30 Teams/30 Days: Montreal Canadiens

Outlook:

We all know what happened during the Montreal Canadiens 100th season in 2008-09; From the drama both on and off the ice up until the season ended on a sour note when their arch-nemesis the Boston Bruins swept them in the first round. With the housecleaning project during the offseason, it is now time for the Habs to put the Centennial Drama aside.

The first order of business at the Bell Centre was the sale of the Canadiens.

With a sale almost signed, sealed, and deilivered, George Gillett will sell the team to Geoff Molson, who along with brothers Andrew and Justin, will take over the majority ownership of the team. Let’s not forget the Molson’s are no stranger to hockey or the Habs. Under the Molson family, the Habs won 11 Stanley Cups and not to forget when the Bell Centre opened in 1996, it was first known as the Molson Centre.

Another priority was to name a new head coach.

After General Manager Bob Gainey fired Guy Carbonneau on March 9, Gainey himself took over in interim duties, which resulted in a disastrous finish to the season.

This year ex-Florida Panther GM Jacques Martin will come in as head coach. This will be Martin’s fourth NHL team as he was previously a coach for two teams; the St. Louis Blues and the Ottawa Senators.

The pieces were in place for the Draft and free agency period. While Gainey and the Habs were relatively quiet on draft day, the team made some noteable moves during the offseason.

Scott Gomez was acquired by the Canadiens as part of a seven-player trade from the New York Rangers who in return got Chris Higgins as the big return.

The day after, the Habs signed Brian Gionta from the New Jersey Devils on the first day of free agency. Gomez and Gionta in the past had great chemistry with the Devils, so it will be interesting to see what happens there.

That same day, the Habs signed Mike Cammallieri, who had a career year with the Calgary Flames in 2008-09, and defensemen Jaroslav Spacek and Hal Gill. Travis Moen, Gregory Stewart and Paul Mara were signed by the Habs post July 1.

However, with the notable additions made during the offseason, there was some significance of those who departed. Along with Higgins, former captain Saku Koivu signed with Anaheim, Alexi Kovalev is heading to Ottawa, Alex Tanguay will make his home in the sunshine state with Tampa Bay and Mike Komisarek has departed for Toronto.

The current core from last year is still solid however. Andrei Markov is still an elite defenseman and a power play threat while veteran Roman Hamrlik and Josh Georges will depth to the defensive core and Ryan O’Byrne will be an extra on the blueline.

Returning forwards include Andrei Kostitsyn and Tomas Plekanec, who both should light the lamp more often in 2009-10. Guillaume Latendresse and Maxim Lapierre provide more offense, while Georges Laraque and Sergei Kostitsyn will stabilize the checking line.

While there are a lot of questions about the Canadiens season in 2009-10, Habs fans should still see some postseason hockey. The Boston Bruins are still the team to beat in the Northeast Division, even without Kessel and even though they haven’t made the playoffs in two seasons, the Buffalo Sabres are slightly ahead of them.

However, looking at the Eastern Conference in general, the New York Rangers still don’t have a No. 1 center, and Toronto, Ottawa and Tampa Bay are still beneath the Habs.

Montreal will be in the playoffs again in their 101st season. After that however, goaltender Carey Price will need to show up if the Habs are to go anywhere in the playoffs.

Prediction: Third in Northeast, Eighth in East

Projected Lines:

Michael Cammalleri – Scott Gomez – Brian Gionta
Guillaume Latandresse – Maxim Lapierre – Andrei Kostitsyn
Travis Moen – Tomas Plekanec – Sergei Kostitsyn
Max Pacioretty – Glen Metropolit – Georges Laraque

Andrei Markov – Roman Hamrlik
Jaroslav Spacek – Hal Gill
Paul Mara – Josh Georges

Carey Price
Jaroslav Halak

30 Teams/30 Days: Minnesota Wild

Outlook:

The Marian Gaborik era in Minnesota is over and now the Wild will move on. Okay injury history aside, it might have been risky to sign him, but he’ll still be a big loss nonetheless.

