Skates

Money Grows on Trees: CCM U+ Crazy Light – Sure the Bauer TotalONE skates cost more, but CCM deserves some recognition this year for releasing a well made skate that can perform night in and night out not only for NHL skaters, but for regular rec league players as well. The U+ CL skates are fully heat moldable, meaning they will wrap around your foot so nicely that the skates will feel like a part of you. If money grows on trees for you, pick up these skates for yourself or someone else for $599.99.

Budget Friendly Performer: Bauer Supreme One60 LE – Ever since being sold off by Nike, the Bauer Hockey brand has been releasing incredible products one after another, including some great limited edition skates and sticks. The One60 LE falls into that category, but will give you great performance out of a skate that will not break the bank. Plus, with an all blacked out look, you can show you have a little bit of style on the rink as well. If sticking to a budget is important, you can grab the One60 LE for under $200.

For the Roller Player: Mission Axiom T6 – The Mission brand got a whole lot stronger after being acquired by Bauer, and it really shows in the Axiom line of skates. The T6 certainly isn’t a top end skate, but it has the components to make it an incredible skate for the money. The wheels are Rink Rat Hot Shots, sitting on a Hi-Lo Vanguard chassis that you’ve grown to love. For the average roller hockey player, these skates will be more than enough to suit your needs. Best of all, the Axiom T6 skates are only $200.

Sticks

I Want to be Steve Stamkos: Bauer Supreme Total One – If you want to snipe like Steve Stamkos, probably go ahead and get yourself one of these guys. This is the stick he has been using since the start of the season, and he’s been on a torrid pace with a new weapon. This is probably the most popular stick on the market today, and comes with unmatched performance, so there’s no question as to why it is so popular. But with top of the line performance, comes top of the line price, $229 for both the grip and non-grip version of the Total One.

Discount Snipe Show: Warrior Dolomite DD – The same Dolomite you’ve been using for years, but updated for 2011. This is a fresh new stick, with updated graphics, legendary Warrior performance, and a weight of only 473 grams. Sure there are cheaper options, but then you’d be sacrificing weight and performance. If that’s not something you’re into, then take a look at the 2011 Warrior Dolomite DD for only $169.99.

Gloves

I’m Spoiled: Warrior Franchise – I’m convinced that Warrior has the best gloves on the market today. The biggest problem with their gloves is clearly the price. I’m not sure why a pair of gloves should ever be $200, but Warrior has done it with the Franchise, and people eat them up. My Warrior gloves (not Franchise gloves, btw) have taken more of a beating, and held up better, than any previous glove I’ve owned. Plus, after more than 80 games or pick up sessions wearing them, they still don’t smell terrible. If you can afford to spend $200 on gloves, go with the Warrior Franchise.

I Have Bills to Pay: Bauer X:30 – You know you’re getting quality with Bauer products. The X:30 is no exception with its outstanding comfort and durability. At $69.99, these gloves won’t break the bank, and will keep you going for more than a few seasons.

Will Ilya Kovalchuk pick up the scoring in the absence of Zach Parise?

For anyone who didn’t know, Zach Parise got injured. He was forced to have surgery to repair torn meniscus in his right knee. This injury will keep him out of competition for the next three months. As one of the top scorers on a struggling New Jersey Devils squad, how is this going to affect the team?

Well, in the worst case scenario, the Devils continue tumbling over the next three months and basically sit rock bottom in the standings when Parise returns. After playing 15 games already and only gathering nine points, this seems likely. They’re currently second to last in the Eastern Conference as it is. The Devils and their fans will pretty much call it a season, and begin thinking about next year.

But what if this is exactly what the team needs? What if this is exactly what a guy like Ilya Kovalchuk needs to really break loose and start scoring in bunches. Maybe guys like Jason Arnott and Jamie Langenbrunner need this added responsibility to turn up their scoring too.

Kovalchuk was always ‘the guy’ in Atlanta. Coming to an already productive team, it hasn’t been necessary for him to do all of the scoring, and perhaps thats thrown him off. Just the same, his addition to the Devils roster has taken scoring pressure off of the aforementioned Arnott and Langenbrunner. But now as point per game player Zach Parise is out for the next three months, the pressure has returned more than ever.

With solid goaltending in Martin Brodeur, and some potent scorers, perhaps this injury is just what the Devils need to get going. Kovalchuk will regain his scoring touch and dominate on the top power play unit, secondary scorers like Travis Zajac will carry their share of the workload, and overall the people who should be scoring, will be scoring. By the time Parise returns, we could be looking at a hot Devils team that is once again near the top of the Atlantic Devision.

What do you think will happen? Is the Devils season salvageable? Or should they just begin thinking about year two of the Ilya Kovalchuk mega contract?

Toronto Maple Leafs (4-0-1; 9 pts) – Lead by Phil Kessel and Jean-Sebastien Giguere, the Maple Leafs look like they’ve figured out a way to compete in the Eastern Conference this season. Kessel is hot with 7 points in 5 games, and Clarke MacArthur has been a surprise, picking up 5 goals so far for the Leafs. Giguere, a trade deadline pick up late last season, has been stellar so far. His 1.96 goals against average, and .911 save percentage have gone a long way in allowing Toronto to win games. Dion Phaneuf and Tomas Kaberle have been strong defensively, and the team looks much improved over last season.

Dallas Stars (4-1-0; 8 pts) – Through 5 games, the Stars have averaged 4 goals per game. A team that many thought were going to rebuild after letting Mike Modano walk away, is now playing extremely well. Brad Richards, James Neal, Mike Ribeiro, Brenden Morrow, and Loui Eriksson have all gotten off to a tremendous start. Richards, a former Conn Smythe winner with the Lightning, has 10 points in 5 games, and is currently sitting at plus 8 on the season. Kari Lehtonen hasn’t been ridiculous in goal, but he’s been good enough. He’s made 40+ saves, however, in 3 of 5 games, so the Stars should hope to tighten up defensively if they expect to keep this up.

