Round up of season previews
Here’s a round up of the many different season previews by my fellow bloggers and other media pundits. Update (4:30pm EST): I finished posting all the season previews I found for the Red Wings. If you catch one that I’ve missed, feel free to drop me an email.
Aside from a thorough look at the players here and here, Abel to Yzerman has its prediction for both the Central and the Western Conference. Yep, IwoCPO has the Wings winning both.
The Central? It’s done. It’s 24 September and the division’s been locked up already. By now you know that has less to do with the talent in Hockeytown than it does with the complete lack of it throughout the rest of The Division That Gary Built. The Central is garbage. The second-best team has been gutted. The third and fourth best teams are respectably improving but not quickly enough to come within 25 points of the Wings and the Blues will finish last only because I want them to. It’s hard to hate Columbus and Chicago. But St. Louis? Screw them and screw their bitter fans.
The West? That’s ours too, thanks. If not for a fluttering puck from hell last May the eleventh Cuppeth would have runneth overith. Zero chance Hasek would have lost to Ottawa. And the Wings have improved. Has Anaheim? San Jose has, I guess.
Dave at Gorilla Crouch has his Red Wings preview as well as point projections for the Wings roster.
Jiri Hudler’s breakout campaign? Possibly the biggest debate amongst Red Wings fans last season was diminutive forward Jiri Hudler’s role on the team. He played a limited number of minutes, typically on the fourth line, but still managed to score 15 goals. He is slated to play on the second line alongside Henrik Zetterberg and Mikael Samuelsson. My guess is he will have a breakout campaign; I’m guessing he will score 25 goals and will tally 20 assists.
George Malik wrote the most thorough piece on the Wings yet over at Kukla’s Korner and while it’s a long read, I highly recommend it.
I’m technically in the business of making predictions, but as to the Wings’ fate, and the real and honest outcomes for their players, well…Ask me next June. Subjectively, I believe that the Red Wings should finish in the top half of the West, despite what will constitute “surprising†competition from the Blues and Predators to most people, and I believe that, especially if Kenny Holland can strengthen the team in the middle of the season with a power forward and/or centre (NO Horseface Forsberg, please), the Wings can make a couple-round dent in the playoffs, but that’s as specific as I’ll get.
Steve at Gloveside gives his preview for this year’s squad.
Optimism abounds on this year’s Red Wings squad. The bitter defeat at the hands of the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Ducks had many people who don’t normally say If Only saying If Only…the Wings were close enough to the Cup they could smell it. It hurts to lose to someone you know you can beat, and the Wings will be hungrier.
They might not stockpile points as Wings teams have done in the past, as for many players this will be a season of higher expectations and learning. Perhaps playoff jockeying will help jell a young team together a team; as in the recent past Wings first round playoff opponents have tended to already be battled hardened and seemed to raise their playoff game quicker and smoother than the Wings, who had sealed a playoff spot weeks previous.
If the kids step up, and the geezers stay healthy, the Wings will contend for the Cup.
Eric McErlain of Off Wing Opinion fame wrote a Western Conference preview for Deadspin and here’s what he had to say about the Wings:
Ho-hum. Another year, another division title. Leave it to the Red Wings to respond to their one major personnel loss (Mathieu Schnieder to Anaheim) by picking up Brian Rafalski, who’s a Michigan native to boot. Expect him to enjoy the best season of his career playing on a blue line with Nicklas Lidstrom. Anyone else who left town, in particular Todd Bertuzzi, Kyle Calder and Robert Lang, is simply a matter of addition by subtraction. And while there will always be questions raised about Dominik Hasek, Chris Osgood is more than good enough to plug the gaps as long as “The Dominator” isn’t on the shelf for too long. As for the playoffs, that’s another story entirely, where nothing but bad luck kept the Wings from advancing to the Finals last season. For the inside scoop, try Abel to Yzerman (part of the Kukla empire), or if that isn’t your style, check in with everybody’s plucky little sister, Christy Hammond, at Behind the Jersey.
Thanks for the link Eric, but I’m not really sure what “everybody’s plucky little sister” is supposed to mean!
The Puck Stops Here blogger predicts the Wings will finish first in their division over at Fox Sports.
This team is almost a lock to win this division. Not because they are the most dominant team in the NHL, but because they have no talented rivals. Detroit has the best defenseman in the NHL in Nicklas Lidstrom, who along with Brian Rafalski, Niklas Kronwall, Chris Chelios and Brent Sopel will make a talented defense core. They have a good set of forwards too led by Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Tomas Holmstrom.
