There are some people that suit moustaches.  Lanny suits one, but that was his trademark, and he also played in the '70's.  However, some people do not and I am one of those people.  Movember is for a good cause, and this is coming from someone that has to endure those special inspections once a year from their doctors.

Notice a common theme....moustaches are associated with a finger in the ass.  But really, Movember is in the rear view mirror, so shave already.  I've had a moustache before.  I made this dumb shit rule for a weekend that if you wanted to fish in my boat, you had to have a moustache.  Fuck, I know...dumb.  Nowadays, the only people that wear moustaches on a regular basis (more commonly known as year-rounders), are pedophiles, truck drivers that love lot lizards, and members of the alternative lifestyle community.  November is done...shave that fucking ridiculous looking shit off of your lip.

Except you...you just keep being you.

So...Ryan Miller came out a week or so ago and stated that he didn't think he was "concussed" by the hit from Lucic.  I figured as much.  As someone that is not a doctor, I feel comfortable stating that Miller did not lose conciousness, remained thoroughly active after the hit, did not appear "out of sorts", so attaching the concussion label to it was preposterous.  In my unprofessional opinion. So, last night Tootoo made contact with Miller, and for once Buffalo wasn't a bunch of pussies about it.  Listen, if someone even "bumps" your goalie in local scrub leagues, that person has to pay. You don't wait a fucking week and a half to take care of business.  You fucking deal with it on the spot.  Even though Buffalo didn't have anyone that could stand up to Lucic, or even Ference for that matter, you still put the effort in.  If you step in for a teammate and get your ass kicked on National TV, someone is buying you a lot of beers.  Buffalo responded quickly this time.  No week and a half of embarassment in the National media after this one.

Okay...how come no one is making the obvious "prepare to be Sherminated" jokes with this guy?  His fucking comeback against Boston was so overhyped in Canada, that it was making me sick.  I was hoping that the Bruins put the hurt into the leafs last night, and they did.  There is so much talk about how good Reim-job is for the leafs and how he is a legit number one goalie in the league.  I however, disagree wholeheartedly with that statement.  Lets look at his numbers...

7 GS, 4-1-1, 18 GA, 2.80 GAA, and a .900 sv %.  Overall, not bad numbers.  Number 1 goalie numbers?  The toronto media is so fucking deluded it is humourous.  Want to know who else has good numbers?  This guy.

And his numbers?

8 gs, 4-3-1, 17 GA, 2.09 GAA, and a .920 sv%.  Yup...slightly better than a so-called number 1 goalie.  And Rask is a capable backup.  Reimer is a bum.  What happens when the leafs play a competent and competitive team?  They get buried.  I am fully aware that I am on here complaining about the amount of media coverage that the loafs (not a typo) garner in Canada is sickening.  So why am I doing it?  The answer my friends is quite simple.  I am doing it for those on this site that I happen to have a bet with in regards to the loafs (once again, not a typo) making the playoffs.  I am using this platform to point out their obvious shortcomings, which there are many of.  For example, the loafs only have 8 players on the correct side of the infamous +/- stat.  And only 2 of them are defensemen.  Yup...a porous defense to say the least.  The whole point of winning hockey games is scoring more goals than your opponents.  For example, a team like Pittsburgh has a goal differential of +21, Boston has a goal differential of +34, and even Florida has a goal differential of +12.  Toronto?  -2... and as of last night, they are now in 6th place in the Eastern Conference.  Barely in front of a Buffalo team with Miller returning and a Washington team with a new hard ass coach in place.  Next week, I have a feeling the loafs will have fallen into 7th, maybe even 8th place, and with games against New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils and the aforementioned Washington Capitals, the loafs will be lucky to win 1 of those games.

There are only a few things that I love more than hating on the loafs.  And as I was telling Sully this morning, getting divorced did wonders for my sex life.

And now for your punch in the face of the week...

Hordichuk vs Boll

Time for the return of the whale tail of the week.

And for the Beezer, I would be remiss if I did not showcase the Great One's daughter.  Unfortunately, she has deleted her Twitter account, but here are some of her pics that she was posting.  Enjoy.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hotchnuts

Am I motivated?  No.  Have I been motivated lately?  Not really.  Motivation is a fickle creature that can have some serious implications when it rears its ugly head.  I had a hard time last night, even getting motivated to go to a friends Halloween party.  Was I motivated enough to go?  Barely.  Was I motivated enough to wear a costume?  Nope.  Was I okay with it?  Yup.  Were my buddies okay with it?  Yup.  So that is where the motivation problem becomes contagious. 