With Gaborik off to Broadway and playing for the New York Rangers, the Wild went out and signed Martin Havlat, who was last seen with the Chicago Blackhawks. Havlat, who was instrumental to the Hawks playoff run last year, comes to a team that had Mikko Koivu, Andrew Brunette and Owen Nolan as their only 20-plus goal scorers. The addition of Havlat should help the goal-scoring department, but other players have to step up.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard has stepped up in the offensive department for the past few years, and has posted one 20-goal season in his career. If the native of Sherbrooke, Quebec can post anywhere between 20 and 30 goals this year, then the Wild could make some noise, with that extra goal scorer. Antti Miettinen could be on the verge for a career year, while Eric Belanger should also chip in on offense.

While the offense still has question marks in Minnesota, the Wild’s defense is still very strong.

In his first season in Minnesota, Marek Zidlicki showed that he’s still a threat on the power play as he tied his career high in power play goals with 10. The former Nashville Predator had 12 goals last year for the Wild.

Brent Burns returns to the Wild blueline along with Kim Johnsson and Nick Schultz. Two notable additions during the offseason were Greg Zanon from Nashville and Shane Hnidy from the Boston Bruins.

Elite goaltender and Niklas Backstrom is back for 2009-10, while Josh Harding, should get some time in as the No. 2 goaltender.

This year will be a season of change for the Wild. Gaborik is gone and so is General Manager Doug Risebrough, who was the first GM in Wild history, and head coach Jacques Lemaire.

With new GM Chuck Fletcher and new head coach Chuck Fletcher with the team, this year will be a work in progress. But with that said, they are still one of many playoff contenders in the Western Conference.

Prediction: Fourth in Northwest, 13th in West

Projected Lines:

Andrew Brunette – Mikko Koivu – Martin Havlat
Owen Nolan – Pierre-Marc Bouchard – Antti Miettinen
Benoit Poullot – James Sheppard – Eric Belanger
Robbie Earl – Colton Gillies – Kyle Brodziak

Kim Johnsson – Brent Burns
Marek Zidlicky – Nick Schultz
Shane Hnidy – Greg Zanon

Niklas Backstrom
Josh Harding

30 Teams/30 Days Los Angeles Kings

Apologies for the late posts for 30-in-30. I have been under the weather the past couple days. Today I’ll get you updated with the L.A. Kings and Minnesota Wild

Outlook:

While the Los Angeles Kings made some improvements during the offseason, they are still not quite there in terms of being a playoff team, but they aren’t too far away either.

During the summer the Kings improved their defense by signing free agent and former Pittsburgh Penguin Rob Scuderi while acquiring forward Ryan Smyth from the Colorado Avalanche. With the additions of those veterans, the Kings did lose some key players.

While the Kings acquired Smyth from the Avs, they also sent defensemen Kyle Quincey and Tom Preissing to Colorado in return. However, with the addition of Scuderi and youngsters Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson on the rise, the Kings blueline is looking very solid. Matt Greene, Peter Harrold and Sean O’Donnell round up the top six.

The top six defensemen will be vitally important this year, especially with some inexperience in goal. However, Jonathan Quick showed signs of brilliance last year as he had four shutouts and was 21-18-2 in 44 games played last season. The former UMass-Amherst netminder is the favorite to get the nod as starter. Erik Ersberg and Jonathan Bernier could also get some time in net this year.

Last season, the Kings leading scorer was Anze Kopitar who registered 66 points. The addition of Smyth should help Kopitar, who again is a youngster on the rise. With 32 goals last year, Alexander Frolov will continue to show consistency in the goal-scoring department.

Kings captain Dustin Brown returns while Jarett Stoll—who is questionable for the start of the year—and Michal Handzus, who along with Smyth, Kopitar and Frolov, will be the top six forwards in L.A.

