Welcome to the second of three articles discussing each team’s moves, studs, sleepers, line projections, players to watch (and possibly avoid), and final standings predictions. Part one covered Anaheim through Dallas (in alphabetical order) and we’ll look at Detroit through the New York Rangers in this one. If you missed the first installment, here’s a quick link to it. With that, it’s time to analyze these ten teams.
Detroit Red Wings
Overview: The Wings made one big move this off-season, and that was signing Michigan native, Brian Rafalski. Detroit will have a top offense if Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk can start out producing right away. Having Nicklas Lidstrom on the point doesn’t hurt their chances either.
Fantasy Stud: The aforementioned Pavel Datsyuk. He will be able to get 90, maybe even 100 points this season. Henrik Zetterberg is another one who will be a stud.
Sleeper Pick: Igor Grigorenko should finally get a shot to showcase himself in Detroit this season and he could make a nice impact. Chris Osgood could be a sleeper if he’s given more games this season.
Don’t Overrate: Dominik Hasek. He is a great goalie, but he will probably get more rest this season as he is getting even older.
Rookie To Watch: Igor Grigorenko again. Read above for reasons.
Line Projections:
L1: Tomas Holmstrom – Henrik Zetterberg – Mikael Samuelsson
L2: Johan Franzen – Pavel Datsyuk – Igor Grigorenko
L3: Daniel Cleary – Valteri Filppula – Jiri Hudler
L4: Dallas Drake – Kris Draper – Kirk Maltby
DP1: Nicklas Lidstrom – Andreas Lilja
DP2: Brian Rafalski – Niklas Kronwall
DP3: Chris Chelios – Brett Lebda
G1: Dominik Hasek
G2: Chris Osgood
Prediction: 1st in Central Division.
Edmonton Oilers
Overview: The Oilers made a couple of bad trades and signed Dustin Penner to a ludicrous contract, and those will keep the Oilers down again this year. They traded veteran defenseman Jason Smith and young winger Joffrey Lupul to Philadelphia for Joni Pitkanen and Geoff Sanderson. They also signed PP machine Sheldon Souray.
Fantasy Stud: I feel Edmonton will be pretty bad, but at the same time, Ales Hemsky seems poised to put together a solid campaign.
Sleeper Pick: Rob Schremp. This kid has the talent and skills to be a big factor for the Oilers this season.
Don’t Overrate: Sheldon Souray and Dustin Penner. First time I have listed more than one initially, but Souray will most likely lower his point total and could even close in on a -35 rating. Penner will have tons of pressure put on him, but I feel he is just a bit slow for his line mates.
Rookie To Watch. Rob Schremp and Andrew Cogliano. These two are going to be superstars in the NHL some day. Could even be as early as later this season.
Line Projections:
L1: Dustin Penner – Shawn Horcoff – Ales Hemsky
L2: Raffi Torres – Jarret Stoll – Fernando Pisani
L3: Ethan Moreau – Marty Reasoner – Patrick Thoreson/Rob Shremp
L4: Geoff Sanderson – Ryan O’Marra – Marc-Antoine Pouliot
DP1: Sheldon Souray – Ladislav Smid
DP2: Joni Pitkanen – Steve Staios
DP3: Dick Tarnstrom – Matt Greene
G1: Dwayne Roloson
G2: Mathieu Garon
Prediction: 5th in the Northwest Division.
Florida Panthers
Overview: The Panthers made a big acquisition on draft day by getting Tomas Vokoun from the Nashville Predators. Florida also brought in a couple key role players in Brett McLean, who was with Colorado last season, and Richard Zednik, who was with the Capitals. Florida should be much improved, but I’m not sure it’s enough for a playoff spot.
Fantasy Stud: You can’t go wrong with Olli Jokinen. Jokinen is their best player and performs well year in and year out.
Sleeper Pick: Nathan Horton looks ready to break out and possibly top 70 points. He should be able to gain RW eligibility shortly after the season starts.
Don’t Overrate: Tomas Vokoun. He is in a brand new situation and we don’t know how he will react to the scenery change.
Rookie To Watch: Noah Welch was brought over by a trade with Pittsburgh that sent Gary Roberts to the Penguins.
Line Projections:
L1: Rostislav Olesz – Olli Jokinen – Jozef Stumpel
L2: Richard Zednik – Stephen Weiss – Nathan Horton
L3: Ville Peltonen – Brett MacLean – Radek Dvorak
L4: David Booth – Gregory Campbell – Anthony Stewart
DP1: Jay Bouwmeester – Bryan Allen
DP2: Mike Van Ryn – Ruslan Salei
DP3: Cory Murphy – Noah Welch/Branislav Mezei
G1: Tomas Vokoun
G2: Craig Anderson
Prediction: 4th in Southeast Division.
