NHL Season 07/08

[cheekyboy10]

Yes i'm itching for NHL to return despite the season only just ending a few weeks ago. A fine win for Anaheim who were simply the classiest team in the league and throughly deserved their cup.

Already a few big trades are rolling in and the usual high profile free agents are still available. the Leafs have finally seen the light and bought a bona fide starting goalie, Vesa Toskala from San Jose in exchange for 3 draft picks. Sadly though Mats Sundin will be expected to continue to carry the francishe, and is simply unable to. I personally think Sundin should have traded before the 2006 playoffs before his ever decreasing stock lost even more value.

Speculation is rife in Anaheim that captain Scott Neidermeyer is set to retire after his cup win. If he does go expect the ducks to trade backup goaltender Brysgalov for a replacement - not that any defenceman comes close to the skating and puck handling of Neidermeyer. The Ducks also look to be trying to retain the core of last years team by re-signing depth d-men Huskins and O' Donnell.
Doubt also surrounds the future of Teemu Sellanne who has in the past stated he would like to retire on a high and may see the cup win as a fitting end to a hall of fame career. As soon as positive news is heard about these two, my money is going down on a cup double for the Ducks, a extremely hard task in the modern NHL.

Another team i follow closely are the Pittsburgh Penguins. Improving beyond manys expectations last year i see no reason why they cannot go one or two rounds further next season. Crosby playing with a broken foot in the playoffs was a key factor in them losing to Ottawa and his continued rise to superstardom will be the most interesting part of next season. i personally see no reason why he cannot top 150 points, an amazing acheivement in these days of lower scoring, defence orientated games. I also feel the Penguins have drafted very well taking the unfancied Angelo Espisito, rated the top North American skater earlier in the year. Scouts feared he relied on talented team-mates to be successful which won't be a problem in Pittsburgh. The services of ultra experienced forwards Gary Roberts and Mark Recchi have been secured and will form part of the most exciting offence in hockey.

Thanks if you've read this ramble from start to finish! roll on October!!

[frankieknuckles]

Anaheim will not repeat as champs this season. They will face much renewed opposition from a rejuvenated NW division, easily the toughest in the west.

The Leafs are going nowhere as long as M Sundin is eating up salary on their roster. Buffalo is set to lose the most in the NE div, as the Atlantic division is now the powerhouse in the East. The Penguins are a part of the AD but they will have to get much more tighter on defense if they plan to get any deeper than 1st round of the playoffs (MA Fleury had a season GAA of 3.10 in 07).


If the season were to start tomorrow, it wouldn't be soon enough!

[cheekyboy10]

Neidermeyer is "undecided" as to whether he will play this season. def not playing the game in England. Losing Dustin Penner will be a big loss too.

Who has been traded to rejuvenate the NW division, i must have missed it unless ur counting washed up Roenick going to San Jose?

Can't wait for the new season, not long now!

[frankieknuckles]

Well let me count the ways:

1 Calgary has a real coach now that has been to the final before (Keenan),
2 Edmonton looks much better on paper than they did at the end of last season,
3 Vancouver continues to galvanize their lineup with arguably the best goalie in the league and also trying to entice Forsberg,
4 Colorado is the most improved, signing R Smyth, S Hannan, extending Sakic and Svatos,
5 Minnesota is a solid team that perennially makes the playoffs,
And the last time I checked, SJ Sharks are part of the Pacific division.

Pretty sure Scott Neidermayer will retire. He's still under contract so I imagine he's being prevented from making the announcement until after his contract is settled. Seems the $6.75M hit to the Duck's team cap must be declared whether he plays or not because they signed a 4 year deal. I imagine B Burke wants a return on that investment and retirement is out of the question. Most likely they are trying to hammer out a deal wherein Scott would buy out his own contract to alleviate the team of his salary burden, and he could then announce his retirement.

Selanne is not in the same position because his contract expired and he is UFA.

[cheekyboy10]

good call re the San Jose in the Pacific.

Still don't argree with the North West being HUGELY improved, yes Smyth and Hannan will improve Colorado a lot, but still a long way off Anahiem despite them losing players.

Edmonton and Minnesota don't have nearly enough offence to challenge and Vancouver had Luongo last season and didn't feature.

Mike Keenan in Calgary could be a choice that goes either way, really good or really bad. it will be interesting to see how the players take to him.

News today is that Selanne will wait and see if he misses the game once the season starts, that to me suggests he is leaning heavily towards retirement but you never know.

I remember Dave Andrychuk being in the same position to Neidermeyers recently, i think Tampa Bay were able to effectively retire him by sending him to the minors with his remaning salary not contributing to the cap, could be different circumstances though i'm no expert on the CBA.

[Smart Oss]

Ones to watch:
Firstly my two picks for confrence titles would be from the west Detroit Red Wings and secondly from the east the New York Rangers. Both didn't meet the demands of the play offs as both fell short but Rangers have picked up a couple of interesting signings in Drury and Gomez, together with the likes of Jagr will be an awesome combo. However i also feel one team to follow are the Pittsburgh Penguins, Crosby was a revelation last year and with the likes of colby armstrong, jordan staal, marc andre flury growing with confidence ,with some experienced players like mark recchi to guide them im sure that experience of play off action was helpful to them.
In additon these are only notes and sport is ALWAYS changing, therefore take this into account, sit back, relax and watch one of the best ever NHL season's unfold.

[cheekyboy10]

Before the season starts i'm going for either NY Rangers or Pittsburgh to win the cup. going to be tipping daily in the comp and trying to keep the blog up to date for the season, hopefully documenting how much money i'm making!!