Looking at the rest of the roster, both Teddy Purcell and Oscar Moller should see more ice time while gritty forward Wayne Simonds and tough guy Raitis Ivanans (try saying that three times fast) help stabilize the checking line.

So what is in store for second year head coach Terry Murray and company this year. They’ve made improvements, but again they still are not quite ready to make the playoffs. With that being said, things could still get interesting at the Staples Center this year.

San Jose is the elite team in the Pacific Division now that Heatley is there, with Anaheim in second. The race for that third spot in the division could be important and that will be between the Dallas Stars and the Kings. Dallas has the edge based on experience, and therefore will edge L.A.

As I said before, the spot for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West could go down to the last week and even the last day of the year. Dallas has the edge now for that spot, while Columbus, Nashville, Minnesota, Edmonton and Los Angeles could all hang around during the last few days of the 2009-10 season. For now, the Kings are on the outside looking in.

Prediction: Fourth in Pacific, 12th in West

Projected Lines:

Alexander Frolov – Anze Kopitar – Dustin Brown
Ryan Smyth – Jarrett Stoll – Michael Handzus
Teddy Purcell – Oscar Moeller – Wayne Simonds
Raitis Ivanis – Trevor Lewis – Justin Azevedo

Jack Johnson – Drew Doughty
Matt Greene – Rob Scuderi
Sean O’Donnell – Peter Harrold

Jonathan Quick
Erik Ersberg

Bruins Training Camp: Day 2

David Krejci participated in drills for the first time today

Good morning again from the TD Garden. It is still odd to say the TD Garden, but I’ll learn to adjust.

Anyway just a few notes from the first session.

David Krejci participated in drills for the first time today. While he didn’t participate in any contract drills, he could be out there opening night, although that remains to be seen.

Marco Sturm, who missed the majority of the season because of injury, had a couple nice plays, including a deflection off a rebound for a goal during the odd-man rush drills.

Jamie Arniel, who spent last season with the Sarnia Sting in the OHL, and played with the Providence Bruins in the AHL, looked very solid. While he’ll be starting off in Providence, I would not be surprised if he got caled up for a few games. Arniel had 32 goals and 36 assists last year in 63 games played with Sarnia.

The position to backup Tim Thomas is up for grabs. Hot prospect Tuukka Rask and veteran Dany Sabourin are the two combatants for the position.

And finally Shawn Thornton was up to his normal self, bonding with players such as Steve Begin and Vladimir Sobotka but still joking around.

Session Two set to start any minute. Noteable players during this session include Zdeno Chara, Derek Morris, Milan Lucic, Patrice Bergeron, Tim Thomas, Blake Wheeler and 2007 first round pick Zach Hamill just to name a few.

Some notable quotes after the first session.

David Krejci

About his skating

I feel good when I skate straight or when I crossover on the left side. When I crossover on the right side, it feels like it hasn’t healed yet.

About the possibility of playing opening night October 1

I don’t know. I’ll say there is a little chance, not a big one but about 10%. I can’t say that there’s 0% because I feel pretty good on the ice, but I don’t know how its going to feel one week from now.

Shawn Thornton

About changing roles from season to season with Claude Julein

I don’t think it’s a huge change. He’s fairly routine and I’ve been around here with him for a couple years now so you pretty much know what he expects from you and you just try to bring it.

About bonding with and sitting next to new teammate Steve Begin

I requested that. I didn’t want him sitting next to a French guy so I had to hear that gibberish all day, so yeah I requested it, and I make him speak English.

About the addition of Begin

He works his ass every shift. He’s the one who’s a pain to play against and those are guys you want to play with you instead of playing against them.

Session Two Quotes:

To say forward Blake Wheeler is used to high expectations is an understatement. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

A former Minnesota Gopher, Wheeler knew what that expectations grew more and more every year in college. With high expectations this year, the Robinsdale, Minnesota native is taking it one step at a time.

It’s good to have high expectations. You never want to go into a season just hoping to make the playoffs. You want to be on a team where your shooting for being the best. That’s what we have in the locker room, that’s how we ended last year with a sour taste in our mouth and everyone is ready to get back at it.

