NHL 2010-2011 Season Preview: Central Division

Today we pick up with part 5 of our series on NHL Training Camp previews. It's the Central Division, meaning that the Atlantic will be last. So here we go.

Detroit Red Wings

The Good: Will save money on team travel by being able to cash in AARP rewards on flights, hotels and team meals.
The Bad: Will at some point begin to act their age.
Secret Strategy for the New Season: Have decided that trading European MVPs to the Flyers for part time enforcing defensemen is a bad idea.

St. Louis Blues

The Good: Acquired playoff hero Jaroslav Halak from the Montreal Canadiens for next to nothing.
The Bad: Were not told that Jaroslav Halak is Slovak for Choke's in Second to Last Round.
Secret Strategy for the New Season: Will undoubtedly be the best team in the NHL named after a genre of music.

Nashville Predators

The Good: Acquired familiar face Ryan Parent from the Flyers.
The Bad: Didn't realize that since Ryan Parent was traded to the Flyers from Nashville, he kinda started to suck.
Secret Strategy for the New Season: Will hope opponents die laughing when Ryan Parent is forced to log 25 minutes a game as Shea Weber's defense partner.

Chicago Blackhawks

The Good: Are apparently the defending Stanley Cup Champions, which means that the team should be loaded with a roster of scoring forwards, competent defensemen and solid goaltending
The Bad: Apparently, Blackhawks management seemed to have forgotten about small things like the NHL salary cap.
Secret Strategy for the New Season: Will sell Atlanta Thrashers jerseys and such at home games inspiring the city of Chicago to support the Blackhawks playoff heroes.

Columbus Blue Jackets

The Good: Should the team make the playoffs, RJ Umberger will light up Jaroslav Halak per the clause in his contract that states he owns anything that ever played for the Habs in the postseason.
The Bad: Seems that Steve Mason is a clone of Steve Penney.

Secret Strategy for the New Season: Have acquired former Oilers Captain Ethan Moreau, who will play far above any level played before out of sheer relief that he longer plays in Edmonton.

NHL 2010-2011 Season Previews: Northeast Division

With the season coming up soon enough. I think it's time to get a look at what team's have been working on during training camp. Lucky for you, the DGS-SuperSpies uncovered what's going on behind the scenes at all 30 NHL team's training camps. As a responsible human being, I have decided to post the shocking findings here for you to see. Today, we start with the Northeast division.

Montreal Canadiens

The Good: Will save money on pregame meals by being able to serve forwards from the kids menu.

The Bad: Decided to follow an idea presented by Down Goes Brown during the first around of the playoffs and are apparently going to start "Empty Net" as their goalie.

Secret Strategy for the New Season: Players have worked on riot escape in practice as Montreal citizens tend to riot after every game regardless of result.

Toronto Maple Leafs

The Good: Can avoid worrying about such debates as "Who to draft in 2011?" because of their lack of draft picks.

The Bad: Have yet to find a way to remove Tomas Kaberle from the team.

Secret Strategy for the New Season: Will magically improve forward depth by re-signing Vesa Toskala and converting him to center.

Boston Bruins

The Good: Due the NHL's Salary Cap, the Bruins roster is set in stone with players such as Tim Thomas and Marc Savard still on the active roster and no way to move them.

The Bad: Will be forced to place Marc Savard on LTIR after he accidentally runs into Zdeno Chara's knee during practice causing Savard to suffer a concussion.

Secret Strategy for the New Season: Will avoid blowing 3-0 leads in the post-season by avoiding the post season altogether.

Ottawa Senators

The Good: Have 2 great backup goaltenders who are great for 10-15 games a season

The Bad: Have a player married to Carrie Underwood, picking up Tony Romo's sloppy seconds has been known to cause problems.

Secret Strategy for the New Season: When in doubt, the fire the coach.

Buffalo Sabres

The Good:Have a GM who's willing to save players like Tomas Vanek from signing with Edmonton.

The Bad: Will no longer be able to score easy goals due to the fact that Vesa Toskala is no longer a goalie in this division.

Secret Strategy for the New Season: Will continue to fly under the radar and ride Ryan Miller for as long

Flyers Summer 2010 Offseason Needs, Part 2

Today, I'm gonna look at the defense and goaltending, and think about what this offseason has in store for the Flyers.

Goaltending: (Note: I'm gonna use every goalie who appeared in a game this year)

Ray Emery: UFA
Johan Backlund: Resigned til 2012, terms undisclosed, tho I'm guessing it's around 800k he made this year
Brian Boucher: Contract til 2011, cap it of 925k
Mike Leighton: UFA
Jeremy Duchesne: RFA


Ok, now to go through what I think is gonna happen to each of these guys...

