Western Conference Review

October 9, 2008 10:36am CDT

Now that the exhibition games are complete, it's time for the serious shooting off of the NHL's regular season. This week we will project how the Western Conference clubs will finish by looking at which teams have improved and which ones took a step backward. We will break things down by division, showing the conference rank in parenthesis beside each team name.

CENTRAL DIVISION
Detroit Red Wings (1)
Quite simply, this is the best team in hockey. Their top two scoring lines will be centered by offensive dynamos Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. Those two, along with winger Marian Hossa, give the club the most dynamic trio of skaters in the game. As secondary scoring options, Johan Franzen and Tomas Holmstrom could easily net 30 goals with health. Niklas Lidstrom is unquestionably the most complete defensemen in the game and Brian Rafalski is a fine offensive weapon, especially on the power-play. In net, Chris Osgood is 37 victories away from 400 and is coming off the best GAA of his career at 2.09. Ty Conklin was brought in from the Pens to serve as his backup after a 18-8-5 campaign.

Chicago Blackhawks (6)
No team has more buzz this season than the 'Hawks. Brian Campbell was brought in to add offense to the blue-line, and Cristobal Huet was brought in to start in net. The club has toyed with trading Nikolai Khabibulin all offseason, but he will enter the campaign as the backup. Up front, the team boasts two of the top second-year players in the game in Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, and Patrick Sharp is no slouch after a 36-goal season. The key to the offense might be the perpetually injured but immensely talented Martin Havlat. If they can get 70 games out of him this will be an explosive offense. Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook help anchor a defense that had to demote Cam Barker to clear cap space in order to keep the Bulin Wall on the roster.

Columbus Blue Jackets (10)
There is a lot of excitement in Columbus, and the team has a legitimate shot to make the playoffs if everything breaks right. Rick Nash appears to be on the cusp of superstardom, which the club realized, prompting them to bring in Kristian Huselius to get him the puck. Second-year player Derick Brassard appears in the mix to center one of the top two lines, though rookie phenom Nikita Filatov will begin the year in the AHL. The Jackets lost Raffi Torres for up to six weeks due to a separated shoulder, a big loss for a team searching for grit and leadership. The defense is rather nondescript and will turn to the likes of Fedor Tyutin and Christian Backman to supply some offense, something they might struggle to do. At least the team is set in net with Pascal Leclaire, who had a tremendous campaign last year, with a 2.25 GAA, .919 save percentage and nine shutouts.

Nashville Predators (11)
Alexander Radulov is gone to Russia and Steve Sullivan is still on the sidelines with his ongoing back problems, leaving the team without two of its top-six forwards. The ever-steady Jason Arnott will be looked at to lead the offense while J.P. Dumont will be looking for a repeat of his career-best effort (29 goals, 72 points). Martin Erat is underrated after a 23-goal effort, and the team will need a return to health of David Legwand, who has appeared in 65 or fewer games in two of the past three years. The blue-line should be the best unit on the club with the return to health of Shae Weber, who scored 17 times in 2006, along with the continued growth of Ryan Suter and Dan Hamhuis. In net, Dan Ellis has been named the starter after going 23-10-3 with a .924 save percentage in 44 appearances.

St. Louis Blues (14)
The team suffered a catastrophic loss when Erik Johnson turned up with a torn ACL that will likely sideline him for most of the season. Top draft pick Alex Pietrangelo made the club and will have to pick up some of the slack, a tough assignment. Up front, Brad Boyes scored 43 goals, and Keith Tkachuk played very well after being asked to slide over to center, though he is back to his more familiar role of left wing this year. Paul Kariya scored only 16 times and will need a huge rebound, while the club has high hopes for Lee Stempniak, especially on the power-play, where they might use five forwards on the top unit. In net, Manny Legace will likely lead the way, though the team did bring in Chris Mason from the Predators in the offseason in what could end up being a 60/40 split.


