NHL burning questions: Western Conference
Burning questions: Eastern Conference
Training camps are in full swing around the NHL and everywhere teams are full of hope and some doubt. Here's a look at the key questions facing each team in the Western Conference.
Anaheim Ducks: Is the hangover a thing of the past? There was a sense the Ducks were good enough to repeat last season even if Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne weren't certain to return because Anaheim filled the gaps with free agents. But there were other issues, including some key injuries and a season start in Europe that created a malaise Anaheim was never able to overcome. The midseason returns of Niedermayer and Selanne didn't really help either, although the Ducks finished with 102 points before losing in the first round.
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| Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and the Blackhawks are ready to take it to the next level. (Getty Images) |
Calgary Flames: Can Miikka Kiprusoff still deliver the goods? The Flames goalie was brilliant when he helped get them to the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals. For the most part, he picked up where he left off in the first two seasons after the lockout. But Kiprusoff was not dominant last season and had more than his share of off nights. Now that's he's 32, there are valid concerns about whether his game might be in the first stages of a back slide.
That would be a big problem for Calgary, which relies on its defense to offset what is less than a balanced offense. The Flames have one of the game's top players and producers in Jarome Iginla to count on offensively, while newcomer Mike Cammalleri and maybe even Todd Bertuzzi should add some punch, but for Calgary to be a serious threat, Kiprusoff has to be at his best.
Chicago Blackhawks: Is this team ready to take the next step? It better be, given all the life that has been breathed into what was a near comatose franchise over the past 12 months. Everything has been done right from roster building to marketing point by the organization. Now it is up to the players to deliver and do it this season, or risk losing all that good will.
The Blackhawks weren't quite good enough to make the playoffs last season with their exciting young roster, although they fell just short and battled through several key injuries that really served to derail their chances. But they should be good enough this season after making big splashes in free agency, and getting to the postseason has to be the minimum accomplishment for the Blackhawks.
Colorado Avalanche: Will Tony Granato be better in his second go-round as coach? The funny thing is that when Granato was plucked from the broadcast booth midway through the 2002-03 season, he led the Avs to a division title and the Western Conference finals. The following season he finished first again, but lost his job after Colorado was bounced in the opening round. Of course he had a goalie named Patrick Roy at the time, not to mention skaters like Joe Sakic, Adam Foote and Peter Forsberg who were a lot younger.
Sakic and Foote are still around and Forsberg might come back, but Granato doesn't have anywhere near the overall talent now that he did then. There are budding young stars like Paul Stastny and Wojtek Wolski, and veteran Ryan Smyth is welcome on any team. There are several question marks, most notably in goal where Peter Budaj and Andrew Raycroft seem better suited to be backups rather than starters. Granato served as an assistant in Colorado after losing the head coaching job and probably learned something from Joel Quenneville. It just might not be apparent this season.
Columbus Blue Jackets: Did the offseason overhaul finally make them a playoff team? That's still open to debate, although there is little doubt second-year GM Scott Howson has given coach Ken Hitchcock a lot more to work with. For one thing, the Jackets should improve on their 29th-place ranking in offense after adding forwards Kristian Huselius, R.J. Umberger and Rafi Torres. And the Columbus defense, which was eighth overall last season, looks better on paper with newcomers Fedor Tyutin, Mike Commodore and Christian Backman.
Franchise player Rick Nash starts his first full season as captain and goalie Pascal Leclaire has finally started to hit his stride, so the elements are there. The Blue Jackets play in a tough division and conference, so there are no guarantees they will lose the stigma of being the only NHL team never to be in the playoffs.
Dallas Stars: Did they peak last season? You have to wonder since they were considered a playoff bubble team at the start and ended up going to the West finals after replacing their GM in midseason with an unusual two-man management team. Especially since the Stars had a dozen players enjoy career seasons.
Dallas didn't sit still in the offseason, adding agitator extraordinaire Sean Avery and highly touted Euro star Fabian Brunnstrom to a lineup that was improved dramatically at the trade deadline when former Conn Smythe winner Brad Richards was acquired. It isn't unrealistic to expect some players, like captain Brenden Morrow and Mike Ribeiro, who are in their prime years to get better either, but the Stars still have a lot of older players in key roles.
Detroit Red Wings: Can they repeat? It has been a decade since any team did it, and when it last happened, it was the Wings who managed the trick. You can wonder if they'll be affected by a Stanley Cup hangover, but if nothing else, Detroit is a team of professional professionals.
What is particularly impressive in this salary cap era that usually requires significant offseason changes is the Red Wings' ability to retain everyone they wanted and improve by adding free agents Marian Hossa and Ty Conklin. In other words, Detroit will start its title defense with a lineup that is arguably better than the one it had last spring. And that should be a scary thought for the rest of the league since the Red Wings ran away from the rest of the pack during the regular season and methodically sliced and diced their way through four playoff rounds.
Edmonton Oilers: Are they this season's dark horse? That doesn't imply they are a Stanley Cup threat, although the Oilers did come within one game of the title in 2006 when they were a long shot to make the playoffs. What it does suggest though is that Edmonton seems to be embarking on a new era, thanks to a new local owner with big bucks and even bigger dreams and a team with some serious young talent that might be ready to explode.
