Roundtable Discussion: Northeast Division Preview

There’s going to be an entire new look to the Northeast Division. The Toronto Maple Leafs got much bigger. The Montreal Canadiens got much smaller. The Ottawa Senators got much more dramatic. The Buffalo Sabres got to be much bigger fans of the Coyotes staying in Phoenix. And the Bruins seemed like the only ones that needed to show up to the NHL Awards in Las Vegas.

So what does that mean for the upcoming season? Are the Bruins going to dominate the Division again on their way to the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference? Will the rest of the division step up and throw their weight around the Eastern Conference?

We have a great collection of bloggers around Northeast Division to give us an idea of what to expect this season. We have Ralph Menzione from Loge19 representing the Boston Bruins. We’ll get our Sabres perspective from David Oleksy at Die By The Blade. Fans of the Canadian teams will get their fix with PPP from Pension Plan Puppets (Maple Leafs), Kyle Roussel from All Habs (Montreal Canadiens), and Burgundy & Tambland from Stay Classy (Ottawa Senators). In fact, since Stay Classy can’t be trusted—we have a couple of responses from the guys.

Tomorrow we’ll give the Southeast Division the same treatment. For an entire schedule of the divisions we’re going to cover, you can find it right here (including yesterday’s Atlantic Division Roundtable). Until then, enjoy the Northeast!

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1. Why is your team going to be better than they were last season?

Ralph Menzione (Bruins): The B’s have not made many large acquisitions this off-season, but instead they made the right ones. Last season, on paper, they were not the most talented team, but they played well together. As the Herb Brooks said, “I didn’t choose the best players, I chose the right players”. Amen brother. So what does that all mean? Well lets take a look, the B’s served Axelsson a one-way flight back to Sweden and moved Yelle’s nameplate to the visitor’s lockerroom. Furthermore, Fernandez is still floating out there in free agency even though he stated he was going to retire, Ward was traded back to tobacco row, and Kessel is still in limbo if he wants to wear the spoked B for another few seasons. Take a look at how the Bruins filled these spots. Ward was upgraded to computer salesman Derek Morris, Fernandez was more than replaced with rookie nut-bag goalie (although extremely talented and is being groomed as a starter), Tukka Rask, and Per Johan was moved overseas for former Habitant Steve Begin. Most importantly Boston will get back power forward Marco Sturm. Sturm spent the majority of the season checking out the talent in the wive’s box due to a concussion, blown-out knee, and sniffles. So effectively Sturm is like another off-season aquisition that should add, hopefully, 25+ goals this season.

Lets look at the potential lineup for Boston:

Milan Lucic – Marc Savard – Michael Ryder
Mark Recchi – Patrice Bergeron – Chuck Kobasew
Marco Sturm – Vladimir Sobotka – Blake Wheeler
Shawn Thornton – Steve Begin – Byron Bitz

Zdeno Chara – Derek Morris
Andrew Ference – Dennis Wideman
Mark Stuart – Matt Hunwick

Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask

Add in there newly resigned David Krejci (who will be missing the first few months of the season due to surgery) and hopefully a Phil Kessel with a shiny new agreement and we’ve got something going here. Not to mention you’ll have Bitz playing in his first full season (maybe Wheeler will like to physically and mentally play an entire season as well), most likely with Begin and Shawn “Deli Meat” Thorton, on the versatile fourth line. Again, Boston is able to roll four solid lines in its crowd favorite blue collar style.

Obviously the Bruins can do better than last year, after the disappointing Game 7 Eastern Conference Final loss. The same loss that almost cost theKiiid a relationship, but the injury bug had bit the B’s at the worst possible time in the season. Can the B’s take the Northeast title again? Yes, Eastern Conference? Yes. President’s Trophy? definitely, the B’s have only added talent this season, and if they can re-sign Kessel (whom will hopefully be on board mentally as well) we’ll see a dominate performance.