Jeremy Duchesne: If he's resigned, he'll be on the Phantoms at the highest

Ray Emery: Real simple, call me when his health situation is taken care of

Brian Boucher: Possibly trade bait

Mike Leighton: In Leighton We Trust...possibly, I don't know, part of me wants to see the best in him, part of me remembers the guy who was in net in a December 2008 game who blew a 5-1 lead to the Flyers, a game the Flyers won 6-5 in OT...I've done a lot of thinking about Leighton, a lot of watching of videos on the Flyers website or YouTube or www.NHL.com and I see a very bipolar kind of goalie, yeah, I don't know what to think of Leighton anymore

Johan Backlund: I think he's the AHL Phantoms starter next year, could make a run at being the backup though, I'll wait til training camp to make a better prediction.


Oh dear, I just realized, the only thing that's concluded is that the Flyers have a LOT of goaltending questions....gahhh...Bernie Parent can be cloned, right?


Defence:

Chris Pronger: 6.25 million cap hit, will be back
Kimmo Timonen: 6.33 million cap hit, will be back
Matt Carle: 3.438 million cap hit, will be back
Oskars Bartulis: 600k cap it, will be back


By the way: Mike Rathje's 3.5 million comes off the cap! THANK GOD!

Probable D-pairs

Pronger-Carle
Timonen-Coburn?
Bartulis-????


RFA's

Braydon Coburn: 1.3 million cap it for 09-10, probably gonna be asking for 2.5-3million

Ryan Parent: 855K cap hit for 09-10, he's the wild card here

Lukas Krajicek: 700k cap hit for 09-10, could go either way

Danny Syvret: 575k cap hit for 09-10, could go either way as well



Now personally, I think Krajicek and Syvret are expendable, neither really impressed me this year and Bartulis has really shown some flashes of talent, as well as making some rookie mistakes. Parent's interesting, he's never played a full season for the Flyers due to his back problems, and while he has a lot of potential, is really worth the risk of a guy who can only give 50-60 games a year? To me, no, but Paul Holmgren's made a lot of moves that I disagreed with and have worked out well for the Flyers, hence why he's the GM and I'm some (SINGLE) guy sitting in New Jersey behind a computer and hoping to be right.

Im Homer we trust...

Back to the Flyers needs:

The Flyers need a depth D-man, AHL Phantoms had a weak D corps this year, the Flyers don't have a first round (lost in Pronger trade) or second round (lost in Leino trade) draft choice, so the solution for this is trade or Free Agency.

Speaking of D-man Needs, Here's a list of D-man free agents and here's my thoughts on a few of the more noteworthy guys who I feel could possibly fit in Philly.

A friend of mine recently came up with the idea of reuniting Pronger and Niedermayer in Philly, but I doubt that is the solution.

Anton Volchenkov would be nice, but I don't think he's worth the $5million he is as asking for.

Toni Lydman is a possibility if Buffalo doesn't resign him.

Dan Hamhuis is quite possibly the leading candidate, apparently the Flyers aggressively pursued him at the trade deadline, if Nashville lets him walk, I wouldn't mind seeing him in Orange come October.



Also: Free Agent goalies and some notable names and my thoughts


Marty Turco: the DGS head writer/owner tossed his name around the DGS Staff more than a few times during the season out of frustration with Brian Boucher. Turco probably is gonna get ~$2million which makes him affordable to platoon with Boucher, assuming Leighton is allowed to walk. (Leighton's a UFA and it can happen).

Evgeni Nabokov: If the Sharks let Nabby walk, and letting him walk could be the kick that San Jose needs, then Nabby is my top choice for the Flyers net (budget is a problem, but moves can be made) fact is, Nabby could fit in the eastern conference, where I readily admit, there's less competition than out West.

Vesa Toskala: Oh sorry, I meant to talk about NHL caliber goalies.

Martin Biron: He was here once, had some success, but honestly I can't see the Islanders letting him walk with DiPietro's health situation. Seriously, that guy get's MRI's every season at a rate that rivals the 09-10 Flyers net minders.

Dan Ellis: He's another guy the Flyers have been reportedly interested in, could be another option.

Chris Mason: With St. Louis trading for Halak, he's on the market and might be a cheap fit.


I don't know, as I've said before, after Leighton's showing against the Hawks, I'm not sold on him as a #1 guy, and maybe I'm still bitter about the 2000-02 runs, but I don't like Boucher either.



