Colorado (5-7-0): The former powerhouse of the NorthWest division is going through a slow yet steady decline. Gone are the days of attracting big free agent fish with prospects of playing in June. Now what Denver attracts is Tucker & Raycroft. Ryan Smyth was a bigger fish but his play is gone dramatically down... or was it overhyped all that time among Edmonton's hockey fanatics?
Regardless, this group of forwards will not scare many especially as things quickly dry up after the first two lines. Veterans are occupying almost every spots and while they work hard, the upside is hard to find. With Sakic & Smyth already old and Hejduk creeping up too, this team cannot afford to lose Paul Stastny and must find ways to surround him with better talent.
The youngest member of the blueline group is John-Michael Liles at 28 and while the rest are very responsible defensively, such a slow moving group is simply not enough when your net is protected by the likes of Raycroft & Budaj.
This team looks old and seriously need an infusion of young talent. 11th in the Conference seems about right and this will be a very hard battle to find a playoff spot.
Rating: F
Outlook: same
Dallas (4-6-2): Who knew Sergei Zubov was so essential. Only Detroit looked stronger than the Stars late last year and many predicted a run at the Pacific division title with the arrival of Brunnstrom and Avery. This forward group is one of the strongest of the conference with talent, strength and nastiness.
The backend however is awful without Zubov. Boucher is looking old and slow (well, slowER than he already was) and the rest of them are not impressing anybody. Of course, that still does not excuse a .837 save percentage but unless there is some undisclosed injury, Turco should rebound and get back to being one of the most reliable puck stoppers in the league... hopefully, that rebound will happen before the Stars fall out of contention.
Rating: F
Outlook: same for November, it will take a few more weeks for things to kick into gear here
Columbus (4-6-2): "Things are looking up" has become a mantra in Columbus in the last few years... but it is true! Night-after-night production is an issue right now but I like a group formed by Nash, Brassard, Huselius, Voracek, Umberger, Chimera & Modin.
More depth and consistency is needed but you have a group worth building around.
Sadly, I don't see the same with the blueline. Tuytin, Commodore and Klesla are serviceable but they really belong further down the depth chart and not as the 20mins workhorses. Much has been expected from Kris Russell and comparaisons to Rafalski were numerous. Except similar size, it is time to let those go to rest and for the jackets to lay their hopes somewhere else for a powerplay quarterback.
Pascal Leclaire is not having the same success as last year but a kid with legs this quick and strong technique will rebound and give his team a chance to win most nights.
Rating: D
Outlook: same
Phoenix (4-5-0): That has to be a major disapointment in Arizona... if anybody cares about hockey at the overloaded sports area. With a full year of Bryzgalov, the arrival of Olli Jokinen and Patrick Kane 2.0 (Kyle Turris), this was supposed to be the year the Coyotes would actually compete.
There is some nice pieces up front but the talent falls off sharply and opponents can focus on stopping the big lines to stop the whole offense.
I do not know who is responsible for assembling this defense corps but their evaluation skills are seriously deficient. The two guys developed from within, Yandle & Michalek, are good pieces but the rest of the squad is one overrated veteran after another. Jovanovski anyone? two more years at 6.5mil for zeeeeroooo pt in 9 games and -6 rating! Mr overrated himself Derek Morris maybe? also 0 point in 9 games and only -4!! Ken Klee? David Hale? Kurt Sauer?? Where is Jyrki Lumme when you need him!
Rating: D
Outlook: same
Los Angeles (3-6-1): The roomy spot in the cellar was expected but did anyone expect this bunch to be this awful?? Will anyone reach 60pts?
I won't go into details about the awful lineup and the great young players on this team except to say that rebuilding is on the right track in LA but there is lots of work yet to be done.
Rating: F
Outlook: looks great for 2011!