Is motivation the problem in Boston?  Is motivation the problem in every Stanley Cup Hangover?  In all seriousness, it must be hard for the winning team to move on while the Cup is still in the building.  The Bruins need to forget about last season, forget about all the public appearances they were doing at the start of this season with the Cup, and simply get motivated once again.  That is where the value of a Mark Recchi was evident.  Maybe the Bruins need a veteran leader right now, that can look at the problem objectively and try to right the sinking ship.  The main key players that the Bruins lost last season were Recchi and Ryder.  Was Ryder the positive influence on the young players on the Bruins?  I can definitively say no.  Recchi provided some much needed leadership and dedication that the Bruins seem to be lacking right now.  Peter Chiarelli needs to do something quickly, before the Bruins get themselves into a hole so deep, that trying to climb out of it provides them with a defeatist type of attitude.  What are Chiarelli's options?  The Bruins have the cap room and they have the resources to go and find that veteran leader that they are sorely lacking.  Does it mean going out and getting a player like Recchi?  Yes it does.  Does it mean going out and getting a player that may have played with Recchi and had won the Cup with him?  Maybe that is where the value in a player like Ray Whitney lies.  Consistent scoring, veteran leadership, and someone who has been in the game long enough and can be relied on to help augment the current leadership group in the Bruins dressing room.  That's right augment...because after all, it still is Chara's team

This is an occurence we have seen all season long, and this issue has been around in smatterings for the last few years.  Shanny is coming in and trying to repair the damage that his predecessor caused.  The players just aren't getting it, and it makes perfect sense.  Let me use an analogy here.  Lets pretend there is a school that has a principal close to retirement.  When there is a little dustup on the schoolyard, the principal is content with phoning the kids parents (GM and coaches) and bringing the students into his office for a meeting.  The principal then scolds the students involved, and in severe cases, tells the student that he is going to have to spend a couple of days at home.  The word starts to get around that this principal really doesn't care, he's going to be retiring anyways.  Eventually, that person retires and a new principal takes over.  This new principal is younger and new to the job.  Maybe this new principal worked under the old principal as a vice principal, and maybe the whole time he was taking notes on how he would have handled the different situations.  Once the new principal takes over, he sends a letter home to all the kids parents and advises them of his expectations.  Now, it is his time and his chance to clean up the issues that he had spent the last period of time seeing handled improperly.  So he comes out hitting hard, suspending students that were getting away with their little dustups for the last couple of years.  Now the students are looking at each other and thinking, wow, that was a suspension?  The new principal now has to change the culture of behaviour in his school, and he now has the golden opportunity to fix what he saw as being incorrect. 

Would Campbell of suspended this type of hit last season?  Maybe.  Will Shanahan suspend this type of hit?  You can rest assured he will.  It is going to take a few more consistent suspensions before this starts to right itself again, and the players start to respect each other once more.  This could be the year of the first time offender, and it is already shaping up that way.  Players that have never been in trouble with the NHL before are now finding themselves called onto the carpet, so to speak.  Something that the NHL had been lacking in the past was consistency and transparency.  With Shanahan in place, hopefully they have the correct person in charge.  Personally, I have always been a fan of Shanahan.  It takes a lot of balls to stand in front of a camera and justify his decisions to his fans and to his players.  That in itself, provides Shanahan with more respect from me.  For a long time now, I have been an advocate to the "Fire Campbell" movement.  Now that he is gone, it is now Shanny's league to enforce how he pleases.  And as it would appear, he likes to do it with consistency and transparency.  Will he do something that I will disagree with?  I can guarantee you he will.  But you have to respect what Shanahan is trying to do.  Shanny has to change the culture of behaviour that has been prevalent in the NHL for the past few seasons, and it will not be an easy job.  We are going to see many more suspensions this season, and some of them may be from players that have never had contact with the NHL discipline offices.  But it is going to happen.  And it may have to be a suspension to a player like Datsyuk or Crosby for the rest of the league to really understand how serious Shanahan is about his new job.

Hockey Fight of the Week:

Mike Brown vs Kris Newbury

Thanks for stopping by.