Kyle Roussel (Canadiens): The Habs are going to be a better team than the 2008-2009 Centennial collapse bunch from a year ago, not only because of the many new faces, but because Carey Price is going to be a whole lot better. He’s got a new coaching staff (including a new goalie coach), and an experienced defense corps in front of him. The sexy thing is to talk about Gomez, Cammalleri and Gionta and how many points they may (or may not) rack up. Truthfully I don’t see them putting up significantly better point-per-game numbers than what we saw from Koivu, Kovalev and Tanguay. As GM Gainey said, they’re more durable than the previously mentioned former Habs – so they may put up more points overall, but I don’t think the season rides on them putting up all-star numbers as much as it relies on Carey Price tightening up. Oh, and need I mention Jacques Martin, who has a proven track record of significantly reducing shots against, goals against and improving team defense? He now has a blue chip prospect to work with in Price instead of middling talent like Patrick Lalime. I won’t speak about the brand of offensive hockey that Martin will bring to the Habs, as it looks like it could be a defense-first type system, but wins are wins and points are points regardless of the score. An optimistic Habs fan can find plenty of reason to look for great things this year. It should also be noted that the celebrations of the Canadiens turning 100 will finally and mercifully come to an end this year. It should not be dismissed how much of a distraction that became for the players, and the pressure they felt to win it all in the team’s 100th season.

David Oleksy (Sabres): This is a loaded question that can go in so many different directions. I’ll try my best not to ramble.

The Buffalo Sabres are poised to become a playoff team this year, after failing to qualify the past two seasons. The Sabres have lacked confidence since they lost their co-captains Chris Drury and Daniel Briere. Drury and Briere were both good players in Buffalo but their biggest contribution to the team was confidence. They helped guys like Derek Roy and Thomas Vanek believe they could win.

On talent alone this team could be the fourth or fifth best team in the Eastern Conference. Last season they were fifth in the league with seven wins when trailing after two periods. Unfortunately they could not hold a lead. They lost seven games when they led after two periods. Only six teams lost more games, ironically the Red Wings and Penguins were in that group.

Many people are skeptical that the Sabres did enough in the off-season to improve the team. They fail to recognize that a complete overall was not necessary. Players like Thomas Vanek, Derek Roy, Jason Pominville and Tim Connolly, if he stays healthy (big if), have the talent to score goals. They brought in Mike Grier and Steve Montador to add some toughness and grit to the team. The plan is for the team to play a tougher style to free up room for the smaller skilled forwards.

Stay Classy: (Senators): Burgundy: Most would say Pascal Leclaire and Alex Kovalev. I agree, but not because of skill as much as the cool nicknames they bring to Ottawa. It’s about time the Senators add intriguing nicknames like “Pazzy” (Leclaire) and “L’Artiste” (Kovalev) to the fold, complimenting “Blond Locks-o-Steel” (Alfredsson) and “The Pass Di-Spezza-r” (Spezza).

Tambland: Tambland: So long as we don’t start celebrating a 100th anniversary and expecting championships we don’t deserve, our season can’t be much worse than last.

PPP (Maple Leafs): While it’s not impossible that they could be worse it would take a hell of an effort to do so. The Leafs gave up 286 goals last year to rank 30th in the NHL. Since then Vesa Toskala has had his groin and hip rebuilt, they’ve added highly sought-after Jonas Gustavsson, and signed Francois Beauchemin and Mike Komisarek. Those changes should make a big dent in the goals against and that’ll be worth a few points in the standings

2. What part of your team scares the hell out of you this season?

Ralph Menzione (Bruins): There are two, maybe three, things that can bring Boston’s season to a crashing halt. The first, chemistry. This has been something I’ve thought about for most of this summer. Last year Boston didn’t have the best team, but they played well together. You could sense that all of the B’s were buying into Julien’s system, and furthermore seemed to get along well with each other. Look at the November 1 game against Dallas. It was like I had tickets to a Junior B game somewhere in Rose City Ontario. There were fights and large hits every few minutes. What’s the point? Each of the Bruins were sticking up for one another, even Kessel’s gloves fell off along with Savard’s. Games like that one are what bring teams together and can turn a season around. Chemistry is something that is formed in the off-season, and this year the Bruins opted out of their annual trip to Vermont and cancelled the team building weekend. How much does that matter? Hopefully not much, but with some new acquisitions this summer I’d like to see everyone buy in this year, and be mentally (and physically) ready to play each game for one another.

