dlbalr

A lot of the names didn't really surprise me, except for Shasby and Milroy. I thought Milroy would get into an exhibition game or two. The juniors were no surprise at all, and Marois/Thinel are border-line AHL'ers at the moment, and Larrivee and Co will be preparing for training camp in Hamilton sometime in the next week (20th I think). Still plenty of more cuts to happen...

Hnilicka replaces french-born Cristobal Huet as the Kings' backup goalie. This move surprises me a bit, as one of the reasons that LA released Storr was because they felt Huet was ready to be a full-time NHL backup, I guess he isn't. http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=54022

You're right puck, Damphousse is wearing #31, if you look closely in one of your photos you can somewhat see Damphousse's name (get a magnifying glass to be sure as I did...) White Team at bench

Click the link below for the complete list of players attending camp, plus the Canadiens' practice/exhibition schedule: EDIT : SPAM REMOVED (edit : sorry dlbalr , we dont like linking to the competition) [Edited on 2003-9-11 by puck7x]

This really isn't surprising, no one was interested in him last season, and he's not healthy, so it's time for him to go. Source: http://www.rds.ca

Home Jersey? Away Jersey? Well, the logo isn't all that different, but the uniform colours certainly are, especially the red for home and of course, white for the road (as is new league policy). Are the uniforms better, worse, just as good or just as ugly as before?

Actually puck, I believe the deadline to sign him was June 1st. As for Himelfarb, he wasn't worth keeping, he was a soft, undersized centre who couldn't play defence and cheated too often in the neutral zone. I've seen him play for a few seasons now and he's getting worse by the year, not better. I'm very thankful the Colts traded him away...

Team: Vancouver Canucks Conference: Western Division: Northwest Points (Rk): 104(4) In: Dallas Eakins, Martin Grenier, Johan Hedberg, Jiri Slegr, Magnus Arvedson, Mike Keane, Jason Lehoux Out: Martin Brochu, Trevor Letowski, Murray Baron, Trent Klatt, Herbert Vasiljevs, John Craighead, Regan Darby, Darrell Hay, Chris Herperger, Denis Martynyuk, Bryan Helmer, Peter Skudra, Nolan Baumgartner, Darren Langdon Comments: After a solid 2002-03 season, the Canucks did very little to improve or subtract from the team, GM Brian Burke believing the core doesn’t need to be tinkered with. A couple of surprises occurred recently, the first being the signing of 1st round pick Ryan Kesler. The team feels he is ready for the NHL already, and could start the season on the 3rd line. The second surprise, although to some it’s a relief, was the acquisition of goalie Johan Hedberg from Pittsburgh. Hedberg is a quality goalie and should push Dan Cloutier for the #1 job. Currently, offence is a concern, at least beyond the front line. Last year’s top unit in Markus Naslund, Brendan Morrison and Todd Bertuzzi return, but after them, there is a large drop-off. The Sedin twins (Daniel and Henrik) have shown flashes that they can be offensive threats, but are also extremely inconsistent. Trevor Linden can still produce offensively, but age is starting to catch up with him. The team hopes Matt Cooke can produce similar numbers to last season (17-25-42). Rookies Kesler, Brandon Reid and Jason King will likely be counted on to produce, although they will likely end up seeing 4th line time, or they’ll be in the press box. The team is set defensively, with Ed Jovanovski (A.K.A. JovoCop) returning to lead a solid corps. Mattias Ohlund is finally healthy, and should be able to put up the numbers he has in the past. Sami Salo, Brent Sopel and Marek Malik are all solid two-way d-men as well, and should complement Jovanovski and Ohlund nicely. Bryan Allen should finally get a full-time job as the number 6 defenceman, while it will be a fight between Nolan Baumgartner, Mikko Jokela and Rene Vydareny for the #7 spot. Cloutier and Hedberg will man the nets this season; both feel they are rightfully the top goalie in the organization, so one has to wonder how the Canucks are going to work this one out. As it stands, it’s currently Cloutier’s job to lose. Next Steps: Since the team is set in goal and on defence, Vancouver can focus on pursuing a goal-scoring forward. There are a lot of forwards on the team who are solid defensively, so the Canucks can afford to move one to get a player who can score some goals. If something happens to a member of their top line, the Canucks will be in a heap of trouble in a hurry. Grade: B+ ____________________________________________________________________ Team: Washington Capitals Conference: Eastern Division: Southeast Points (Rk): 92(6) In: Andrej Podkonicky, John Gruden, François Methot, Petr Sykora, Alexander Riazantsev, Darcy Verot, Scott Pellerin, Michael Pudlick Out: Sergei Berezin, Calle Johansson, Ken Klee, Chris Ferraro, Peter Ferraro, Dmitry Yushkevich, Colin Forbes, Ivan Ciernik, Joel Kwiatkowski, Mark Murphy, Todd Rohloff, Krystofer Barch, Nathan Forster, Josh Green, Ryan Vanbuskirk, Mike Farrell, Glen Metropolit, Trent Whitfield Comments: For Capital fans, it was a disappointing offseason, as Washington lost 8 players who spent time in the NHL last season (not including Yushkevich), while gaining no one who could claim the same. It seems that Washington is going to allow the youngsters to play this year, particularly on defence, in which only 3 regulars return from last season, Sergei Gonchar, Brendan Witt and Jason Doig. The team also lost a few regulars on offence, but the team has enough depth to replace them, so that shouldn’t be a problem. Speaking of offence, there are plenty of players who can supply it, although none can really produce on a regular basis. The enigmatic Jaromir Jagr is back, and fans hope he can repeat his performance towards the end of the regular season. He has a solid supporting cast in Robert Lang, Michael Nylander and Peter Bondra; the team hopes the latter can rebound from a sub-par season. Dainius Zubrus, Kip Miller, Steve Konowalchuk and Jeff Halpern all can put the puck in the net as well. Rookies Owen Fussey and Graham Mink are expected to add some character to Washington’s lineup this season. On defence, there is a large, gaping hole. Besides Gonchar, Witt and Doig, the cupboard is bare. Those expected to fill the voids are Nolan Yonkman, Josef Boumedienne, Rick Berry and Jakub Cutta. All of these players have seen NHL action, but not over a full season, which could prove disastrous in the long run. The team is also hoping Steve Eminger can win a full-time spot this year, after playing 17 games with the big club last year. The team is solid in goal. Olaf Kolzig is back after a solid season last year, in which he appeared in 66 games. His workload should be smaller this season, with backup Sebastian Charpentier ready to play his first full season in the big leagues. Next Steps: This one is blatantly obvious, go get a defenceman (or two, or three, or even four). In order for this team to make the playoffs again this season, the Caps must be able to play well defensively. With forwards like Jagr and Bondra who are weak defensively to begin with, this becomes even greater a concern. Grade: C- ____________________________________________________________________ Offseason Winners (A+ - A-): Anaheim Improved somewhat (B+ - B-): Atlanta, Buffalo, Colorado, Columbus, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minnesota, New York Rangers, Phoenix, Tampa Bay, Vancouver Didn’t get much worse than before: (C+ - C-): Boston, Calgary, Carolina, Chicago, Dallas, Edmonton, Florida, Montreal, New Jersey, New York Islanders, Ottawa, Philadelphia, St. Louis, San Jose, Toronto, Washington Teams getting ready for post-CBA era (D+ - D-): Nashville, Pittsburgh Next team to be reviewed: None, it's over, it's finally over!!! WOO HOO!!! *Feel free to comment on any of these reports [Edited on 2003/10/6 by dlbalr]

Q60, I sent you a U2U regarding the NFL pool. It pertains to player positions just so you know. In case you're wondering, you'll find it on the top right-hand corner of the page. (It would be great if you could get back to me by later today if possible.) Thanks.

Well first of all, it's nice to have him under contract, when you're dealing with Don Meehan (Markov's agent), it can be scary. I can tell you what Markov will be paid for this season, $1.3 million dollars (not including bonus clauses) http://www.nhlpa.com/Content/THE_PLAYERS/p...io1.asp?ID=6880 As for what he makes the second year, no confirmations as of yet, but I read he signed a 2 yr, $3.1 mil deal, so if that's the case, he'll make $1.8 mil in 2004-05.