Hotchnuts

Eastern Conference

Final Standings:

1. Washington Capitals
2. Pittsburgh Penguins
3. Buffalo Sabres
4. Boston Bruins
5. Philadelphia Flyers
6. New York Rangers
7. Tampa Bay Lightning
8. Carolina Hurricanes
9. Montreal Canadiens
10. New Jersey Devils
11. Toronto Maple Leafs
12. Florida Panthers
13. Winnipeg Jets
14. New York Islanders
15. Ottawa Senators 

Atlantic Division:

1.     Pittsburgh Penguins

One question that has been beat into our heads and has remained unanswered this offseason is how long will Crosby be out?  Pens fans shouldn’t really be that concerned in looking for an answer to that question.  The Pens played the last 41 games of the season without Crosby, and still managed a 4^thplace finish in the conference.  It would be smart to allow Crosby to take his time and make sure that when he returns to the game, he will be 100%.  Ray Shero made a smart move in the off season, bringing in C Steve Sullivan.  Sullivan should be good for about 45 points on the season.  As well, if Malkin can come back healthy, the Penguins are going to be one of the strongest teams in the Eastern Conference.  Backup goalie Brent Johnson will not be a liability when he has the chance to give Fleury a rest.  The Pens also stacked up a couple of key players on their back end, adding Martin and Michalek.  Pittsburgh could be frightfully good on their back end this season.  However, one question that may haunt the Penguins this year is depth.  In the event of a couple key injuries, do the Pens have enough scoring to carry them through?  That is where the late season trade for James Neal comes in.  6 points in 20 games isn’t going to cut it, especially after scoring 39 in 59 games for Dallas.  Neal is a good young player, and he will be the player to watch for the Pens this season.

2.     Philadelphia Flyers

Ever since the departure of Hextall, the Flyers haven’t had a solid number one goaltender.  The net has been a constant carousel of goalies, each trying to earn the job full time.  Names such as Cechmanek, Snow, Vanbiesbrouk, Boucher, Emery, Hackett, Froese, Soderstrom…I could go on forever.  However, this year, as well as every other year, the Flyers believe that they have found their guy.  Bryzgalov will be a consistent performer for the Flyers this season, but we will see how he can deal with the legendary Flyer fan animosity if he starts a string of bad games.  We’ll see how he deals with getting his first trailer hitch thrown at him.  Fans in Philly are a little more “passionate” than the average fan in Phoenix.  Philly had to move some important stock in order to land Bryzgalov, and that involved moving key players such as Carter and Richards.  That is going to be a lot of points that will need to be spread out amongst the rest of the team.  Players such as Giroux, Van Riemsdyk and Simmonds are going to be leaned on heavily this season.  However, the addition of Jagr will help them out, but one shouldn’t expect record setting numbers from Jagr.  Voracek will be a helpful addition as well, and even though the Flyers lost 2 of their top 4 scorers, they won’t feel the pinch.  Their back end is as solid as ever, with grey bushes Pronger and Timonen leading the show; that is, if Pronger can remain healthy.  The Flyers have one of the better D-Cores in the Eastern Conference this season, and with no major changes, more will be expected.  Were the GAA last year indicative of average goaltending or because of inconsistency on the back end?  This year will tell us.

3.     New York Rangers

The Rangers are well on their way of developing their younger players and moving forward.  The addition of Brad Richards will help the Rangers see that they are not blowing as many third period leads this season.  More responsibility is being placed on the Rangers younger players, and forwards such as Dubinsky and Callahan are going to asked to shoulder the majority of the workload this season.  Gaborik is always consistent, but that is only when he is healthy.  Gaborik missed 20 games last season, but this season he will need to be much better.  Support from Stepan and Boyle will help the Rangers take the next step, but they are still a fairly young team.  On their back end, players such as Staal, Girardi and McDonagh will be playing together for a few more years yet, and they will continue to improve as the season develops.  If only Del Zotto can shake off a forgettable sophomore year, he will emerge and help round out one of the best top 4’s in the East.  How are the Rangers going to be in the nets this year?  One word…Lundqvist.  Quite simply, one of the best in the game and he can carry this team through many games this season, just like he has in the past.  With Biron as a backup, he is capable of playing huge minutes in relief of Hank, but honestly, can anyone see him taking a stretch of games off?  Henrik played over 4000 minutes last season, and was just shy of the numbers that would qualify a Vezina nomination.  The player to watch this season on the Rangers will be newcomer Mats Zuccarello.  Zuccarello will be seeing more ice time this season, and lets see what kind of numbers he can put up in a full NHL season.  Bottom line for the Rangers is this…getting knocked out by the Caps in the playoffs could be the best thing to happen to this young team.