Dominik Hasek is a top goalie, even at age 42, but he is a serious injury risk given his history of groin problems. Should Hasek stay healthy, Detroit could win the West Conference. If they are stuck with Chris Osgood or Jim Howard in goal for long periods of time, it will be much less likely.
David at HockeyAnalysis.com analyzes the Central Division and likes what he sees in Detroit’s team this season.
The Red Wings arguably have the best mix of players in the NHL with some quality veterans, some players in their prime, and some younger players ready to take their game up a level. They also have a good mix of offence, defence and goaltending. All-round they are a very good team and once again should compete for top spot in the west as well as for the Stanley Cup. Possibly the best team in the NHL.
Barry Melrose Rocks Wings preview is up and to quickly summarize it…
Detroit will win the Central easily, and challenge for the Western Conference Title and President’s Trophy. By March, Detroiters should have only Octopi-related thoughts on their minds.
Kevin Dupont wrote in a MSNBC column that he believes the Red Wings will win the Cup this season despite having the oldest average age roster than any other team in the league.
Top ‘tender Dominik Hasek, who will be a grizzled 43 years old in January, made it through last season without a hint of the groin problems that plagued him for years, to the point of forcing his retirement. Even better news: ex-UMaine standout Jimmy Howard showed in September’s training camp that he could make life easier for the Dominator, perhaps allow the two-time MVP to cut his workload back from 56 games to a more manageable 45-50.
Spector’s Hockey believes Detroit is once again one of the top teams in the NHL, much less the Central Division.
Detroit Red Wings. Last season’s anticipated decline of the Red Wings never occurred, and as their performance in the 2007 playoffs indicated they’re still very much a Stanley Cup contender. The rise of young Wings like Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Valtteri Filppula, Johan Franzen and Nicklas Kronwall combined with established vets like Nicklas Lidstrom, Dominik Hasek, Chris Chelios, Tomas Holmstrom, Kris Draper and new Wing Brian Rafalski should keep them among the elite of the league this season.
The Hockey News polled their correspondents on who would win the Stanley Cup. How did the Wings do? They received one vote that they would win, 28 votes that the Wings would win the Western Conference in the regular season, and just four votes that the Wings would be Western Conference champs in the playoffs.
Yes, we know, the Anaheim Ducks are our pick to win it all in the 2007-08 Yearbook, but in a poll of our 30 NHL correspondents, six Globe and Mail colleagues and THN editor Jason Kay, senior writers Mike Brophy and Ken Campbell and online columnist Adam Proteau, the Sharks came out on top with 30 per cent of the popular vote.
ESPN the Magazine predicts the Wings will win the Central Division (see a common theme yet in this prediction?).
Key acquisition: D Brian Rafalski is a complete player who contributes in all situations. He’s a playmaker from the point in the power play. He’s been a big part of two Cup winners. Adding a right-hand shot makes the Red Wings more balanced and dangerous at the same time. It definitely eases the load on Nicklas Lidstrom.
Key to the season: Gray Wings Nicklas Lidstrom (37 years old, plus-40, fifth Norris), Dominik Hasek (42, .913 SP) and Chris Chelios (45, 20:06 mpg in the playoffs) nearly helped Detroit to another Cup. Of course, those geezers complement the club’s new stars: W/C Henrik Zetterberg (26, 1.08 ppg) and C Pavel Datsyuk (29, 1.1 ppg). GM Ken Holland got younger on D, replacing Mathieu Schneider (38) with FA Rafalski (34). Up front: F prospect Igor Grigorenko, 24, disappointed in camp, but C Valtteri Filppula, 23, continues to impress. He’ll get more ice time and join their good young core.
Key stat: 9.2. Per-game shot differential between the Wings and their opponents last season (33.8 and 24.6), largest in the NHL.
NHL.com picked one player for each Western Conference team as the one to watch this season. Which player was it for the Red Wings? Jiri Hudler.
This is why there is always playoff hockey in Motown — because the Wings always draft well. A second-round pick in 2002, Hudler scored 15 goals for Detroit in his rookie season, helping his club earn the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. Four of those goals last season were game-winners — and he’s still only 23.
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One Response to “Round up of season previews”
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September 26th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
Hey, Christy, speaking of Season Previews, Off Wing Opinion just called you “everybody’s plucky little sister”. Um… I think that’s a good thing, anyways…….. Yay?