The Buffalo Sabres and the Chicago Blackhawks have put the finishing touches on an eight player deal that will hopefully kick start both franchises into high gear. The Sabres send their best young forward in Mike Cammalleri along with young starting goalie Mike Smith and career backup goalie Joey Macdonald to the Blackhawks for winger Dustin Penner, Bryan Berard and standout puck stopper Niklas Backstrom.
Also included in this deal was the swapping of draft picks. Buffalo send its 1st round selection in 2009 in exchange for Chicago’s 2nd round selection in 2009. The Sabres have scheduled a press conference at which time it is believed that they will be introducing their newest acquisitions to the local media and the Sabre faithful.
When pressed for comments regarding the trade the GM was able to offer some insight as to why this deal was made. “Essentially the deal came down to this. We needed a franchise goaltender, and we believe that we have acquired an elite, all-star caliber netminder who will be able to shoulder a heavy load and perform at an exceptionally high level.”
The GM went on to say “in every trade you have to give a little to get a little and that is what we have done. Cammy and Mike are definitely players with their stars on the rise and I’m sure that they will make the fans in Chicago very happy in the years to come.”
This trade highlights what has been a very eventful season for the Buffalo Sabres so far. They have fired their head coach Ted Nolan after only one year into a four year deal. Replacing him behind the bench is Bruce Boudreau, one of hockey’s top coaching prospects. The Sabres made a big splash in the free agent pool this year by signing Jason Arnott, Saku Koivu, Chris Gratton and Mark Eaton. Next up was a trade to bring in talented big man Todd Bertuzzi. Finally the Sabres made the deal with the Blackhawks to land a definite No.1 goalie in Niklas Backstrom.
The GM is hopeful that the moves made so far this season will be able to keep the Sabres on track for their second consecutive playoff appearance.
1. Staying the Course This division had four of their teams stay amazingly pat over the off-season. In fact the New Jersey Devils, Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens and New York Islanders combined to make one off-season trade. (Of course that was the Isles Heatley for Thornton trade).
Taking a deeper look at this, two of those teams stand out. The Devils and the Bruins added to not making any trades by only signing three free agents and they were only for depth and thus are all in the minor leagues. How can two teams at the top stand pat? Well that is easy when you look at their rosters. Both teams have great depth, solid veterans and exciting young players in their starting line-ups at every position. Both teams were strong last year and should remain so again this year without any major shake-ups.
In fact looking back through NAIHL history shows that most of the Cup winning teams put a team together, let it gel and grow for a few years then win it all. The Bruins will once again rely on the strong and steady leadership of Brendan Morrow and Shane Doan while the Devils will look to hard hitting defenseman Chris Pronger and the smooth pivot Pavel Datsyuk. Both of these franchises could be in line this year to represent the East in the finals because of their willingness to stay the course.
2. Where Are All the Rookies? While there are many good young players in the division there are only 3 rookies to make the opening day rosters in the division. One each on the Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders and the Boston Bruins. What stands out here is not the Bruins and Islanders but the Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens are old and getting older. A good shot of youth would help this franchise but looking deeper they have only two players under 29, Mason Raymond (23) and Marc-Edourd Vlasic (21). This is a cash strapped franchise that signed a lot of veteran free agents to hold the fort until their youth movement begins in a few years. The Habs brought in such fading stars as Jeremy Roenick, Alexei Zhitnik and Keith Carney and added them to a line-up already containing players like Bryan Smolinski, Martin Lapointe and Glen Wesley. The veterans will make this team a tough match-up most nights but it will mostly be another long season for the Habs faithful as this team tries to turn the corner in the NAIHL.
3. Is There an Offer They Would Turn Down? The Ottawa Senators and New York Rangers have staked a claim as maybe the most active traders in the entire NAIHL. In fact the Rangers even make the Senators look quiet most nights. Looking at the two franchises and the nature of their trades you can see two different philosophies. For the Sens they seem to be acquiring talent and depth to strengthen their franchise where the Rangers, well they just love to trade. In Ottawa GM Jamie Parker took over a weak franchise that lacked depth and talent. Over time he has added pieces by selling part of the future. Finally this year Parker has been able to use his star player Jarome Iginla to acquire better franchise depth. In turn for dealing Iginla, along with Martin Rucinsky and Nick Boynton the Sens have added Patrick Marleau, Andrej Meszaros, Hal Gill, Matt Cullen and Sami Salo. Now the Sens are much deeper along the backside as well as up front. This is a team that makes a lot of trades but seems to have a very clear path.