Second, injuries are what scare me most. Boston was somewhat lucky last year with the lack of injuries during the regular season, with the exception of Sturm, but in the playoffs it was bad. Kessel, Krejci, Recchi, and a few others were dinged up pretty bad, and I think that made the difference in the Carolina series. This year if the guys can keep their hands off the chicks from South Boston, thus avoiding mono, and avoid the injury bug, you can see a report performance of last season. I mean come on, old man Recchi had surgery to have his kidney stones removed and played the next night. Montador had his eggs scrambled pretty bad and Ward had his clock cleaned earlier in the series. I’m still convinced Chara was hurt because his puck handling skills were worse than normal, but shot was still effective.

Finally, and not that big of a deal, but I have my eye on Tim Thomas. He has a remarkable season last year culminating in a Vezina Trophy. I hope that he can still pull the same load this season and show Tuukka the ropes. If Thomas and Rask can anchor the B’s this season, the rest will take care of itself. A lot of my speculation on Thomas’ performance is media based, but it’s still relevant. He’s a bit older, however I think he has become comfortable with his style and team.

Kyle Roussel (Canadiens): This is a unique pre-season in that there’s plenty of room for the optimists and pessimists…and there’s no way either group can claim to be right. While I firmly believe that Price will improve, there’s always the possibility that he doesn’t. A repeat of the 08-09 from Price is a death sentence for the Habs (regardless of how well the guys in front of him play). With the new faces learning to gel with one another, an entirely new coaching staff, and coupled with the relentlessly ravenous media, fans ready to burn the Bell Center down at the first sign of trouble and the prospect of a shaky team…there’s a lot to be nervous about if you’re a Habs fan. It’s an exciting time, but nobody knows for sure where this thing is headed. It also remains to be seen how the new ownership in the Molson brothers (another new component to the team) will react to a potential sluggish start. Will heads roll or will they stay the course and give things time to play out? They inherited Gainey and Martin, and if there’s one thing we know about owners, it’s that they like to install their own people. One thing is for sure: regardless of the circumstances, media and fans in Montreal will demand a contender in reparation for last year’s failure. There’s a small window of opportunity for this team to find itself because the fans and media won’t hold back their displeasure for very long.

David Oleksy (Sabres): This is a simple answer…offense from the defense. Jaroslav Spacek was the Sabres only offensive defenseman last season, with eight goals and 45 points. He left this off-season for a very lucrative contract with the Montreal Canadiens. It will be difficult for the Sabres to replace his offense from within but that is what they intend to do. They are looking to third year defenseman Andrej Sekera and second year defenseman Chris Butler to help offensively but they combined for five goals and 25 points last season.

Stay Classy (Senators): Burgundy: Erik Karlsson playing in the NHL this season. I’d like to see him play the year in the AHL and get used to the North American style of hockey. Small ice, less ‘technical’ systems, physical contact… (I kid, I kid). Karlsson is only 18 years old. To put things in perspective, Jason Spezza is seven years older than Karlsson … and has subsequently been turning pucks over for seven years longer. Even the original Die Hard movie has two years on Karlsson. I wonder if Karlsson knows the Swedish bad guy from Die Hard 2??

Tambland: Other than our third jerseys? Not really sure. Probably that our star acquisition over the summer still wants to play somewhere else.

PPP (Maple Leafs): The forwards. While the team ended up 10th in scoring last year and has lost 64 goals off of the roster I have confidence that guys like Nikolai Kulemin, Mikhail Grabovski, and Jiri Tlusty can step to fill the gap. But if they don’t the hopes for the future take a bit of a hit.

3. Every year there are players that break onto the scene as all-stars or even superstars. Sometimes they’re rookies that are expected to be great, sometimes they are rookies that shock the world and sometimes they’re younger players that simply come into their own. Who is someone on your team that we should all look to have a breakout season?