Oleg Tverdovsky has joined the Avangard Omsk team in Russia. It is reported that it's a one-year deal, and that there is a clause that states that he cannot sign a deal with an NHL team or any other club. English Translation: The negotiations of the 27-year defender of Oleg Tverdovskiy with the "advance guard" continued approximately one month.The main thing, on what insisted Omsk cloud/club, cannot be speech about the so-called insurance contract.If hockey player signs agreement, he plays in the championship of Russia during that period, which is indicated in the agreement. - the contract, which concluded Tverdovskiy, differs from that, which during July signed another Of nKhLovets - Danil Markov with The "ladoy", explained yesterday the agent of hockey player Sergey Isakov in the conversation with the correspondent "Se" by Aleksandr SHAPIRO.- in the agreement Of tverdovskogo to eat a point/item, that into the nearest two seasons it has a right to conclude contract not with one of clubs NKHL or Russia.Nowhere, besides Omsk, it within this period play will be. - from the Russian clouds/clubs In tverdovskim was interested only "advance guard"? - there was two additional proposals, but the management/manual of "advance guard" proved to be most interested in its services. - when Tverdovskiy does fly to Omsk? - on Monday.On 31 August in the composition of its new command will conduct the first match - on blinov's memorial. Oleg IS TVERDOVSKIY, The defender Of "advance guard": - I in earnest intended to return to Russia, and the proposal of "advance guard" me completely arranged.this is one of the leading clouds/clubs of the country, in composition of which it would be desirable to earn medals.As far as to me it is known, key role in the fact that the signing of contract became possible, played the chairman of the council of the directors of cloud/club novel Abramovich. http://www.sport-express.ru/art.shtml?73049

Team: St. Louis Blues Conference: Western Division: Central Points (Rk): 99(5) In: Mike Danton, Levente Szuper, Jeff Heerema Out: Rich Pilon, Shjon Podein, Martin Rucinsky, Steve Dubinsky, Daniel Corso, Robert Davis, Jason Dawe, Cory Stillman, Tyson Nash, Valeri Bure, Fred Brathwaite Comments: The Blues have cleaned house after a very strange year in which 7 goalies were used, 2 flu bugs were encountered and a variety of weird injuries were suffered. 5 regular forwards are out, with only Mike Danton (who hasn’t played since around December) to replace them. For the first time in several years, the amount of depth on this team is being questioned. The team still has Keith Tkachuk, Pavol Demitra and Doug Weight to lead the way, but there is a significant drop-off after that. Also returning are sophomores Petr Cajanek and Eric Boguniecki, who will be expected to repeat last year’s numbers. Veterans Dallas Drake and Scott Mellanby are also back and give this team 2 decent scoring lines. A couple of rookies will have a chance to crack the lineup, John Pohl and the last player to score a regular season goal on Patrick Roy, Peter Sejna. The team’s defence will improve immensely simply with the return of Chris Pronger. The ageless Al MacInnis is also back, as is Calder Trophy winner Barret Jackman. Alex Khavanov, Bryce Salvador and Jeff Finley round out the top-6. There will be a battle for the 7th and final spot, between rookie Matt Walker and the player with the longest current goalless streak, Christian Laflamme. Both have to clear waivers this season, so expect them to give Walker a shot for now. In goal, there are 2 solid goalies in Chris Osgood and Brent Johnson. Both are capable of being the number 1, however both are also quite inconsistent. Both goalies have also stated that they won’t settle for being the backup, so St. Louis’ training camp will be very interesting. Next Steps: There are no current immediate needs for the Blues, although one will surface at the end of training camp. Whoever the backup goalie is will be expected to request a trade, which may cause some dissension in the dressing room. If St. Louis decides to deal one of the goalies, they should look to acquire a solid two-way forward, especially if Pohl and Sejna aren’t ready and/or Cajanek and Boguniecki have setbacks. Grade: C- ____________________________________________________________________ Team: San Jose Sharks Conference: Western Division: Pacific Points (Rk): 73(14) In: Scott Parker, Alexander Korolyuk, Nils Ekman Out: Adam Graves, Teemu Selanne, Mark Messier, Ryan Kraft, Jeff Nelson, Scott Thomas, John Jakopin, Marc Kielkucki, Eric Laplante, Craig Mischler, Chad Wiseman Comments: Things continue to spiral downward for the Sharks; after a disastrous 2002-03 season, they get worse, not better. Out are two key players from last season in Teemu Selanne and Adam Graves, although the latter is currently trying to negotiate a contract to remain with San Jose. The team added Scott Parker on draft day to address a lack of toughness, and finally coaxed Alexander Korolyuk to end his holdout and return to North America. The team hopes that Korolyuk can produce some offence from the team’s second or third line. With the loss of Selanne and the trading away of Owen Nolan last season, there is a noticeable hole on offence. Returning are Vincent Damphousse, Patrick Marleau and Marco Sturm, giving the team some offensive weapons. Checkers Alyn McCauley, Mike Ricci and Scott Thornton will be expected to produce offence with some more consistency than was shown last season. Korolyuk, along with youngsters Mark Smith and Niko Dimitrakos are also expected to produce in order for the Sharks to have any chance at making the playoffs. Rookies Miroslav Zalesak, Marcel Goc and Brad Boyes all are expected to challenge for spots at camp, although there are no guarantees that any of them will start the season with the Sharks. On defence, there is a little more depth with Brad Stuart and Kyle McLaren returning for full seasons. San Jose also has Mike Rathje and Scott Hannan, giving the team a decent top-4. Prospects will be given the chance to fill the other 3 spots; the most likely candidates being Jim Fahey, Christian Ehrhoff and Rob Davison. Jesse Fibiger should also get a long look. In goal, there is a lot of potential, but at the same time, a lot of inconsistency. Evgeni Nabokov must rebound from a rough season in order for this team to have any success. Vesa Toskala and Miikka Kiprusoff will fight for the backup role. Next Steps: With the quality depth and potential in goal and on defence, the Sharks can focus on going after some offensive talent. With only 3 proven goalscorers in the organization, there is an immediate need for some help. Youngsters will be able to step up in a few years, but they’re not ready yet, possibly with the exception of Dimitrakos. Without another goalscorer, it may be another rough year for San Jose. Grade: C- ____________________________________________________________________ Team: Tampa Bay Lightning Conference: Eastern Division: Southeast Points (Rk): 93(5) In: Cory Stillman, Pascal Trepanier Out: Vaclav Prospal, Stanislav Neckar, Kristian Kudroc, Matt Elich, Kenton Smith, Harlon Pratt, Corey Foster, Boyd Kane, Ryan Tobler, Marc Bergevin, Sheldon Keefe Comments: Dubbed by many media outlets as last season’s Carolina (at least of the Eastern Conference), the Lightning haven’t done too many changes in the hopes of returning to the postseason. However, the team did lose leading scorer Vaclav Prospal, as well as defencemen Stan Neckar and Marc Bergevin. GM Jay Feaster however, did a decent job in replacing those players, acquiring Cory Stillman from St. Louis for a second-round draft pick, and signing Pascal Trepanier as a 6th defenceman. Despite losing Prospal, there are still quite a few players who can put the puck in the net such as Brad Richards and Vincent Lecavalier. They create a solid 1-2 punch at centre, and will have quality wingers in Stillman, Fredrik Modin and Martin St. Louis. Dave Andreychuk is back for another campaign and can be counted on for around 15 goals. Youngsters Ruslan Fedotenko, Nikita Alexeev and Alex Svitov all should see regular ice time this year. Finnish rookie Eero Somervuori will get a long look this year. On defence, there are plenty of capable players, however there isn’t a household name in the mix. Dan Boyle is back after scoring a career-high 53 points last year, but he won’t put up the same numbers again this year. Pavel Kubina, Jassen Cullimore and Brad Lukowich are solid in their own end, and can put the puck in the net every so often as well. Cory Sarich and Trepanier round out the top-6. Rookies Andreas Holmqvist and Gerard Dicaire are expected to compete for the #7 role. In goal, the team is set with Nikolai Khabibulin returning for another season. He will be pushed by John Grahame who has been the #1 goalie before in his career and believes he should be the main man in Tampa Bay. Next Steps: The team is deep at all positions, at least at the NHL level. For yet another season, Tampa does not have their own farm team. They lost Springfield as their joint affiliate with Phoenix, so they have reached agreements with Hamilton (Montreal) and Hershey (Colorado), however they can only send 10 players combined to these 2 teams. This means that only half of their prospects have an AHL home this season, which could stifle the other players’ development. The Lightning need to find an AHL affiliate for these other players for this season, and then need to get a team of their own for next year. Grade: B- ____________________________________________________________________ Team: Toronto Maple Leafs Conference: Eastern Division: Northeast Points (Rk): 98(4) In: Bryan Marchment, Harold Druken, Joe Nieuwendyk, Ken Klee, Petr Tenkrat Out: Doug Doull, Anders Eriksson, Jonas Hoglund, Jyrki Lumme, Morgan Warren, Shayne Corson, Doug Gilmour, Phil Housley, Glen Wesley, Craig Mills, Ryan Bonni, Dmitri Yakushin, Paul Healey, Petr Svoboda, Robert Svehla, Travis Green Comments: After a season in which the Leafs failed to live up to their expectations, they managed to find a way to take a step backward. The defence corps lost 4 regulars this summer, replacing them with Bryan Marchment and Ken Klee. Without Robert Svehla, Phil Housley, Jyrki Lumme and Glen Wesley, there is a noticeable hole on the blueline. The Leafs also lost a pair of regular forwards in Jonas Hoglund and Paul Healey, but they can be easily replaced. Once again, there is no shortage of offence, with Mats Sundin, Alexander Mogilny, Owen Nolan and Gary Roberts all returning for another season. Nikolai Antropov is expected to continue his development and at least match last season’s numbers (19-26-45). Darcy Tucker, Mikael Renberg and Robert Reichel are all capable of scoring, however all are also extremely inconsistent, and Joe Nieuwendyk is always solid. Alexei Ponikarovsky should finally get a chance to stick with the Leafs on a full time basis. Defence is where the Leafs will have problems this season. Returning are Tomas Kaberle and Bryan McCabe, who both can get the job done at both ends of the ice. Marchment and Klee comprise the second tandem, while who’s on the 3rd pairing is anyone’s guess. Karel Pilar was supposed to get the spot, but health issues have crept up on him again, so his status heading into the season is uncertain. Aki Berg will make the team, and Ric Jackman and Wade Belak should be given a chance to stick with the club unless the Leafs decide that bringing rookies in may be more beneficial. If that’s the case, expect Brendan Bell, Carlo Colaiacovo and Pierre Hedin to get a look. The Leafs should be solid in goal, with steady veteran Ed Belfour coming back between the pipes, with Trevor Kidd backing him up. Expect Kidd to rebound from a rough 2002-03 season. Next Steps: The Leafs are in dire need of bringing in a veteran defenceman. If McCabe or Kaberle goes down, there could be a disastrous problem. Toronto needs to get their GM situation sorted out. As it stands, St. Louis Vice-President of Hockey Operations John Ferguson Jr. is expected to be named the new GM sometime soon. However, reports now say that current GM Pat Quinn is holding the announcement up. They need to get this deal done and soon. Grade: C- [Edited on 2003/10/5 by dlbalr]

