Eastern Conference Preview: Non-Playoff Teams
Who Will Just Miss the NHL Postseason and Who Won't Even Be Close?
In this second preview of the National Hockey League's Eastern Conference for the 2008-2009 season, a look at the non-playoff teams is offered, as well as their probable seedings by the time the postseason rolls around in April.
The Pretenders
9) Tampa Bay Lightning: Stacked up front with Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Vaclav Prospal, Ryan Malone, Radim Vrbata, Jeff Halpern (despite being injured), Jussi Jokinen (despite rumours of him being traded), Mark Recchi, Steven Stamkos (if he makes the team), Ryan Craig, Michel Ouellet, and Gary Roberts, the team may have plenty of top-two-line talent, but not so much defensively. Andrej Meszaros, Matthew Carle, Paul Ranger, Mike Lundin, Shane O'Brien, and Matt Smaby make up a great defensive corps, but three years from now. This year expect a lot of goals scored, and many more against on an over-the-hill Olaf Kolzig and an unproven Mike Smith. This team will be a contender, but not in 2008-2009.
10) Ottawa Senators: The Senators remain a one-line wonder, with Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza, and Daniel Alfredsson leading the charge. Now come reports that new head coach Craig Hartsburg is going to break up the one consistently offensive weapon he has, positioning Jesse Winchester on the top line with Heatley and Spezza. Say what? Who's Jesse Winchester? Who will play with Alfredsson? When will management realize that Martin Gerber is a career back-up in starter's guise? Who will play defense besides Anton Volchenkov, Chris Phillips, and Jason Smith? Brian Lee? Really? This team doesn't have as much depth as they claim, but questions instead. They had their chance to make a run for the Cup for the better part of the last decade. They didn't do it. They must now move on and rebuild.
11) Carolina Hurricanes: The return of Rod Brind'Amour bodes well for the Hurricanes. The departure of Justin Williams (torn Achilles tendon), not so much. Williams has been one of the best offensive contributors for Carolina over the past few seasons and is entering his prime. At 38, Brind' Amour is supposed to be way past his, and this year is likely to be the one where the cracks start to show in the back of his game as he doesn't have Williams or Erik Cole (traded to Edmonton) to rely on anymore to shoulder some of the load. Eric Staal is back and will be a force, only if management allows him to be. Perhaps they should realize Staal stepped up big time when Brind'Amour and Williams went down last year to lead the team in points down the stretch. Then again, when he scored 100 points three seasons ago, management gave the former two more ice time instead in return. There's still depth up front, but unless goalie Cam Ward returns to grace, it won't really matter.
The Teams that are Bad and Know it (or should at least)
12) Florida Panthers: A bolstered blue-line means little when you don't have the offense to support it. Goalie Tomas Vokoun can't, and won't do it all.
13) Toronto Maple Leafs: Not finishing dead last will be a tough pill to swallow for Leaf Nation. Everyone in Toronto is counting on suffering through a horrid season the next six months to get their hands on junior-hockey phenom John Tavares in the draft next summer. Trouble is, they have to contend with the likes of the horrible Atlanta Thrashers and New York Islanders. Vesa Toskala is a great goaltender, Tomas Kaberle a great defenseman, and they have a decent set of forwards, despite whatever it is that general manager Cliff Fletcher thinks. So, fans will get their bad season. It just won't be bad enough, unfortunately.
14) Atlanta Thrashers: Jason Williams will turn out to be a good pickup, if he gets the chance to play with Ilya Kovalchuk. Considering the Thrashers have no one else but those two, Williams will no doubt get said opportunity and show off his playmaking skills. Unfortunately, the rest of the team is a graveyard of lower-tier talent and prospects who haven't developed yet.
15) New York Islanders: When former Jack Adams Award winner Ted Nolan gets fired because he wants to win, you know it's going to be a tough season. A potential top line of Mike Comrie, Bill Guerin, and Doug Weight is not going to last, mainly due to the fact that the careers of the latter two are on their last few breaths. Rick DiPietro is the only legitimate star on this team and defenseman Mark Streit will realize if there's no one to pass the puck to on the power play your production drops off dramatically. The Islanders are a team that isn't going anywhere fast.
Next week, stay tuned for the National Hockey League's Western Conference.
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