In Manhattan some GMs have said something is going on but nobody really knows what. Since Alain Desjardins has taken over this franchise the team has been almost in a constant flux with all his trading. The team never seems to settle on any particular line up for long. In fact just in the past off-season the Rangers dealt away eight players while acquiring eight different players. In fact one player ended up on both lists as Robert Lang was acquired and then dealt away later. No matter which franchise you are paying attention to you are most likely not looking at their final rosters just yet.
4. I Just Want Some Respect! The poor old Buffalo Sabres. For years this was the “Mickey Mouse” franchise of the NAIHL. For six years from 1999-2000 until 2004-2005 this team did not make the playoffs, only twice had more than 30 wins and never finished within single digits of .500. In fact their record over those years was 159-297-34 with a winning percentage of .359. The last three years however the team has started to turn the corner under new GM Angus Pippy’s watch. The team in the last three years has once finished over .500, once finished only three games under .500 (still an accomplishment for this franchise) and made the playoffs two times.
So what has changed for this team you might ask? Well the biggest change has been at the top were it seems like the GM has a plan for once. Pippy has made waves in free agency and added talent through out the past few years. This year he signed some of the top free agents in Jason Arnott and Saku Koivu. These two players have strengthened his club down the middle. While still not very deep he has added overall to the clubs depth. While he still has a way to go to make this franchise a true contender Pippy has righted the franchise and provide hopes to all the Sabres fans.
5. Is This a Rebuild or Just a Tune-Up? Are the New York Islanders really rebuilding their franchise or have they just become a pretender treading water? Since winning the Cup in 2003-2004 the Islanders have drifted back to the pack as they have slowly but surely chipped away at their core players. But the question remains, are they still trying to contend or are they trying to rebuild? Looking at their roster gone are long serving members such as Zdeno Chara, Todd Marchant, Shane Doan, Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatley. But replacing these players the Islanders have added an odd mix of older, the same and younger players. This is why the question above still lingers.
In trading away those long time contributors the Islanders have acquired such players as Joe Thornton, Rod Brind’Amour, Dan Paille, Maxim Afinogenov and Brent Seabrook. However looking at the Islanders roster an assortment of young players are finding their way on to the starting roster. Some of these players were draft day gems, some were supplemental draft magic but wherever they came from they look to be the future of the franchise. These players such as Brandon Dubinsky, Milan Lucic and Bruno Gervais show that the answer to the question may be rebuilding.
Predicted Division Standings 1. New Jersey Devils – loads of talent at every position with a nice blend of youth and veterans
2. Boston Bruins – franchise rebuild coming to a head, this could be the B’s year
3. New York Rangers – enough talent to be very competitive but will it still be there at year’s end
4. New York Islanders – Thornton and Luongo are the keys as roster turnover to youth continues
5. Ottawa Senators – much improved overall cast but still shaky between the pipes
6. Buffalo Sabres – veteran squad headed in right direction with more depth but not enough talent yet
7. Montreal Canadiens – roster full of grizzled vets but they are just holding spots for the youth movement afoot Potential Division All-Star Team C – Joe Thornton (NYI) LW - Brendan Morrow (BOS) RW - Daniel Alfredsson (NYR) D – Chris Pronger (NJD) D – Kimmo Timonen (NJD) G – Roberto Luongo (NYI) Potential Division Rookie of the Year F – Peter Mueller (BOS) D – N/A G – Tobias Stephan (OTT) Submitted by Islanders
1. The Goaltending Blues? This is a division that many will ask the question ‘Do they really think he can be their number one goalie?’ The Flames are counting on Rick DiPietro to finally emerge as a true elite netminder and Josh Harding to develop into a true number one netminder. Meanwhile the Oilers have the underwhelming tandem of Mathieu Garon and Johan Hedberg to keep them in games and the Maple Leafs hope Mikael Tellqvist and Jason Labarbera will be the answer.