Team: Ottawa Senators Conference: Eastern Division: Northeast Points (Rk): 113(1) In: Shaun Sutter, Daniel Corso, Peter Smrek, Glen Metropolit, Denis Hamel Out: Magnus Arvedson, Rob Ray, Jeff Ulmer, Bob Wren, David Hymovitz, Dean Melanson, Joey Tetarenko, Dennis Bonvie, Mathieu Chouinard, Toni Dahlman, Chris Bala, Wade Brookbank Comments: It was the season Senators fans were waiting for: when the team finally lives up to expectations and goes far in the playoffs. Furthermore, the team will now have a new owner in place in billionaire Eugene Melnyk (the sale should be completed in the next week or two). On the ice, there aren’t really any significant losses, although some could argue the loss of winger Magnus Arvedson could be a problem. However, a full season out of Bryan Smolinski (acquired at the trade deadline) will offset his offence at least. Defensively, there isn’t anyone to fill Arvedson’s void, but the team as a whole is solid in their own end, so there shouldn’t be a problem there. On offence, there is plenty of firepower in Marian Hossa, Daniel Alfredsson, Todd White, Martin Havlat, Radek Bonk and Smolinski. Add to that full seasons from Petr Schastlivy and Jason Spezza, and offence will definitely not be a concern for the Senators this season. On defence, the team is also solid, with Wade Redden, Zdeno Chara, Karel Rachunek and Chris Phillips. Sophomore Anton Volchenkov will get more of an opportunity to perform this year, while veteran Curtis Leschyshyn rounds out the top-6. Brian Pothier, Shane Hnidy and Peter Smrek will fight for the number 7 role. In goal, Patrick Lalime returns after a stellar year and will be counted on to put up similar numbers this year. Martin Prusek should be the backup again this season, although if he doesn’t have a good camp, Ray Emery could get the job. Next Steps: A noticeable weakness when looking at the Senators’ roster is their lack of depth on the left wing. Currently, Vaclav Varada is pencilled in as the top player at that position, but he is better suited for third-line duty. Expect Radek Bonk to be moved to the left side again this season and/or one of the other centres to be dealt for a left winger. Grade: C ____________________________________________________________________ Team: Philadelphia Flyers Conference: Eastern Division: Atlantic Points (Rk): 107 (3) In: Jeff Hackett, Boyd Kane, Mike Peluso, Mike Murphy, Joni Pitkanen Out: Joe Sacco, Ryan Bast, Dan Peters, Brad Tiley, Ian Forbes, Mark Greig, David Harlock, Mike Lephart, Jamie Wright, Matt Zultek, Roman Cechmanek, Marty Murray, Mike Siklenka Comments: GM Bobby Clarke made some noise this summer by dealing away goalie Roman Cechmanek to the Kings for just a second-round pick. Clarke then said he’d sign/acquire a high-profile netminder but ended up with Jeff Hackett, who started last season as the backup goalie in Montreal. He claims that Hackett was the best goalie available, but only time will tell if that statement is correct. The team also re-signed defenceman Eric Desjardins and centre Claude Lapointe, players who played key roles in the Flyers first-round playoff victory over Toronto. The fact that Philadelphia has problems scoring is mind-boggling, especially with the likes of Simon Gagne, John LeClair, Sami Kapanen, Jeremy Roenick, Tony Amonte and Mark Recchi on the roster. The team also has veteran Keith Primeau, as well as youngsters Michal Handzus and Justin Williams on the team, which makes it hard to believe that the Flyers had the fewest goals of any team who made the playoffs in the Eastern Conference last season. On defence, the heart of the corps is back, with Desjardins, Kim Johnsson, Eric Weinrich and Marcus Ragnarsson all returning for this season. The team lost Dmitry Yuskevich to free agency, but Joni Pitkanen should be able to step in despite not playing any games in the minors. If Pitkanen isn’t ready, then Jim Vandermeer should get a regular spot on the team. Chris Therien rounds out the teams’ solid blueline. Youngsters Jeff Woywitka and Dennis Seidenberg will also fight for spots this season. In goal there is a question mark in Hackett, can he return to top form as he was a few years ago, or will health be an issue again this season? If Hackett goes down, Robert Esche can step in and fill in for a while, but consistency has plagued him in the past. Next Steps: The Flyers have a shortage of players who are responsible in their own end. In order to keep goals allowed down this season in front of Hackett, the Flyers must bring in another forward who can play the penalty kill, or Philly’s going to be burned shorthanded this season. Grade: C ____________________________________________________________________ Team: Phoenix Coyotes Conference: Western Division: Pacific Points (Rk): 78(11) In: Cale Hulse, Daniel Cleary, Chris Ferraro, Peter Ferraro, Nikos Tselios, David Tanabe, Igor Knyazev, Tyson Nash, Mike Sillinger, Bryan Helmer, Kiel McLeod Out: Scott Pellerin, Paul Ranheim, Kelly Buchberger, Jason Bonsignore, Peter Fabus, Brent Gauvreau, Sergei Kuznetsov, Ryan Lauzon, Jay Leach, Deron Quint, Brad Ralph, Colin Zulianello, Dan Smith, Teppo Numminen, Danill Markov, Drake Berehowsky, Martin Grenier, Todd Simpson Comments: Phoenix GM Mike Barnett stated in late June that he felt the team needed more depth, in case the team was plagued by the injury bug again (they lost 462 games to injury last season). He certainly has done so, bringing in Cale Hulse, Dan Cleary and Tyson Nash without moving anyone off the roster. Barnett also brought in Chris and Peter Ferraro, as well as Nik Tselios to stock the farm team (Springfield-AHL). Furthermore, Barnett saved a bundle of cash, shipping off defencemen Teppo Numminen and Danny Markov in return for Mike Sillinger and David Tanabe. The team certainly will have a different look this season, and I’m not just talking about their new logo. Offensively, the team has plenty of potential 20-30 goal scorers, but not a game breaker in the mix. Some fans would argue that Shane Doan fits that bill, but inconsistency plagues him too often. The lone remaining player from the Keith Tkachuk trade, Ladislav Nagy has improved each season, and many feel he is capable of reaching the 30-goal plateau this year, after scoring 22 last season. The team is extremely deep down the middle, with Daymond Langkow, Chris Gratton, Sillinger and Jan Hrdina as the team’s top-4. “Prospects “ Jeff Taffe and Krys Kolanos are also centremen, but if they want to see regular NHL duty this year, they may have to play somewhere on the wing. Besides Doan and Nagy, the wings aren’t so deep. Perennial underachiever Brian Savage is slotted to be the 2nd line left winger, while Mike Johnson is expected to play on the right side of line 2. Johnson’s numbers should decline after a solid 63 points last season. On defence, there’s plenty of depth. A problem for Phoenix is that there isn’t a number 1 in the bunch. Ossi Vaananen and Paul Mara are both quality defenders, but after that there isn’t much. Hulse and Tanabe should see 16-18 minutes per game, while Brad Ference and Radoslav Suchy will log quality minutes. In goal, there is a logjam, at least with who will be the backup. Injury-prone netminder Sean Burke will be the number 1, while Zac Bierk and Brian Boucher will fight for the backup spot. Ultimately, each’s performance at training camp will decide who stays and who goes. Next Steps: Phoenix’s most pressing need is to move one of Bierk/Boucher, preferably for a player who can play one of the wings, however the market for either of these goalies is limited for the time being. The Coyotes also need to figure out what to do with their centre logjam, currently Hrdina is pencilled in as a 4th liner, however that’s not what they acquired him for. He needs to be dealt, or someone else needs to move to the wing. Grade: B- ____________________________________________________________________ Team: Pittsburgh Penguins Conference: Eastern Division: Atlantic Points (Rk): 65(14) In: Mike Eastwood, Kelly Buchberger, Marc Bergevin, Martin Brochu, Patrick Boileau, Reid Simpson, Drake Berehowsky Out: Kent Manderville, Jamie Pushor, Brendan Buckley, Jason MacDonald, Ville Nieminen, Joel Bouchard, Mattias Johansson, Hans Jonsson, Alexandre Daigle, Robbie Tallas, Shawn Heins, Richard Lintner, Mikael Samuelsson, Micki DuPont, Johan Hedberg Comments: The Wilkes-Barre Scranton-oops, I mean Pittsburgh Penguins, certainly have done what GM Craig Patrick said they would-cut salary. Out are basically anyone who had a one-way contract last season, with the exception of the team’s front line and top defence pairing. Granted, the team did bring in veterans Mike Eastwood and Kelly Buchberger to give the team some leadership, but that’s about all they can provide at this point in their careers. The team also re-acquired Marc Bergevin from Tampa Bay, who will provide a physical presence on the blue-line. Offensively, there is currently very little “NHL depth”, but there are plenty of rookies who can step in and make an impact. Mario Lemieux returns for another season, and has capable, albeit injury-prone linemates in Martin Straka and Alexsey Morozov. Then, the young guys come in. Aside from Eastwood, Buchberger and Matt Bradley, every other forward expected to be on the Penguins roster either spent time in the minors, or cleared waivers and could have been sent down last season. Tomas Surovy, Rico Fata and Ramzi Abid are expected to play on the top 2 lines at times this season (or be sent to the minors). On defence, there is a little more depth, but no real emerging star in the mix. Dick Tarnstrom returns after posting a stellar 41 points last season; 25 on the powerplay. He is joined by Bergevin, Josef Melichar and Michal Rozsival, giving the team a respectable top-4. Minor-leaguers Dan Focht, Ross Lupascuk and Brooks Orpik will round out the corps, the latter 2 getting a real chance for the 1st time. In goal, there is just as big a question mark as at the other positions. With Johan Hedberg being dealt, the recently re-signed Sebastian Caron becomes the team's number 1 goaltender, with J.S. Aubin backing him up. This could be the league's worst 1-2 tandem this season, unless something is done. Next Steps: Patrick claims that the team still needs to cut payroll, so anyone with a salary over $1 million except for Lemieux could be on the move. The most likely candidate is Straka. In return, the team should try to acquire either a solid stay-at-home defenceman or a top-6 forward, however the likelihood is that they’ll get prospects and/or draft picks. Also, given the team's current goaltending situation, a goalie would be nice to acquire. Grade: D [Edited on 2003/10/6 by dlbalr]