Ralph Menzione (Bruins): My initial choice for breakout player for the Bruins this year was Blake Wheeler. Blake is young, relatively inexperienced and had a rough end of the year. If Blake could couple his skill with his size and start taking the body like Bitz did last year in the playoffs I think he could have an amazing year. However, after looking at Wheeler’s numbers last year – 8th on the team in scoring as a rookie and 7th in points for a rookie in the NHL – it is tough to say that last year was not his break out year.
So I will defer to my second choice of break out player: Johnny Boychuck.

The 6’2’’, 225lb 25 year old defenseman is at the stage in his career where he can either make a big splash at camp and be on the opening night roster or fall into ‘career minor leaguer’ status. The Bruins obviously saw enough in Boychuk to trade for him last year (granted they did only give up a career minor league forward for him) and then re-sign him to a one year contract this off season.

Boychuck led all AHL defensemen in scoring last year and was tied for the team scoring lead overall with 20-46=66 in 78 Baby B’s games. Johnny has the size and skill to be a top 4 defenseman but he struggles defensively sometimes which had given him the # 6 / 7 defenseman label. I am looking for Boychuck to challenge Hunwick for a spot in the top 6 early in the year. They both are very offensive players and if Boychuck can pocket a few early in the season, he and Hunwick will be a good tandem to cycle through the B’s defensive corps.

Kyle Roussel (Canadiens): I don’t expect many new young faces with the Habs this year. From the looks of things, there will be very few openings for kids from Hamilton to start the season in Montreal. I’m looking more towards guys to regain their form from 2007-2008 who enjoyed breakout seasons back then, but regressed big time during the centennial season celebrations. The Kostitsyn brothers and Tomas Plekanec must take some of the pressure off of the new guys and improve upon their miserable performances from last season. I also look at a guy like Guillaume Latendresse, who at 21 years old, is entering the season as a RFA come 2010-11. He’s going to want to have a good year and earn a long-term contract. If there is to be any surprises from Hamilton, I’m looking at guys like Pacioretty and Weber. They both saw time with the Habs last year and showed flashes of future stardom, but they were fleeting flashes. If Weber can crack the lineup, Habs fans can look for him to play a significant role on the power play with Markov. And if coach Martin can get some of the bigger bodies on the roster to use their size to their advantage (something previous coaches have not been able to do), then Pacioretty could become an important piece to the puzzle. He should also be someone pushing Latendresse to be better, because they both fulfill similar roles.

David Oleksy (Sabres): There are two players on the Sabres that could breakout this season. Daniel Paille scored 19 goals two seasons ago before falling back to only 12 last season. On the surface it looks like Paille regressed but he spent most of his time on the third and fourth line and took advantage of his few chances to play with the skilled forwards. Paille didn’t play at all on the power play despite having a deadly shot from the top of the face-off circle. If he is put in the right situation there is no reason that Paille can’t become a 20-25 goal scorer.

While Paille seen his numbers decrease, Clarke MacArthur had a bit of a breakout year last year. If it is possible to have a breakout year two seasons in a row, MacArthur will be the guy to do it. He scored 17 goals last season, but like Paille he had limited opportunities. Lindy Ruff is sure to have more confidence in MacArthur from the beginning of the season which will give him ample opportunity to put pucks in the net. It would not be a surprise to see MacArthur score in the 20-25 range this season just like Daniel Paille.

Stay Classy (Senators): Burgundy: Two players come to mind: Nick Foligno and Ryan Shannon.

I’m confident Foligno can score 25 goals this season. Cory Clouston’s up-tempo ‘aggressive-as-Viagra’ style has really rubbed off well on Foligno. I suspect Foligno will be rewarded with a slightly bigger role with the Senators this season (sorry Heatley) that may include extra ice time/powerplay time (again, sorry Heatley).

Ryan Shannon is one of those players coaches love – well, coaches like Clouston anyways. You can see Shannon’s confidence growing game by game (it’s almost as tall as Shannon, who’s listed as 5’9” …). Foligno had 32 points in 81 games last season while Shannon scored 20 points in only 35 games. With the addition of Kovalev and the emergence of Foligno and Shannon, Ottawa’s need for balanced scoring (err, secondary scoring) may actually be solved. Finally.
Tambland: Eric Karlsson would probably be the easy bet, but Peter Regin is going to be the surprise of the year. The kid’s Dutch. I’m not sure what other people know about the Dutch, but they’re basically like Euro-Canada. So he’s all Canadian, with slightly better taste in chocolate and wine.