Showing posts with label Bottom Feeders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bottom Feeders. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Monthly Evaluation: Eastern Bottom Feeders
Philadelphia: After an awful start, the Flyers are slowly coming alive but the team still has many question marks. Offense is however not the issue. With Richards, Gagné, Carter, Briere & Knuble all over a point a game, Philly has two productive and disruptive lines. The rest of the forward group is full of tough hard working complimentary players who understand their role.
Defense is obviously the biggest issue with this team. Even though his play improved last year, the injury to Derian Hatcher is probably a good thing long term as it cleared not only a big salary but a spot for an improving youngster. The Flyers will however need some serious improvement from those young guys as the current squad is average at best. Timonen, Coburn & Vaananen have been playing well but none of them is a workhorse that can carry the whole team on their backs. Acquired during the offseason, Steve Eminger is continuing his mediocre play and proving day after day that he will never reach the high expectations placed on him.
The one bright spot has been the play of 2008 1st round pick Luca Sbisa, a 6’2 Italian defenseman who is leading all Flyers defenseman at 18 years old with 6 points in 11 games.
I warned Flyers’ fans when they acquired Biron that this would not solve their decade long search in goal. Biron is inconsistent, prone to slumps and not technically gifted. Biron is floating around in that no man’s land between backup and solid goalie. A platoon with another 1B goalie might be the best situation to bring out the talent of Biron. Nittymaki has been playing better than Biron but .904 is still not that great. The Flyers have the weakest goaltending in a strong Atlantic division.
The Flyers should fight once again for one of the last few playoffs places and all will depends on their health and how well their young defense holds up in front of average goaltending.
Rating: D
Outlook: going up
Ottawa: What is going on at the Ontario-Quebec border??? I need to watch more Senators games to understand how this team ends up with only 10 points in 11 games and is last in the NorthEast division.
This team is built the same way as the Canucks’ teams of the early 00s: the best #1 line in the league then a wasteland of marginal players with a few nice pieces on the backend and a big hole in goal. Heatley, Spezza & Alfredsson are premium players but simply cannot produce all the offense every night. Someone out of Vermette, Donovan, Foligno, Fisher & Neil needs to get things going, if only to distract the opposition and give a breather to the big guns.
The defense with Kuba, Volchenkov, Phillips & Picard is not spectacular but efficient and should be good enough with such an offense.
The main issue is of course in goal where the Senators are among the 3 weakest teams of the whole league. Gerber seems to deliver only when slated as the backup but falters everytime a team trusts him with their number one spot. That seesaw play is extremely difficult on a team’s morale and I cannot imagine a team making it far with such a troubling point behind them. Auld has been playing well so far (2.31 and .931 in 6 games) but as a Vancouver resident who watched him for a few years, I doubt he will be able to maintain that pace.
Apart of that strong start of Auld, the expected production of the big 3 and the nice production (12 assists in 11 games) of Filip Kuba, there is extremely little positive to be found on this team. Melnyk made the wrong call: Murray should have been let go and Muckler kept around.
Unless something major happens, I don’t see the Senators making much progress and they will need to battle hard to get one of the last playoff spots.
Rating: F –
Outlook:going down
Florida: Is there any chance Bouwmeester will resign with that group?? Not that the new coming of Chris Pronger has been playing that well but he will still be much sought after and the chances of winning seem higher in probably 28 or 29 other cities than Miami right now.
There are a few good pieces with Horton, Booth, Weiss and Keith Ballard leading all Panthers with 10 pts in 11 games, showing how talent can be hidden and buried behind veterans.
Jacques Martin might have his detractors around the league but he is getting some nice assets for his veteran players: For a past due date and mentally unstable Bertuzzi, he acquired Shawn Matthias who is looking like he might become a good big 2nd or 3rd line centerman… and now Ballard for Jokinen. I have to say that I prefer the package the Panthers got for Jokinen than what Atlanta ended up with for Hossa.