4.     New Jersey Devils

Entering this season, there are 2 major questions that need to be answered; can the Devils rebound from a simply horrific start to the 2010-2011 season, and is it time for the Devils to start thinking about life without Brodeur?  There were lots of factors that could be blamed for the Devils poor start.  How much of the blame can be placed on the injuries to Parise and Brodeur?  How much can be placed on the teams lack of response to head coach John MacLean?  And finally, if Kovalchuk stumbles out of the gate once again, will the same pattern be repeated?  However, in light of all of these occurrences, the Devils still turned it around and were in playoff contention in mid March.  What the Devils accomplished in the second half was pretty remarkable, and that deserves some accolades.  However, one fact remains true; the Devils have only won 1 playoff round in the last 5 seasons.  Unlike Brodeur, Kovalchuk is going to be around for much longer.  Why Jersey would allow a player such as Parise to go to arbitration is beyond me.  Parise is one of their premier players and Lamoriello needs to ensure that he is around long term.  Hopefully the arbitration process didn’t shake Parise’s faith in the organization too dramatically.  Unlike the division rival Rangers, the Devils are an aging group and time is running out on this group to win it all together.  The Devils will need to score more than 174 goals this season, which was the lowest goal scored total in the league last season.  Elias can still be counted on to be a regular contributor, but players such as Zubrus and Zajac will have to do better than their 44 and 30 point seasons respectively.  A healthy Parise will add to the goals scored total, but at the same time, they will need to improve on a 14.4% power play goals as well, which garnered them 28^thplace in the league last season.  Aside from a solid top 2 d-men in Tallinder and Volchenkov, there isn’t much depth on their back end as they need.  Sure they only allowed 209 goals last season, but this may be the opportunity that Adam Larsson needs to crack the lineup and be a full time Devil

5.     New York Islanders

Believe it or not, things are starting to shape up on the Island.  The Islanders will be better this season, and GM Snow has slowly and quietly been putting together a solid core of young players.  Sure, drafting a player of Tavares’ talent makes it much easier to build a team, but Snow has done a fairly remarkable job.  For the Isles, the tough part of the rebuild may be completed.  Now, it is time to build on last year and show steady gains year to year.  Players such as Grabner, Moulson and Tavares may be three of the most talented young players on one team.  There, I said it.  Throw in players such as Parenteau, Nielson, Bailey and Comeau, and the future is starting to look bright on the Island.  The Isles have also quietly built up their farm system, and have drafted some prospects that could make the Islanders forwards an elite group within 5 or 6 years.  If Snow can keep this current group of forwards together, they may be reminiscent of another group of young forwards that remained together in the 80’s until Bruce McNall got involved.  And no, I am not alluding that any member of the Islanders is close to being of 99 status.  It is just a reference to an extremely talented young group.  One thing that has plagued the Isles year after year is the health of DiPietro.  However, when DiPietro does get injured (and he will), it will be up to Al Montoya to carry the bulk of the workload.  Once upon a time, there were two amazing US Born Goalie Prospects named Montoya and Dipietro.  Montoya worked hard every day and even did his evil step-brothers chores, but no matter how hard he worked, he always remained in the shadows of his charismatic and fragile step-brother.  Sounds like a fairy tale, but the whole concept of an oft-injured DiPietro is a nightmare for the majority of the Isles fans.  One thing that the fans can count on though, is that Montoya will be a more than suitable replacement for DiPietro.  Throw in the possibility of Nabakov being in the mix, and an injury to DiPietro may be the best thing to happen for the Islanders goalies.  On the back end, they were hit with numerous injuries that allowed quite a few depth players to see some ice.  For such a young team, dealing with the news that they would miss Streit for last season, was quite the blow.  If Streit can return at 100%, there is still a hodgepodge of d men back there.  Players such as Hamonic, Eaton and Mottau are going to be counted on to provide some much needed stability and security.  The Islanders are moving forward ever so slightly, but they have a number of shining stars in their future.