This season, TSN will show 9 Hab games nation-wide. Here they are: (all times are EST) Tues, Oct. 14 Washington @ Montreal 7:30pm Tues, Oct. 28 Boston @ Montreal 7:00pm Thurs, Nov. 13 Montreal @ NY Islanders 7:00pm Wed, Dec. 10 Montreal @ NY Rangers 7:00pm Sun, Jan. 4 Washington @ Montreal 5:00pm Sun, Feb. 1 Chicago @ Montreal 2:00pm Tues, Feb. 24 Ottawa @ Montreal 7:00pm Fri, Mar. 19 Montreal @ New Jersey 7:30pm Wed, Mar. 24 Montreal @ Buffalo 7:30pm http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature.asp?fid=684

ch_nl, although I trust you on this (you've proven me wrong already), can I get a link on the Lintner signing? Lintner re-signed with Pittsburgh on June 23rd, so I find kind of strange that he'd sign an NHL deal, and then bolt overseas.

Team: Nashville Predators Conference: Western Division: Central Points (Rk): 74(13) In: Benjamin Simon, Ray Schultz, Jim McKenzie, Curtis Murphy, Mike Farrell, Chris Mason, Wade Brookbank, Jamie Allison, Mathieu Darche Out: Brent Gilchrist, Bill Houlder, Bryan Lundbohm, Cale Hulse, Oleg Petrov, Reid Simpson, Erik Anderson, Jason Beckett, Jere Karalahti, Cameron Mann, Denis Pederson, Domenic Pittis, Todd Warriner, Clarke Wilm, Vitali Yachmenev, Peter Smrek, Alexander Ryazantsev, Karlis Skrastins, Andy Delmore Comments: Predators management maintains that the team is improving yearly, although the results may suggest otherwise. It was another setback last season, as the team failed to make the playoffs in their 5th year of existence, so the team was forced to pay a significant amount of money to their season ticket holders to refund the increase in ticket prices, as part of a preseason promise to make the playoffs. Now, there’s complications with the arena lease, which is also costing the team some money. Player wise, it seems there is a setback as well, as veterans Brent Gilchrist, Bill Houlder, Cale Hulse, Oleg Petrov, Jere Karalahti, Denis Pederson, Vitali Yachmenev, Karlis Skrastins and Andy Delmore are all gone, and the team has signed nobody to replace them. It looks as if the youngsters will get a good look this season, both on offence and defence. The Predators scored the fewest goals in the Western Conference, and losing the above certainly doesn’t help that cause. However, leading scorer David Legwand missed 18 games due to injury last season, 20-goal scorer Andreas Johansson missed 26, and Scott Walker missed 22. If all remain healthy, they should be able to make up for the offence lost by all the departees. Denis Arkhipov, Scott Hartnell and Rem Murray all need to improve on last year’s numbers, and Adam Hall, Martin Erat and Vernon Fiddler need to continue to develop, or it will likely be another year at the bottom in terms of goals scored for the Preds. Expect Jordin Tootoo, Scottie Upshall and Darren Haydar to see lots of time with the big club this season. On defence, 4 of last years regulars are gone, with only Kimmo Timonen and Jason York remaining in the organization. Youngsters Adam Eaton, Tomas Kloucek, Dan Hamhuis and Marek Zidilicky are expected to round out a certainly inexperienced top-6, although management hasn’t ruled out the possibility of bringing in a veteran defenceman, possibly Houlder, who currently is negotiating with the team. In goal, the team has Tomas Vokoun between the pipes, who performed marvelously after the team dealt away Mike Dunham. Who will be the backup is anyone’s guess. The team re-signed Wade Flaherty at season’s end, but they also have youngsters Jan Lasak and Brian Finley in the organization; both played for Nashville during the season as well. Currently, the frontrunner is Lasak, although that could change come playoff time. Next Steps: There are a couple of needs for the Preds, the first and most pressing concern being a need of a veteran defenceman (or 2 or 3). It would be a disaster if the team goes into the season with 3 rookies and a sophomore patrolling the blueline. The other is to get some more offence, although rookies Upshall, Haydar, and to a lesser extent, Tootoo could alleviate some of the problems. Grade: D ____________________________________________________________________ Team: New Jersey Devils Conference: Eastern Division: Atlantic Points (Rk): 108(2) In: Eric Rasmussen, Sean Brown, Igor Larionov, Ryan Murphy Out: Tommy Albelin, Ken Daneyko, Jim McKenzie, Joe Nieuwendyk, Pascal Rheaume, Richard Smehlik, Steve Kariya, Oleg Tverdovsky, Ken Sutton, Daryl Andrews, Rob Skrlac, Jason Lehoux, Dave Roche, Maxim Birbraer, Mike Danton Comments: The defending Stanley Cup champions have stayed put for the most part this summer, their biggest move being not offering playoff scratch Oleg Tverdovsky a contract. The team also lost defencemen Tommy Albelin, Richard Smehlik and Ken Daneyko, as well as forwards Joe Nieuwendyk, Jim McKenzie and Pascal Rheaume, however all but Nieuwendyk were depth players and can be easily replaced. Add to that the team signed Igor Larionov to replace 'Newy', and the team isn't as worse off as one would think. The team added Eric Rasmussen from the Kings to replace McKenzie’s toughness, and are banking on several youngsters to replace the others. Offensively, the team is set with Patrik Elias, Scott Gomez, Jeff Friesen and Jamie Langenbrunner all returning, and are expecting Grant Marshall and John Madden to contribute from the team’s third line. This may not seem like a powerful offence, but given the team’s style of play, it should be able to get the job done. Expect Brian Gionta, Jiri Bicek, Christian Berglund and Michael Rupp to see some time with the Devils this season. On defence, the team has taken a hit, losing 4 players from last season, but the core of Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer, Brian Rafalski and Colin White remain. Newcomer Sean Brown will fill a spot, while the other two will go to rookies, most likely David Hale and Paul Martin (no, not the potential Prime Minister of Canada). Matt DeMarchi, Daryl Andrews and Ray Giroux may also get a look. The team is best set in goal, with Vezina winner Martin Brodeur returning for another year. Backing him up will be Corey Schwab, who had even better numbers than Brodeur, although he only played 11 games last season. Next Steps: There isn’t a noticeable hole on the team, which should be expected from the Stanley Cup champions, but one possible problem could arise on defence if Martin, Hale, DeMarchi or the others aren’t ready. It may be beneficial for the team to sign a veteran journeyman who can start the season in the minors and come up if the rookies aren’t ready yet, but that most likely won’t be a problem, as the rookies will fill the 6/7 spot on defence anyways. Grade: C ____________________________________________________________________ Team: New York Islanders Conference: Eastern Division: Atlantic Points (Rk): 83(8) In: Ryan Kraft, Mariusz Czerkawski, Dieter Kochan, Derek Bekar Out: Kevin Haller, Steve Webb, Randy Robitaille, Konstantin Kalmikov, Ray Schultz, Steven Valiquette, Marco Charpentier, David St. Germain Comments: The Islanders have stayed put for the most part this summer, which is a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. The good part is that practically all of last year’s 8th place team remains in the organization, however, this team hasn’t improved either, which could make it a challenge for them to make the playoffs again. Early in the offseason, GM Mike Milbury fired coach Peter Laviolette and replaced him with the farm team’s coach Steve Stirling. This pleased many of the players, who voiced their displeasure about Laviolette, so this could lead to a better dressing