That’s why you have to take the positive about the way things ended last year. High expectations are good, you want everyone excited about our team, and I think everyone is

With the first preseason game tomorrow, expect a mix of veterans and young players in the lineup in their against the New York Rangers.

From Bruins head coach Claude Julien

We’re just looking at evaluating the younger players and looking at where our veterans are at right now, like most first games.

30 Teams/30 Days: Florida Panthers

Will the Panthers make the postseason for the first time since 2000?

Outlook:

The Florida Panthers have not made the playoffs since 2000, and while they were in the playoff race during the last week of the 2008-09 season, don’t expect head coach Peter DeBorer and company to have similar results in 2009-10.

While it is true that the Panthers have a lot of young and up-in-coming talent on the roster, particularly at forward, they’re still going to be hit hard at defense, with the departure of Jay Bouwmeester.

Not all news is bad news however at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise. The Panthers went out and signed goaltneder Scott Clemmensen during the summer, filling the void left by Craig Anderson, who signed with Colorado. While Tomas Vokun might be the No. 1 goaltender right now (and deservingly so), lets not forget that Clemmensen did a great job filling in for the winningest goaltender of all time—Martin Brodeur—last year in New Jersey.

Two other notable additions to the Panthers are forward Steven Reinprecht and defenseman Jordan Leopold.

Reinprecht, who was last wearing a Coyotes uniform, might not be the most exciting player on the ice, but he brings a lot to the table, especially on special teams.

A former Hobey Baker winner at the University of Minnesota, Leopold had his best year with the Flames in 2003-04 during their run to the Stanley Cup. The ex-Flame and Avalanche has not seen similar success in the post-lockout era, but he’s a good playmaker on the blueline nonetheless.

As mentioned before, the young and up-in-coming forwards on the Panthers roster could shine this year. David Booth led the team in goals last year and should benefit from having Nathan Horton and Stephen Weiss with him on line one. Michael Frolik had a solid rookie season in 2008-09 and should improve on that with Reinprecth and Cory Stillman beside him on line two.

There are still a few question marks however with the checking lines. Can Radek Dvorak remain consistent? Will this be a breakthrough year for Gregory Campbell? Which veteran forward will step up? All these questions, obviously, still need answers.

Defensively, the Panthers of course lost Bouwmeester, Nick Boynton and Karlis Skrastins during the offseason. While they only added Leopold the losses of Boynton, Skrastins and Jay-Bo will hurt significantly, at least for now.

Bryan McCabe, who was acquired via trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs last year, is back and Keith Ballard, after spending the first three years of his career in Phoenix, had a solid first season in Florida. Bryan Allen returns from injury and his presence will help, and former Nashville Predator Villie Koistinen, should see more playing time with the Panthers.

That leaves one spot left on the blueline. Many believe that will go to Keaton Ellerby, a first round pick of the Panthers from 2007. Jordan Henry should also compete for that spot, but Ellerby has more upside.

The departure of Jay-Bo will hurt the Panthers in 2009-10 and right now there is not enough goal scoring on the roster, despite having Booth, Horton, and Frolik on the roster. Those three are up-and-coming stars don’t get me wrong, but they still need additional goal scoring.

And while Vokun and Clemmenssen make a good goaltending combination, opposing offenses will be firing at will on these two goaltenders.

The Panthers have gotten a bit worse, and will still have to wait to make their first trip to the playoffs since 2000.

Prediction: Fourth in Southeast Dvision, 13th in Eastern Conference

Projected Lines:

David Booth – Stephen Weiss – Nathan Horton
Cory Stillman – Steven Reinprecht – Michael Frolik
Rostislav Olsez – Gregory Campbell – Radek Dvorak
Michal Repik – Kamil Kreps – Shawn Matthias

Bryan McCabe – Keith Ballard
Jordan Leopold – Bryan Allen
Villie Koistinen – Keaton Ellerby

Tomas Vokun
Scott Clemmensen

Sunday Links for Your Entertainment: Heatley, Training Camp and off-topic things

Again I would like to thank everyone for their support of this blog, and I personally can’t wait when the expansion comes through. For now here are a few links for your Sunday.