Either way, with no 1st or 2nd round picks Homer's got a lot of work ahead of him with the trade market to make this work. He's done it in the past though, he practically stole Leino from the Red Wings and the Zhitnik for Coburn deal turned out golden for the Orange.

Flyers Summer 2010 Offseason Needs, Part 1

So, with the season over, and sometime to digest the second place finish in the NHL. I will once again say this, congratulations to the Philadelphia Flyers, winners of the Prince of Wales trophy.

Well, with the season officially over, one must now look at the upcoming offseason, so I’m going to post what the Flyers need. For the record, I get all of my salary cap numbers from here so if you need to dispute me on something, that’s my source.

Now in order to start this, I'm gonna look at the 09-10 forwards based on the last lineup the Flyers dressed:


Gagne-Richards-Carter
Hartnell-Briere-Leino
JvR-Giroux-Asham
Powe-Betts-Lappy

Scratches: Carcillo, Cote, Laliberte, Nodl, Ross

How I think 10-11 will shape up:

Hartnell-Briere-Leino (Seriously, after their Finals showing, how can this NOT be the top line)
Richards-Carter-Giroux (Giroux's pretty goals IMO bump him up)
Gagne-JvR-Asham (JvR's been taking shifts in practice at center, like Giroux in 09-10, third line reps will get him experience)
Powe/Nodl/Laliberte-Betts-Lappy

Asham's UFA but if he resigns for say...2 years 750K, I'd be really happy

Carcillo's an interesting case, I have an up and down relationship with him. Asham does everything Carbomb does, with more discipline and better hands, but Carcillo's got a unique energy about him that lends itself to playing in Philly, I'm willing to keep him around for no more than 1.3 Million, at the same time, if we can trade him and land someone like a true #1 goalie


That's right, I peg 11 or all 12 of the forwards to return next year. Scott Hartnell saved his butt by having the Finals that he did, that being said, in my humble opinion, I think he's also the most likely to be moved. More on that later.

Who's expendable

The Player: Scott Hartnell
Why Expendable: Didn't perform well during the season and doesn't fit Lavi's up tempo system
Why He'd Be Wanted: His postseason numbers
Possible Destination: Toronto for Tomas Kaberle, Boston for Tim Thomas, Montreal for a first round draft pick or PK Subban, San Jose (Assuming Nabby stays and Marleau walks) for Thomas Greiss

The Player: Brian Boucher
Why Expendable: His regular season numbers
Why He'd Be Wanted: His 5 playoff games against the Devils
Possible Destination: Montreal, Dallas, San Jose, Chicago
To Montreal: For Carey Price in order to allow the Habs the cap space to keep Halak
To Dallas: for a 2nd round draft pick and a decent prospect D-man
To Chicago: For Dustin Byfuglien, I might be dreaming here but as WWEh noticed, the 'Hawks have massive cap problems next year and they could save ~$2 million
To San Jose: Assuming Nabby leaves and Marleau stays, the Sharks need a goaltender who comes cheap, that's Boucher, the Flyers could hopefully get a 4th round pick and a decent D-man for him

The Player: Andreas Nodl
Why Expendable: Too much depth at forward
Why He'd be Wanted: Solid depth forward, never will be above third line status, comes cheap
Possible Destination: Toronto, Montreal, Tampa Bay, Florida
To Toronto: oh wait, sorry, Burke won't trade for a European
To Montreal: The Habs DID trade for Scott Gomez...so, yeah...maybe Nodl goes here
Tampa Bay: Matt Smaby could play D for us, but honestly, TBL has nothing I'd really be interested in...other than Vinny, but a package of Hartnell, Nodl and Boucher for Vinny...seems fair to me...DTV is gonna shoot himself now...



The Needs:

this is easier to look at:

A real third D-pair
a real goalie


Later this week, I plan on doing a free agency based post with where the Flyers should go

NHL Conference Finals Previews

Since Down Goes Spezza seems to have a mind crazy enough to work in these playoffs. We, the DGS brains, have decided that we are going to sort out this mess

Up first, we have the Western Conference Finals

#2 Chicago and #1 San Jose

San Jose Sharks

Pro: Have dynamic forwards such as Thornton, Heatley, Setoguchi and Marleau who can take over a game and own it.
Con: All of whom are due for their annual postseason choke job.