Northeast Division:

1. Buffalo Sabres

With a new ownership that has loosened off the purse strings, the Sabres have to be considered a legitimate threat this season.  The Sabres were the hottest team going into the playoffs this past spring, winning 16 of its final 24 games to enter the playoffs with the number 7 seed.  The Sabres were always a piece or two short of completing the puzzle, and after trading for Regehr and signing Ehrhoff long term, the Sabres have one of the strongest blue lines in the Conference.  Tyler Myers is going to be counted on to improve on last years numbers, and he will have lots of opportunity to see the ice this season.  Finally, the Sabres have an ownership that is willing to go out and spend money on players.  Last season, Stafford and Ennis made strides in becoming pivotal pieces in the future of the Sabres.  In 2010-11, only three teams in the Eastern Conference scored more goals than the Sabres, and let’s remember that they did that even while missing Derek Roy for the majority of the season.  With a healthy core group of forwards, the Sabres have a balanced and legitimate attack with skaters such as Hecht, Pominville, Boyes, Vanek and others.  In nets, Ryan Miller is capable of stealing multiple games this season.  Remember, Miller is only one season removed from a Vezina winning campaign.  Jhonas Enroth will get a chance to start some games, but not very many.  With Miller starting in 65 games last year, Enroth still found time to win 9 games for Buffalo.  With Lindy Ruff at the helm again this year, this Sabres team is going to be one of the most entertaining teams to watch this season.  Count on Ruff to ensure that the Sabres do not underachieve.

2.     Boston Bruins

One can only watch in amazement when Thomas is working between the pipes.  Thomas has been oft-criticized for being an unorthodox goalie by numerous analysts, but he has done what many of them couldn’t; win a Stanley Cup and multiple Vezinas.  The Bruins managed to maintain their core group of young players, and aside from Recchi retiring and Ryder renting a U-Haul bound for Texas, the Bruins are still the same team.  With Savard regrettably on the shelf for the duration of this season, it puts a hole in the Bruins that can easily be filled.  Last season, Krejci and Bergeron filled in admirably in his absence, and Krejci will be leaned upon lots this year.  Seguin will continue to develop, and playing on this Bruins team will help him immensely.  Just remember, that head coach Claude Julien will continue to expose Seguin to different situations slowly.  There will be some questions about Horton after his concussion in the post season, but if he can come back healthy, he will be relied on to provide some additional scoring to help plug the hole left by Recchi.  Big things are going to be expected from the little sparkplug that is Brad Marchand.  Marchand was pivotal in the Bruins championship run last spring, and he will be expected to pick up where he left off.  On their back end, any d-core that is led by Chara is going to be strong and steady.  Other d-men such as McQuaid, Boychuk, Ference, Corvo and Seidenberg will round out a very strong back end.  For being the best goalie in the world right now, Thomas reminds me of someone you’d bump into in line for a beer.  Thomas posted record numbers last season, and he isn’t showing any intention of slowing down.  Rask will get the opportunity to play in plenty of games this season, and head coach Claude Julien has already stated that the Bruins are entering the season with 2 number 1 goalies.  Adam McQuaid finished a remarkable +30 last season, and with an increase in ice time possible, he will improve on last seasons numbers.

3.     Montreal Canadiens

The Habs definitely have some speed to burn up front, but it’ll take more than speed to make this a contending team.  One would have a hard time stomaching the high priced contracts handed out to the likes of Gionta, Gomez, and Cammalleri.  The Habs did not get their moneys worth from their highest paid players. The addition of Erik Cole will help with secondary scoring, but the majority of the Habs wins this season are going to come from low scoring games.  Last season, Montreal finished with 44 wins, but they only scored 216 goals.  Players such as Gomez need to score more, simply put.  Young players such as Lars Eller is ready to be the offensive contributor that Gauthier thought he was trading for when Halak was moved.  On the back end, the Habs felt the pinch when Gorges and Markov both went down with injuries.  Subban was able to step up and fill in when needed, and now that the Habs have seen what he may be capable of; the expectations will be considerably higher this year.  Montréal’s d-core should be fairly solid this year, with Weber and Yemelin chomping at the bit for more ice time.  If Montreal can make it through this season relatively injury free, they may be in the position to move some assets to help their scoring, or lack of as it will be.  In the nets, Price will be a workhorse once again.  After starting in 70 games last season, he set career numbers in GAA and SV%.  Peter Budaj will continue to be the reliable backup that he has been throughout his career, but realistically he shouldn’t be expecting to get a lot of work.