Los Angeles Kings
Overview: The Kings were quite busy this off-season. They have signed guys like Kyle Calder, Michal Handzus, Ladislav Nagy, Tom Preissing, and Brad Stuart. Los Angeles will be the biggest surprise team out there this year. They have a lot of talent returning, but their only question mark is in net.
Fantasy Stud: Tough choice, but I’ll say Anze Kopitar. Last season, Kopitar found himself injured and fell to third in the Calder race. He should be healthy this season and ready to go.
Sleeper Pick: Ladislav Nagy. Fresh off a poor year between Phoenix and Dallas, Nagy finds himself with a new team. This time, he hopes to regain his old form and become a force to be reckoned with.
Don’t Overrate: Lubomir Visnovsky. He is a top notch defenseman, but with the arrivals of Preissing and Stuart, he will have a lot more talented defenseman surrounding him.
Rookie To Watch: Jack Johnson appeared in five games last season, but failed to record a point. He did however; manage to get into a couple of scraps. Johnson is an extremely offensive defenseman and will be awesome at this level.
Line Projections:
L1: Alexander Frolov – Anze Kopitar – Michael Cammelleri
L2: Ladislav Nagy – Michal Handzus – Dustin Brown
L3: Kyle Calder – Derek Armstrong – Brian Willsie
L4: Scott Thornton – Patrick O’Sullivan – John Zeiler
DP1: Lubomir Visnovsky – Brad Stuart
DP2: Rob Blake – Tom Preissing
DP3: Jack Johnson – Jaroslav Modry
G1: Dan Cloutier
G2: Jason LaBarbara/Jean-Sebastien Aubin
Prediction: 3rd in the Pacific Division.
Minnesota Wild
Overview: The Wild were very quiet this off-season, aside from the deal that sent Manny Fernandez to Boston. Niklas Backstrom proved he was worthy of being the team’s #1 and they have a capable backup in Josh Harding as well. Minnesota’s success will depend highly on whether or not Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra can stay healthy.
Fantasy Stud: Marian Gaborik. Despite missing a ton of games over the past two seasons, he has managed to average over a point per game.
Sleeper Pick: Mikko Koivu. Last season, Koivu quietly put up 54 points for Minnesota. He should be a solid option in deep leagues.
Don’t Overrate: Although Niklas Backstrom is coming off a season in which he led the league in GAA, it was only his first complete NHL campaign.
Rookie To Watch: If given a chance, Benoit Pouliot could put up some respectable numbers.
Line Projections:
L1: Marian Gaborik – Pavol Demitra – Pierre-Marc Bouchard
L2: Brian Rolston – Mikko Koivu – Mark Parrish
L3: Wes Walz – Eric Belanger – Branko Radivojevic
L4: Stephane Veilleux – Dominic Moore – Matt Foy
DP1: Kim Johnsson – Brent Burns
DP2: Kurtis Foster – Nick Schultz
DP3: Keith Carney – Martin Skoula
G1: Niklas Backstrom
G2: Josh Harding
Prediction: 4th in the Northwest Division.
Montreal Canadiens
Overview: Montreal remained quiet this off-season, but managed to lose their PP specialist, Sheldon Souray. To replace him, they signed Roman Hamrlik. Their defense will be better, but their PP will suffer. I think Montreal is in for a long year of disappointment.
Fantasy Stud: Outside of Saku Koivu, Montreal doesn’t really have a whole lot of offensive weapons that stand out.
Sleeper Pick: If Christopher Higgins can stay healthy, he could easily approach the 50 point plateau.
Don’t Overrate: Cristobal Huet is just a couple bad outings from losing his job to Jaroslav Halak.
Rookie To Watch: It may be another year, but Carey Price. This kid is highly regarded and should be able to be a solid goaltender for years to come.
Line Projections:
L1: Christopher Higgins – Saku Koivu – Alexei Kovalev
L2: Guillaume Latendresse – Tomas Plekanec – Michael Ryder
L3: Steve Begin – Bryan Smolinski – Andrei Kostitsyn
L4: Garth Murray – Maxim Lapierre – Tom Kostopolous
DP1: Andrei Markov – Mike Komisarek
DP2: Roman Hamrlik – Francis Bouillon
DP3: Patrice Brisebois – Mark Streit/Mathieu Dandenault
G1: Cristobal Huet
G2: Jaroslav Halak/Carey Price
Prediction: 4th in Northeast Division.
Nashville Predators
Overview: Nashville will be a much worse team this year, but I don’t think they will be as bad as some may think. They traded away Tomas Vokoun, Scott Hartnell, and Kimmo Timonen and failed to re-sign Peter Forsberg and Paul Kariya. Veteran right wing Steve Sullivan will miss a good portion of the season to recovery from back surgery.
Fantasy Stud: Jean-Pierre Dumont could get a shot at being the top right wing in Nashville this season. He should put up close to 70 points again this season.