The Oilers have traditionally not been a favored destination among players, but they have drafted and developed exceptionally well over the past couple of seasons and can now compete cash wise thanks to the check book of owner Darryl Katz. Rookies Sam Gagner, Andrew Cogliano and Tom Gilbert were revelations last season and there is a core of underappreciated talent in Edmonton that was bolstered this summer with the additions in Erik Cole and Lubomir Visnovsky, so watch out.
Los Angeles Kings: How big a step will their youngsters take this season? The Kings and new coach Terry Murray are obviously not dismissing their playoff dreams at this stage, even though they acknowledge they are in for a long season because of the rebuilding process.
There isn't much in the way of veteran leadership on the roster, which means many of the promising youngsters the Kings have drafted in recent first rounds will get a shot to fill the void. With the likes of Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown and Alexander Frolvo, there is some legitimate talent here. If Murray can provide the right kind of guidance, Los Angeles should be a competitive team in the near future. But that future has to start this season, at least to some extent.
Minnesota Wild: How much of a problem will Marian Gaborik's situation be? He's their franchise player, the team's first-ever draft pick and the best scorer on a team that has never been known for offense. Gaborik is also entering his prime at age 25 and since he can become an unrestricted free agent next summer, the Wild understandably want to lock him up for the long term. Gaborik says he wants the same thing, but after a summer of negotiations, training camp has arrived without a deal being struck.
There's still time of course, but if this gets too far into the season, Minnesota will have to seriously consider trading their star rather than losing him for nothing. That means there will be distractions surrounding the team, something that won't help the Wild, who squeaked into first place of a very tight Northwest Division last season and haven't significantly upgraded.
Nashville Predators: Will all the off-ice turmoil finally catch up with this team? You have to admire the way the Predators have put aside all the distractions the past few seasons to remain a playoff team. Of course they've never gotten past the first round, so a case can be made they have taken advantage of being in what was a weak division and played above their heads to some extent.
Maybe this season is when it all catches up to Nashville, which has spent the summer dealing with the fallout from a fraud being part of their new ownership group and the defection of star young player Alexander Radulov to Russia. As far as the roster goes, the Predators were relatively quiet in the offseason, which doesn't bode well for an offense that wasn't quite as good as its numbers might suggest. Nashville has a solid young defense though, and rookie goalie Dan Ellis was impressive after stealing the No. 1 job, but he'll have to prove he's not a one-hit wonder.
Phoenix Coyotes: Will Phoenix finally rise? Part owner Wayne Gretzky has been coaching the Coyotes since the lockout ended and has never gotten the team close to a playoff berth. But things could be different because he has more depth and talent on his roster than ever before. The Coyotes start the season with a legitimate No. 1 goalie in Ilya Bryzgalov, who arrived last November, they upgraded their offense with the addition of former Florida captain Olli Jokinen and toughened up with newcomers Brian McGrattan and Todd Fedoruk.
Truth is Phoenix did have some impressive moments last season in giving Gretzky his first finish over .500 as a coach, thanks in large part to the play of rookies like Peter Mueller, Martin Hanzal and Daniel Carcillo, who flew a bit under the radar last season. And there is some more freshman talent like Kyle Turris and Mikkel Boedker on the way this year for the Great One to work with.
St. Louis Blues: Are they moving in the right direction? Ownership is trying to sell patience to the long-suffering fans in St. Louis, which is about the only thing it can do with a team that is young and nowhere near ready to compete. The Blues finished 27th overall and near the bottom in all key statistical categories, which might not be necessarily surprising from a team that is trying to develop players at the NHL level, but disappointing nevertheless since St. Louis had a very good start to the season.
In fact the Blues were 22-14-5 at the midpoint, but 11-22-8 for the second half including just one win in the final 23 games. There seems to be a lot of budding talent in the lineup from recent drafts, but it might be that coach Andy Murray, who wore out his welcome in Los Angeles, is repeating himself here.
San Jose Sharks: Is this the year of the Sharks? Actually, they've been asking that in San Jose the past few seasons about a team has yet to live up to its immense promise. Last season was probably the toughest to swallow for the Sharks, who were nearly unbeatable down the stretch and won the Pacific Division title before limping home again after two rounds. That led to changes over the summer and a lineup that is arguably the most balanced and deepest lineup San Jose has had.
The most fundamental shift came behind the bench, where the team will hear the new voice of former Detroit assistant Todd MacLellan, who gets his first top job in the NHL by replacing Ron Wilson. The back line now includes veterans like former Norris winner Rob Blake, Dan Boyle and Brad Lukowich, and up front, there were no sacrifices made to its high-end group of forwards this summer. So San Jose will again head into the new season with the potential to be a legitimate Stanley Cup contender, and a pretender.
Vancouver Canucks: How much can they expect of Roberto Luongo? In the minds of many, Luongo is the league's best goalie, although he is coming off a mediocre season by his standards. Luongo didn't have much support from a team that had little else going for it, not to mention the distraction of his wife going through a difficult first pregnancy on the other side of the continent in Florida.
Still, the Canucks will rely on their netminder to keep alive whatever faint hope they have of making the playoffs. Vancouver doesn't have any real offense to speak of other than the Sedin twins. The back end is experienced and serviceable, but nothing to get excited about. New GM Mike Gillis tried to make a splash this summer in hopes of turning Vancouver into a playoff contender, but ultimately failed and was left with a lineup that will need Luongo to stand on his head for it to get close.
