What would a band of hockey bloggers be without predictions for the new NHL season?
We don’t claim to possess either a crystal ball or spy’s eyes inside the training camps of 29 other clubs, but we thought it might be helpful to our readers to compile a list of offseason (and late last season) player movement, in a concise file, and have a little fun offering up none-too-accountable “Thumbs Up” or “Thumbs Down” forecasts for all 30 teams.
Basically, a team earned a “Thumbs up” if we thought its manuevering and maturation suggested that it’d improved upon its 2006-07 points total. Clubs that “stayed pat” or engineered boneheaded signings and/or inexplicable, high-end free agent farewells were awarded “Thumbs down.”
So we’ve provided everything “primer” a puckhead could need here.
Except the beer.
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| Team | Comings | Goings | Youth is Served | Verdict |
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Mathieu Schneider | Selanne and Neidermeyer (for now?), Dustin Penner | Bobby Ryan |  |
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Eric Perrin, Ken Klee, Todd White | Scott Mellanby, Shane Hnidy, Glen Metropolit, Keith Tkachuk, Denis Hamel, Eric Belanger, |
Bryan Little (?) | |
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Glen Metropolit, Aaron Ward, Peter Schaefer |
Shane Donovan | Matt Lashoff (?) | |
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Jocelyn Thibault | Almost everyone | Dan Paille, Drew Stafford | |
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Adrian Aucoin, David Hale, Cory Sarich, Owen Nolan |
Tony Amonte, Jeff Friesen, Roman Hamrlik, Brad Stuart, Andrei Zyuzin |
Eric Nystrom (?) | |
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Matt Cullen | Jack Johnson, Anson Carter, David Tanabe |
None | Hmm . . . |
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Brent Spoel, Robert Lang, Sergei Samsanov, Andrei Zyuzin, Yanic Perreault |
Michal Handzus, Adrian Aucoin, Peter Bondra, Jason Cullimore |
Jonathon Toews, Patrick Kane, Jack Skille |
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Scott Hannan, Ryan Smyth, | Ken Klee, Pierre Turgeon, Ossi Vaananen, Patrice Brisebois |
None | |
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Michael Peca, Jiri Novotny | Brian Boucher, Bryan Berard | Gilbert Brule, Derick Brassard (?) | Hmm . . . |
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Todd Fedoruk | Matthew Barnaby, Jon Klemm, Eric Lindros, Ladislav Nagy, Patrik Stefan, Darryl Sydor |
Niklas Grossman | |
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Brian Rafalski, Dallas Drake | Robert Lang, Todd Bertuzzi, Kyle Calder, Danny Markov, Mathieu Schneider |
Igor Grigorenko | |
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Sheldon Souray, Joni Pitkanen, Dustin Penner, Denis Grebeshkov, Dick Tarnstrom |
Ryan Smyth, Joffrey Lupul, Petr Sykora, Jason Smith |
Sam Gagner, Ryan O’Marra (?) | Hmm . . . |
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Richard Zednik, Radek Dvorak, Tomas Vokoun |
Ed Belfour, Alex Auld, Martin Gelinas, Chris Gratton, Todd Bertuzzi | None | |
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Brad Stuart, Tom Preissing, Kyle Calder, Michal Handzus, Ladislav Nagy |
Mathieu Garon, Jamie Heward, Tom Kostopoulos, Jamie Lundmark, Aaron Miller |
Jonathon Bernier, Jack Johnson | |
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Eric Belanger, Sean Hill, | Manny Fernandez, Todd White | Benoit Pouliot (?) | Hmm . . . |
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Roman Hamrlik, Bryan Smolinski, Tom Kostopoulos |
Sheldon Souray, Radek Bonk, Sergei Samsanov, Mike Johnson |
Carey Price, Kyle Chipchura, Andrei Kostitsyn |
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Martin Gelinas, Radek Bonk | Almost everyone | Ville Koistinen, Kevin Klein (?) | |
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Dainius Zubrus, Vitali Vishnevski, Kevin Weekes, Karel Rachunek |
Scott Gomez, Brian Rafalski | Nicklas Bergfors (?) | |
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Bill Guerin, Mike Comrie, Ruslan Fedotenko |
