2014-15 Outlook: Metropolitan Division

Taking a look at the crapshoot more commonly known as the Metropolitan Division.

Who's Faster: Chris Kreider or Erik Haula

If there has been one player who has stuck out from the Montreal-New York Eastern Conference Final series, its been Chris Kreider of the Rangers.

3 on 3: The Upcoming Road Trip

Photo: Joe Sargent/NHLI

After narrowly defeating the Canucks 3-2 last night, the Wild are back out on the road for four games that stretches from tomorrow through the 27th (they come home for Christmas though). Had the Wild had a trip like this two years ago, we would be saying our prayers right about now as they would be playing three elite teams (Pittsburgh, New York Rangers, and Philadelphia) heading into the Christmas break.

Meet The New Divisions: Metropolitan Division

Get a look at the new Metropolitan (really?) Division:

NHL 2013 Preview: Playoff Predictions

Over this past week, we have looked at the 6 different divisions and picked their standings. Now, its time to pick the 8 teams from each conference that will make it to the playoffs. We will also be picking the conference champions and the Stanley Cup Champions.

1. Pittsburgh Penguins

2. Boston Bruins

3. Washington Capitals

4. New York Rangers

5. Carolina Hurricanes

6. Philadelphia Flyers

7. Buffalo Sabres

8. Tampa Bay Lightning

Eastern Conference Champion: New York Rangers

1. Vancouver Canucks

2. St. Louis Blues

3. San Jose Sharks

4. Los Angeles Kings

5. Chicago Blackhawks

6. Detroit Red Wings

7. Minnesota Wild

8. Edmonton Oilers

Western Conference Champion: Los Angeles Kings

Stanley Cup Final

New York Rangers over Los Angeles Kings in 6 games

Tomorrow, we finally drop the puck. Enjoy the season everyone!

Follow Giles on Twitter @gilesferrell

NHL 2013 Preview: Atlantic Division

5. New York Islanders-In a division that is very top heavy, the New York Islanders won't offer much of anything in 2013. They have a young star in John Tavares, and a 30 goal scorer in Matt Moulson, but after them, this team is very weak. They have no real depth at forward and they are pretty weak defensively. Evgeni Nabokov will be the #1 goalie this year, but with his age (37), how much longer can he produce solid numbers. Give the Islanders a few more years to rebuild, and maybe they will pull out of the cellar. But it for this year, you can write their last place finish in pen.

4. New Jersey Devils-The Devils are returning virtually the same team that took them to the Stanley Cup Finals a year ago. The one exception to that roster is Zach Parise, their leader and top scorer. Now that Parise is gone, New Jersey will rely heavily on Ilya Kovalchuk to put points on the board. Martin Brodeur, the ageless wonder, is returning for another year and will give them a solid presence in net, but you have to wonder about how well he can do now that he is entering his 20th NHL season. The Devils have a team that can still sneak in the playoffs as a 7th or 8th seed. But, can they get the points necessary to do so, while playing in this division?

3. Philadelphia Flyers-All eyes are on Ilya Bryzgalov this year. He was horribly inconsistent in 2011-12, and if he can't right the ship this year, the Flyers will be better off using one of their buyouts on him this summer since he still will have 7 years left on his deal ($5.66M per year). The Flyers lost Matt Carle, their best blueliner, and now have a real weak defense to go with the inconsistent Bryzgalov. Philly does have a good offense (2nd in the NHL in goals scored), lead by one of the game's best players, Claude Giroux. They have 4 solid forward lines, which gives them great ability to score frequently. But, unless Philly can fix the defense and goaltending, they will have to settle for 3rd in the division, but make the playoffs once again.

2. New York Rangers-Last year, we saw the Rangers become the best team in the East. They did it while riding the backs of their stars (Marian Gaborik, Brad Richards, Henrik Lundqvist), and that took them to the conference finals. But since it did not take them to the Stanley Cup Finals, the Rangers brought in another star to help push them there, Rick Nash. Nash will give the Rangers another elite goal scorer, and will help take some heat off of Gaborik (41 goals in 2011-12). The Rangers have a young, but quietly solid blue line, and they have the Vezina trophy winner Lundqvist between the pipes. This will be one of the top teams in the East again, but, they will be looking up at one team in the division standings.

1. Pittsburgh Penguins-For once, Sidney Crosby will open the season on the roster, not the injured list. So as long as everyone in Pittsburgh can be healthy to open the year, this team should get off to a fast start, which will help propel them to the top. Crosby and Evgeni Malkin should have big years, once again. They have solid depth at forward, despite trading Jordan Staal in the offseason. Kris Letang leads a core of solid veteran blue liners. And Marc-Andre Fleury looks to rebound in 2013, after his performance in the playoffs last year. Pittsburgh is clearly a preseason favorite for the Stanley Cup. In a close race, they win this division, and will lock up the #1 seed in the East. But can they play good hockey to even get out of the first round this year? Bet on it.