PPP (Maple Leafs): I think that the player that could break out this season is Mikhail Grabovski. He is 25 years old and got his first full NHL season under his belt and picked up 20-28-48 in 78GP. He battled inconsistency because of a rookie linemate in Kulemin and an injured vet in Hagman. However, at the end of the year he caught fire alongside Kulemin and Ponikarovsky. Grabbo will also likely get more time on the powerplay. 60 points is definitely within reach and considering the Habs couldn’t wait to get rid of him it’ll be a big deal.

4. We all know that watching a team for 82 games, you start to appreciate things that casual fans won’t necessarily know. Who’s the guy on your team that doesn’t get nearly the respect that he deserves?

Ralph Menzione (Bruins): Other Loge19 contributors may disagree with me – because they have other unsung favorites – but I think that Shawn Thornton does an amazing job on this team; both in the locker room and on the ice. Thornton is the ultimate 4th line scrapper. His stride is brutal and he has a tough time keeping two hands on his stick most of the time but he is always going 100% throughout every shift. As a 12 year pro (6 in the NHL) Thornton brings solid veteran experience to the Bruins locker room and won a cup with Anaheim in 2007. Oh yeah, he can also mix it up with the top fighters in the game – Chris Neil, Donald Brashear and Georges Laraque to name a few.

Kyle Roussel (Canadiens): With this version of the Habs, it’s so hard to say. Half of the team has been flipped, so there’s little left to choose from. And what that tells me is that if GM Bob Gainey flushed out all those guys, there was not much to appreciate to begin with. Gainey was the ultimate character player who presumably knows character when he sees it. Among the guys who are left, I think a guy like Josh Gorges is someone who does a lot of unseen heavy lifting for the Habs. He’s a guy that has the respect of his teammates, and is always there to answer to the media. He also plays a quietly responsible defensive game and I thought that he was probably the Habs best defenseman outside of Markov all season in 08-09. Another guy who I think gets dismissed because of his on-ice antics is Maxim Lapierre. I believe he is quickly becoming a good character player and someone who can address a room. I could be wrong on the specific game, but this did happen at some point late last year: I believe it was a game in Montreal vs the Leafs in late March where the Canadiens were needing a win and playing poorly (again). Down 4-0, it was Lapierre who stood up in the room, ripped his teammates and then went out and scored 2 goals to get his team back in the game. Unfortunately he was the only one wearing the “CH” who cared that night and the Habs went on to lose 5-2, but (if I’m right about which game it was) I was impressed with how this young 3rd liner stood up and showed some leadership on a team that seemed to be sputtering on all cylinders. I also look for him to take on more of a leadership role this year. People brand him as a childish instigator on the ice, but I see him as a guy who can mature in to an effective 2-way player.

David Oleksy (Sabres): If you talk to Sabres fans, 49 out of 50 will tell you that Toni Lydman is garbage. That one fan will see the benefits of a guy like Lydman. He is prone for the bad horrible giveaway in his own zone but he has so many positives I can’t count them. Last season he led the team in hits and blocked shots. He is always in position in the defensive zone. Lydman finished with an even plus/minus rating despite playing most if the season with Henrik Tallinder, that is saying a lot.

Ryan Miller had his best season as a professional last season and Toni Lydman was a big part of that. He doesn’t get recognition for his contributions because he is not flashy. He doesn’t drop the gloves like Craig Rivet does, he doesn’t score goals like Jaro Spacek did, he wasn’t a rookie surprising everyone like Chris Butler was, he wasn’t the up and coming defenseman that Andrej Sekera was, the only time Lydman was noticed was when he was giving the puck away.

One simple comparison before I move on…Toni Lydman had three goals, 20 assists and an even rating last season. Andrej Sekera had three goals, 11 assists and a minus 11 rating last season. Ask a Sabres fan who is better and the answer will be Andrej Sekera in most cases.