4.     Toronto Maple Leafs

Toronto is developing and acquiring some talented young players.  Grabovski is coming off career highs in every important category, but will he improve again this year?  There has been a fair bit of pressure placed on youngsters Bozak and Kadri to develop and produce right away, but the emergence of MacArthur and Kulemin provided the Leafs the chance to ease off on Kadri and Bozak.  The Leafs hope that Connolly will be the center that Kessel needs, but as always, his health is an issue.  On defense, Phaneuf will be the workhorse on the blue line, with Schenn and Aulie slowly emerging as a legitimate threats.  The bottom line is that the d-core needs to be better and improve on their 251 goals allowed last season.  The acquisitions of Liles and Franson will help them on their back end, but their goals against would have been much worse if it wasn’t for the emergence of James Reimer.  Reimer is going into this season as the number one goalie for the Leafs.  After starting in 35 games last season, Reimer is going to shoulder the workload this year.  However, if he starts to slip, the Leafs will not have much of a choice but to turn to Gustavsson, who has been hampered by a heart condition the last couple of seasons.  If Gustavsson is unable to go or performs subpar, the Leafs are going to have to go to the well that is the Marlies for a call up.

5.     Ottawa Senators

As an outsider looking in, I watch in amazement and wonder how Bryan Murray has been able to keep his job.  Numerous quality coaches have been sent down the river in years past, and the next man in the breach is Paul MacLean.  MacLean will have a fairly young team to work with this year, with players such as Fisher, Kelly, Ruutu, Kovalev and Elliot gone.  After using 6 goalies (Brodeur, McElhinney, Leclaire, Elliot, Lehner, and Anderson) during the 2010-11 season, the Sens are hoping that they finally have their man in Craig Anderson.  As well, the only players that can tell people that they had a good year and keep a straight face were Karlsson and Spezza.  The Sens have a fairly young team this season, and Paul MacLean is hopefully the right man for the job.  Alfredsson needs to come back at 100% after his injury, and prove his worth to the Sens this year.  A young team will need his veteran presence in the locker room.  Young players such as Bobby Butler and Nick Foligno need to improve on last seasons numbers, and they are going to have plenty of opportunity to do just that.  Last year, the Senators allowed 250 goals against.  That is simply horrific, and the Senators only had 2 of the d-men that they used all season finish on the right side of the +/- category.  Defensemen such as Phillips (-35) and Kuba (-26) simply need to be better.  This is going to be a long season for the Sens, but if certain players continue to develop and improve on seasons past, many Senator players will reach career highs. 

Southeast Division

1.     Washington Capitals

Life is good in Washington.  They have a great team, a supportive and rabid fan base, and a couple of the most exciting players in the game today.  Regardless of regular season achievements, until the Capitals do something, they are on the same page as the Sharks; playoff pretenders.  Washington has drafted extremely well over the years, and they are going to continue to reap the benefits for quite a few years.  Players such as John Carlson (yes, I’m still upset over his amazing goal in the WJHC), Marcus Johansson and Mathieu Perrault are going to continue to develop at the NHL level.  McPhee made a couple of moves in the off season, bringing in Joel Ward and Troy Brouwer.  The Capitals will recover from a low scoring 224 goal (by their standards) season and will continue to improve defensively.  Players such as Backstrom and Semin (especially after he was criticized in the press for his unambitious play) need to increase their offensive production.  With Green missing significant time last season, Carlson emerged as a player capable of handling the minutes.  Washington further bolstered their blue line by adding Wideman and signing Hamrlik to a d-core that already had Green, Poti, Alzner, Erskine and Schultz.  With the off season moves that the Caps made in their nets, Vokoun will handle the workload nicely and should be expected to play between 50 and 60 games this year.  If Vokoun begins to struggle, Neuvirth has shown that he is more than capable of stepping in.

2.     Tampa Bay Lightning

By making it into the third round of the playoffs last season, the Lightning grew in leaps and bounds.  Key younger players such as Stamkos and Purcell had an extra long drink at the post season fountain.  Let’s remember that this was the team that came back against the Crosby-less Penguins and then sweep the Capitals last season.  Guy Boucher had his team motivated and ready for success last season and new GM Steve Yzerman put some key elements in place.  Any team that can put players of the caliber of Lecavalier, St Louis and Stamkos together has to be considered a serious threat.  Throw in some secondary scoring support from Moore, Downie, Purcell and Thompson, and the Lightning can be extremely offensive.  If Gilroy can become the type of player that Yzerman thought he was when he went after him as a free agent and if Hedman continues to develop, the Lightning can have a very strong defensive team as well.  Throw in Brewer, Kubina, Ohlund and Clark, it would appear that the Lightning are very deep in their own end.  Roloson enters the season as the number one goalie, but if he starts to show his age, look for Garon to start to take the majority of the starts away.  The Lightning have many of the pieces in place to compete in the playoffs.

