Wondering just how much of a difference a year can make? Look no further than the Montreal Canadiens.
After more than a decade of mostly middling performances, the NHL's iconic franchise began last season widely expected to miss the playoffs -- then went on to finish first in the Eastern Conference. The playoff run ended after two rounds, but as Montreal prepares for its 100th anniversary campaign, there are few who doubt the Canadiens have a legitimate shot at their 25th Stanley Cup.
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| Alex Kovalev led an explosive offense last season. (AP) |
The Canadiens were nothing if not consistent last season. They limited their worst losing streak to just three games and finished in the top half of every major statistical category with a lineup made up in large part of youngsters recently drafted and developed by the organization, including potential franchise goalie Carey Price.
"I think we had a lot more confidence in ourselves than a lot of other people did, and we got better and better as the season went along," said Montreal's leading scorer, Alex Kovalev. "Now we're looking for bigger things from ourselves."
So are others for that matter, which means the Canadiens won't be sneaking up on anyone the way they might have last season. Montreal spent much of the offseason trying -- so far unsuccessfully -- to sign free-agent center Mats Sundin. But the Canadiens did upgrade their attack by acquiring left wing Alex Tanguay and added some serious muscle with enforcer Georges Laraque.
That clearly makes Montreal the class of the Northeast Division as teams head into training camp next week, a claim that a year ago was being made by the Ottawa Senators. But after a run to the Stanley Cup Finals and a stunning 15-2 start, the Senators came unglued. That ultimately forced the firing of coach John Paddock and sends them into the new campaign with more question marks than answers. The Senators did a lot of housecleaning over the summer, getting rid of the headache that was goalie Ray Emery and losing two top-four defensemen in Wade Redden and Andrej Meszaros, among others. However, Ottawa still has its league-leading offense intact, led by the line of Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson. Craig Hartsburg, a successful former junior coach and NHL player, is now calling the shots as coach.
On paper, this lineup -- which will feature newcomers Jason Smith, Jarkko Ruutu and Alex Auld -- still looks deep enough to get to the playoffs, something that no Northeast teams, other than Montreal, can say at this point.
Boston was the best of the rest in the division last season and managed to sneak into the first round of the playoffs, but the Bruins did nothing of consequence over the summer to improve themselves and, in particular, their anemic offense. To be fair, young players like Phil Kessel, Milan Lucic and David Krecji took big strides last season and a return to form by Patrice Bergeron, who missed most of the season with a concussion, will help.
But when your major offseason moves are signing free agents Michael Ryder and Stephane Yelle, it's hard to suggest that your team is any better now that it was.
No one, of course, is using the term "improved" in relation to the Buffalo Sabres, who saw their window of opportunity begin to close last season. Three seasons removed from an Eastern Conference Finals appearance and two seasons after winning the Presidents' Trophy, Buffalo still has the kind of lineup speed that brought it success. But with so many key components having left for monetary reasons in the interim, this team has quickly fallen back into the pack and seems destined to continue heading south.
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The Sabres made only a couple of lineup changes over the summer, adding veteran defenseman Craig Rivet and backup goalie Patrick Lalime, moves that aren't likely to start the playoff-ticket-printing machines running. Still, there is some cause for hope in Buffalo because the Sabres were able to sign goalie Ryan Miller to a long-term deal in July with just one year remaining on his pact.
Buffalo hasn't been able to do the same with its second-leading scorer, Jason Pominville. That creates the potential for a distraction much like the one last season with Brian Campbell, who was traded to San Jose at the deadline.
Still, when it comes to distractions, no one is likely to upstage the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have officially laid claim to the title of most dysfunctional franchise over the course of this calendar year.
In fact, the circus has been in Toronto since Cliff Fletcher took over as interim GM last January and then decided to stay on indefinitely -- or at least until Brian Burke's contract with the Anaheim Ducks expires next July. In the meantime, Fletcher has helped turn former captain Sundin's future into a joke, pushed Bryan McCabe out of town and made a series of personnel moves that could charitably be described as haphazard.
The signing of former Colorado defenseman Jeff Finger to a four-year, $14 million deal in July still has people around the league scratching their heads, and the repatriation of aging veteran goalie Curtis Joseph along with the acquisitions of Niklas Hagman, Mike Van Ryn and Jamal Mayers haven't caused any hearts to flutter in Toronto.
It may be that Fletcher is trying to make sure the Leafs are bad enough to get a shot at next spring's first overall draft pick, local junior phenom John Tavares. And in that respect, Fletcher may have succeeded.
For now though, he has set up what promises to be a trying season for Ron Wilson, the colorfully quotable new coach who might run out of things to say before long.