Pro: Have an experienced goalie in Evgeni Nabokov who played for Team Russia in the Olympics.
Con: And when the going got tough, he choked like the rest of the Sharks

Pro: This year's NHL playoff theme is "History will be made" which is possibly a sign that the Sharks will not choke for a change.
Con: This year's NHL playoff theme is "History will be made" which is possibly a sign that the Sharks will choke in a way so epic that the Bruins won't be remembered as the biggest chokers in 2010.




Chicago Black Hawks

Pro: Have a really versatile player in Dustin Byfuglien who can turn around a game as a shut down defense-man or power forward
Con: May be unable to actually get to the games because of his role in the pizza crawl.

Pro: Have a great set of defense-man such as Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Brian Campbell.
Con: It's also possible that Brian Campbell's lack of a collarbone could be a problem.

Pro: Goalie Antti Niemmi has a habit of swallowing pucks and keeping them out of the net.
Con: Of course, sometimes he also loses them altogether.


-Analysis-

Real simple, Sharks choke, and Hawks in 6

#7 Flyers and #8 Canadiens

Flyers

Pro: Totally own the size advantage over them midget Habs forwards
Con: Totally might have issues getting a puck past Halak.

Pro: Will get a momentum lift by getting Jeff Carter back from injury.
Con: Per league rules, will have a goaltender go down to injury as well.

Pro: Mike Leighton is amazing
Con: Mike Leighton has never been this far in the postseason before.




Habs

Pro: Have a set of skilled forwards who can turn a game around.
Con: They're still tiny!

Pro: Halak is an amazing goalie on a Cinderella run.
Con: Look how it turned out for him in the Olympics

Pro: Have shut down Ovechkin and Crosby and Malkin, the 3 best players in the league offensively.
Con: Never had to stop an attack as balanced as the Flyers.


-Analysis-

The Flyers are far too balanced to get downed by the Habs, Flyers in 6. Montreal still riots anyway.

Round 2 Habs at Pens Game 7 Preview

Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, children of all ages, the Blogosphere proudly brings to you, it's Best Game 7 Prediction Formula in the WORLD! The Insane One, his lovely girlfriend, they are DOWN GOES SPEZZA! And if you are not, down with that...

ahem,

Anyway, we have another Game 7 coming up tomorrow, and we here at Down Goes Spezza have predictions and analysis as only we can deliver.

Montreal at Pittsburgh


Same formula as before, Pros and Cons for each team followed by a prediction.


Habs:

Pro: Gave one of the 2 Hot 2 Handle AO sticks to Michael Cammalleri which allowed him to light up the Penguins this post-season.
Con: Stick may have been used to start bonfires in post game 6 riots.

Pro: Maxim Lapierre puts a new meaning in the term hometown hero.
Con: Maxim Lapierre may have dove too far down to help again.

Pro: Jaroslav Halak is a solid goalie bringing his total underdog team ever closer to the promised land.
Con: Look how it turned out for him in the Olympics.




Penguins:

Con: Have a roster stacked with top 5 draft picks stockpiled from a tank job in the early 2000s
Con: May need to restock roster with more top 5 draft picks from a tank job to begin the new decade.

Pro: Sidney Crosby recently found his lost scoring touch which helped keep the Pens competitive in Game 6
Con: Sidney Crosby has a habit of punching guys down under which could lead to Hal Gill removing Crosby from the game.

Pro: Are the top seeded team remaining in the east.
Con: We saw how top seeded Washington fared in the first round.


-Analysis-

I think it's safe to say that Halak has one more miracle in him before choking out in the next series. I'll even put a score down for this one: Habs 3 Pens 2 in OT.

Quick Predictions on the non-Flyers 2nd round Playoff Series

After going 50/50 in the Game 7s, we here at Down Goes Spezza have decided to take a look at the other playoff series. So, here we go.

Western Conference:

#1 San Jose vs. #5 Detroit

Quick Pick: San Jose drops the series in 6 games after a reporter accidentally walks up to Joe Thornton and asks him “how do you feel about these playoffs?”

#2 Chicago vs. #3 Vancouver

Quick Pick: Vancouver pulls this one out in 7 after Niemi accidentally swallows another puck only to drop it into his own net.

Eastern Conference

#4 Pittsburgh vs. #8 Montreal

Quick Pick: Jaroslav Halak continues to be red hot and the Habs D continues to shut down. Stephane Auger decides that it’s time to “get” Crosby the Crybaby and therefore it’s Habs in 7. By get, we mean actually call Crosby for Diving

#7 Flyers vs. #6 Boston

Tomorrow’s post will give a detailed analysis of this series.