time he’s in a position to get hit, he gets creamed; d) the Kings begin laying more hits and physical abuse on Boston’s best offensive players Marc Savard and Patrice Bergeron, and believe me Wayne Simmonds would be excellent at this; e) all of the above. 

Why does the response have to involve a player now having to drop his gloves with someone nowhere near the play, just because he cleaned the clock of a star player?  My guess, in both situations, is that the star player got to his feet thinking to himself: “Damn, I should have kept my head up.” 

But, if he were really upset over it, he should fight his own battles like McKenzie suggested.  To Ott’s comment, I’m certain that’s what would have happened in the 60’s and 70’s. 

What’s more, the NHL instituted the “instigator” penalty to prevent just this.  As Mike Russo mentioned in his postgame blog, the instigator rule at hand (and, make no mistake, Ott was the instigator in both fights), would punish Ott with a 2-5-and-10 laundry list of penalty minutes for his role in starting the fight. 

As Russo said: 

Tonight, for some reason Ott didn’t get an instigator (2-5-and-10) for going after Clutterbuck after he lay a clean check on Brad Richards. I don’t know why. The league has publicly said that if you start a fight after a clean hit,. it should be a 2, 5 and 10. The refs tonight gave him 2 for roughing. 

I’m sure I’m not alone in this sentiment, but I don’t want to get rid of hitting in the NHL—especially not the open ice kind, nor do I want to get rid of fighting.  Both aspects of the game are absolutely electric and can energize a crowd and a team and both aspects are as much of a part as the game’s fabric as scoring goals or making saves. 

But, for the life of me, I just can’t understand why a player would have to defend himself for a clean hit—especially when he’s not defending himself against the player that he hit, and I can’t, for the life of me, understand why the NHL would institute such a rule as the instigator penalty if they refuse to enforce it to the letter of the law.

The Trade Winds, They Are A Blowin’

Well, the first move of the trade season has been made.  According to TSN:

The Calgary Flames have traded defenceman Dion Phaneuf, forwardFredrik Sjostrom, and prospect defenceman Keith Aulie to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for forwards Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman,Jamal Mayers and defenceman Ian White.

Personally, I don’t like this trade.  The Leafs have gotten a greatly overrated defenseman in exchange for two of their better offensive talents — something that the team is greatly lacking at the moment.

This trade could end up being one of a player who just needed a change of scenery, but right now I’d have to give the edge to Calgary on this one, as they unloaded Phaneuf’s monster salary and they also picked up two players who can contribute on the offensive side of the puck in Stajan and Hagman.

Here’s what Brian Burke had to say:

Game Recap: Wild Blank Jackets 2-0

The reigning NHL hits king, Cal Clutterbuck, sent a message Friday night — that he isn’t going to be content just being a checker.

Unfortunately, the storyline of the night wasn’t Clutterbuck’s offensive performance.  Instead, it was another ill advised hit — this time, Wild center Eric Belanger on Jackets forward Jason Chimera.

One night after Islanders forward Kyle Okposo was taken off on a stretcher following a Dion Phaneuf hit, Chimera had to be removed from the ice on a stretcher following a check from behind by Belanger late in the second period.  Chimera, in his first shift back after being struck in the face by a puck, was driven face first into the glass by Belanger.  A Blue Jackets spokesman said that Chimera was coherent as he left the ice and gave the sellout crowd a thumbs up.

The hit was atypical for Belanger, who has accrued just 251 penalty minutes in his eight season career.  Belanger was assessed a 5-minute boarding penalty and a 10-minute game misconduct.

The hit put a damper on an otherwise impressive performance by the Wild.  The team made the most of their opportunities and the players that were trying to impress coach Todd Richards did just that.

Colton Gillies finished the game with zero points, but put forth a strong effort that saw him tally three shots on goal in just under fifteen minutes of ice time.  Danny Irmen also captured Richards’ attention with yet another hard working, solid performance.  While it’s extremely unlikely that he’ll make the team, he’s definitely gotten noticed.