NORTHWEST DIVISION
Minnesota Wild (3)
This team could take the next step in '09. Mikko Koivu and Marian Gaborik have a great chemistry, and Gaborik is one of the stars of the league with his breathtaking speed and skill. Pierre-Marc Bouchard has turned into a fantastic secondary scoring option, and the club brought back Andrew Brunette to give the offense a little more depth, and also brought in Owen Nolan. On the backend, Brent Burns has overcome elbow surgery and should be a top-20 blue-line force this season. Marek Zidlicky continues to deal with a somewhat mysterious leg injury and it isn't certain when he will return. Marc-Andre Bergeron was added to help out the production on offense from the blue-line. In net they boast one of the best duos in the league in Nicklas Backstrom and Josh Harding. Backstrom owns a 2.17 GAA in 99 career starts and is the clear starter.

Edmonton Oilers (7)
Not many teams can boast two better scoring lines. Shawn Horcoff signed a big money deal and is healthy, and Ales Hemsky has been over 70 points two of the last three years. New addition Erik Cole will be on the left wing and should easily score 25 goals. The second line is full of talented youngsters that will be allowed to grow together in Sam Gagner, Andre Cogliano and Robert Nilsson, which drops big body and two-time 20-goal scorer Dustin Penner to the third line. On the backline, Lubomir Visnovksy was brought in and should be a dynamic presence on the power-play. If Sheldon Souray's shoulder is healthy, there won't be a better duo running a power-play. And don't forget about Tom Gilbert, who scored 13 goals in his rookie season. In net, Mathieu Garon will start over Dwayne Roloson, though Roloson will have to show something in the early going or the team might move him in favor of some of its young organizational talent in net.

Calgary Flames (8)
The Flames could be in a battle for the final playoff spot in the West yet again despite boasting possibly the most complete forward in the conference in captain Jarome Iginla. Newcomer Michael Cammalleri figures to skate with Iginla and Daymond Langkow on an explosive top line. The second line also figures to be solid with speedster Matthew Lombardi working with bruising Todd Bertuzzi. Dion Phaneuf leads the defense and just might be the best fantasy defensemen in the league after last year's effort (17 goals, 60 points, 182 PIM). Robyn Regehr is a great defensemen, though his offense is limited (20 points), and no one else deserves much mention on the blue-line. In net, Miikka Kiprusoff will look to reverse a two-year trend of declining numbers in wins, GAA, save percentage and shutouts; though he still won 39 games with a 2.69 GAA last season.

Colorado Avalanche (9)

The Av's were overjoyed to welcome back Joe Sakic for at least one more season. His return will allow Paul Stastny to drop down to the second line where he should be a point-per-game force as he has been in each of his two seasons. Ryan Smyth only needs to stay healthy to return to his 30-goal form, and though Milan Hejduk may not be the performer many remember, he is also capable of a 30-goal effort with health. The key up front could lie with two youngsters in Wojtek Wolski and Marek Svatos. Svatos is a true sniper who has averaged 24 goals the past three years while never appearing in more than 66 games, and Wolski will be looked to pick up some of the scoring that the gracefully aging Sakic once provided. The defense needs a return to dominance on the power-play from John-Michael Liles, who is coming off his worst season in four years (32 points). Brett Clark will also be looked at for some offense, he scored 10 times in 2006, while Adam Foote tries to stave off age (he is 37). The biggest question in net is where Peter Budaj will take over for the departed Jose Theodore. Budaj has yet to prove he is capable of being a number-one goalie, but with only Andrew Raycroft in reserve, he had better this season or the team is likely sunk.

Vancouver Canucks (13)
Roberto Luongo is one of the top handful of goalies in the NHL, no one disputes that fact, and the Sedin twins, Henrik and Daniel, combine for some of the prettiest scoring plays in the league. But after that trio of studs, there are a lot of questions. Steve Bernier was brought in to add some grit to the Sedin line, and Pavol Demitra was brought in to add some offensive upside to the second line after Brendan Morrison went to Anaheim and Markus Naslund went to New York to join the Rangers. In order to succeed in '08, Ryan Kesler will need to duplicate his efforts from last season (21 goals), and the same has to be said about Alex Burrows (12 goals, 179 PIM), while Kyle Wellwood will need to shed his reputation as a player who lacks focus. The team is strong on the blue-line with Sami Salo, Kevin Bieksa and Mattias Ohlund, and they recently acquired tough guy Shane O'Brien from the Lightning, along with forward Michael Ouellet to bolster the squad.


