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Christmas In July – Naughty Or Nice? Part II
May 27, 2013; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Red Wings left wing
Justin Abdelkader(8) and Chicago Blackhawks center
Patrick Sharp(10) battle for the puck in game six of the second round of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Joe Louis Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
In part one of our series, we took a look at who was naughty and who was nice in the 2013 NHL free agency frenzy that began on July 5.
Now, it’s time for Kris Kringle to make his rounds to the Western Conference and hand out gifts to those who, in my opinion, deserve it and lumps of coal for those who don’t. And yes, Kris is a close, personal friend of mine who often consults me on these decisions every December. So if you wake up December 25 and did not quite get what you might have been asking for, I am probably partially responsible for that. ?
With news in Islanders country primarily around the re-signing of key restricted free agents such as Travis Hamonic and Cal Clutterbuck, it’s the perfect time to branch out to other news around the National Hockey League as the malaise that summer often brings to hockey fans sets in and leaves us watching only baseball while dozing off on a Saturday afternoon.
Western Conference Nice List
Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Dallas Stars – After missing the playoffs last season by 7 points, Dallas went on the offensive right from the start, acquiring talented but enigmatic Tyler Seguin to bolster the creativity and scoring for the Stars. After also bringing in productive but injury prone Shawn Horcoff along with Rich Peverely, new head coach Lindy Ruff has plenty to work with. With only 3 Western Conference teams scoring more goals than the Stars 130 last season, one might think that was the problem however and it remains to be seen if they can keep more pucks out of their net to boost their win totals. At the end of the day, adding the aforementioned names while only subtracting Loui Eriksson and Eric Nystrom from the every day lineup points to a nice gift in their stocking this NHL holiday season.
Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports
Nashville Predators – After finishing just two points clear of the basement in the Western Conference, there was a ton of work to do in music city. After recording the lowest goals scored in the entire conference and allowing the 4th most, you would have to think improvements were needed everywhere but in goal, where stalwart Pekka Rinne still remains entrenched as the starter. Address the issues in a big way is exactly what they have done in the 2013 off-season. Starting with franchise defenseman Seth Jones falling into their lap with the 4th overall pick, they have found their replacement for the departed Ryan Suter. Jones and captain Shea Weber should become a dominant force for years to come. Stanley Cup experience was added in Viktor Stalberg from Chicago and also joining the offensive ranks are Matt Cullen and grinding forwards Eric Nystrom and Matt Hendricks. After losing only Sergei Kostitsyn and TJ Brennan, the outlook in sunny in Nashville and many outstanding tunes could be expected come September.
Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports
Chicago Blackhawks – Everyone remembers 2010 when the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup then had to proceed removing critical pieces of the team for salary cap compliance right? Not so this season as general manager Stan Bowman has done a real nice job keeping the core of the team intact following their latest triumph. While the next couple of years could prove dicey for Bowman with Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Brandon Saad, Andrew Shaw, Corey Crawford and Brent Seabrook all due for contract extensions, its the here and now that Santa is judging them on. Yes, they lost backup goaltender Ray Emery, Viktor Stalberg, David Bolland and Michael Frolik but they will be replaced by potential standout rookies Jeremy Morin and Jimmy Hayes. They signed Nikolai Khabibulin to backup Crawford and retained Bryan Bickell, Michal Handzus, Michal Rozsival and young defenseman Nick Leddy. Expect Chicago to enter the 2013 regular season as odds on favorites once again.
Western Conference Naughty List
Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports
Minnesota Wild – The Wild squeaked into the playoffs, edging the Columbus Blue Jackets for the last and final spot and the privilege of meeting the NHL’s top team and eventual Stanley Cup champion. After securing Zach Parise and Ryan Suter in the prior off-season, much more was expected of this club. A -5 goal differential and the sub-par play of starting goaltender Niklas Backstrom was partially to blame. Not much has made the Wild a better team this summer either. Acquiring Matt Cooke to replace Eric Nystrom on the bottom lines should not be considered an upgrade in the least and the trade of sparkplug Cal Clutterbuck to the Islanders brings the question mark that is Nino Niederreiter and what he could become. Keith Ballard is a nice signing for the blueline but he along with the other 2 new additions will do nothing to erase the departures of Devin Setoguchi, Matt Cullen, Clutterbuck, Justin Falk, Pierre Marc Bouchard and Tom Gilbert.
Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Vancouver Canucks – Wow, what a tumultuous off-season for general manager Mike Gillis and in my opinion, horrible could best be used to describe it. From a lineup perspective, the losses of Max Lapierre and Keith Ballard could be offset and the Canucks still have plenty of talent up and down the lineup with the Sedin twins and Ryan Kesler. Its in goal where the problems start and end for Vancouver. Alienating Roberto Luongo during the season and working very publicly to trade him, then turning around at the draft and dealing Cory Schneider instead to the Devils for the chance to draft Bo Horvat with the 9th overall pick. Luongo’s only comment post-deal was that he would have to evaluate the situation as he did not know how to react at that moment. Not good news for the mental makeup of your #1 keeper heading into the season, who knows he was just played like a fiddle by management. Potentially losing Mason Raymond will also be felt as the only additions to the squad are Brad Richardson, Yannick Weber and Mike Santorelli. And don’t even get me started on the hiring of ex-Rangers bench boss John Tortorella. We could be here for days.
Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
Colorado Avalanche – Last place in the Western conference and a win at the draft lottery earned the Avalanche the chance to draft superstar Nathan McKinnon as the 1st overall pick in June. That is all fine and well and he will certainly add to an impressive lineup of forwards in the mountains…..but one important question remains ; just who is going to keep the puck out of the net? With no other significant additions to speak of and Milan Hedjuk and Greg Zanon leaving, Colorado is left with a very overrated Erik Johnson and not much else on defense to speak of. Are aging JS Giguere and Semyon Varlamov really going to be able to withstand the barrage of opponent shots that are going to be fired their way night in and night out? It really does not matter at the end of the day if you score 5 goals when you are allowing 6. And a team that was 27th in goals against during the shortened 2013 season did nothing to address its most serious deficiency.
So what do you think? Agree or disagree with my opinion of who was naughty and who was nice in the Western Conference this year? Leave your comments below. I would love to hear from you. As always, thanks for reading EyesOnIsles.
-AG (@tazman19)