08 should be a piece of cake for wings...until the playoffs.
Posted 12:37 PM ET | Comments 13
The season of 08 is looking great for the wings as of now.last year the wings came tied for first with buffalo{buf had more wins} in points and the only divisionmate who even contended with them was the predators.i mean, lets face it chicago, the hawks suck and the same goes for the bluejackets.the blues are really on the right track but at most they'll contend for a playoff spot especially with the new signings of kariya and tkatchuk.now lets get back to the once contending preds.they have got major ownership problems and after 9 years of building the team up to a contender they throw alot of it away.let us list who they've lost.in goal they lost all star vokoun leaving a good yet unproven goalie in net in mason.on defense they lost timonen and vishnevski their numbers 1 and 3 defenseman leaving zidlicky to fend{no pun intended} for himself.on offense they lost superstars forsberg and kariya{althogh losing forsberg was probably smart} they lost their captain and arguably best player in scott hartnell and 2 core players in upshall and parent.
the red wings are basically the same team as last year give or take{unless hasek turns out to be a real bust}.the way the schedule works that each team plays everyone in their division 8 times that should hopefully be alot of points for the red wings right there.
so their season is{hopefully}set and their playoffs depend on red wings gm,ken holland{who was rated by all other gms,the best gm in the league}.he needs to , come trade deadline make a big deal for a ''rent a player'' to make it throgh the big guns in the west i.e.sharks,ducks,and ultimately to the stanley cup.
after all is said we'll see what happens.
GO WINGS!!!!!!!!!
the red wings are basically the same team as last year give or take{unless hasek turns out to be a real bust}.the way the schedule works that each team plays everyone in their division 8 times that should hopefully be alot of points for the red wings right there.
so their season is{hopefully}set and their playoffs depend on red wings gm,ken holland{who was rated by all other gms,the best gm in the league}.he needs to , come trade deadline make a big deal for a ''rent a player'' to make it throgh the big guns in the west i.e.sharks,ducks,and ultimately to the stanley cup.
after all is said we'll see what happens.
GO WINGS!!!!!!!!!
I think Kenny is great too, but I've been very underwhelmed with what he has done this offseason. We need another top scorer, particularly a right handed shot. We were short in that area last year and lost our only righty who could score in Lang. I think Rafalski for Schneider is a push but we need more scoring. The current roster does not have enough. I'd like to see Kenny make a serious offer to Teammu Selanne.
you sure dont know anything about the predators. let me correct that... you got the players that are missing correct but thats it. have you EVER seen them play?
the blues will not be a push over
The Wings will easily win the division. =/
blues will be a disappointment. preds will be better than we think. they are extremely talented.
The Preds will revert back to "expansion" franchise form. They will be bad, really bad. No scoring, no D, no goalie. And not enough fans to keep the team in town. Recipe for disaster there. Someone has to finish second in the division and that team would appear to be St. Loser. But I wouldn't get too excited Blows fans. You are still not good enough to make the playoffs. Detroit runs away with this division by the All Star Break. We still need another scoring forward though...
sWuave24, man.... quit drinking the koolaid. the preds wont be a 110 point team but you really need to look at their roster. i think they are a playoff team as long as mason is healthy
While my natural reaction is to balk at your arrogant comments about the Wings and negative views of the Blues, Predators, Jackets, and Hawks, I will try to remain objective. The Wings DEFINITELY surprised quite a few people last season (myself included) with their finish (points). If (and that is IF) everything remains the same and the Wings are not hit by major injuries, I agree that the Wings will win the Central Division (but not "easily").
I believe the Blues will be good. And of course the hated Wings will win the division again...
Wow. You almost sound like you know what you're talking about. That is, unless someone who knows what their talking about reads this. You are way off on your Preds analysis. First off goaltending. It sucks to lose Vokoun, but Mason unproven? He split the season with Vokoun last year and had slightly better numbers. He finished second in the league in save%. Next lets look at dmen. Once again, it sucks to lose Timonen, but Weber is ready to take over the #1 dman spot and it makes room for one of our logjam of defensive prospects to come up (Klien). You have Vishnevski as our #3 dman? He barely ever played for the Preds. Poile apologized to him at the end of the season for picking him up but never playing him. He was our #7 dman at best. As far as forwards, there is a little bit of dropoff there. The loss of Kariya and Hartnell will be felt, but Radulov is a superstar in the making and we've picked up some grit guys and Gelinas will help close the gap as well. Upshall was stuck on the third line on this team and Parent wasn't even at the NHL level yet. While Parent will be a good NHL player, so will some of the other prospects we have in the system. So all in all, there won't be much drop off from last year. Between Detroit, Nashville and St. Louis it should be a fun race to the division title. I'm glad to see the Blues getting their stuff together. It will be nice to have 3 playoff caliber teams in the Central.
It's easy to write off the Predators on the basis of recent developments, but it's foolish. They're still in the mix and they'll challenge everyone.If the kids the Hawks have in their system have great rookie campaigns, they will get better and fast. I like the moves the team has made in the off season.The Blues could be the biggest turnaround in the NHL. They were very competitive last year and now they have the talent and depth to get into the playoffs.The Blue Jackets..... might be playoff bound by 2015, but don't quote me on that.I think the Central will tighten up from first through fourth and the Red Wings could have trouble reaching the top. Oh, they're clear favorites, but it's not that simple anymore.
I think this blog hits the right spot...every team in the division, besides the blues, did lose key players...The blues seem to be the only team that improved themselves from not within the team.
To Risebroughs credit he has been patient growing his roster. It looks like his patience has paid off as the Wild now have some young stars like James Sheppard, Benoit Pouliott, and Petr Kalus (acquired from Boston for Manny Fernandez) to go along with a strong veteran cast of players. Risebroughs biggest accomplishment recently was the acquisition of Nicolas Backstrom, the goalie that shocked the league last year with his incredible play in the nets. To put it plain and simple you have to ask yourself how long is it reasonable for two Hockey Icons like Lemaire and Risebrough to have to wait to win the Stanley cup ?? I personally think that it could happen for the Wild this year, but if it's not this year it absolutely will be in 2009