room atmosphere. In reality, only 1 regular from last season is out, that being Randy Robitaille, so to replace him, the team signed former 30-goal scorer turned bust in Montreal, Mariusz Czerkawski. In terms of depth on offence, it seems the team is lacking somewhat. After Alexei Yashin, Mike Peca and Mark Parrish, there doesn’t seem to be any offensive threats. Last season, Dave Scatchard and Jason Blake stepped up with career highs in points, but expect a regression from both of those players this year. The team hopes that Czerkawski can regain his scoring touch, and that Oleg Kvasha could actually come close to living up to his expectations for once in order to have two scoring lines. Youngsters Trent Hunter and Mattias Weinhandl will get an extended look this season. The Isles are extremely deep on defence, with a solid top-4 of Adrian Aucoin, Roman Hamrlik, Janne Niinimaa and Kenny Jonsson. Rounding out the defensive unit are Radek Martinek, as well as veterans Mattias Timander and Eric Cairns. The team’s biggest question mark will be in goal, with rookie Rick DiPietro expected to play at least 50 games this year. If he falters, veteran backup Garth Snow can step in, but as he showed last season, he cannot be counted on to perform for extended periods of time. If either of the two go down, there will be a tremendous problem as only two other goalies remain in the organization, Dieter Kochan and Wade Dubielewicz. Next Steps: The Isles can afford to take a slight hit on defence, so it would likely be beneficial to move one of their top-4 to acquire a proven top-6 forward. After moving Brad Isbister to Edmonton as part of the Niinimaa deal, there is a noticeable lack of depth in the forward ranks. One player who has been rumored to move is Hamrlik, who should be able to fetch a solid forward in return. Grade: C ____________________________________________________________________ Team: New York Rangers Conference: Eastern Division: Atlantic Points (Rk): 78(9) In: Greg deVries, Chris Simon, Paul Healey, Brian Leetch, Jussi Markkanen, Chad Wiseman, John Jakopin, Sheldon Keefe, Mike Siklenka, Joel Bouchard, Jan Hlavac, Martin Rucinsky, Mark Messier, David St. Germain, Ben Guite Out: Billy Tibbetts, Ted Donato, Dave Karpa, Sandy McCarthy, Dixon Ward, Sylvain Levebvre, Vladimir Chebaturkin, John Tripp, Roman Lyashenko, Nils Ekman, Ronald Petrovicky Comments: For the first time in many years, the Rangers failed to do something-sign a free agent to an absolute ridiculous contract. Yes, they did sign blueliner Greg deVries, but at “only” $4 mil per season, it can hardly be considered ridiculous. The team also managed to re-sign Brian Leetch after dealing him to Edmonton, and have re-signed Boris Mironov as well, keeping last season’s blueline intact. The Rangers certainly have enough stars, but in terms of depth past those players, there is a noticeable hole. This is why the team signed free agents Chris Simon and Paul Healey, to fill 3rd and 4th line roles respectively. As for the rest of the offence, there are plenty of stars, such as Eric Lindros, Alexei Kovalev, Anson Carter, Petr Nedved, Bobby Holik, and the 'newly-acquired' Jan Hlavac and Martin Rucinsky. Expect Jamie Lundmark to see top-6 icetime this season, as there is only 1 true left winger on the team in Simon, but Lundmark has played there before. There is plenty of underachieving depth on D as well. On paper, the corps of Leetch, Mironov, deVries, Vladimir Malakhov, Tom Poti and Darius Kasparaitis looks good, but have too often been criticized for being too offensive and not concentrating enough on their defensive duties. Ales Pisa, acquired from Edmonton with Carter last season, will likely be the number 7 defenceman. In goal, there is a solid #1 in Mike Dunham, however who backs him up is a mystery. The team has last year’s backup in Dan Blackburn, however he will likely spend some time seasoning in the minors. Then there’s Mike Richter, who’s still suffering from post-concussion syndrome. If he’s healthy, he’ll contend for the #1 job, but he is more than likely going to retire, healthy or not. Finally, there’s Markkanen, acquired from Edmonton as well. He’s currently the frontrunner for the backup role, as unlike Blackburn, he would have to clear waivers to be sent to the minors. Next Steps: Firstly, there’s the Richter issue. He needs to make his decision soon, in order for coach/GM Glen Sather to determine who will backup Dunham this season. Then, there’s the amount of young players this organization has, or in this case, lack of. There is minimal depth in the organization, which could be a problem not only this season if some players get injured, but also in the post-CBA era. If there is a salary cap, the Rangers will need some young players to step into the lineup in order to meet the cap restrictions. Perhaps the Rangers should consider trading for some depth, instead of trading it away. Grade: B- [Edited on 2003/10/5 by dlbalr]

Well, this should be the last update, as the season is now over, we did lose our first 3 playoff games and therefore were eliminated. We lost Game #1 7-1, Game #2 4-1, and Game #3 5-1, which is a lot better than we did against them in the regular season. Now, on to the tournament. We did better than many expected here, finishing 2nd overall out of the 9 teams that participated in it. We ended up with a 4-2 record. These are the tournament results: Games played on August 16: Game 1: Toanche Eagles 12 New Dundee Reds 11 Game 2: Jordan Red Sox 18 Hamilton Blue Devils 4 Game 3: Central Cyclones 10 Port Dalhousie Cardinals 1 Game 4: Springbrook Royals 6 Milverton Millwrights 3 Game 5: Toanche Eagles 5 Smithville Blue Sox 4 Game 6: New Dundee Reds 12 Hamilton Blue Devils 8 * Game 7: New Dundee Reds 16 Port Dalhousie Cardinals 7 * Game 8: Milverton Millwrights 11 Smithville Blue Sox 6 * Game 9: Toanche Eagles 6 Springbrook Royals 2 Game 10: Central Cyclones 5 Jordan Red Sox 0 Game 11: New Dundee Reds 4 Springbrook Royals 2 * Game 12: Milverton Millwrights 13 Jordan Red Sox 6 * Games played on August 17: Game 13: Toanche Eagles 4Central Cyclones 1 Game 14: Milverton Millwrights 6 New Dundee Reds 3 * Game 15: Central Cyclones 16 Milverton Millwrights 1 * Game 16: Central Cyclones 6 Toanche Eagles 4 Game 17: Central Cyclones 6 Toanche Eagles 5 * In order for a team to be eliminated, they must have 2 losses, that's why Toanche and Central played 2 games back to back, the 1st gave each team 1 loss each, the second eliminated Toanche. *The team was eliminated after that game. In case anyone wanted to know, I batted .500 for the tournament, and pitched in 2 games, going 0-0 with a 5.24 ERA (good for 3rd on the team). [Edited on 2003/8/19 by dlbalr]

Yep, we lost ours for a good 20 or so hours; I'm glad I got to sleep through a fair bit of it though!

In case you haven't noticed yet, I haven't updated any team reports in the past couple of days. I apologize for that, however I have good excuses. On Friday, there was a province-wide power outage (as I'm sure you all know), so I didn't even have the opportunty to go on the computer. As for today, I have been at my baseball tournament all day (3-0 so far-YAY!), and have not had the opportunity to even think of writing a team report. The same will likely apply for tomorrow, as we have a minimum of 2 more games, and a maximum of 4, so I may not have the chance to write one. If I do, I'll try to get Minnesota's team report up and catch up on Monday and Tuesday. Sorry for any frustrations this may have caused for those who look forward to these reports(does anyone actually read this on a daily basis???)

