It is the first week of October, my favorite time of year. College and Pro Football are in full swing, the weather is getting cooler this can mean only one thing. The NHL Season is about to begin. I can smell the fresh sheet of ice, hear the Zamboni running, the boards cracking with hits, the horn sounding for each goal. It really does not get any better then this.
This was a pretty crazy summer. Richards goes to the Rangers, the Flyers overhaul most of their scoring depth, McPhee of the Capitals gets the steal of the summer with Tomas Vokoun for a million. The Hawks go for depth and character to rebuild what they lost from last seasons salary dump. There is so much excitement for this upcoming season: Will the Canucks recover after losing the Stanley Cup at home in game 7, will another Original 6 team win the cup following Chicago and Boston. Will a Canadian team win the cup for the first time since the '93 Canadians. Can Toronto break the current longest Cup drought as they have not won since 1967. I can go on and on as there is so much to talk about. With the games about to start on Thursday, I will give my division winners, playoff teams, conference winners, Stanley Cup winners and major award winners. So let the fun begin!!!!
Division Winners:
Atlantic: Pittsburgh
Northeast: Buffalo
Southeast: Washington
Central: Detroit
Northwest: Vancouver
Pacific: San Jose
Playoff Teams: No Order
East: Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Washington, Boston, Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, NY Rangers, NY Islanders
West: Detroit, Chicago, Vancouver, San Jose, Anaheim, Nashville, Los Angeles, St. Louis
Conference Champs:
East: Buffalo
West: Chicago
Stanley Cup Champ: Chicago in Seven Games.
The east will be much tougher then the west this year as they are a much more balanced conference then the west which is very top heavy. Vancouver is tough, but Louongo can not win the playoffs, Detroit will miss Rafalski and goaltending can be iffy, Boston is good, but the loss of Recchi's veteran leadership and Tim Thomas will come back to earth a little bit. Philly will be tough, but in the end the lack of leadership losing Richards and Carter this year will be too much to overcome. Tampa has the scoring and a rising Norris winner in Victor Hedman, but the aging Dwayne Roloson will not be able to sustain his greatness from last season. Buffalo has the goods in Ryan Miller, they added a lot of defensive help and their offense will be stronger than people think. The Hawks loaded up with character and depth, their core is among the best in Hockey, they have been through the Stanley Cup grind and are hungry to win it again.
End of Season Award Winners:
Hart: Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit
Art Ross: Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh
Rocket Richard: Steven Stamkos, Tampa
Selke: Jonathan Toews, Chicago
Norris: Shea Webber, Nashville
Vezina: Ryan Miller, Buffalo
Jack Adams: Barry Trotz, Nashville
Ted Lidsey (MVP Voted by NHLPA): Alexander Ovechkin
Lady Byng: Martin St. Louis, Tampa
Calder: Gabriel Landeskog, Colorado
There you have it. My predictions for the year. Let the season begin
Till next time.
the Polish Guy
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