Continuing with Dany Heatley trade coverage, here are a bunch of links on the trade that sent “The Heat” to San Jose for Jonathan Chechoo and Milan Michalek along with draft picks.

David Towers of Inside Hockey
Mark Ritter of Bleacher Report
Ian Mendes of Sportsnet.ca
Allan Muir of Sports Illustrated
Mark Purdy of The San Jose Mercury News
Bruce Garrioch of The Ottawa Sun

Training Camp

Of course there is a lot more going on in the NHL even with the Heatley trade taking most of the headlines.

Theo Fleury, who was just recently reinstated by the league, has been invited to try out with the Calgary Flames. The 41-year-old forward has gotten mixed reviews on his attempted comeback. Find out why from Renato Gandia of the Calgary Sun

With the slate of preseason games beginning tomorrow in the Kraft Hockeyvillle game in Terrace, British Columbia, between the New York Islanders and the Vancouver Canucks, find out why Canucks defenseman Willie Mitchell is excited about this in The Vancouver Sun.

WashingtonCaps.com Senior Writer Mike Vogel has some postcards from Caps camp.

And here’s the latest from Montreal Canadiens camp through their team website. After failing to meet expectations during their Centennial season, the Habs are eager to get back on the ice and put that behind them.

And finally something off-topic…

Speaking of Montreal, tonight a WWE Pay Per View is taking place in the Bell Centre. Of course, we all know what happened during the main event of the 1997 Survivor Series between Canadian wresting hero Bret “The Hitman” Hart and his longtime nemesis “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels.

With “The Hitman” not wanting to drop the belt in Montreal and his departure to then rival WCW imminent, and the evil Mr. McMahon wanting him to drop the belt that very night, find out what happened (if you haven’t already) in one of those “Great Moments” in Molson/Bell Centre history.

That Big Announcement…

No I am not working for 20th Century Fox that is not the big announcement. Sorry to disappoint all of you on that but this is big news nevertheless.

Anyway the big announcement regards the expansion of this blog. Rosie’s Hockey not only will have its own domain name, but we’ll have some more contributors coming on to blog.

First off I would like to thank Inside Hockey’s editor-in-chief Kevin Greenstein, who thought of this idea and has registered the domain name rosieshockey.com. When the site is launched you’ll see a direct link to the site.

To start things off, lets welcome Inside Hockey’s Brad Kurtzberg as a contributor. In case you don’t know Brad is the guru of all things hockey. After all he wrote a book on the old California Seals.

Let’s also welcome Patrick Hoffman of Kukla’s Korner who will also be contributing to Rosie’s Hockey. Patrick has contributed to numerous outlets including Spector’s Hockey, NY Sportsday and Blueshirt Bulletin just to name a few.

Thanks to everyone for supporting the blog. We will keep you up to date on WordPress as more news comes forward, but the countdown to the launch of rosieshockey.com is starting…now!

30 Teams/30 Days: Edmonton Oilers

Outlook:

A few years removed from a Stanley Cup appearance, the Edmonton Oilers have done nothing much since, missing the playoffs in each of the last three seasons. Needless to the say, it was time for some housecleaning for the upcoming season.

The first order of business was in the management department. On May 26, the Oilers named two-time Jack Adams award winner Pat Quinn as their head coach.

An ex-Memorial Cup dual champion as an owner and a player (with the Edmonton Oil Kings), Quinn has led two teams to the Stanley Cup Finals—Philadelphia and Vancouver. Quinn also had a stint as head coach with the Los Angeles Kings and most recently with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Although he hasn’t coached since 2006, make no mistake about it, Kevin Lowe, Steve Tambellini and company made the right choice to hire Quinn. Former New York Rangers head coach Tom Renney comes in as the associate head coach.