WESTERN DIVISION
San Jose Sharks (2)
The Sharks return a nucleus of some of the most talented skaters in the game. Up front the team is lead by passer extraordinaire Joe Thornton, who scores points like some of us send out emails. He has been flanked by Patrick Marleau in the preseason, and Patrick will look to overcome an embarrassing performance in 2007 (48 points). Another Shark looking fore a rebound is Jonathan Cheechoo after falling to 23 goals. To make up for the loss of Brian Campbell in free agency, Dan Boyle and Rob Blake were brought in to add offense as well as a winning aura that the team may have been lacking. The power-play should take off with that duo on the points. In net the club will turn to Evgeni Nabokov once again after the best season in team history (46 wins, 2.14 GAA).

Dallas Stars (4)
The Stars have a tremendous 1-2 punch up the middle in Mike Ribeiro and Brad Richards. Both skaters could be close to point-per-game performers this season, as could gritty left wing Brenden Morrow, the heart and soul of the team. The team added agitator Sean Avery to the mix and he is as likely to piss someone off as he is to wear something from the latest Vogue magazine. Marty Turco will look to run his streak of 30-win seasons to six, though he will likely be without the club's top defender, Sergei Zubov, for at least the month of October due to hip surgery. In his absence the club will turn to Philippe Boucher, who scored 35 goals in 2005-06 before being limited to just 38 games last season, and Stephan Robidas to provide some offense.

Anaheim Ducks (5)
The Ducks boast arguably the best 1-2 punch on the blue-line in the league with the gritty Chris Pronger and the gifted Scott Niedermayer. The team believes they can overcome the loss of Mathieu Schneider due to the exploits of the first two. The Ducks are happy to welcome back Teemu Selanne for a full season after last year's 28-game campaign, which was due to his waffling on whether or not to play or retire. His return gives the club two solid scoring lines, highlighted by the team's top point-getter last year in Ryan Getzlaf (82 points), and the return to health of Corey Perry, who had 29 goals and 108 PIM before injuring his leg late in the year. In net, Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Jonas Heller produced the second-best GAA in the league at 2.20. Look for Giguere to make about 60 or so starts.

Phoenix Coyotes (12)
The big offseason news was the draft-day pick up of high-scoring forward Olli Jokinen, who has averaged 35 goals the past five years. He will likely skate on a dynamic line with team captain Shane Doan and the club's best rookie from last season, Peter Mueller. Daniel Carcillo led the league with 324 PIM in just 57 games, but he is being looked at for more offense this season. The team lost blue-liners Keith Ballard and Nick Boyton to pick up Jokinen, meaning that Ed Jovanovski, Derek Morris and Zbynek Michalek will have to be at the top of their games. The Coyotes finally have their franchise netminder in Ilya Bryzgalov, who won 26 games with a .921 save percentage after being acquired from the Ducks early last season.

Los Angeles Kings (15)
This is a team that has nowhere to go but up. They finally signed Patrick O'Sullivan to a contract, though he missed all of the preseason. He is slated to skate with the team's most explosive player in third-year center Anze Kopitar, who scored 77 points last season. Alexander Frolov (four-straight 20 goal campaigns) and Dustin Brown (33 goals) pretty much round out the team's offensive weapons, though there is hope that Jarret Stoll can return to his 68-point form of 2005. On the blue-line, second-year defender Jack Johnson will be leaned on heavily, as could the club's first-round draft pick in 2008, Drew Doughty. Given the likely poor work the club will get from the group, the team will need stellar goaltending. Jason LaBarbera will begin the year as the starter with Erik Ersberg the backup. Youngster Jonathan Bernier will bide his time in the minors - though he is clearly the goalie of the future.