The HighlandersStrengths: Nobody has a better top 2 pivots than Crosby-Thornton. The defense corps with Pronger, Visnovsky, Jovo-cop and Souray is outstanding as well, and to top it off, they have a god in Kipper to man the pipes. They are built to win.
Weaknesses: The team isn't horrible at either wing, but neither is overpowering. A lot of pressure is going to land on Williams-R Car to be a top line producer, and there isn't great depth for them to draw from.
WTF?: The decision by the GM to fill out his pivots with Tim Connolly had many GMs high-fiving each other. The oft concussed Connolly barely played at all last year, and while he has skill to burn his career high is a mere 55pts.
The Farm: With Crosby now permanently off the farm, nobody is poised to win a starting job.
Verdict: Still the gold standard.
The BladerunnersStrengths: Right wing is the bomb with two franchise players, but goal is where they really rock as they have two top 5 goalies in Giguere and Miller, with a serviceable backup in Roloson.
Weaknesses: Defense corps is weak bordering on bad. Team depth is thin once you get past the starters at each position. An injury to any of the big guns would be impossible to deal with from within. How good is it having two of your best players in net when you can only play one?
WTF?: Zhitnik is the Bladerunners top D-man. This should make the GM very nervous. Very. Nervous.
The Farm: Miller and Staal are excellent threats to dress or valuable as high-octane trade-bait. All in all, had a fantastic prospect draft nailing five picks; Gagner-C Edm, Stamkos-C OHL, Giroux-R Pha, Voracek-R Clb, and Kindl-D Det that are all foundation players the team can build around.
The Verdict: Not a serious contender - yet. The GM has lots of assets to make some moves that will turn things around.
The Great WhitesStrengths: World's best goalie, a solid top 4 D-men, and a strong trio of pivots.
Weaknesses: It's hard to love Vyborny as your #2 RW, especially with a question mark next to Cheechoo as the top starboard gunner.
WTF?: The Cheechoo pick raised some eyebrows based on last years performance and the fact he is line-dependent to someone else's FP, but otherwise the GM was his typical steady methodical conservative drafter at the Entry Draft.
The Farm: Miettinen and Jokinen are both highly questionable prospects to keep around as neither looks to have a future on an NHL top line. Otherwise, the GM landed a player he can safely project as the replacement for Brodeur in Carey Price. The young franchise netminder even plays for the Habs.
The Verdict: Contender. The GWs are constructed in a very similar fashion to last years champions the Highlanders, as they are deep down the middle (C/D/G) with the biggest question marks on the wings.
The RamapithicinesStrengths: Franchise netminder Turco has been a pillar of strength for the knuckledraggers, and the top end of the D is multipurpose with Chara and McCabe being double threats.
Weaknesses: Other than Alfredsson they don't have a forward who is a lock for the top 20 in scoring. A lot of pressure will be on Gomez to be a first liner.
WTF?: The guys backing up Alfie at RW are Erat and Ouellet. Buckle up.
The Farm: Three wicked awesome defenders are going to knock at the door in the near future; Johnson, Johnson and Russell. A hot start by any of them will spell doom for one of the bottom four currently playing.
The Verdict: Not enough offense to knock off a contender without making some big trades.
The EdgeStrengths: They have the most exciting goalscorer in the league, a solid top three defensemen with good depth, and a pair of top line pivots.
Weaknesses: Goaltending is below average at best, and a complete horror show if things go wrong.
WTF?: Mike Knuble as a free agent winger on the 2nd line. The good news is he was able to land Tucker later in the draft as an RFA, a player whose goon ability will allow him to easily supplant the injury prone and line-dependent Knuble.
The Farm: Lehtonen could rise phoenix like to claim the starting job as Edge netminder, and a group of solid contributors appears to be maturing nicely including the gritty skill winger Corey Perry and overage offensive defenseman and Rafalski-clone, Corey Murphy.
The Verdict: Barring a bad trade or health disaster (both of which seem to plague the Edge in years past) this team is definitely a contender.
The Lost BoysStrengths: Arguably the best left wing in the league - so good they have a ppg player in Huselius on the bench. Centre is also a logjam of talent with more talent than lines to play it on.
Weaknesses: The defense corps suffered with all the attention paid to the forward units as not a single free agent was signed to bolster the rearguards. The right wing is also thin, but serviceable with Murray needing a rebound year to justify the 2nd line ice-time he'll be getting. Is Brunette really a 1st liner? Really? Seriously?
WTF?: Why bid on Huselius if you clearly don't need him? Looks like a revenge poach gone awry. That much depth can only mean one thing - trade bait.
The Farm: Some solid role players are growing on the vine, but aside from Koivu-the-younger there isn't anybody knocking at the door just yet.
The Verdict: The GM has an eye for skill, but it's not clear they grasp fully how to build a winner. Call them a pretender with upside. If the GM flashes some trade skills to patch the obvious holes upgrade them to being a real threat.
The Personal VendettaStrengths: They are silly deep in Red Wings (Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Lidstrom, Samuellsson)- which shouldn't be a bad thing.
Weaknesses: The goaltending strategy (one they practically pioneered) of waiting till late to grab their goalie can sometimes backfire with a lack of quality and depth at the position. Which it just did. The D is decent but top heavy, and the team lacks quality toughness to go at in the trenches without their perennial pick of Brendan Morrow in the fold. With the teams best pivot, defenseman and left winger all from the same team, any prolonged offensive slump by the Wings could bury them.
