NHL Mid-season Review Part II

NORTHEAST DIVISION

Buffalo Sabres
The Sabres, President’s Trophy winner in 06-07 for best record in the league, find their line up in much different from that team that won so many games. What is the same is net, where Ryan Miller is having his best season as pro, and is the current front runner for the Vezina Trophy, as best goalie. Miller will be the backstop for Team USA in Vancouver, and any hope of a medal may rest squarely on the former Spartan’s shoulders. On offense, the Sabres feature diminutive but highly skilled forwards in Derek Roy and the oft-injured Tim Connolly. Along with them is former Minnesota Golden Gopher Thomas Vanek, who scored over 40 goals last year. On defense, they feature “steady-Eddie” defensemen Henrik Tallinder, Clarke MacArhtur, and Steve Montador, as well as rookie Tyler Myers. Myers is a 6’8, smooth skating defensemen, who many see as one of the best young defensemen in the league. He has surpassed all expectations, and has shown a great scoring touch, QBing the Sabres powerplay. When his body fills out, he will be a monster the likes of Scott Van Pelt’s favorite Bruin Zdeno Chara, expect a much better skater. In terms of organizational needs, the Sabres must continue to search for a big, tough, power forward to protect their many small forwards. They drafted Zach Kassian in the first round of the 2009 draft, a 6’3 215 pound menace who loves to hit. His ability to play in the Show is unknown though due to his lack of foot speed. The Sabres should continue to search for power forward prospects, and also look for another offensive defenseman to bring more excitement to the blue line.

Ottawa Senators
Perhaps the biggest surprise this season has been the play of the Senators, who currently sit atop the Northeast Division standings with 76 points. As always, the Sens are led by their captain Daniel Alfredsson, who seems to have been with the Senators forever, and is still performing at a high level at the age of 36. Along with Alfredsson, Ottawa gets their scoring from the likes of Jason Spezza, the always enigmatic Alexei Kovalev, and Milan Michalek. Michalek was the key piece of the off-season trade that saw Dany Heatley leave the Sens for the Sharks. While Heatley has more goals and points than Michalek, Milan plays a much better two way game and has solidified the second line as a legitimate scoring threat. On defense, the Sens have a largely solid but unspectacular group led by Filip Kuba and Chris Phillips. Phillips was the number one overall pick in 1996, and has been a Senator his whole career. Having once boasted a defense with the likes of Zdeno Chara and a good Wade Redden, Phillips is the only holdover from those days on defense. The Senators do boast, however, one of the more promising young offensive defensemen in the league with 19 year old Erik Karlsson. While his play in his own end needs work and he is still small by NHL standards, he has been able to provide a bit of panache on the back end missing since the days of Chara and Redden. In goal, the Senators have a rotation of former Wisconsin standout Brian Elliott and former Blue Jacket Pascal Leclaire. Elliott has been steadily taking more of the starts, and it is likely that the Senators view him as their goalie of the future. Having seen him steal an NCAA championship almost single-handedly, I’m excited to see a goalie that chose to play in college get the starting nod. In terms of organizational needs, the Senators are largely in need of depth at defense and forward. Alfredsson is not getting any younger, and the Sens need to try to find a wing to take his spot on the first line for the future. On defense, they need to shore up all of their pairs. I don’t know if they will be able to continue their winning, but since they play in a division with Boston and Toronto, it is entirely possible that they could come out of this division on top.

Boston Bruins
BRUINS!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Boston Bruins are in the midst of a rocky season that has seen significant time lost to injury and disappointment after last year’s very successful season. Up front, the Bruins are led by Marc Savard, who is one of the premier playmakers in the league. He has been hurt multiple times this year, and without him their ability to score has gone down. On their revolving door first line, the Bruins have played Milan Lucic, who some see as a glorified third liner at best, and grizzled vet Mark Recchi. Recchi has kept a very high level of play even as he is in the twilight of his career. In terms of depth, the Bruins have a lot of young talent on their other lines that marks a bright future for the Bruins. David Krejci is a skilled playmaker who had 80 points last year, as well as Patrice Bergeron, a great two way centerman who is leading the team in scoring. They also have former Golden Gopher Blake Wheeler, who has some silky smooth hands that are generally unheard of for a guy who is 6’5. On a side note, the Bruins signed Miroslav Satan mid-season, a move that I know APT was excited to see, cause he’s a big Satan fan. On defense, the Bruins are anchored by reigning Norris Trophy winner Zdeno Chara. At 6’9 Chara has immense size and ridiculous reach, as well as one of the, if not the best shot in the NHL (although Shea Weber would remind us that he’s never seen Chara shoot a puck through the net). Along with Chara, the Bruins have journeyman defender Derek Morris, as well as offensive defenseman Dennis Wideman. This year the Bruins have had a bit of goalie controversy on their hands. On one hand, they have (cringe) Vezina Trophy winner Tim Thomas. Thomas had a great statistical year last year, but is being exposed for not actually being that good of a goalie. The man who is taking starts away from Thomas is a young Finn named Tuukka Rask. Rask came to the Bruins in the deal that sent Hannu Toivenen to Toronto, and is one of the best goalie prospects in the world. He has the ability to be a great starting goalie in the NHL, and it was only a matter of time before he overtook Thomas as a starter. While Thomas played admirably in the past, the Bruins need to embrace the future and let Rask get as many starts as he can and he will provide them a great backbone for years to come. In terms of their organization, the Bruins find themselves in an admirable position. They have solid depth in all areas, as well as two first round picks in the 2010 and 2011 drafts. They received Toronto’s first round picks in the Phil Kessel trade, and the Toronto pick for this year looks like it could be anywhere from top 7 to the number one overall pick. The future looks bright for the Bruins, and they should be good for a long time to come.

Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens find themselves one point behind the Bruins in the standings, and are hovering around playoff position. They are lead up front by Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta, who were reunited in the off-season and have continued to show their great chemistry. On their line they have found Benoit Pouliot, a young sniper with size who came to Montreal in a trade after severly underachieving after being the number 4 overall pick in 2005. He has found a home on the wing with Gomez and Gionta, and has scored 11 goals in 20 games since he was traded. The second line for Montreal is equally potent, cenetered by Tomas Plekanec, and featuring Mike Cammalleri on the wing. Plekanec is a great playmaker, and all Mike Cammalleri does is score. Cammalleri is only 5’9, but has had consecutive 30 goal seasons and is well on his way there this year. I like to say that he gives hope to all short guys who just like to snipe. On defense, the Habs are anchored by Andrei Markov, who has become the face of their franchise. He is rock solid on defense, in addition to being one of the premier powerplay defensemen in the league. Montreal’s powerplay has been a consistent threat for the better part of the last decade, and Markov has been a key to that. Other than Markov, the Hab defense is made up largely of journeymen defensemen such as Hal Gill and Paul Mara. The Habs do, however, have one the best defensive prospects in the world playing for Hamilton, their AHL affiliate. P.K. Subban was known for his end to end rushes and rocket slapshot in juniors, but has taken immense strides in his defensive coverage. He is the future of the Hab defense, and his future looks very bright. In goal, the Canadiens operate a fairly even rotation between Jaroslav Halak and Carey Price. Price was taken 5th overall in 2005, and was supposed to be the savior of the franchise in goal. He has performed fairly well over the course of his first three years in the NHL, but Halak is no slouch. Sooner or later, one of them is likely to go elsewhere, and my bet is on Halak. The Canadiens as an organization still need more depth on their back end, as that is weak point of their team. Up front they are fairly young, and will be able to keep that core for the foreseeable future.

Toronto Maple Leafs
Oh the Maple Leafs. Two years ago, the Leafs brought in GM Brian Burke (who built the Canucks into Cup contenders and the Ducks into Cup winners), to try to rebuild their fledgling organization. Last season, the Leafs showed major improvements, but this year have taken a step back. Up front, the Leafs are led by Phil “The Thrill” Kessel, who they traded for in the off-season, the aforementioned deal that sent their next two first round picks to Boston. Along with Kessel, the Leafs have a fairly pedestrian group of forwards. They have former Dartmouth standout Lee Stempniak and Jason Blake, both of whom are more 2nd/3rd line players then the 1st line roles they seem to be filling. In the pipeline, the Leafs have a set of former college forwards who have shown significant promise. Viktor Stalberg, former UVM Catamount, has great size at 6’3 and speed and has been able to put up points in the AHL so far. They also have former Domer Christian Hanson, who also has great size at 6’4, and plays the rough and tumble style of play that has characterized Burke teams in the past. On defense, the Leafs are anchored by two youngins, in Luke Schenn and the newly acquired Dion Phaneuf. Schenn, the number 5 pick in the 2008 draft, is a rock defensively, but does not contribute much offensively. Phaneuf, who was recently acquired from Calgary, has a rocket of a shot and always looks for the big hit. Along with these two is Tomas Kaberle, who might argue that he, not Markov, is the best powerplay quarterback in the NHL. He currently leads the Leafs in points, and also posses a great shot. In goal, the Leafs recently acquired J-S Giguere to sure up their net. While not the Conn Smythe winner he once was, Giguere is still a more than capable starting goalie in the league, and is better than what the Leafs had. He was forced out of Anaheim by the play of Jonas Hiller, which anyone who watched him in the Olympics can attest, is stellar. In terms of organizational needs, the Leafs are in dire need of top line talent, which they lack outside of Kessel. Unfortunately for them, they traded away two first round picks for Kessel, so they will likely have to take some risks in the draft to try to get that top flight talent.

-THE-A-TRAIN-