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Hockey World Blog Season Previews 2010: Vancouver Canucks

Sep 21

Posted by EB in Season Previews | No Comments

Key Offseason Losses: Kyle Wellwood, Andrew Raycroft

Key Offseason Additions: Raffi Torres, Bill Sweatt, Dan Hamhuis, Manny Malhotra, Mason Raymond, Keith Ballard

Last Season Ranking: 3rd, West

It is expected that Henrik Sedin will be named captain with the expectation of leading the team to a Stanley Cup Victory this season.

It is expected that Henrik Sedin will be named captain with the expectation of leading the team to a Stanley Cup Victory this season.

Offense: Second only to the Washington Capitals in goals last season (268), the Vancouver Canucks will be one of the top offensive teams again this upcoming season.

Both Henrik and Daniel Sedin were crazy last season, Henrik 112 points and Daniel 85 points. Keep in mind that Daniel only played 63 games, he could have easily reached the 100 point mark. From there you have Ryan Kessler (75), Alexandre Burrows (67), Mikael Samuelsson (53) and Mason Raymond 53) all over 50 point seasons.

Defense: Christian Ehrhoff lead the team with a plus 36 last season as well as netting 14 goals, passing for 30 assists totaling 44 points. Expected line-mate and recently acquired Dan Hamhuis from the Nashville Predators has been in the league 6 years and all played with the Predators, it will be nice to see him holding the blue-line for a much better offensive team in the Canucks.

Alexander Edler had an excellent season as well with 42 points. Partnering with other newly acquired Keith Ballard from the Florida Panthers should provide two solid defensive pairings.

Lastly Kevin Bieksa and Sami Salo should hold down the third pairing, although Shane O’Brien is still working on a roster spot.

Goaltending: News, controversy, whatever you wish to call it, has been following the removal of Captaincy from net-minder Roberto Luongo. What was once a bold move in the Canuck’s organization has now caused them to back track. This though for fans should be a positive thing, with Henrik Sedin expected to receive the C, Luongo is now able to focus solely on playing goalie. A 40-22-4 record last season, 2.57 goals against average and a .913 save percentage, Luongo will be the top goalie in the league to pick up for wins this season on your fantasy team. Not convinced yet? Backup Cory Schneider has only played 10 games in the last two seasons with a 2-5 record. Luongo will be the new Brodeur.

Season Outlook: When asked if the Vancouver Canucks could be a Stanley Cup Contender this season, Macho Man Randy Savage had only two words to say, “Ohhh Yeahhh!” I’m going to leave it at that and agree with the Macho Man.

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Hockey World Blog Season Previews 2010: Florida Panthers

Sep 11

Posted by EB in Season Previews | No Comments

nothing much to get excited about with Florida this year unless another flasher sighting happens.

Nothing much to get excited about with Florida this year. That is unless you watch intently for another flasher sighting.

Key Offseason Losses: Keith Ballard, Nathan Horton

Key Offseason Additions: Christopher Higgins, Dennis Wideman, Steven Reinprecht

Last Season Ranking: 14th, East

Offense: The Florida Panthers have a talented core in Stephen Weiss and David Booth. Weiss picked up 60 points last season to carry the team in the absence of David Booth’s injury from Philadelphia Flyer’s Mike Richards head shot. The two, if healthy, should each post 50+ points in a competition for the team’s point leader.

Florida lost their 3rd main man Nathan Horton, yet picked up veteran players Christopher Higgins and Steven Reinprecht. Together the two will add some experience, as well as the ability to put the puck in the net.Reinprecht had 16 goals and 22 assists last year with the Phoenix Coyotes while Higgins is coming off of two mediocre seasons, but has the ability to post 40+ points.

Returning players to keep an eye on are Michael Frolik and his balanced play style as well as Cory Stillman and his veteran point production performance.

Defense: The bad news; the team lost Keith Ballard to the Vancouver Canucks. Ballard was a solid defender and a good setup man. The good news; the team has gained an equally talented Dennis Wideman from the Boston Bruins. Wideman had 30 points last season with 11 of those being power play assists, a much needed addition for the Panthers.

Wideman will be lining leading point defender Bryan McCabe. McCabe had 43 points last season with the expectation of doing even better this year.

The downfall though comes after the first pairing, the Panthers have no one really worth mentioning. Perhaps their management team forgot the saying, “Defense wins championships”.

Goaltending: Starter Tomas Vokoun will get the majority of starts while sharing the net with backup Scott Clemmensen. The two together should be able to post some good numbers despite having weak defense. Vokoun has a career .916 save percentage and had a respectable 7 shutouts last season.

Season Outlook: The Florida Panthers had a tough break last season with the injury to star player David Booth. Losing one of your top players always hurts, but this year he is back and healthy. The team added some key role players and some veteran presence that always helps any team. Still though the offensive talent will go to waste with the lack of depth in defense. It will be short of a miracle if the team makes the post season.

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Ovechkin Injured and Vokoun Leaves on a Stretcher

Nov 30

Posted by Matt in News | 5 Comments

Alex Ovechkin injured himself on a knee to knee hit tonight and could face a suspension in addition to his injury

Alex Ovechkin injured himself on a knee to knee hit tonight and could face a suspension in addition to his injury

As you already know, the 2009-10 NHL season has been filled with countless injuries. It’s been estimated at times that up to 20% of the league’s players at the start of the season are out of action due to injury. Tonight, two more big names went down.

First and foremost, Alexander Ovechkin. He left the game against the Carolina Hurricanes during the first period after initiating a knee to knee hit on Tim Gleason. Ovechkin was given a 5 minute kneeing major on the play, as well as a 10 minute game misconduct. Knee to knee hits can be extremely dangerous, as we saw with Niklas Kronwall who is out 4-8 weeks after being on the receiving end of the dirty play. Ovechkin remained down on the ice for several minutes after the play, and eventually had to be helped off. The extent of the injury won’t be known until tomorrow, but it certainly doesn’t look good. Tim Gleason went down on the play as well, but looked to be okay as he came back out on the power-play afterwards. Ovechkin could be looking at a suspension for his hit, even though he took the worst of it. The NHL will be looking into it and may continue laying down penalties for stupid plays that don’t belong in the game. Video of the hit is here.

In Atlanta tonight, Florida Panthers goaltender Tomas Vokoun had to be taken off the ice on a stretcher after being struck in the head by the stick of frustrated teammate Keith Ballard. Ballard, who was disgusted after Ilya Kovalchuk scored his 15th of the season, attempted to swing his stick across the goal post but instead caught Vokoun in the head. Vokoun was cut on the play, and the extent of his injury is unknown. Ballard meanwhile, after realizing what he had done, was still pretty insistent on breaking that stick. He took another swing and successfully broke it before heading to the bench, leaving his goaltender laying on the ice writhing in pain. Video can be seen here.

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