“Coming in, I didn’t know anything about Danny Irmen when I got here,” Richards told reporters.  ”Watching him skate, he has some skill, he handles the puck well, he moves well enough out on the ice.  Now it’s just getting him in game situations.”

As I’ve mentioned before, I think Irmen might actually have the inside track to landing a job on the big squad this season due to the size of his salary.  Should Gillies make the squad, he would be due over $1M on a team that is pressed right up against the cap.  Irmen, on the other hand, is set to make just a fraction of Gillies — something that will certainly rest on the minds of Richards and Fletcher when making the final roster decisions.

In nets, Backstrom and Harding combined for the shutout with 27 saves between them.

Playoff Picture

Where’s Jim Mora when you need him?

Playoffs?!?  Playoffs!!?!

Okay, okay, so the reference has probably been beaten to death every single season for every sport since Mora’s famous outburst.  The fact remains, however, that the playoffs are bearing down upon us.  While the field has yet to be set, we do have a pretty good idea of who is going to be in the big show.  We’ll be rating the potential playoff match ups on our newly patented Mora-Meter.  One Mora would be the equivalent of watching the World Series of Gin Rummy played on ESPN (my guess as to what the next program to move into the Worldwide Leader instead of hockey) while five Mora’s would be a series that would lead to so much excitement that it would drive Jim Mora into a frenzy that would leave him frothing at the mouth.

So here you have it.  The playoff match ups, if the playoffs started today, complete with the new and improved Mora-Meter!

Western Conference
#1 San Jose Sharks v. #8 Nashville Predators
Analysis: The Nashville Predators are like that kid in high school that you never wanted to hang out with, but always somehow ended up getting invited wherever you went.  Over the last few seasons the Preds have been the whipping boy of the NHL, more specifically from Canadian fans, about how southern expansion just flat out doesn’t work.  The bottom line is, however, that the Preds continue to put a good package on the ice and continue to make the playoffs no matter what.  In this series, they’d be running up against a Sharks team that will be hellbent to prove that they can perform in the playoffs.  I don’t envy anyone in the position that the Preds are in, but if anyone can pull off a first round upset, it’s them.  This could be an intriguing series; however, it could just as easily be a case of the Sharks doing their thing and the Predators hanging on for dear life.
Mora-Meter:   

#2 Detroit Red Wings v. #7 Anaheim Ducks
Analysis: The last time these two teams met in the playoffs, the Ducks bounced the Wings en route to a Stanley Cup Championship.  Can anyone think of anything more intriguing than the last two Stanley Cup Champions facing off and in the first round no less?  The biggest swing in this match up is that the Ducks still play like they’re the class bully, while the Red Wings bully teams by skating circles around them.  What makes this series even more interesting is the fact that the Wings and the Ducks quite simply don’t like each other.  Lest we forget Chris Pronger attempting to remove Tomas Holmstrom’s head from his body, amongst other things transpiring between the two teams that cultivated the bad blood in their last post season meeting.  The Red Wings always seem to be a step ahead of the NHL; however, this season, their goaltending could be their Achillies Heel and with a potent Ducks powerplay, it would make for some great playoff hockey.
Mora-Meter:    

#3 Vancouver Canucks v. #6 Columbus Blue Jackets
Analysis: Is it bad that there’s a large part of me that really wants Vancouver to slide down so that Calgary takes this spot?  I mean, let’s be honest.  I’m a Wild fan.  I have no vested interest in the playoffs to mention at the moment (maybe by the last game of the season…A guy can dream, right?) so I don’t really care who wins the division, other than the fact that I just want to watch an entertaining playoff series.  To me, there would be no more interesting series than a Flames/Jackets and Canucks/’Hawks series, because the teams just don’t like each other.  But I digress.  In this one, honestly, there’s not really any appreciable storylines to speak of, nor do either of the teams play extremely exciting hockey.  On one side, the Blue Jackets are almost 100% playoff un-tested (save for a few players), while the ‘Nucks have some star players with a propensity to do a disappearing act in the playoffs.  All of this adds up to a series that could prove to be pretty uneventful; though worth watching to watch how the Jackets respond to playoff hockey.
Mora-Meter:   