Today, team President Pierre Boivin announced that José Théodore is not available and will be the number one goalie when the season begins. In other news, Boivin stated that Gainey is getting closer to signing Koivu and Markov to contracts. http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=50572

Team: Florida Panthers Conference: Eastern Division: Southeast Points (Rk): 70(13) In: Kristian Kudroc, Maxim Birbraer, Lee Goren, Mikael Samuelsson, Valeri Bure, Eric Messier, Vaclav Nedorost, Jeff Paul, Travis Scott, Craig MacDonald, Kent Huskins, Tony Hrkac, Lyle Odelein, Daryl Andrews, Steven Valiquette, Steve Shields Out: Jim Campbell, Jamie Rivers, Igor Kravchuk, Stephane Matteau, Pierre Dagenais, Andy Lundbohm, Rocky Thompson, Tyrone Garner, Igor Ulanov, Pascal Trepanier, Peter Worrell, Ivan Majesky, Jani Hurme, Chris Mason Comments: For a team that has missed the playoffs the last several seasons, it seems strange that the Panthers seem to just be flipping depth players for other depth players. This summer, Kristian Kudroc, Maxim Birbraer and Lee Goren are in, Jim Campbell, Jamie Rivers and Stephane Matteau are out. The team also brought back Valeri Bure via waivers, but now GM Rick Dudley says the team can’t afford him, so look for him to be moved. Judging by the way he played before he left the Panthers, that may be a plus. The team made some noise the summer, dealing enforcer Peter Worrell to Colorado for a pair of youngsters in Eric Messier and Vaclav Nedorost. Both should fit in well with the team’s concept, let the youth develop and hope to be a contender in the near future. Joining Messier and Nedorost on offence are leading scorer Olli Jokinen, along with veterans Viktor Kozlov and Matt Cullen, as well as inconsistent youngster Kristian Huselius. The depth players on this team are also youngsters, such as Jaroslav Bednar, Ivan Novoseltsev, Niklas Hagman, Marcus Nilson, along with sophomore Stephen Weiss. Defence will be a huge concern this season as Jay Bouwmeester is back but has virtually no supporting cast. Those expected to be back on defence are: Pavel Trnka, Mathieu Biron, Andreas Lilja and Brantislav Mezei. Expect Lukas Kraijcek to see plenty of minutes this season. Lyle Odelein, Pascal Trepanier and Todd Gill will fight for the 7th spot. In goal, the team is set, with rising superstar Roberto Luongo between the pipes, with veteran journeyman Steve Shields backing him up. The Panthers are a team on the rise, but the journey to the postseason looks to be a few years away yet. Next Steps: Defence, defence, defence. Plenty of it at that. The team needs 2 or 3 quality veteran defenders to help protect Luongo, or it’s going to be another rough year for Florida (Odelein and Gill don't count as quality defenders). Dudley has stated he has talked to free agents Ken Klee, Oleg Tverdovsky and before he retired, Calle Johansson. However, money is a concern, that’s why the team wants to move Bure. They need to bring at least one quality defenceman in soon, before it’s too late. Grade: C- ____________________________________________________________________ Team: Los Angeles Kings Conference: Western Division: Pacific Points (Rk): 78(10) In: Mathieu Chouinard, Trent Klatt, Luc Robitaille, Bryan Muir, John Tripp, Roman Cechmanek, Jozef Stumpel, Lubos Bartecko, Milan Hnilicka Out: Ken Belanger, Mikko Eloranta, Chris McAlpine, Craig Johnson, Felix Potvin, Erik Rasmussen, Derek Bekar, Greg Koehler, Brad Norton, Michael Pudlick, Travis Scott, Jamie Storr, Alexei Volkov, Steve Heinze, Eric Healey Comments: The Kings have been fairly active so far this offseason, firstly acquiring Roman Cechmanek from the Flyers to replace the departed Felix Potvin. Then they looked to get some much needed depth into the organization, doing so by re-acquiring Jozef Stumpel from the Bruins, and signing Trent Klatt, Bryan Muir and Luc Robitaille to contracts. With these moves, along with many, many players returning from injury, such as Adam Deadmarsh and Jason Allison, management believes the team can return to the playoffs. That may seem farfetched to some, but given the way that “no-name” teams such as Minnesota and Anaheim got to the conference final in the Western Conference, anything can happen. LA’s offence will get a much needed boost this season, simply with the return of Deadmarsh and Allison. The team also has leading scorer Zigmund Palffy back for this season, and the signings of Robitaille and Klatt will help as well. Stumpel gives the team a much needed second-line centre, who will help sophomore Alexander Frolov develop. Youngsters Mike Cammalleri, Jared Aulin and Yanick Lehoux should all see time with the Kings this season as well, as long as they can remain healthy. On defence, the corps is solid, albeit not spectacular. In Jaroslav Modry and Lubomir Visnovsky, the team has a pair of d-men who can put the puck in the net and run the powerplay units. They’re joined by a pair of solid stay-at-home defencemen in Aaron Miller and Mattias Norstrom. Beyond that, youngsters and fringe d-men such as Muir and Chris McAlpine will round out the defensive unit. Expect Joe Corvo to spend a significant portion of the season with the Kings. In goal, Roman Cechmanek takes over for the departed Potvin, while Milan Hnilicka will back him up, replacing Jamie Storr. Next Steps: The Kings are a solid team all around, however one possible concern for them this season may be that there’s not enough defensive-minded forwards on the team. Besides Klatt, Eric Belanger and Ian Laperriere, the team lacks forwards who can get the job done in their own end. The team hopes Sean Avery and Brad Chartrand can step in and the job done in a 4th line role, but if they’re not ready, it wouldn’t hurt to acquire another player like this. Grade: B ____________________________________________________________________ Team: Minnesota Wild Conference: Western Division: Northwest Points (Rk): 95(6) In: Marc Chouinard, Jason Beckett, Chris Bala, Matt Zultek, Alexandre Daigle, Matt DeWolf Out: Cliff Ronning, David Cullen, Dieter Kochan, Rastislav Pavlikovsky, Jean-Guy Trudel, Ladislav Benysek, Derek Gustafson, Jay Henderson, Lubomir Sekeras, Tony Virta, Curtis Murphy Comments: The old saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” applies to Minnesota’s offseason, one with very little fanfare. The Wild have kept practically all of the key components of last season’s conference final run; the only notable player leaving is veteran Cliff Ronning. Team management contends that Ronning’s loss will not be too catastrophic, as they feel players from within their organization can make up for his scoring. One thing they won’t be able to compensate for will be his leadership on a very young team. Veterans like Brad Bombardir and Sergei Zholtok will be expected to take on more of a leadership role this season. Like last (and every other season in this franchise’s history), offence will be limited, particularly with the loss of third-leading scorer Ronning. However, the continued emergence of Marian Gaborik, as well as steadily improving Pascal Dupuis, Richard Park and Pierre-Marc Bouchard will take care of his loss. Andrew Brunette, Zholtok and Wes Walz also are expected to produce, giving the team at least two lines capable of producing. Trust me on this however, you won’t confuse Minnesota’s top-6 with Colorado’s top-6. On defence, there are no household name players, but this crew always gets the job done. Bombardir, Andrei Zyuzin, Willie Mitchell and Nick Schultz comprise the top-4, and after that, it’s really anyone’s guess who gets the other 2 spots. With veterans Ladislav Benysek and Lubomir Sekeras released, it is expected that Brad Brown will see more icetime and the versatile Jason Marshall will only play defence, but something could change between now and training camp. In goal, the team is solid with Dwayne Roloson and Manny Fernandez between the pipes, both are capable of playing 40-50 games this season comprising the league’s only “1A/1B” tandem. Next Steps: Despite this team’s success last season, there are a couple of minor, but noticeable weaknesses. One is an obvious one, lack of offence. It couldn’t hurt to acquire a solid two-way forward who can play in his own end, but at the same time contribute 15-20 goals to a team who scored just 198 goals last season. Another thing that could help would be to get another veteran defenceman, one who can play 14-16 minutes per game and give depth d-men Brown and Marshall an easier role to handle. Another big concern is that Gaborik and Dupuis have yet to sign a contract, if they're not with the team when the season starts, the Wild will struggle mightily. Grade: B- ____________________________________________________________________ Team: Montreal Canadiens Conference: Eastern Division: Northeast Points (Rk): 77(10) In: Pierre Dagenais, Jean-François Damphousse, Eric Laplante, Steve Begin, Darren Langdon Out: Mariusz Czerkawski, Randy McKay, Bill Lindsay, Gino Odjick, Mathieu Descoteaux, Eric Landry Comments: For some Hab fans, it has been a frustrating summer to say the least, as new GM Bob Gainey has done very little to improve the team from the free agency market, preferring to let some youngsters have a chance to show themselves at the NHL level. The team has signed former first-rounders Alexander Perezhogin and Chris Higgins, but both will likely spend the majority of the season in Hamilton. One of Gainey’s most praised moves was to release free-agent busts Mariusz Czerkawski and Randy McKay, but the team had to shell out over $3 million dollars to ensure that neither of the two never dons the “CH” again. On offence, the team is led by captain Saku Koivu, who had a career high in assists and points last season. The Habs will need a similar season from him to silence his critics that he can’t stand the physical demands of the NHL. Richard Zednik and Jan Bulis also had career highs in points last year, and are improving each year. Yanic Perreault and Donald Audette are veterans who disappointed last season, and both will have to improve significantly in order for this team to have more than one offensive line. Youngsters Jason Ward, Marcel Hossa and Mike Ribeiro will also get a chance to contribute on a nightly basis. On defence, there are also some holes, as the team currently doesn’t have a quality #1 defenceman. However, they have some up-and-coming talent in Andrei Markov, Mike Komisarek and Ron Hainsey, although the latter will likely spend most, if not all of the season in the minors. Also, veterans Craig Rivet, Stephane Quintal and Sheldon Souray are steady, although unspectacular. Montreal’s highest paid defenceman Patrice Brisebois can supply offence, but his detractors claim that in his own end, a pylon may actually be more effective than Brisebois himself. The team has a half-decent top-4 in Markov, Rivet, Brisebois and (if healthy) Souray, with veterans Quintal and Karl Dykhuis filling the other 2 spots. The team maintains that Komisarek will see some significant minutes, but with the current depth in front of him, that may be a challenge. In goal, José Théodore is the #1, and is expected to improve after a rough season last year. “Rookie” Mathieu Garon will be the backup and should play 15-20 games. Next Steps: This one sounds easy, but has been and will continue to be a challenge; that is, deal Patrice Brisebois. He fell out of favour with the team, after going on vacation in Paris during the season, and has since requested a trade. However, he has a no-trade clause and has rejected the one potential trade that would have seen him go to the Stanley Cup winning New Jersey Devils. This poses the question, if he didn’t want to play for a cup-winning team, where does he actually want to go? Moving Brisebois would open up a spot for Komisarek to become a regular on the team, something both fans and management alike would like to see. Grade: C [Edited on 2003/10/6 by dlbalr]