The biggest acquisition for the Oilers roster unquestionably is goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin. A former Stanley Cup champion with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004, “The Bulin Wall” was least seen in a Chicago Blackhawks uniform from 2005-09.

While spectacular at times, Khabibulin has shown some inconsistency at times as well, but his addition is an upgrade from the departed Dwayne Roloson, who signed with the New York Islanders during the summer.

With that being said however, the Oilers did not improve much on offense, which was ranked in the bottom half of the league in scoring. Mike Comrie returns to Edmonton, but he has been plagued by inconsistency since his last 30-goal season in 2005-06 with Phoenix.

The missing piece in Edmonton is consistent goal scoring from the forwards. Defenseman Sheldon Souray had 23 goals and so did forward Ales Hemsky, but those were the only two players who lit the lamp over 20 times last year.

Andrew Cogliano and Sam Gagner should continue to improve this year but Dustin Penner and Shawn Horcoff need to step up need to step up their game. A healthy Fernando Pisani and a full season from Patrick O’Sullivan—who was acquired from the Kings in the Trade Deadline—should also help the Oilers this year.

The presence of “The Bulin Wall” should help the Oilers D, which was ranked 22nd in goals against last year. Souray, Lubomir Visnovsky and Tom Gilbert are good puck moving defenseman and should all contribute to the power play, while Steve Staios and Ladislav Smid stay at home on the blueline. Denis Grebeshkov, had a career high in points, and can play both roles.

While the Oilers should improve this year, let’s not forget they are in a brutal Western Conference. As stated before, the battle for the eighth and final playoff spot could come down to the final day of the season.

Columbus, Minnesota, Nashville, Dallas and Los Angeles all could be in the battle with Edmonton for eighth. While I have Edmonton out of the playoff race, and finishing 11th in the West, they should improve on their 85 point total from 2008-09.

Prediction: Third in Northwest, 11th in West

Projected Lines:

Mike Comrie – Shawn Hocroff – Ales Hemsky
Patrick O’Sullivan – Sam Gagner – Dustin Penner
Ethan Moreau – Andrew Cogliano – Fernando Pisani
Robert Nilsson – Marc Pouliot – Zack Storini

Sheldon Souray – Lubomir Visnovsky
Denis Grebeshkov – Tom Gilbert
Ladislav Smid – Steve Staios

Nikolai Khabibulin
Jeff Delsauriers

Heatley to San Jose (For Real, we think)

Looks like he's heading to the Shark Tank after all

We have two tweets via Derren Dreger and Bob McKenzie.

Here was Dreger’s Tweet:

No 3-Way. It’s Michalek, Cheechoo and a 2nd for Heatley

And McKenzie’s tweet:

Heatley for Michalek, Cheechoo and a second rounder done deal

And finally, one more source, this time it’s the Ottawa Senators official twitter account:

Sens Murray announces trade with SJ: Cheechoo, Michalek and 2nd rounder in ’10 for Heatley, 5th rounder in ’10.

No this is not my big news for this blog, but this is a big breaking news story nonetheless. Links later…

Training Camp Links

Photo Via Getty Images

Good afternoon and here’s to the upcoming hockey season.

Here’s what others are saying about Training Camp:

By now, there’s no doubt that the Phil Kessel saga has extended further than expected. But there’s more to watch for in Bruins Training Camp. Find out with Matt Kalman from The Bruins Blog

From Defending Big D, Brendan Worely has all your Training Camp info regarding the Dallas Stars, including rosters, the schedule and a few preseason storylines.

Former Islander Andy Hilbert has been invited to compete for a roster spot with the Minnesota Wild. Here’s the news story from Wild Beat Writer Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

John Grigg of The Hockey News talks about the top 10 Training Camp Battles from around the league.

And finally, NHL.com has a season preview for 2009-10, with news from all 30 teams in their Training Camp Primer.

I’ll have an Edmonton Oilers preview later and some big news regarding this blog.