#4 Chicago Blackhawks v. #5 Calgary Flames
Analysis: As much as I would love to watch the ‘Hawks fight play the ‘Nucks, I think this series would be extremely entertaining to watch.  First, you have a rematch in net of the ’03-’04 Cup Finals (Kipper v. Bulin), then you’ve got two teams with some very dynamic players (Kane, Toews and Havlat v. Iginla, Cammalleri and Jokinen) and finally you’ve got two teams with some fantastic defensemen (Seabrook and Keith v. Phaneuf and Regher).  This could become the best series in the first round if it stays this way.  Plus, if Phaneuf keeps playing the way he has been, you could find yourself looking at a very formidable “sloppy” second defensive pairing of Phaneuf and Leopold.  Sorry.  Couldn’t resist.
Mora-Meter:     

Eastern Conference
#1 Boston Bruins v. #8 Montreal Canadiens
Analysis: How’s this for a role reversal?  The exact match up of last season’s first round, just with home ice turned around.  If both teams are on their game, this could be an exciting series to watch.  The problem is that both teams have battled inconsistency since the All Star Break.  The biggest thing to look forward to, however, is that these two teams always get up to play one another.  Look at last season’s first round.  A seven-game slugfest that was probably the most entertaining series in all the playoffs.  Plus, there’s also always the chance that you could hear Jack Edwards’ maniacal laugh again.  That in and of itself is reason enough to watch.  All of this equals one amazingly entertaining first round series.
Mora-Meter:     

#2 Washington Capitals v. #7 New York Rangers
Analysis: Honestly, this is another that I wish was a little different, but beggars can’t be choosers, right?  This one, well, this could be interesting.  On one end you’ve got the Caps’ unbelievable offens and on the other you’ve got the Rangers’ unbelievable goaltender.  Coach John Tortorella has helped the Rangers find their game again; however, can he put a stop to the attack of the Capitals?  On the other side of things, you’ve got the Rangers’ aneimic offense squaring off against the Caps’ inconsistent goalie.  This could either be a very high scoring series or a series where you get nothing at all.  Any series pitting a high powered offense against a solid goaltender, however, can prove to be a fun series to watch.
Mora-Meter:    

#3 New Jersey Devils v. #6 Carolina Hurricanes
Analysis: Ok.  So can someone please explain to me if the Devils are just coasting to the playoffs or if something is going on and when, exactly, Lou is going to place himself behind the bench yet again?  Alright.  I feel better now.  Now that I’ve said my piece, this could be a very one sided series if the Devils don’t right the ship and quick.  The ‘Canes have had success against Newark’s finest this season, and if the Devils back into the playoffs this could get ugly quick.  Looking at the potential match up, the ‘Canes match up quite nicely against the Devil and have the hot hand.  Both teams have a solid defense and an under rated offense.  There should be some very tightly contested games in this series and some good, physical play.
Mora-Meter:   

#4 Philadelphia Flyers v. #5 Pittsburgh Penguins
Analysis: The Broadstreet Bullies against the NHL’s wunderkid.  I don’t see how it could get much better than this; a rematch of last season’s Eastern Conference Finals.  The Flyers were ran out of town by the Pens in the ECF last season, but this is also a Flyers team that has gained a lot more character since then, not in turnover of players but just in experience.  The big question mark for both teams is definitely in net and, in all honesty, that could lead to a very entertaining series.  These two teams are also division rivals and flat out don’t like each other.  That’s good enough in my book!
Mora-Meter:     

So there you have it.  My thoughts on the current playoff picture.

Also, coming next week will be the first intrim show of Wild Nation.  Join myself and Nick in New York next week as we talk about all things Wild!  We will have a time and date set for our first show sometime this weekend.