Follow Giles on Twitter @gilesferrell

Wild Announce 2012-13 Schedule

Today, the Wild, along with the rest of the NHL, announced their schedule for the 2012-13 regular season. The Wild are slated to open up their season at home against Colorado on Saturday, October 13th at 7 PM.

There are some ups and downs to this schedule. First, Nate from First Round Bust (Give his post on the Wild Schedule a read too!) pointed out to me that there are no 9:30 division road games this year. So when the Wild travel to Vancouver they will be starting no later than 9:00. Its not that big of a difference, but its an extra half hour so everyone wins.

Another positive to this year's schedule is that the Eastern Canadian teams (Maple Leafs, Canadiens, and Senators) all make appearances to Xcel Energy Center. The Leafs and Canadiens aren't exactly the gold standard of the NHL right now, but they have rarely visited St. Paul, so it is nice to see them come here.

But, the schedule does have some downfalls. The biggest being that Winnipeg (The Wild's new found rival) does not make a visit to St. Paul this year. The Wild do travel up to Manitoba on January 2nd, but the schedule was not so kind in sending the Jets back to Minnesota.

That is just about as big as a fail as you will ever see. I had the pleasure of being at the Wild-Jets game at the 'X' back in February. The building was packed, there were close to 3-4,000 Jets fans in the building, and the atmosphere was second to none for a regular season game that was almost meaningless. Hopefully, this issue will be fixed for future years (Or actually, the divisions realign like we all wanted and we play the Jets 6 times a year!!!).

You could make the same argument for East Coast teams like New York Rangers, Boston, and New Jersey not coming to St. Paul this year. It really does become kind of a drag to see the same useless West teams (Edmonton, Columbus) over and over again, and the better teams in the league we don't get to see.

Lastly, should the Wild be in contention late in the year, the schedule is definitely not in their favor. In April, the team plays their first 5 games in the month on the road against teams that are more than likely to contend (Chicago, San Jose, Colorado, Phoenix, Detroit) before playing the final two games at home. It will be rough, but lets hope the team is still in contention at that point (knock on wood!).


P.S. For those looking for a road trip opportunity this year (Much like I am), some good options would be Boston/New York Rangers November 8-10 or LA/Anaheim on December 8-9. Or one oculd simply just drive 7 hours north and see the Wild play the Jets!

Time To Send Erik Christensen Packing

On February 7th, Chuck Fletcher sent forward Casey Wellman to the New York Rangers in exchange for forward Erik Christensen and a conditional 7th round pick (The Wild get the pick, if Christensen does not resign here next year). Christensen was brought in to help the Wild in shootout situations (He had 24 shootout goals prior to playing with the Wild), an area they have struggled in this season.

Since being acquired, Christensen has played in all 12 games and has gone 2/3 in shootout opportunities (The Wild have won just one of the three shootouts). But beyond that, he has been horrendous. He has produced 0, that's right 0, points while taking shifts on the third and fourth lines. But his most noticeable stat (It's pretty hard to beat the 0 points), is the fact he is a -11 in those 12 games (He had a 1-4-5 line and a +/- rating of 0 in 20 games with NYR). His past three games he has put up a -2 (@DAL), -1 (vs SJ), and -2 (vs LA) respectively. Needless to say, he has been as useful as a broken stick so far.

The Wild didn't give up much to get Christensen here (Let's face it, Casey Wellman did not have much of a future here with all the prospects on the way up). In fact, they will end up getting a draft pick out of this when they don't bring him back in 2012-13. So it has been a low risk situation to get him here. But its time to end this.

Fletcher should send Christensen packing. He may have some usefulness in Houston, so might as well try sending him through waivers to get him there. And if someone else picks him up, then that's just our gain (Not sure if we will still get a draft pick if that happens). Anyone at this point, would be better to have in the lineup than Christensen. That's how bad he has failed here.

So please, Chuck Fletcher, I beg you. End this, and send Erik Christensen away. He has just caused more headaches than you could possibly imagine...

Minnesota and the Winter Classic

Happy New Year everyone. I took a little hiatus from here to relax and enjoy the holidays. Too bad the Wild one just once during that time. Also as you can see, I changed up the blog design on here. Hopefully you all enjoy this than the last background (It really annoyed me in the end). Now on to business...

Today, the Flyers and Rangers partake in perhaps the NHL's biggest event, the Winter Classic. They play it in Citizens Bank Park (Home of MLB's Philadelphia Phillies) in the city of brotherly love. It is the fifth consecutive year, the NHL has put this event on ('08 in Buffalo, '09 in Chicago, '10 in Boston, and '11 in Pittsburgh). And for everyone of those years, Minnesotans (including myself) have asked: When does the State of Hockey get its chance to host the league's premier event?