3.     Carolina Hurricanes

Eric Staal is arguably one of the best centers in the league, and he is barely 27 years old.  After missing out on the post season in their last game of the season, the Hurricanes should be expected to make the cut this year.  One thing that may have hurt the Hurricanes last year was depth.  Carolina simply lacked secondary scoring that was effective enough to guarantee a post season berth.  Staal and Skinner are a very competent combination, and Skinner has developed faster than many thought he was going to.  Players such as Boychuk, Jokinen, Larose, Ponikarovsky and Sutter are going to have to pick up the slack and provide some much needed secondary scoring this season.  As well, the current group of forwards on the Hurricanes needs to be more active in their own end, and they need to be more efficient back checkers.  The d-core will be anchored by Gleason and Pitkanen, and the additions of Allen and Kaberle will help out dramatically.  Going into this season, Cam Ward will continue to eat up starts for the Canes, and Brian Boucher will be relegated to opening the gate for the majority of this season.  Boucher can expect to get about 10 starts this season, barring any injury to Ward. 

4.     Florida Panthers

Heading into this season with a new head coach in Kevin Dineen, the learning curve is going to be quick in Florida this season.  During the regular season, GM Dale Tallon was active (as usual) and was ready to make moves to improve his club.  Tallon moved the majority of the veteran talent out of town, and quickly stocked up on draft picks and young prospects.  As a result, Dineen is taking over a younger team, and essentially, a chunk of clay for him to mold.  Last season, Florida’s leading goal scorer only had 23, and the team leader for points was 49, you would think that there is a lot of room for improvement.  Players such as Santorelli and Bradley will be leaned upon to produce, and the addition of Bergenheim should help.  On the back end, it doesn’t look much better for Florida.  Kulikov, Campbell, Weaver and Jovonovski (yup…he’s still playing) on their back end, there is a lot of opportunity for Gudbranson and Ellerby to eat up some minutes.  In the nets this season, Jose Theodore may emerge as the number one tender going into this season.  His leash may be a little shorter this season, and if he starts to struggle, Kevin Dineen may give Markstrom an extra long look.  Markstrom will be the Panthers tender of the future, but they need to be careful that they don’t burn him out early in his career.

5.     Winnipeg Jets

A new home is not enough to improve the Atlanta Thrashers.  Sure, the players will get to experience a circus like atmosphere with their games, which may be a new feeling for many of them that have been in Atlanta long term.  Even though the Jets are a fairly young team, they are still a very talented team.  Offensively, the team has Ladd, Kane, Antropov, Little, and Wheeler.  Forwards such as Burmistrov, Cormier and Glass are going to be expected to contribute more offensively, while players such as Byfuglien and Enstrom will add to their offensive totals.  On the back end, Byfuglien and Enstrom will be anchoring the d-core with Bogosian and Oduya providing additional support.  However, last season the Thrashers finished 29^thin the NHL with 269 goals against.  That number is going to have to decrease dramatically before the Jets can be considered a legitimate threat for the playoffs.  The Thrashers were also 20^thin the league for goals scored, another stat that is going to have to improve before they can be taken seriously as a playoff threat.  In the nets, the combination of Pavelec and Mason will provide to be an adequate goaltending tandem, but their numbers will have to be better.

As always, these types of prognostications always come with opinions of varying degree.  Let me have it if I am right the fuck out to lunch.  

And now, your hockey fight of the week.  A great fight between Brian McGratton and Cam Janssen.  Two great competitors.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hotchnuts

When I was considering my blog for this week, I thought I would take a completely different route from my previous blogs. I know a lot of you are thinking huh, he is not bragging about his Tigers or Lions this week? Well, you are right in this instance, I am taking a complete right turn and taking a shot at talking hockey, NHL style.......

My initial thoughts were to start with the contenders for the Stanley Cup (or at least the teams) I thought should contend, and preview their teams. I also thought no better place then to start with this past seasons Champs the Boston Bruins.......

The Bruins' will be tested this season like no other, shot summer with the Cup touring the world, and even making a brief stop near my hometown when Tim Thomas returned home to Davison, Michigan to show off his various accomplishments from this past season.

Now that the franchises 39-year championship drought has ended, it's time for the Bruins to transition from celebrating their 2011 Stanley Cup title to seeking a repeat. Unlike the Bruins' last Cup-winning club, in 1972, the 2011 edition of the Bruins was able to retain nearly its entire roster heading into the defense of its crown, so familiarity and chemistry shouldn't be a problem.

