The NHL season opened this weekend in grand fashion, with the Anaheim Ducks facing off against the Los Angeles Kings in London, England—a first in NHL history. Meanwhile on the other side of the pond, the other NHL clubs will have to wait until Wednesday to officially kickoff their opening night festivities. With that in mind here’s a last minute primer on what the Canadian clubs out West were up to over the summer.
The Calgary Flames
The Flames’ most significant off-season change took place not on the ice but behind the bench, when GM Darryl Sutter replaced assistant-turnedhead- coach Jim Playfair with Mike Keenan. By most accounts, the Flames underachieved in Playfair’s first and last season as head coach, with a roster that looked talented on paper and posted the league’s third-best home record, but struggled at eighth-worst on the road and barely squeaked into the playoffs after a late-season collapse. Sutter is hoping that “Iron Mike” will restore the team’s tough, defensive identity after a year in which the normally fiery Flames were too easy to play against.
Calgary’s nucleus remains intact after locking up captain and former Rocket Richard-winner Jarome Iginla and defensive stalwart Robyn Regehr for the long term. The Flames lost forwards Tony Amonte, Jeff Friesen, Darren McCarty and Byron Ritchie— none of which should be a significant loss—as well as defencemen Roman Hamrlik and Brad Stuart to free agency. Third-year blueliner Dion Phaneuf will be without partner Hamrlik for the first time and is likely to be paired with newcomer Cory Sarich, inked to a fiveyear deal with Calgary. Sarich should add some grit to the team and improve its penalty kill, a disappointing 22 in the league last year.
Sutter swapped defencemen with Chicago, trading Andrei Zyuzin for Adrian Aucoin, who is a risky pick for the Flames and may only be a shadow of his former self. Aucoin who struggled with injuries multiple times last year, would have been a healthy scratch on the roster, as a $4-million player and team captain to boot. Sutter also signed the injury-plagued Owen Nolan, who at the age of 35 is unlikely to regain the offensive touch he had in the past. Yet another question mark is how winger Kristian Huselius—who had a breakout season in 06-07 and set career highs in goals, assists, and points—will fare under Keenan, since the two butted heads while with the Florida Panthers. If Keenan is a good fit in Calgary, the team should fare better this year and will challenge for the divisional title.
The Edmonton Oilers
Edmonton is looking to recover from a season of disaster and injuries (at one point eleven regulars were out of the lineup), in which the team lost heart-and-soul winger Ryan Smyth at the trade deadline and won only two of their last 19 games. This year seems to be getting off on the wrong foot with 2006 playoff hero Fernando Pisani out indefinitely with colitis, but it would take an explosion in Edmonton’s black cat population (an unforeseen consequence of climate change, perhaps?) for the Oilers’ luck with injuries to be as bad as last season’s.
GM Kevin Lowe faced another difficult off-season when Edmonton’s reputation as a Canadian Siberia hurt his ability to lure free agents to the city and prompted talented playmaker Michael Nylander to back out of a deal at the last minute. The Oilers did, however, manage to land free agent defenceman Sheldon Souray, whose booming slapshot should give Edmonton’s 27thranked power play a much-needed boost. The defence corps is also bolstered by the return of Dick Tarnstrom after a year in Switzerland, and the acquisition of the young Joni Pitkanen, who has loads of potential and is expected to produce more offence from the back end.
After a failed attempt to pluck restricted free agent Thomas Vanek from the Buffalo Sabres, Lowe ruffled the Ducks’ feathers by submitting an offer for 29-goal-scorer Dustin Penner, drawing the ire of Anaheim GM Bryan Burke, who declined to match the fiveyear, $21.5-million offer. Penner will likely play trigger man to playmaking winger Ales Hemsky—who has a lot of talent but is coming off a bad season— and is expected to help fill the void left by the departure of Edmonton’s leading scorer, Petr Sykora.
The team will need its veterans to take leadership roles after losing Smyth and hard-nosed captain Jason Smith, who was traded to Philadelphia with Joffrey Lupul for Pitkanen and Geoff Sanderson. Sanderson could provide some veteran leadership but after a disappointing season with the Flyers, this 35-year-old’s best years are probably behind him.
There are a few open spots in the Oilers’ lineup and there’s a chance that former OHL star Rob Schremp, NCAA standout Andrew Cogliano, or even 2007 sixth-overall pick Sam Gagner could make the team. The Oilers’ 07/08 lineup looks to be better than last year’s, but not enough to turn them into contenders, and come playoff time the Oil will likely be on the outside looking in.
The Vancouver Canucks
When the Canucks traded for goaltender Roberto Luongo in the summer of 2006, he turned out to be everything they’d hoped for and more, earning nominations for the Hart and Vezina trophies while leading his team to the Northwest Division title. Coach Alain Vigneault won the Jack Adams Trophy as coach of the year after a successful first season behind Vancouver’s bench, and 26-year-old defenceman Kevin Bieksa—a pleasant surprise on a strong blueline corps—had a breakout year. GM Dave Nonis bolstered Vancouver’s already stingy defence over the summer by adding veteran rearguard Aaron Miller, and top defensive prospect Luc Bourdon stands a chance at making the team and making an impact.
That being said, Nonis has done little to improve the team’s struggling offence. Twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin had a breakout season in 06/07, and both posted new career highs in scoring, but Brendan Morrison and captain Markus Naslund did not live up to expectations, and the team ranked 22nd in the league in goals for. Nonis signed forwards Brad Isbister, Byron Ritchie and Ryan Shannon, but they won’t light up the scoresheet and are not a significant improvement over the expendable forwards Vancouver declined to re-sign.
The ‘Nucks are still a playoff team and their offence could improve if Naslund and Morrison return to form or if any of the new acquisitions demonstrate some hidden goal-scoring talent, but given the productive off-seasons of Vancouver’s divisional foes, the Canucks will be hard-pressed to repeat as Northwest champions.
