Season Preview – The Contenders

22 Sep 2008 by Craig in NHL 2008

Training camp is underway and every team in the NHL is preparing for the season. Its said that all teams have a shot at the Stanley Cup and most teams hope that they have built a contender over the summer. All teams have a shot, but obviously there are favored  teams that may be ready for there cup run. Its tough to look at what teams may be Cup Contenders at this early point, but there are a few teams where there season will be a disappointment if they don’t lift Lord Stanley’s Cup at years end.

Detroit Red Wings – Defending champs and once again the Wings will be the Cup favorites heading into the ‘08 / ‘09 season. The Wings management didn’t rest on the fact that they pretty well had last seasons Cup winning team returning for this year, they made a big splash signing all star forward Marian Hossa to a one year contract. Hossa will join NHL stars Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg to create one of the most dynamic offensive teams in the league. The forwards are good, but this team is lead by the defense men and captain Nick Lidstrom. Detroit has the best top four defencemen in hockey with Brian Rafalski, Brad Stuart,  Niklas Kronwall joining Lidstrom. Chris Osgood will come into the season as the starting goalie and they added Ty Conklin as the back up. The Red Wings have an excellent mix of veterans and youngsters, future hall of famer Chris Chelios isn’t the player he used to be, but will be a leader in the room. Valtteri Filppula and Jiri Hudler should rise up and become the players the Wings always thought they could be. The Wings might be the best offensive and defensive team in the league. No doubt this season will be a failure unless they repeat and win the Stanley Cup once again.

Montreal Canadiens - Montreal had a great year last year and some surprising young players stepped up and become NHL stars. This year those same players will be expected to improve and lead this team. The Canadiens will start a future Vezina winning goalie in Carey Price, and if he can play like he did last year it will go along way to help the team become Stanley Cup champions. Once again Montreal will be led by veteran forwards Saku Koivu , Alex Kovalev and young brothers Andrei Kostitsyn and Sergei Kostitsyn. The Canadiens added to there depth up front with former Calgary Flame Alex Tanguay and veteran Robert Lang. If Tanguay and Lang can regain past form and play like all stars the Canadiens will rival the Red Wings for best top six forwards in hockey. Montreal will look for youngsters Kyle Chipchura, Maxim Lapierre and Guillaume Latendresse to produce and add depth to the forward lines. If the Canadiens have a downfall it is on the back end, Andrei Markov, Roman Hamrlik and Mike Komisarek will lead the group throughout the year. If the defense holds up and Price is a star in net, then look for the Canadiens to win the East and make a run at the Cup.

Calgary Flames - The Flames have been good for a few years now, but there problem has always been depth up front. The front office thinks they have fixed that for this year adding streaky forward Mike Cammalleri and big veteran Todd Bertuzzi. If Bertuzzi can be the player of old, along side team leader Jerome Iginla the Flames may just have enough depth to compete in the playoffs. Iginla is a perennial MVP candidate and will need to be just that for the Flames to have a great year. The defense is big and physical led by Dion Phaneuf and Robyn Reghir. The key to Calgary’s success will no doubt be goalie Miikka Kiprusoff, if he has a Vezina like year Calgary will be near the top in the Western Conference. To win Calgary will need secondary scoring and will look at Daymond Langkow , Matthew Lombardi and Craig Conroy to provide it. If Kiprusoff and Iginla are great and if they have finally found that extra scoring they have always needed Calgary should win there division and go into the playoffs as one of the teams to beat.

New York Rangers - The Rangers made some changes in the off season, but one thing remains the same at that is great goaltending. Henrik Lundqvist will be returning and looking to lead the Rangers to the promise land. Chris Drury, Scott Gomez and newly acquired Markus Naslund will lead the offensive charge. The Rangers hope young stars like Nikolai Zherdev, Dan Fritsche and Petr Prucha will fill out the depth out front and provide much needed scoring. New York signed free agent Wade Redden to lead the defense and the future may be now for Marc Staal on the blue line. Lundqvist is the key, without him this team becomes ordinary, but if he is good the Rangers will be good. If Naslund and Redden turn around there careers in New York this team should be near the top of the Eastern Conference.

When the season starts, all teams will be optimistic that this year might be the year for them. You won’t find a lot people that will argue that the Red Wings are the favorites to win, but anything can happen over a 82 game schedule. To win a Stanley Cup you need to stay healthy, have some surprise contributions from players you may not expect it from and a lot of luck go your way. These are the favorites to win in my opinion, but the NHL is a balanced league and you never know what is going to happen. The East is starting to catch up with the West and I am personally looking forward to a great season. Hockey is back and I can’t wait to see what will happen this year.