NHL

NHL 2006-07 Preview

You may have missed it, but the NHL season began last night. Sure, the NFL is in full head-stomping mode and the formality of baseball’s postseason before yet another Yankees coronation might be distracting, but we’re on top of America’s favorite niche sport here at the oddsnark compound, right down to some fearless predictions.

Of course, it is folly to try and say what will happen in the NHL six or eight months from now. It’s like predicting the weather that far in advance. But here we go.

In the Eastern Conference, the defending Stanley Cup Champion Carolina Hurricanes remain strong. No offense to the good people of Raleigh, but I think I speak for most of North America when I say we don’t want to see the Hurricanes win again. The team that took Carolina to the brink in the conference finals, the Buffalo Sabres, also figure to be near the top of the standings again. But their lineup is still too small, and they should rightfully suffer for their horrendous new logo.

The New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers will make the playoffs but will be too beat up by then to do anything about it.

The New York Islanders and Florida Panthers are absolute messes. The Washington Capitals will improve, but not nearly enough to make a difference. No one in hockey-mad Toronto wants to believe it, but the Maple Leafs are rebuilding.

Among the teams fighting for the last few playoff spots will be the Atlanta Thrashers, who appear to have the best shot in their franchise’s history to make the postseason. The Tampa Bay Lightning still have many of the players that led the team to the Stanley Cup in 2004. The Boston Bruins seem to have finally figured things out and the Montreal Canadiens will always be in the mix. The young Pittsburgh Penguins could be a revelation. One of these teams might pull off a first-round upset if they get to the playoffs, but that’s about it.

That leaves the Ottawa Senators, the NHL’s answer to the Indianapolis Colts — preseason favorites that have great regular seasons then wilt in the playoffs — and the New Jersey Devils, who have some goal scorers to go with the conference’s best goaltender, Marty Brodeur, to battle it out for Eastern supremacy.

In the West, there’s a changing of the guard. Detroit, Dallas, and Colorado are no longer the free-spending bullies that they were before the lockout. Any one, or all three, could still make the playoffs, but won’t cause much damage. The void at the top of the conference has been filled by the likes of the Calgary Flames, who play impeccable defense in front of goalie Mikka Kiprusoff, arguably the league’s best at his position; the speedy Nashville Predators; and the rechristened Anaheim Ducks, who look scary on paper after adding defenseman Chris Pronger. But if the Ducks make the finals again, I may have to swear off hockey for good.

Other teams that figure to battle for playoff spots include the Minnesota Wild, who finally have some goal scorers to assist their stifling defense, and the Columbus Blue Jackets, who, like Atlanta, may be poised to make their first-ever postseason appearance.

The Blackhawks will be hard-pressed to do better than Chicago’s other hockey team, the minor-league Wolves. Wayne Gretzky still won’t be able to turn Phoenix into a hockey town, and the other team that he tried to put on the map, the Los Angeles Kings, continues to muddle along. The Blues made some high-profile moves, signing pricey free agents, reuniting members of Team USA’s 1996 World Cup-winning squad, and naming former goalie/broadcaster John Davidson as team president. Nonetheless, fans in St. Louis will be pining for the days when the team lost in the playoffs every year.

The West has sent some out-of-nowhere teams to the Stanley Cup finals in recent years and this year could be no different.

Calgary interrupted Edmonton’s dynasty in 1986 when Oilers defenseman Steve Smith inadvertently put the puck into his own net late in game seven of a divisional playoff to seal his team’s doom. Even though they’re likely to finish at the top of the conference standings, I foresee something similar vexing the scoring-challenged Flames in the playoffs this year. The beneficiary could be a team that squeaks into the postseason, such as the Vancouver Canucks, who finally have a franchise goalie in Roberto Luongo, or even Edmonton, who figures to be in their customary eighth seed yet again when the playoffs roll around.

That said, history has shown — in all sports — that wrenching defeat in the playoffs often precedes championships. That’s why the Ottawa Senators and the well-balanced San Jose Sharks will play for the 2007 Stanley Cup (Senators in 6). Not exactly the ideal match-up that the NHL would hope for, but 2006-07 promises to be another great year. You don’t know what you’ll be missing.

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