Worse than those three might be the three-headed monsters in Detroit of Antero Niittymaki, Alex Auld and Karri Ramo and Vancouver with Vesa Toskala, Erik Esberg and Steve Valiquette! That leaves only two teams with solid netminding, the Blackhwaks with Niklas Backstrom and rookie Carey Price and the St. Luois Blues with Marty Turco and Ilya Bryzgalov. For the Blues acquiring Marty Turco may just be the key to their whole season. The Blues have always had lots of talent but lacked a true number one netminder. In Turco the Blues have a goalie that can start 70 to 75 games and win them games they should not have won some nights.
2. Hard Times for These Franchises? The Toronto Maple Leafs, a franchise that annually found a way to make the final four in the playoffs has started to erode. The Leafs spent the early years of the NAIHL as a team outside the playoffs until 2001-2002. That season the Leafs climbed up to 6th in their Conference and went on a playoff run that ended in defeat in the Finals. For the next four seasons the Leafs finished at least 4th in their Conference with a minimum of 43 wins and three times making it to the Conference Finals.
In 2006-2007 the wheels began to fall off after a 49 win season; the Leafs were ousted in the first round of playoffs. Last season was the first time since the 2000-2001 Leafs missed the playoffs. This season the Leafs look like once again they may be on the outside looking in as this team is getting older and has no immediate impact players on the horizon. The other team on hard times would be the Detroit Red Wings.
This team has been plagued consistently with poor fiscal management which has hampered their ability to get better. Looking to the past though it is hard to find many bright spots for a team that has never had a lot of bright moments. Only twice in the past five years has this team even made the playoffs and they have only one playoff series in the past eight years. In the first five years of the NAIHL the Wings were competitive but it never amounted to any success. Like the Leafs the present seems bleak but the Wings have a little more hope in the near future with a few promising rookies skating on the team this year.
3. More Salary Cap Space. Outside of the Blackhawks this division doesn’t even have to acknowledge the salary cap. The Hawks are just $348k below the cap with the next worst offender being the Blues with $3.3M under the cap. After that you have five teams with no problems, the Red Wings $9.3M, the Oilers $12.3M, the Canucks $14.1M, the Leafs $14.4M and the team in best shape is the Flames with $22.6M in cap space!
The Flames who are already one of the best teams in this division and the Conference may have the edge on all their rivals with that much cap space available. Think about what they could do? They could pick up an extra forward, or defenceman, or goalie or any combination of multiple players and fit them all easily under the cap. For a team competing to win the Cup the Flames have set themselves up well to add a piece to the puzzle at any point this season.
4. Gritty Play Should Rule Looking throughout this division one common theme you will see with most of the rosters is the gritty penalty killers and grizzled veteran leaders. Good teams always have grit to go along with their glam but the team in this division that really stands out is the Edmonton Oilers. In fact the Oilers grit is almost overwhelming. It starts up front where they have true buzzsaws like Kirk Maltby, Matt Pettinger, Boyd Deveraeux and Wes Walz.
Even their talented forwards show a strong edge in their game. Matthew Lombardi is as tenacious as he is talented. Nathan Horton for a young star doesn’t shy away from the rough stuff or any player. But the forward who most embodies the Oilers grit is the goal scoring, crease hugging Tomas Holmstrom. On the backside the Oilers have a few huge hulking defenders in Milan Jurcina and Chris Schubert, a few grizzled old veterans in Jaroslav Spacek and Andreas Lilja. This is a team that everybody will be forced to play hard against every night. They may not out play teams but they should out work, hustle and hit teams.
5. Better Days Ahead Two teams in this division have been on hard times of late but that is starting to change. The Vancouver Canucks, long a doormat welcoming everybody to town for a win, has seen new GM Ciaran Coates make some serious waves to turn this team around. The Canucks have spent a few years with Alexei Kovalev and nobody else but this offseason they managed to add Milan Hejduk to the mix up front. They also have a veteran defenseman in Tomas Kaberle and goalie Vesa Toskela that help as well. The key here however is the youth coming along.