Sleeper Pick: Alexander Radulov. This is his year to shine.
Don’t Overrate: Marek Zidlicky. He was great a few seasons ago, but has lost his luster since then. Nashville has young guns like Shea Weber, Ryan Suter, and Dan Hamhuis to run the PP this season.
Rookie To Watch: Pekka Rinne could be in line to steal a few starts from Chris Mason, if Mason should falter.
Line Projections:
L1: Martin Erat – Jason Arnott – Alexander Radulov
L2: Steve Sullivan (IR) – David Legwand – J.P. Dumont
L3: Vernon Fiddler – Radek Bonk – Jordin Tootoo
L4: Darcy Hordichuk – Scott Nichol – Jed Ortmeyer
DP1: Marek Zidlicky – Shea Weber
DP2: Ryan Suter – Dan Hamhuis
DP3: Greg DeVries – Greg Zanon
G1: Chris Mason
G2: Pekka Rinne
Prediction: 3rd in Central Division.
New Jersey Devils
Overview: New Jersey took a big hit when Scott Gomez signed a contract with the Rangers. The Devils are still a team to be reckoned with as long as they have Martin Brodeur in net. New Jersey went out and signed Dainius Zubrus to help fill some of the void left by the Gomez departure.
Fantasy Stud: Martin Brodeur. A distant second would be Patrik Elias, but you can’t go against someone of Brodeur’s caliber.
Sleeper Pick: Zach Parise. The Minneapolis native nearly doubled his rookie season output and should continue to build on that as he gets more ice time.
Don’t Overrate: Brian Gionta. He was a major disappointment last season, and until he can prove he’s the type of scorer he was two years ago, don’t draft him too high.
Rookie To Watch: Nicklas Bergfors. This kid has loads of talent and will have every opportunity to make the Devils roster this season.
Overview: The Isles have a lot of work ahead of them if they want to make the playoffs again this year. They lost a ton of talent such as: Ryan Smyth, Viktor Kozlov, Jason Blake, and Tom Poti. They also lost Alexei Yashin to the Russian league. The best the Islanders could do to replace those guys was bring in Bill Guerin, Ruslan Fedotenko, Mike Comrie, and possibly Bryan Berard.
Fantasy Stud: It’s tough to find someone out of this group, but Bill Guerin is a seasoned vet and he knows how to get it done.
Sleeper Pick: Mike Comrie. He will center the top line and could finally live up to his potential.
Don’t Overrate: Everyone. This team looks to be in for a long season.
Rookie To Watch: Sean Bergenheim. He spent last season overseas, but could make an impact on a thin Islander team.
Line Projections:
L1: Ruslan Fedotenko – Mike Comrie – Miroslav Satan
L2: Jeff Tambellini – Mike Sillinger – Bill Guerin
L3: Sean Bergenheim – Josef Vasicek – Trent Hunter
L4: Chris Simon – Shawn Bates – Jon Sim
DP1: Brendan Witt – Radek Martinek
DP2: Andy Sutton – Marc-Andre Bergeron
DP3: Chris Campoli – Bruno Gervais
G1: Rick DiPietro
G2: Wade Dubielewicz
Prediction: 5th in the Atlantic Division.
New York Rangers
Overview: The Rangers made a big splash in free agency this year by bringing in Scott Gomez and Chris Drury. They should be much improved this season and Brendan Shanahan could break out with a decent center dishing him the puck. Their defense looks to be a bit young and non-offensive, but the offense should make up for their lack of offensive output.
Fantasy Stud: Can’t go wrong with Jaromir Jagr. He will be a 90 point guy again this season.
Sleeper Pick: I don’t think this is a huge sleeper, but Brendan Shanahan. Last year he didn’t really have a true center to pass him the puck. This season he will have Gomez and Drury, and he could see a nice increase in production.
Don’t Overrate: Chris Drury. Although he’s a great leader, he has always seemed to lack offensively. 70 points isn’t out of the question though.
Rookie To Watch: Marc Staal is a big defenseman and he could be looked upon to log some major minutes.
Line Projections:
L1: Martin Straka – Scott Gomez – Jaromir Jagr
L2: Brendan Shanahan – Chris Drury – Sean Avery
L3: Petr Prucha – Blair Betts – Ryan Callahan
L4: Marcel Hossa – Ryan Hollweg – Colton Orr
DP1: Michal Rosival – Marek Malik
DP2: Paul Mara – Marc Staal
DP3: Fedor Tyutin – Dan Girardi
G1: Henrik Lundqvist
G2: Al Montoya
Prediction: 1st in the Atlantic Division.
This series was put together in a joint effort by two of our growing number of experts: Real_Deal_Ryan and Blades of Steel. Big thanks to them for helping everyone out. Part three of this series will be out soon, so be sure to check in and definitely let us know what you think!
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