WTF?: The Predators felt strong enough about Chris Mason that they let Tomas Vokoun go. The PV felt strong enough about drafting Vokoun that they drafted Chris Mason to back him up.
The Farm: Expect Michalek to make an appearance at LW, but the team may want to clear some room for him with a trade first. In the long run Kyle Turris could be a special player.
The Verdict: Contenders. That said, once upon a time GMs would collectively crap themselves after reviewing the draft that the PV put together, and this is just not the linen-soiler for me that previous PV drafts were.
The Knights TemplarStrengths: Centre is solid with Spezza/Sedin/Roy (though Roy went much too early for my tastes), and left wing is rock solid with Vanek and Radulov being long term Knights joining Demitra to give them loads of scoring power on the portside. Even the D is pretty good with Weber being the anchor, and a solid three ahead of him in killer B's; Bouwemeester, Blake and Beauchemin.
Weaknesses: Goaltending. Fleury will see a lot of rubber for a team that will prefer to simply outscore opponents rather than play defense. Marc Denis has all but run out of chances to be an NHL starter.
WTF?: The indecision regarding O'Sullivan as a cut prior to the prospect draft was literally mesmerizing for the league. Time stopped as Gms scrambled to put O'Sullivan on their lists in anticipation of his potential availablity. Still, compared to the Knights WTF? moments from the past, this is so minor as to barely be worth noticing.
The Farm: The KT have a history of strong farm teams, and this year is no different. Weber, Radulov and Vanek are all current contributors, and there are lots of potential contributors coming down the pipe including dancing giants like Latendresse, Cherepanov, and Hanzal, and solid offensive defensemen like Shattenkirk.
The Verdict: Long a doormat of the league, if they can fix (or even slightly upgrade) their goaltending the Knights are a very solid contender.
The WolvesStrengths: Deep at centre, awesome in net, and thick with above average defenders.
Weaknesses: Left wing is a potential disaster, and right wing is at best average.
WTF?: The first WTF came with the selection of Avery as the teams top LW in the first round. Somewhat defensible, but the second, and killer WTF came when the Wolves picked Shanahan to be the teams top RW. Nothing the Wolves did after that came close to those two moments for sheer mind-blowing incredulity.
The Farm: In a word, Awesome. Phaneuf leads the D, Stastny and Kopitar are locks two slots at centre, and Jonathon Toewes is ripening on the vine. Even Calder could get a crack at the teams brutal LW given the camp he had.
The Verdict: The Wolves were a pre-season favourite because of their depth, but the GM made some perplexing decisions at the draft table. Still they are a clear Contender - but they aren't the dominant force they could have been.
The ScourgeStrengths: They've got some nice top end pieces especially on defense (which could be awesome if Niedermayer comes back) and right wing where Havlat as a wicked #2 behind the gunner Gaborik.
Weaknesses: The replacement of an FP cost them some depth in terms of where they were picking and the results show at all the three and four spots. Worst of all though, they got bulldozed at the centre position and will be relying heavily on Keith 'the buffet' Tkachuk to carry the load as the teams top pivot.
WTF?: They don't have a gap at centre, they have a black hole - it's so brutal, no light escapes.
The Farm: I thought Barker would be a regular by now, but he's still struggling to make the Hawks full time. I suspect he'll eventually get it together and he could advance. Biron is unofficially the teams backup to Backstrom and he could take over if things get rocky in net. Both Kane and Tlusty were solid (if not outright excellent) picks who should contribute, just not this year.
The Verdict: Without a solid #1 (or even a #2) at the highest scoring position other than goaltender, they are best described as a pretender.
The ShadowmenStrengths: Goaltending should be solid with new FP Lundqvist between the pipes, and the D also looks good with new FP Whitney heading a crew that includes guys like Pitkanen and Corvo.
Weaknesses: Just about everywhere else. The wings are at best 'ok' and in both cases it could be that a TG will be the top liner - which speaks volumes. FP reject Sundin is the teams top pivot. I guess what I'm saying is that it's a good thing Bob routinely laps the field in terms of his trading ability.
WTF?: Less than anything he drafted was the outrageously bold statement that he was tired of drafting new FPs every year and that he would settle down and keep the two youngsters he picked up this year, treating them like, you know,
franchise players. Riiiiiiiiight.
The Farm: Overhauled the entire system by making eight new picks. Re-selected Schremp in one of the more interesting moves, but the gem might well be Jonathon Bernier-G LA who has made the team and is fighting to be a starter.
The Verdict: Pretender. At least till X-mas, by which time he will probably have an entirely new team of players for us to rate.
The Severed Heads:
Strengths: The top six forwards are excellent, the goaltending is aging but excellent, and the D has a top end that is well above average.
Weaknesses: The entire third line is average or worse, and the depth on D is thin after the top three. Hasek is nearing 56 and is playing on groin muscles the consistency of wet shredded wheat.
WTF?: Picked reclamation project Todd Bertuzzi ahead of Afinogenov, but the bigger error might be letting steady offensive defenseman Joel Corvo-Ott go so they could take Kris Letang - now in the minors.
The Farm: Malkin leads the teams pivots, and Backstrom could push for a roster spot given the weakness at the third line. Bobby Ryan has an outside shot of displacing Bernier at the RW.
The Verdict: The team addressed their historic weaknesses at defense, nabbed a pair of above average goaltenders late, and are once again Contenders.
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