The Canucks have decided to get on with youth by making roster spots available to rookies Kyle Okposo, Sam Gagner, and Marc Staal. While they lack overall depth as a franchise they are moving forward. The other team is the Chicago Blackhawks.The Hawks may not have gone as young as the Canucks but they have continued a recent trend of adding talent and adding to their overall depth.
They have accomplished this and now are one of the deepest teams in the division. Whether it is in net with Nicklas Backstrom and Carey Price, on the blueline with Ed Jovanovski, Adam Foote and Bryan Berard or up front with David Legwand, Andy MacDonald, Brendan Shanahan and Brendan Morrison. This team made a solid playoff run last year and they are just getting started.
Predicted Division Standings 1. St. Louis Blues – so much depth and offensive talent here, but Turco is the key 2. Calgary Flames – lots of talent but something just seems to be missing here 3. Chicago Blackhawks – center depth, above average netminding hide lack of depth 4. Vancouver Canucks – youth movement should energize key veterans 5. Edmonton Oilers – this line-up will be tough to play against every night 6. Detroit Red Wings – holes aplenty for now but future looks brighter 7. Toronto Maple Leafs – aging team showing signs of drop off
Potential Division All-Star Team C – Jason Spezza (CGY) LW – Henrik Zetterberg (STL) RW – Alexei Kovalev (VAN) D – Tomas Kaberle (CGY) D – Ed Jovanovski (CHI) G – Marty Turco (STL)
Potential Division Rookie of the Year F – Sam Gagner (VAN) D – Marc Staal (VAN) G – Carey Price (CHI)
The Ottawa Senators have mortgaged their future. In a bid to take a run at Lord Stanley’s Cup this year, the Sens have dealt their 1st round pick in 2009, promising 2-way forward Dave Bolland, and veterans Sandis Ozolinsh and Jamal Mayers in exchange for Mats Sundin, Jason Blake, Washington’s 3rd round pick in 2009 and $3,000,000.
GM Parker stated, “In Sundin we picked up a guy who is in the twilight of his career, but is still putting up team leading numbers and will be a great influence in the dressing room. Blake also helps us out with our depth, and will step into a position on the second line for now.”
The Senators are a new look team for the 2008-2009 season, and can now put three solid lines on the ice for the first time in GM Parkers tenure. On offense the Sens have added Sundin, Blake, Patrick Marleau, Matt Cullen Martin Erat and Jason Blake to give some scoring punch. At the point they have added Sami Salo, Andrej Meszaros and Hl Gill to join youngsters Alexander Edler and Andrej Sekera, in what could be a potent defensive lineup for the next few years.
The Sens weakest position is definitely in the net. Returning are Peter Budaj, Ty Conklin and Patrick Lalime, who are all great back-ups. Unfortunately they will be asked to shoulder the load and win the games for the Sens. But the future isn’t bleak in net, as Tobias Stephan, Matt Keetley, and Jhonas Enroth all look to have promising careers ahead of them.
In another surprise move the Senators moved their farm team to Doaktown, New Brunswick, Canada and resurrected the former New Brunswick Senior League Doaktown Hitmen. GM Parker stated “We were looking strongly at Fredericton, NB, but the rumours of Montreal and NYI both eyeing the city drove us away. We decided to move to Doaktown to strike up a New Brunswick rivalry with whomever moved to Fredericton.” The move should also give a boost to the village, which has been hit hard by the decline of the forest industry in NB.
Instead of your typical season preview the NAIHL has decided to bring you a new format that will include predictions for each division as well as a few interesting tidbits to prepare you for the North American Internet Hockey League’s eleventh season, 2008-09. Here is the first divisional column and these are the things you need to know about the Southwest Division…
1. Old general managers rebuilding new franchises. These division sports two general managers that have won the coveted NAIHL Cup but not with their current franchises. The Ducks Magnus Bergqvist was the original general manager of the New Jersey Devils and turned that team into a continuous top five team before finally winning a Cup and riding into the sunset. Bergqvist was coaxed out of retirement to take over the Anaheim Ducks and is quickly turning the Ducks into a perennial Cup contender. The other general manager is Steve Schwartz. Schwartz joined the league and took over a strong but financially challenged Calgary Flames franchise. Schwartz quickly cleaned house and won a Cup with the Flames before having to step away because of family commitments. But, like many great general managers Schwartz couldn’t fight the bug to get back into the mix when the opportunity arose. This time he took over the financially challenged but not so talented Dallas Stars and has this team building towards another Cup as well. With both of these general managers in the same division one of them will end up on the short end.
