It’s Christmas in September as NHL teams take to the ice.
Yup, it’s that time of year again: NHL training camps are underway. We’re getting our first glimpse of pre-season highlights and soon the puck will drop on a brand new season. Here’s a look at what at the Canadian teams in the Eastern Conference have been up to over the summer and what you can expect from them this season. Stay tuned to the Varsity for a preview of Canada’s western teams.
Montreal Canadiens
This summer, Canadiens captain Saku Koivu was quoted as saying that the Habs would likely not be a Cup contender this season.While it is ill-advised for a captain to say such a thing from a PR standpoint, only the most optimistic Habs fans would disagree with his appraisal. GM Bob Gainey was reportedly pursuing free agents Daniel Brière and Ryan Smyth but came up empty in the bigname free agent sweepstakes. The Habs had the best power play in the league last year but with the departure of blue-liner Sheldon Souray who scored a Conference-best 19 goals with the man-advantage, their power play production is likely to drop off significantly. On the plus side (literally), newly-acquired defenseman Roman Hamrlik’s plus-22 plus/minus rating is a significant improvement over Souray’s abysmal minus-28, and should help the team’s even strength play, which was among the worst in the league. Gainey cleared cap space by shipping Sergei Samsonov and his $3.525 million contract to Chicago and added scoring depth by signing free agent forwards Tom Kostopoulos and Bryan Smolinski. The team is still short on elite-level scoring, and will need right winger Michael Ryder to have another 30-goal campaign and the underachieving Alex Kovalev to step up in a big way. Goaltending will be solid as long as Cristobal Huet can stay healthy. Montreal barely missed the playoffs last year, and given improvements in other Eastern Confer- ence teams, the Habs seem likely to miss the playoffs by a wider margin this year.
Ottawa Senators
After making it to the Stanley Cup Finals last season and (possibly) shedding their reputation as perennial chokers, the Ottawa Senators kept their core intact and made only minor adjustments to their lineup in the off season. Head coach Bryan Murray replaced John Muckler as GM and promoted assistant coach John Paddock to his place behind the Ottawa bench. Paddock worked with a number of the Sens’ current players while head coach of Ottawa’s AHL affiliate, the Binghamton Senators, making the transition from assistant to head coach hopefully go fairly smoothly. As for on-ice changes, the loss of free agent defenseman Tom Preissing and his plus-40 rating – -fourth-best in the league – will hurt, as defenseman/ winger Christoph Schubert is likely to be called upon to fill the hole. As one of Murray’s first acts as GM, he dealt second-line forward Peter Schaefer to Boston for speedy forechecking winger Shean Donovan to give the Sens a little more room under the salary cap. While the roster changes might be a slight downgrade, the experience the team gained during their Cup run could help, and fans are hoping it’ll be enough to take them one final step further this year. Look for Murray to upgrade his team during the season, using the almost four million in cap space he has remaining. So with the Buffalo Sabres loss of co-captains Daniel Brière and Chris Drury, the Sens are likely the team to beat in the Northeast division.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Last year, newly minted head coach Paul Maurice frankly stated that his team would be in a dog fight to make the playoffs. That prediction turned out to be accurate, with the Leafs falling just one point out of eighth place in the east. With a more optimistic Maurice predicting that his team will “make the playoffs and compete for the Stanley Cup” this season, Leafs nation is hoping Maurice’s words will ring true once again. GM John Ferguson signed speedy 34-year-old winger Jason Blake to a five-year, twenty million dollar contract, a risky deal in the long term with a chance to improve the team for the upcomming season. Blake is coming off an impressive 40-goal campaign and is expected to play top line with Mats Sundin and Nik Antropov, who the team hopes will finally shed his injury troubles and play a full season. The Leafs’ only off season trade brought in goaltender Vesa Toskala and troubled forward Mark Bell from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for three draft picks. Toskala could prove to be the most significant addition to this year’s team if he lives up to expectations. He has not played a full season as a number one goalie, sharing time with Evgeni Nabokov in San Jose, but has shown flashes of brilliance. Toronto was tied for sixth in the league in goals for but 25th in goals against after Andrew Raycroft failed to return to his Calder Trophy-winning form in his first season between the pipes for the Leafs, and Toskala is the Leafs’ best chance at changing those stats. Bell who was suspended after pleading no contest to drunk driving and hit-and-run charges will be forced to miss the first 15 games of the season.. Maurice is also counting on improved off season training regimen to help some of the team’s young players. While expecting the Leafs to be contenders this season might be a bit of a stretch, the team seems likely to take the spot in the playoffs the New York Islanders held last year.