That's correct, THN did name Komisarek as minor league player of the year; it's the second straight year a Bulldog was given this award, last year was Jani Rita. The article itself, states that Komisarek was a force in the playoffs, on offence, defence and in physical play. It also outlined his time with the Habs, and predicted what lies ahead for him. (I was considering posting the article, but it's fairly long, and I'm busy working on my Summer in Review posts.)

Team: Columbus Blue Jackets Conference: Western Division: Central Points (Rk): 69(15) In: Todd Marchant, Trevor Letowski, Mark Hartigan, Fred Brathwaite, Darryl Sydor, Alexander Gusjkov, Todd Rohloff, Anders Eriksson Out: Ray Whitney, Blake Bellefeuille, Mathieu Darche, Matt Davidson, Jean-Francois Labbe, Jamie Allison, Radim Bicanek, Jonathan Schill, Darren Van Impe, Daniel Watson, Mike Sillinger, Petr Tenkrat Comments: The Blue Jackets have been quite busy so far, most notably in signing free agent Todd Marchant to a 5 year contract plus an option. However, in doing so, they were forced to let leading scorer Ray Whitney jump ship and sign with the Detroit Red Wings. However, the team has improved its depth, particularly at centre, adding Marchant, Trevor Letowski and Mark Hartigan, while losing only Mike Sillinger in the process. Columbus has also improved its’ defence corps, adding proven veteran Darryl Sydor in the Sillinger trade. The team also filled a void in goal, signing Fred Brathwaite to replace the departed J-F Labbe. Columbus has a solid group of proven veterans and rising stars in their forward ranks, such as Marchant, Andrew Cassels and Geoff Sanderson joining improving youngsters Rick Nash, David Vyborny and Lasse Pirjeta. Expect Espen Knutsen to have a rebound season after missing most of last year due to injury. On defence, Sydor joins veterans Luke Richardson , Jaroslav Spacek and Scott Lachance, as well as youngsters Rostislav Klesla , J-L Grand-Pierre and Derrick Walser. In goal, the team is set with Brathwaite as well as incumbent starter Marc Denis, who continues to improve each season. Next Steps: Currently, there isn’t a major need for this team, management and fans continue to wait patiently as this team improves by the season. However, another defenceman would be quite beneficial for the club, as goals against was a tremendous problem last year. Sydor will help, but only to a small extent. Grade: B ____________________________________________________________________ Team: Dallas Stars Conference: Western Division: Pacific Points (Rk): 111(1) In: Don Sweeney, Jarrod Skalde, Teppo Numminen, Rob Valicevic, Regan Darby Out: Ulf Dahlen, Derian Hatcher, Kirk Muller, Lyle Odelein, Greg Hawgood, David Gosselin, Corey Hirsch, Jim Montgomery, Darryl Sydor Comments: Earlier this offseason, Dallas GM Doug Armstrong said that when July 1st came around, the team would have the “Gone Fishing” sign on their door. He wasn’t kidding. Their most notable free agent move of the summer was to sign an aging veteran in Don Sweeney to add depth to the defence corps. However, the problem with that was that they lost team captain Derian Hatcher in the process. More recently, Armstrong added offensive defenceman Teppo Numminen to the mix, but ended up losing Darryl Sydor in the process. Add to that the fact that Lyle Odelein and Greg Hawgood won’t be back either and suddenly the defence isn’t as strong as it once was, nor does it have the depth it did heading into the 2002-03 season. That being said, Dallas fans still have a good reason to be optimistic as the team heads into this coming year. Their offence is extremely potent, with proven veterans Bill Guerin and Mike Modano leading the way, with up-and-comers Jason Arnott, Brendan Morrow and Niko Kapanen, as well as former 30-goal scorers Scott Young and Pierre Turgeon as the supporting cast. Oh, did I forget to mention there’s also Selke candidate Jere Lehtinen and former Sabres captain Stu Barnes on the team as well? On defence, the losses of Hatcher and Sydor hurt, but the team still has a solid top-4 of Zubov, Matvichuk, Boucher and Numminen, to go along with Sweeney and the steadily improving Stephane Robidas. Between the pipes is Goals Against and Save Percentage leader Marty Turco. He’s backed up by proven veteran goalie Ron Tugnutt who can step in and take over if Turco goes down. Next Steps: The Stars are relatively deep in all positions, at least at the NHL level. On the farm, depth just isn’t as good, so that’s where the Stars should look to improve next. If some of Dallas’ top-end talent go down, there will be minimal help coming up from Utah, the team’s AHL affiliate. Grade: C+ ____________________________________________________________________ Team: Detroit Red Wings Conference: Western Division: Central Points (Rk): 110(2) In: Derian Hatcher, Jamie Rivers, Ray Whitney, Dominik Hasek, Kevin Miller, Anders Myrvold, Clarke Wilm Out: Luc Robitaille, Sergei Fedorov, Igor Larionov, Bryan Adams, Patrick Boileau, Derek King, Eddy Campbell, Jesse Wallin, Adam Deleeuw, Tim Verbeek Comments: After last year’s disastrous 1st round exit to the eventual Stanley Cup finalist Anaheim, the Red Wings have undergone some changes this summer, the most notable (and controversial) being the re-acquistion of Dominik Hasek. This move spells the end of the Cujo era in Hockeytown, unless GM Ken Holland believes it’s wise to spend $16 million on goalies alone. The team has solidified its defence corps with the signing of Derian Hatcher, and have added to its depth in bringing in Jamie Rivers. The team also re-signed Jason Woolley, keeping him part of the team for another season. Detroit has taken a hit on offence, losing both Sergei Fedorov and Luc Robitaille to free agency, replacing the two with just Ray Whitney. However, the continued improvement of Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and Jason Williams will compensate for the loss of Fedorov/Robitaille. Add to that the continued contributions from proven veterans Brett Hull, Brendan Shanahan and Steve Yzerman, and Detroit’s offence isn’t as weak as many think it is. The Red Wings, bar none, have the best defence corps in the entire league, led by Norris winner Nicklas Lidstrom. They also have Hatcher, Mathieu Schneider, Woolley, Chris Chelios, Mathieu Dandenault, as well as youngster Jiri Fischer, who returns from the IR for the 2003-04 campaign. In goal, the Wings are led by Hasek, with Curtis Joseph currently as the backup, although he is expected to be traded in order to allow Manny Legace to remain with the team. Next Steps: As mentioned above, GM Ken Holland needs to find a taker for current $8 million backup netminder Curtis Joseph. However, he has a no-trade clause, so getting rid of him will not be an easy task. Another looming concern for the team is the lack of youngsters in the organization to replace the many aging veterans the team currently possesses. Besides Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Williams and Jiri Hudler, there are currently no prospects in the organization that are close to being NHL ready. Grade: B ____________________________________________________________________ Team: Edmonton Oilers Conference: Western Division: Northwest Points (Rk): 92(8) In: Rocky Thompson, Dan Smith, Kenton Smith, Jamie Wright Out: Jiri Dopita, Daniel Cleary, Todd Marchant, Brian Leetch, Brian Swanson, Jussi Markkanen, Kari Haakana Comments: The Oilers have stayed the same for the most part so far this summer, their only significant loss being Todd Marchant who signed with Columbus. Depth players like Cleary and Swanson can easily be replaced, and the team already has a replacement for Markkanen in youngster Ty Conklin, who will back up Tommy Salo this season. The team still has Mike Comrie, Ryan Smyth and Mike York to lead the offence, along with trade deadline acquisitions Radek Dvorak and Brad Isbister, as well as developing youngsters Shawn Horcoff and Ales Hemsky for a supporting cast. Rookies Raffi Torres, Jani Rita and Jarret Stoll are expected to be regulars for this upcoming season. Despite dealing away Janne Ninnimaa at the trading deadline, the team still is in decent shape on the blueline. Eric Brewer is quickly developing into a solid blueliner, and will have help from solid defensive defencemen Jason Smith, Cory Cross and Steve Staios. Youngsters Scott Ferguson, Alexei Semenov, Marc-André Bergeron and Bobby Allen will also see time up with the Oilers on defence this season. In goal, the team is set with Salo as the number 1 netminder, with Conklin backing him up. Next Steps: GM Kevin Lowe has yet to re-sign centre Mike Comrie, and he has reportedly asked for a trade. Lowe will either have to sign him or trade him; Edmonton can't afford to start the season without him or his replacement(s). Also, since the Oilers franchise now has its own farm team, they need to bring in a few more players to fill the roster in Toronto (the location of their farm team, the Roadrunners.) Grade: C- [Edited on 2003/10/5 by dlbalr]