2. Rebuilding franchises. The Nashville Predators and Phoenix Coyotes are in full scale rebuilding mode. The Phoenix Coyotes have one of the youngest general managers in the league in Ryan Chiasson and he has begun to mold this franchise in his likeness. Looking up and down his roster it is hard not to notice the amount of youth playing in major roles. Chiasson took over this team when it was a year removed from winning a Cup and it was in complete shambles. He did not have enough players to ice a team and there were no young players in the cupboard. He has restocked the Coyotes admirably for the long haul. Over in Nashville it a completely different story; general manager Brad Lucas has kept this team as a contender for years. Unfortunately all those years as an above average team did not amount to any playoff success of any kind. Last season Lucas made the decision to blow it up and start over. Like the Coyotes the Preds line up is now peppered with youngsters throughout and will likely be planning to make a playoff push in the near future. Lucas has always had a keen eye for young talent and this should help him in his rebuilding process.
3. The Salary Cap. This division has teams at both ends of the spectrum. The rebuilding Preds and Coyotes have $19.6M and $17.6M of cap room respectively. In the middle you have the Stars with $7.1M worth of wiggle room which could help them add a deadline player for a big playoff push. In the area of breathing room but tight you have the Ducks with $2.3M of space, the Kings with $1.8M and the Sharks with $1.6M who are under the cap but will have to look at finances with every trade discussion. Of course that only leaves one at the tip of the iceberg, the Colorado Avalanche. General manager Brad Wills has this team breathing tight against the cap with $234K to spare. Wills had better hope he doesn’t have any injury problems or he will be in deep trouble. The leagues minimum salary is $450K so he can not even place one of those players on his roster. Wills has always managed to keep his team competitive and has always been willing to shell out the bucks but this is an interesting dilemma he has on his hands.
4. Offensive Firepower? While the division has plenty of very good forwards it lacks a lot of star or superstar forwards. Of course that can not be said in San Jose where they have arguably the best two forwards in the division in center Vincent Lecavalier and left wing Alexander Ovechkin. The Sharks general manager Rob Paul has decided to build around these two superstars and let them bring out the best of those around them. Both of these forwards should finish in the top ten in league scoring and Ovechkin should lead the league in goals. I am sure some other general managers in the division would argue that these are the two best forwards but the only other comparable talents would be Jarome Iginla in Dallas and Martin St. Louis in Anaheim.
5. Overpowering Defence! While finding offensive superstars in this division may be hard when you look to the backend there is enough talent to fill the Norris Trophy ballot. The Ducks have the trio of Zdeno Chara, Scott Niedermayer and Sergei Zubov, the Sharks have Sergei Gonchar, and the Los Angeles Kings have the bruiser Dion Phaneuf and the skilled Brian Rafalski. The Kings twin studs will be counted on to be the pillars for this team and impart their veteran wisdom on their future Norris candidate defenceman Erik Johnson. These two blueliners have completely different styles but complement each other very well. Rafalski plays a smart game with a highly skilled offensive arsenal while Phaneuf is a straight ahead banger with an absolute cannon of a shot.
Predicted Division Standings 1. Anaheim Ducks – too much depth and overall talent to be stopped 2. San Jose Sharks – great top end talent but lacks any kind of depth 3. Dallas Stars – balanced line-up with some room for improvements 4. Los Angeles Kings – the tandem of Raflaski and Phaneuf will be key 5. Colorado Avalanche – aging line-up with unproven goaltending 6. Nashville Predators – Ryan Miller will keep young squad competitive 7. Phoenix Coyotes – brighter days ahead but this should be a long season
Potential Division All-Star Team C – Vincent Lecavalier (SJS) LW – Alexander Ovechkin (SJS) RW – Jarome Iginla (DAL) D – Zdeno Chara (ANA) D – Dion Phaneuf (LOS) G – Ryan Miller (NSH)
Potential Division Rookie of the Year F – David Krejci(NSH) D – Erik Johnson (LOS) G – Jaroslav Halak (PHX)