To get back to this 4-6-1 team, the talent level is weak at forward and defense and the mediocre veterans peppered through the lineup are simply not the type of players to elevate the team and their younger teammates to contention. This lineup should be dismantled, veterans traded away and a 3-5 year plan put in place to compete in 2012 or so. Even Vokoun should be traded while he has some value. Craig Anderson has not been playing much but his stats look very good and this is the perfect team to give an unhyped goalie a chance to develop and raise his game.
There are a few good young players on this team but this is not the year things will happen. Chances to make the playoffs are slim to none.
Rating: D
Outlook: same
Atlanta: Not to bash on a team when it’s down… but when Todd White is leading your team in points, you can be considered an awful team, even more awful than a 3-7-2 record indicates.
Similar to Florida, the Thrashers have a superstar closing in on Free Agency (Summer 2010 for Kovalchuk) and little except money to entice him to resign. Bryan Little has been playing great so far (6 goals in 12 games) but there isn’t much offensive talent behind.
Atlanta got many pieces in the Hossa trade last year at the trade deadline but the 1st round pick and Esposito (himself a first rounder) will be more important that the meddling 2nd liners they received. This team lacks firepower, identity and purpose… on top of new ownership as I discussed previously!
Do we rebuild with or without Kovalchuk will be the most important question this year in Atlanta but that will not affect the play on the ice: that will stay awful.
Rating: D-
Outlook: going down
New York Islanders: The Islanders have met all expectations so far by easily winning the much coveted chase for the last place of the Eastern Conference. 5 pts in 10 games… you can’t ask much more than that!
This team going nowhere continues to give the most ice time to veterans Weight, Comrie, Streit and Guerin while showing a lack of confidence in their young talent like Hunter, Nielsen, Bergenheim, Okposo and Tambellini. Another example of a team unwilling to rebuild through youth and grabbing whatever is left over in Free Agency.
However, on an alarming note, this is not even the most troubling issue right now in Uniondale. The physical condition of Rick DiPietro is much more important to this team. The Isle lifetimer cannot seem to be able to stay healthy, a scary thought with his untradeable and unboughtable contract.
There is very little to cheer about on Long Island right now and the rest of the season will not change that.
Rating: F
Outlook: same
Defense is obviously the biggest issue with this team. Even though his play improved last year, the injury to Derian Hatcher is probably a good thing long term as it cleared not only a big salary but a spot for an improving youngster. The Flyers will however need some serious improvement from those young guys as the current squad is average at best. Timonen, Coburn & Vaananen have been playing well but none of them is a workhorse that can carry the whole team on their backs. Acquired during the offseason, Steve Eminger is continuing his mediocre play and proving day after day that he will never reach the high expectations placed on him.
The one bright spot has been the play of 2008 1st round pick Luca Sbisa, a 6’2 Italian defenseman who is leading all Flyers defenseman at 18 years old with 6 points in 11 games.
I warned Flyers’ fans when they acquired Biron that this would not solve their decade long search in goal. Biron is inconsistent, prone to slumps and not technically gifted. Biron is floating around in that no man’s land between backup and solid goalie. A platoon with another 1B goalie might be the best situation to bring out the talent of Biron. Nittymaki has been playing better than Biron but .904 is still not that great. The Flyers have the weakest goaltending in a strong Atlantic division.
The Flyers should fight once again for one of the last few playoffs places and all will depends on their health and how well their young defense holds up in front of average goaltending.
Rating: D
Outlook: going up
Ottawa: What is going on at the Ontario-Quebec border??? I need to watch more Senators games to understand how this team ends up with only 10 points in 11 games and is last in the NorthEast division.
This team is built the same way as the Canucks’ teams of the early 00s: the best #1 line in the league then a wasteland of marginal players with a few nice pieces on the backend and a big hole in goal. Heatley, Spezza & Alfredsson are premium players but simply cannot produce all the offense every night. Someone out of Vermette, Donovan, Foligno, Fisher & Neil needs to get things going, if only to distract the opposition and give a breather to the big guns.