With Pouliot, Corvo, and a more-experienced Tyler Sequin, the Bruins should be more than equipped to make up for the loss of Mark Recchi to retirement and Tomas Kaberle and Michael Ryder to free agency......

That no team has repeated as Cup champs since the 1998 Detroit Red Wings is proof the "Stanley Cup hangover" is real. Coach Claude Julien already is prepared for the pitfalls his team will need to avoid as it starts from scratch in the NHL Standings. In my opinion, even with all of the pieces in place to defend the cup, it is going to be rather difficult for the Bruins to repeat this season as Champs.  The short summer break, and playing over 100 games last season, are going to be the major obstacles for them to overcome......

I remember a stretch where the Red Wings played around 300 games over a 3-year period, which included back-to-back trips to the Cup-finals against the Penguins. The third season, the Red Wings were eliminated by the Sharks, and have not even been close to the finals since........

If you want to learn more about the history of one of the NHL's Original Six teams, go to the Bruins official team page at http://www.bostonbruins.com. Thanks for Reading my post, up next I will be previewing the San Jose Sharks..........
 

  They're getting really good at throwing Championship parties in Boston! Nice B-Cups!


Yeah, they have every right to run smack...Boston has been doing some serious ass-kicking over the last ten years...I saw one sign being held by a little kid, that said something like, 'I'm 8 years old and I can die now!' Then it had Pats Championship checked off...Sox Championship checked off...Celtics Championship checked off...And Bruins Championship checked off...I'm just hoping to see 1 championship in the Cleve, before I drop dead!

I would have posted that picture, but I came across this one...


Like I said, they've got this Championship party thing down in Boston!

Oh and here's one for Burrows and his buddies in Vancouver...



Oh, how's your city doing assholes? What too soon? What a STAIN...

So now that Hockey's long-ass season is over, and we're waiting for Football, we have Baseball, and their grossly, way to long season to help kill the time...There has been all kinds of talk about realignment and rule changes and blah, blah, blah...Here's what I would do if I was the all-powerful, ruler of Baseball...

1. DH for everyone...Screw the National League and their purists...DH in both leagues creates more jobs...The Union would love it, and that's good 'cause at some point we're gonna need their support on something...With the rare exception, watching Pitchers hit is like watching a retarded monkey try to hump a Football...

2. Shorten the season...No more cold ass April games...Season will start in May...No more World Series on a cold October/November evening...Season will end 1st week of October at the latest, so passionate, purists can still say "Fall/October Classic"...

3. No Interleague play...The beauty of the "All-Star" Game and World Series is not having seen your opponent...Us vs. Them...These ass-hats want the "All-Star" game to count for home field in the World Series, then this adds to the competitiveness...

4. No fan voting for the "All-Star"...If it's gonna count, then the teams should be picked to make it count, and it should be played to count...And then you wouldn't have a douchebag like Jeter ahead of Asdrubal Cabrera in the voting...Since Cabrera is fucking killing it! Not just with the bat either...10 years ago, Jeter wouldn't have made this play the Cabrera made Sunday...




So that's my plan...What do you got?

Sunday was Father's Day...Often Father's Day seems like an afterthought to many people...Bu not at the Beeze's house...After I got up early with the baby, once everyone else woke up, the Mrs. sent me back to bed...About an hour and a half later, the Little Beeze woke me up and said, "Dad, don't come down stairs yet, I'm not done with your surprise!" I of course obliged, and went back to sleep...And hour later he woke me up, and put his wrapped up surprise in my face...I got up and opened it...My boy who loves his arts and crafts, made me a poster full of pictures of him and his sisters...I was very proud, and I was happy to see the pictures of him when he was much smaller and didn't swear so much!

The wife made dinner later in the day, which is always rare, and exciting...Yes, it was good...It a fun and restful day with the kids...What else can I ask for?

There is another Little Beeze story I have to share...Every Friday is Pizza night here...This week, when the delivery came, it was female driver...He heard the voice, and when I closed the door, he asked, "Was she hot!?!" I replied "No" He was bothered by this, assuming all women are hot, and asked why...I had to say, "she just wasn't." He really had a problem with this, so I told him, "Hot girls don't have to deliver pizza." The Mrs. didn't like this response, but come on now gang...It's true...

So the boy asked, "What is a hot girl?" SO I showed him the end of my blog from a couple weeks ago...You know the one, with Kate Upton doing the "Dougie"...This is a hot girl...




The wife again wasn't happy, when her 6 year old boy kept saying, "She's so hot!"


That's it for now...Have a week...

Later, The Beeze.