Team: Calgary Flames Conference: Western Division: Northwest Points (Rk): 75 (12) In: Matt Davidson, Josh Green, Krzysztof Oliwa, Jesse Wallin, Steven Reinprecht, Rhett Warrener Out: Craig Berube, Dave Lowry, Darcy Verot, Scott Nichol, Blake Sloan, Levente Szuper, Mike Martin, Mike Mottau, Rick Mrozik, Ryan Christie, Jean-François Damphousse, Dave Huntzicker, Shaun Sutter, Jan Vodrazka, Chris Drury, Steve Begin, Bob Boughner Comments: Calgary Coach/GM Darryl Sutter has been very busy this summer, re-signing 16 players already, with still more to go. He also has addressed a need that plagued the Flames last season, that being a lack of depth. Green, Oliwa and Wallin bring some much needed experience and grit to the table, something they lacked at times this past season, and are missing even more with the trade of Bob Boughner to Carolina. Last season, the Flames had the 2nd fewest goals in the Western Conference (only Nashville had fewer) and that won’t likely change with the departure of Chris Drury. Acquiring Reinprecht gives the team a quality 2nd line centre to replace Drury but beyond that, there’s not much in the current system to supply the offence. A rebound season from star Jarome Iginla and a full season out of sophomore Chuck Kobasew will help to compensate for the loss of Drury and others. On defence, the Flames have some good veteran talent in Warrener and Denis Gauthier, with up-and-comers Toni Lydman, Robyn Regehr and Jordan Leopold. Goals allowed will not be as big a concern this season with the continued improvement of the defence corps and a rebound season from Roman Turek. The Flames will likely miss the playoffs again this season, but they’re certainly on the right track to getting there in the near future. Next Steps: Calgary desperately needs to acquire another top-6 forward to complement Iginla, Reinprecht, Conroy and Gelinas. Beyond those 4, offensive abilities are less than average for the other forwards which could prove to be a big problem yet again for the Flames this season. Grade: C+ ____________________________________________________________________ Team: Carolina Hurricanes Conference: Eastern Division: Southeast Points (Rk): 61(15) In: Joey Tetarenko, Glen Wesley, Danill Markov, Marty Murray, Bob Boughner, Ryan Vanbuskirk, Ian Forbes, Jamie Storr Out: Jan Hlavac, Kaspars Astashenko, Craig MacDonald, Shaun Fisher, Steven Halko, Brent McDonald, Ryan Murphy, Nikos Tselios, Tommy Westlund, Mike Watt, Greg Kuznik, David Tanabe, Jeff Heerema Comments: The Hurricanes continue to show a dedication to defence, as shown by the acquisitions of Markov and Boughner to complement Bret Hedican and Sean Hill. However, like many other non-playoff teams, offence will be the primary concern for Carolina this season. Beyond Jeff O’Neill, Ron Francis, and a healthy Rod Brind’Amour, offence is minimal. A healthy Erik Cole, along with talented youngsters Radim Vrbata and Pavel Brendl are expected to continue their development and if all play to expectations, the ‘Canes may be better off at offence than many predict. However, if they struggle, Carolina will once again be a one-line team. Expect sophomore Ryan Bayda to have a more significant role with the team to help supply more offence. On D, the team is solid, with a top-4 of Markov, Hill, Hedican and Boughner, with solid veteran Aaron Ward and youngsters Bruno St. Jacques and Nic Wallin rounding out the corps. In goal, the team is also in good shape with promising goalie Kevin Weekes between the pipes again this season. One thing is for sure, the Hurricanes will not be finishing last overall again this year. Next Steps: Carolina has to figure out what to do with goalie Arturs Irbe. After an off-season last year, many expect the Hurricanes will release him instead of putting him in the minors. Others say he’ll remain with the team and not buy him out. Since he was not invited to training camp, he is currently sitting at home, waiting for assignment or a trade. Expect him to be exposed in the waiver draft. Grade: C ____________________________________________________________________ Team: Chicago Blackhawks Conference: Western Division: Central Points (Rk): 79(9) In: Scott Nichol, Ville Nieminen, Deron Quint Out: Mike Eastwood, Chris Simon, Louie Debrusk, Todd Gill, Bob Probert, Casey Hankinson, Matt Henderson, Mike Peluso, Mike Souza, Sami Helenius, Kent Huskins, Andrei Nikolishin Comments: Much to the chagrin of many Blackhawk fans, the team has done little to improve the team so far this offseason. Fortunately for these fans, the team hasn’t got much worse either. With the team staying the same for the most part, the same concerns as last season will remain. The biggest concern for Chicago is goal scoring. Chicago had just two players surpass the 20 goal mark, those being Steve Sullivan and Eric Daze. After those two, goals become a concern. Team captain Alexei Zhamnov is more a playmaker than a goalscorer, as is Kyle Calder. Tyler Arnason is expected to reach the 20 goal plateau this season, but after that, there’s no one left to fill the void. Expect Igor Radulov to play an important role with the team this season. On defence, there is also some concern, as currently, the team’s top 4 are Jon Klemm, Alex Karpotsev, Steve Poapst and Steve McCarthy. To address this, the team signed veteran d-man Deron Quint, who should end up seeing 16-18 minutes per game. In goal, the team will have Jocelyn Thibault back, who’s good for 55-70 games. Who will back him up has yet to be determined. Steve Passmore is a veteran netminder, however he struggled mightily, so some believe Michael Leighton will see some time with the big club this season. Next Steps: Two words: Theoren Fleury. His 6-month suspension ends in early October, and no one knows what will be done with him after that. If the team elects to keep him, it’s another top-6 forward for a team who doesn’t have much depth at the forward position. However, if the Hawks release him, they will need to find a player to replace him. The team needs to decide what they’re going to do with him soon, before this issue takes to the media. Grade: C ____________________________________________________________________ Team: Colorado Avalanche Conference: Western Division: Northwest Points (Rk): 105(3) In: Paul Kariya, Teemu Selanne, Andrei Nikolishin, Karlis Skrastins, Peter Worrell, Travis Brigley, Jim Cummins, Gavin Morgan, Colin Forbes Out: Bryan Marchment, Brent Thompson, Greg deVries, Jeff Shantz, Eric Bertrand, Steve Brule, Jeff Paul, Dale Clarke, Bryan Muir, Jeff Shantz, K.C. Timmons, Mike Keane, Scott Parker, Eric Messier, Vaclav Nedorost, Serge Aubin, Brian Willsie Comments: The Avalanche certainly have made many headlines this season, with the signings of Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne, as well as announcing the retirement of Patrick Roy (although this was a surprise to no one). Colorado made even more headlines when they were rumoured to be dealing Roy amongst others to Montreal for José Theodore and others, but those rumors have finally been put to rest. Up front, the Avalanche have the most explosive top-6 in the NHL in Forsberg, Sakic, Kariya, Selanne, Hedjuk and Tanguay, as well as adding a quality 3rd liner in Nikolishin and a solid enforcer in Worrell. Needless to say, scoring goals will not be a problem for the Avs this season. On defence, the team has taken a small hit, losing Greg deVries and Bryan Marchment to free agency. To replace him, the team acquired Karlis Skrastins to join Foote, Blake, Morris and Skoula giving the team a solid top-5. In goal lies most likely the biggest question mark in the entire league. Currently, David Aebischer is the No.1 goalie, with Phillipe Sauve taking over as backup. No one denies that Aebischer is a quality NHL goalie, but the question with him is can he handle 55-65 games per season? As for Sauve, many say he’s NHL ready, but do the Avalanche think so? Only time will tell. Next Steps: This one is obvious, acquire a proven No.1 goaltender. Aebischer will be ready soon, but many feel he’s not ready both physically and mentally to handle the pressure of being the top goalie for a contending team like the Avalanche. Grade: B+ [Edited on 2003/10/5 by dlbalr]

Sylvain Girard and Adriano Belli are also in the lineup tonight; Barron Miles, Philippe Girard, and Paul Lambert are not playing in this game. http://www.alouettes.net/newsroom/topstori...eturnLineup.htm