Almost everyone | Sean Bergenheim (?) | |
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Scott Gomez, Chris Drury | Michael Nylander, Karel Rachunek, Matt Cullen, Kevin Weekes, Brad Isbister |
Marc Staal, Ryan Callahan (?) | |
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Shean Donovan, Luke Richardson, Denis Hamel |
Mike Comrie, Tom Preissing, Peter Schaefer, Oleg Saprykin |
Nick Foligno, Brian Lee | |
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Daniel Briere, Joffrey Lupul, Jason Smith, Martin Biron, Scott Upshall, Kimo Timonen |
Peter Forsberg, Joni Pitkanen, Kyle Calder, Robert Esche, Todd Fedoruk, Mike York |
Braydon Coburn, Ryan Parent | |
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Alex Auld, Radim Vrbata, Niko Kapanen, Mike York |
Owen Nolan, Jeremy Roenick, Curtis Joseph, Mike Ricci |
Peter Mueller | |
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Darryl Sydor, Gary Roberts, Petr Sykora |
Eric Cairns, Joel Kwiatkowski, Jocelyn Thibault, Michel Ouellet, Nils Ekman, Josef Melichar |
Kristopher Letang | |
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Craig Rivet, Jeremy Roenick | Scott Hannan, Bill Guerin, Vesa Toskala |
None | Hmm . . . |
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Paul Kariya, Keith Tkachuk | Radek Dvorek, Dallas Drake, Glen Metropolit, Jamie Rivers |
Erik Johnson | |
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Michel Ouellet, Chris Gratton, Jan Hlavac |
Cory Sarich, Ruslan Fedotenko, Eric Perrin |
Karri Ramo (?) | |
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Jason Blake, Mark Bell, Vesa Toskala | Jeff O’Neill, Michael Peca, Yanic Perreault, J.S. Aubin |
Jiri Tlusty (?) | |
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Brad Isbister, Ryan Shannon | Bryan Smolinski, Brent Sopel, Jan Bulis, Rory Fitzpatrick, | Luc Bourdon (?) | |
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Michael Nylander, Viktor Kozlov, Tom Poti |
Dainius Zubrus, Kris Beech, Bryan Muir, Jiri Novotny |
Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Green, Tomas Fleischmann |
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6 Comments
Nice list. I don’t think Toronto is going to be any better than last year, but I do think they improved their roster.
By the way, a couple months ago I commented about a friend that was interviewing for one of those NHL jobs. He ended up getting the NHL job (a dream for him) but he had already accepted another position. He thanks you for the heads up on the NHL openings.
Considering the Ducks’ sole significant signing is now on the IR (Scheider), they’re one of the biggest falls. However they obviously *started* with more talent than most, so I think they’re still a playoff team… just not nearly as dominant as last season.
My season preview? Probably about as accurate as what I’ve seen of the season on NHL Center Ice Online, which has two games inexplicably blacked out (not in either the region I’m watching from or getting billed from), and two more with ‘broadcast problems’. 4 games tonight, and I’m watching no hockey despite being paid in full.
Crisis averted… both games back… rage subsiding…
It’s Preview Week. Maybe it’s best to think of it as free for people with Center Ice too. :>
Actually, after things started moving, it was surprisingly good. I put some quick impressions over on my site, but basically: good audio, great video when I was at the bar (which has great wifi), okay video with a lot of tearing from the hotel (which has decidedly less bandwidth), but all in all a very watchable experience, even when both games were going at once. Definitely will have to brush up on my French for some of these Canadiens tilts though.
Unfortunately, I’m flying all night tomorrow, and in transit down to Maryland on Friday night, so this was likely my only taste of hockey until the home opener on Saturday (unless I manage to catch the game on the radio on my way south Friday night). But it’ll tide me over pretty well, I think.
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