The defense with Kuba, Volchenkov, Phillips & Picard is not spectacular but efficient and should be good enough with such an offense.
The main issue is of course in goal where the Senators are among the 3 weakest teams of the whole league. Gerber seems to deliver only when slated as the backup but falters everytime a team trusts him with their number one spot. That seesaw play is extremely difficult on a team’s morale and I cannot imagine a team making it far with such a troubling point behind them. Auld has been playing well so far (2.31 and .931 in 6 games) but as a Vancouver resident who watched him for a few years, I doubt he will be able to maintain that pace.
Apart of that strong start of Auld, the expected production of the big 3 and the nice production (12 assists in 11 games) of Filip Kuba, there is extremely little positive to be found on this team. Melnyk made the wrong call: Murray should have been let go and Muckler kept around.
Unless something major happens, I don’t see the Senators making much progress and they will need to battle hard to get one of the last playoff spots.
Rating: F –
Outlook:going down
Florida: Is there any chance Bouwmeester will resign with that group?? Not that the new coming of Chris Pronger has been playing that well but he will still be much sought after and the chances of winning seem higher in probably 28 or 29 other cities than Miami right now.
There are a few good pieces with Horton, Booth, Weiss and Keith Ballard leading all Panthers with 10 pts in 11 games, showing how talent can be hidden and buried behind veterans.
Jacques Martin might have his detractors around the league but he is getting some nice assets for his veteran players: For a past due date and mentally unstable Bertuzzi, he acquired Shawn Matthias who is looking like he might become a good big 2nd or 3rd line centerman… and now Ballard for Jokinen. I have to say that I prefer the package the Panthers got for Jokinen than what Atlanta ended up with for Hossa.
To get back to this 4-6-1 team, the talent level is weak at forward and defense and the mediocre veterans peppered through the lineup are simply not the type of players to elevate the team and their younger teammates to contention. This lineup should be dismantled, veterans traded away and a 3-5 year plan put in place to compete in 2012 or so. Even Vokoun should be traded while he has some value. Craig Anderson has not been playing much but his stats look very good and this is the perfect team to give an unhyped goalie a chance to develop and raise his game.
There are a few good young players on this team but this is not the year things will happen. Chances to make the playoffs are slim to none.
Rating: D
Outlook: same
Atlanta: Not to bash on a team when it’s down… but when Todd White is leading your team in points, you can be considered an awful team, even more awful than a 3-7-2 record indicates.
Similar to Florida, the Thrashers have a superstar closing in on Free Agency (Summer 2010 for Kovalchuk) and little except money to entice him to resign. Bryan Little has been playing great so far (6 goals in 12 games) but there isn’t much offensive talent behind.
Atlanta got many pieces in the Hossa trade last year at the trade deadline but the 1st round pick and Esposito (himself a first rounder) will be more important that the meddling 2nd liners they received. This team lacks firepower, identity and purpose… on top of new ownership as I discussed previously!
Do we rebuild with or without Kovalchuk will be the most important question this year in Atlanta but that will not affect the play on the ice: that will stay awful.
Rating: D-
Outlook: going down
New York Islanders: The Islanders have met all expectations so far by easily winning the much coveted chase for the last place of the Eastern Conference. 5 pts in 10 games… you can’t ask much more than that!
This team going nowhere continues to give the most ice time to veterans Weight, Comrie, Streit and Guerin while showing a lack of confidence in their young talent like Hunter, Nielsen, Bergenheim, Okposo and Tambellini. Another example of a team unwilling to rebuild through youth and grabbing whatever is left over in Free Agency.
However, on an alarming note, this is not even the most troubling issue right now in Uniondale. The physical condition of Rick DiPietro is much more important to this team. The Isle lifetimer cannot seem to be able to stay healthy, a scary thought with his untradeable and unboughtable contract.
There is very little to cheer about on Long Island right now and the rest of the season will not change that.
Rating: F
Outlook: same
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