Tampa Bay Lightning (4-1-0; 8 pts) – New general manager Steve Yzerman was quick to put some of the pieces in place to try to turn the Lightning into a contender again. However, it seems to be last years players who are getting it done again. Steven Stamkos picked up right where he left off last season, and has 5 goals in 5 games to start the season. On the flip side, newcomer Simon Gagne has yet to register a point, and is currently a minus 7. He has also been a minus player in each of the teams first 5 games. Victor Hedman should continue to improve throughout the season, and the return of Pavel Kubina should take some of the pressure off Hedman. Steve Downie continues to be a threat whenever he’s on the ice as well, with both his scoring and phsyical play.

San Jose Sharks (1-2-1; 3 pts) – Is it too early to say the Sharks made a mistake in letting Evgeni Nabakov walk away? It may be, but Antti Niemi and Antero Niittymaki have been far from spectacular so far this season. Niemi, who has started 3 of 4 games, is sitting in the goalie hot seat with a 3.71 goals against average and .880 save percentage. One of these goalies needs to stand on their head and take the reigns as a true number one netminder. In addition, Joe Thornton needs to make his presence felt on both ends of the ice. He’s currently minus 6 through 4 games. In those games, he’s managed to put up 4 points, but 3 have come on the power play. Big Joe and Dany Heatley need to be more productive at even strength to get this team fired up.

Vancouver Canucks (2-3-2;  6 pts) – Six points in their first seven games is not the start that the Vancouver Canucks were hoping for. This is a team that many have picked to be Stanley Cup contenders, and they are off to a slow start. Part of the reason they haven’t been successful has been their lack of secondary scoring. A guy like Ryan Kesler, who finished with 75 points last season, has only a goal and an assist so far. He owns that second line, and will have to start playing like it for the Canucks to improve. The Sedin twins are still excelling, as you would expect, but they need some help. Back in net, Roberto Luongo has been a bit of a disappointment thus far. His 2.92 goals against average and and .900 save percentage are less than acceptable for such a highly regarded Canucks team. Luongo will have to go on a tear here soon to get the Canucks back to the top of the division.

Those are my picks for five teams that have gotten off to a surprising start this season. What teams have surprised you so far?

Babcock, who began coaching the Red Wings in 2005, has had quite a successful coaching career in the NHL. He began with the Anaheim Ducks, leading them to the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals in his first year as coach. He also coached the Red Wings to the finals in 2008, in which they won the Stanley Cup, and again in 2009 where the lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins.  In addition to his NHL success, Babcock coached Team Canada to a Gold Medal in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

While he has been with the Wings, Babcock has delivered an overall 259-101-52 record. In addition, he was announced as a finalist for the Jack Adams Award in 2008, and named the NHL coach of the decade by Sports Illustrated and the Sporting News.

This contract extension is huge for the Red Wings, who are hoping to continue their playoff traditions and remain one of the NHL’s most elite franchises. With Babcock behind the bench, and key players such as Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Franzen all locked up for much of that time, it shouldn’t be too hard to build a great squad for years to come.

Brian Campbell – A sprained knee will keep Campbell out well into November. He was injured in the pre-season against the Penguins.

Marc Savard – Savard is experiencing post-concussion syndrome and there’s no telling when he will return. He’s been doing some light lifting and bike riding, but no high intensity work as of yet.

Jordan Staal -Suffering from an infection on his foot after having surgery late last season to repair a torn tendon. He’s had multiple procedures done to try to get things going, but was recently placed on long term injured reserve, meaning he will miss at least 10 games.

Kyle Okposo -Had successful shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum. He suffered the injury during a practice where fans could attend, and will be out 2-3 months. Expect him back sometime in December.

Vinny Prospal – Prospal is out with a sore right knee. His injury was originally thought to be short term, but no progress has been made. He has yet to start skating again, and will likely be out until the end of October.

Matt Stajan – A separated shoulder, which occurred September 21st, will keep Stajan from playing. Expect a return towards the end of October.

Joffrey Lupul – After missing much of last season with a herniated disc in his back, Lupul will have to sit out a bit longer. He had surgery in December, and hoped to be ready for this season. During his off-season training, Lupul was found to have a blood infection in his back. He’s been placed on injured reserve, and there is no timetable for his return.

Andrei Markov -Markov is recovering from surgery after tearing his ACL late last season. His successful surgery was in the middle of May, and recovery is expected to take 6 months. This places Markov with an expected return sometime in November, depending on recovery.

Michael Leighton – A bulging disc in his back will keep Leighton out for about a month.

Chris Pronger -Pronger is still recovering from off-season surgery on his right knee. He has began skating, but has said he needs to gain more strength before he can return to the lineup.

Mark Streit – A torn left labrum and rotator cuff will keep Mark Streit sidelined for quite a while. His injury occurred during an intersquad scrimmage. After taking a hit from Matt Moulson, Streit fell hard into the boards. Unfortunately for the Islanders, he could be on the shelf for up to 6 months.

Alexandre Burrows -The Canucks winger was placed on injured reserve after having surgery to repair a torn labrum. He’s expected to be out approximately two months.

Peter Meuller – The Avs will be without Mueller indefinitely as he recovers from a concussion suffered during the preseason. There’s a bit of controversy behind this as Mueller was supposed to be wearing the new Cascade M11 helmet, but was not due to fitting issues. The Denver Post blog “All Things Avs” explains it in full detail.