Stay Classy (Senators): Burgundy: Jason Spezza. Seriously. Some of his turnovers are bad and can’t be defended. However, the more you carry the puck, the more likely it is your turnover numbers will be higher than a guy who averages less than three minutes per game… a player like … Andre Roy. And ironically, Roy is among the worst players to have his name on the Stanley Cup. Point is, all top playmakers in the NHL have high turnover rates (Malkin, Thornton, etc…).
Tambland: Dany Heatley. He’s clearly been playing a diminished role and needs much more attention for his accomplishments. He kind of reminds me of Gumby’s sidekick. You know. The horse. But I can’t remember his name, because he’s not Gumby. So I’m just going to call him Heatley now. I’ve kind of come full circle on this, but Heatley. Pay more attention to Heatley.

PPP (Maple Leafs): There are two:

Nikolai Kulemin: He came over from Russia and had some difficulty adjusting offensively to the NHL game. However, he used his speed well to pressure the puck and towards the end of the year found some more confidence in his offensive games.

Ian White: Before the start of last season and during the first 11 games White was a healthy scratch and an afterthought, unless it was to be included in trade proposals, among Leafs fans. By the end of the year he was playing a tonne of minutes and among the toughest. At $850K he’s a bargain on the third pairing.

5. Prediction time: If you were throwing down some serious money, how do you think the final standings of the Northeast Division will shake out? More importantly, which teams do you think are going to make the playoffs from the Northeast?

Ralph Menzione (Bruins):
1. Boston Bruins
2. Ottawa Senators
3. Montréal Canadiens
4. Toronto Maple Leafs
5. Buffalo Sabres

Kyle Roussel (Canadiens):
1. Boston – playoffs
2. Montreal – playoffs
3. Ottawa
4. Toronto
5. Buffalo

David Oleksy (Sabres): This is always tough to do and I’m not going to like looking at this in April. Go ahead and make fun of my predictions and yes I am homer.

1. Boston Bruins – I see no reason they will regress. Peter Chiarelli has done an outstanding job building that team.
2. Buffalo Sabres – see my answers above
3. Montreal Canadiens – I struggled with this one. The Canadiens are a completely different and probably more talented team than they were last season. Sometimes it is hard to build chemistry when there are so many changes in one off-season.
4. Toronto Maple Leafs – Brian Burke is definitely putting his mark on this team. They still don’t have enough talent to be a playoff team but give it a year or two.
5. Ottawa Senators – Dany Heatley….need a I say more?

By seasons end the Bruins and Sabres will be the only two teams playing in the playoffs but the Canadiens and Leafs might come right down to the wire.

Stay Classy (Senators): Burgundy: Is this like that time Tambland bet a keg party on the Oilers making the playoffs in the 06-07 season and then bought me a single case of beer instead? Cause if it is, I’m out. That said, and I’m shooting from the hip here:

Boston – Playoff bound, even if Aaron Ward is a ‘Caniac
Ottawa – Playoff bound, minus one awkward gladiator from 2008
Toronto – Playoff bound, with Toskala losing no. 1 goalie status by Christmas
Montreal – golfing in April … happy 101st season
Buffalo – golfing in April… might be a rough year

Tambland: Is this like that time Burgundy promised me a beer if the Penguins won the Cup, and then they did (a year later, without Hossa’s help) and he wouldn’t give it to me? Cause if it is, I’m out. That said, and I’m shooting from the hip here:

Boston – They’re still mad for letting Carolina ‘bruin’ their season.
Ottawa – Irregardless of what the Heatley saga finishes with, this team will surprise
Montreal – I’m sorry. But they’ve only gotten smaller. However, Martin’s boring defensive system should let them finish just high enough.
Buffalo – Not sure why.
Toronto – They’ll play with enough stupidity and the most PIM in history, but the puck will stay out of the net….5 on 5. But that’ll only be for part of the game. Look for the worst PK in the league here.

Stay classy, Northeast Division.

PPP (Maple Leafs): I’m going to play things safe while also infuriating Habs and senators fans:
1. Boston
2. Buffalo
3. Toronto
4. Montreal
5. Ottawa
The first three will make the playoffs while Habs fans wonder what went wrong and Senators fans start pulling the old Leafs jerseys out of their closets for the playoffs.

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