Since the event's inception, the game has been played between two of the league's premier teams, and in one of the league's premier US markets. So first and foremost, Minnesota has to start putting up more wins every season. Something that appears to be trending in the right direction, under rookie head coach Mike Yeo. Also, the league likes to have teams in there with some big names players on the teams, something the Wild is lacking (Mikko Koivu should be put in the big name discussion; Dany Heatley was a big name, but lack of production is killing that). Its not a necessity, but it certainly helps when the NHL decides on which two teams get to play every year. And then finally, this market certainly supports NHL hockey, so securing a WC after the team starts winning should be no problem.

So realistically, if the Wild continue to improve at the way they are under Yeo, when can Minnesota expect the NHL to come calling for the Winter Classic? As I mentioned earlier on twitter today, you should expect Detroit to host the WC in 2013. They are one of the league's most storied franchises, and they have been one of the most consistent teams over the last two decades. Its pretty much a lock for them next year. Then I took a guess that in 2014, Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals will host the WC. The Caps were promised a WC "soon" following their appearance in last year's WC against Pittsburgh. But, the way the Caps have gone down hill this year is a cause for concern, but I'm sure by '14 they will have righted the ship. So that leaves 2015 up for grabs for the WC. And I'm sure Craig Leipold will do everything he can to get that game here, but I'm sure he will have to go up against the city of New York because they have not hosted a WC yet. So given the league's east coast bias in this event, look for the Rangers to host the 2015 WC.

By the time the 2015-16 NHL season comes around, you should expect the State of Hockey to get its chance to host the Winter Classic. Do I believe we should wait that long, absolutely not. But as I mentioned before, the league has seen just one team from the central time zone play in this event (Chicago '09), and I don't expect that to change any time soon (Unless the Wild acquire one of the league's best players and become a top 5 team next year...but don't bet on that).

The league has acknowledged Minnesota as a future site for this event. They always come away impressed when a big event comes to the State of Hockey (See: '04 ASG, '11 Draft). But, our love of this game will not secure the league's best event...its going to have to come from our on ice product. And that's the cold truth. So let's hope we can continue to win. Or else we may see a later WC here than 2016.

UPDATE (1/3): Today Yahoo.com had a story on where the Winter Classic will go from here. There are a lot of similarities to this post.

NHL 2011 Preview-Atlantic Division

5. New York Islanders-The Islanders are still a ways away from being a contender again. They have some good young forwards (John Tavares, Matt Moulson, Michael Grabner, and former Gopher Kyle Okposo), but their lack of solid defense really brings this team down. Also, goaltending has been a concern for the team in the past years, and probably will be going forward with the injury prone Rick DiPietro locked under contract through 2021. Look for the Islanders to put up lots of goals, but give up a lot in return as well.

4. New Jersey Devils-Last season, the Devils ranked last in the NHL in goals scored. Not a surprise for a Jacques Lemaire coached team. Now with new coach Pete DeBoer, the Devils hope to get out of the basement among goal scoring teams. But, with the team returning the same top two lines as last year, its pretty hard to believe the Devils will finish near or in the basement in scoring again. You also have to wonder if this is the final season for netminder Martin Brodeur, who turns 40 next May and is in the final season of his contract. Look for the Devils to flutter around the 10-12 seed in the East this year.

3. Philadelphia Flyers-This summer, the Flyers traded their two best players: Mike Richards and Jeff Carter. For this season, I believe we will see the Flyers take a small step back, but in the long run we will see them take bigger steps forward from these deals. The Flyers will have young F's Brayden Schenn, Jakub Voracek, and Wayne Simmonds on their roster this season, all coming over in the deals involving Richards and Carter. The Flyers also traded for G Ilya Bryzgalov, and inked him to a 9 year deal. The team also inked the ageless Jaromir Jagr to a one year deal, and by how he has looked so far this preseason, The Flyers have a very solid team. But with the young forwards, I believe 2011-12 will not be their year. They are still a playoff team, but a first round exit is more like it this year.

2. New York Rangers-The Rangers made the biggest splash of the offseason by signing C Brad Richards to an 9 year/$60 million deal, in the hopes of finally having an elite center for F Marian Gaborik. This move should help bolster a offense that was only good enough to finish 16th in the NHL last year. The Rangers now have two solid scoring lines to compliment their good defensive core. Factor in G Hendrik Lundqvist, and you have a very solid team for 2011-12. Look for the Rangers to finally make some noise in the playoffs this season.

1. Pittsburgh Penguins-Last year, the Penguins lost both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin for their postseason run. They were taken out in the first round by Tampa Bay in 7 games. Now as we move to 2011-12, the Pens have gotten Malkin back and are expecting a Crosby return sometime before Thanksgiving. Once he returns, the Pens will be back as one of the East's elite. Offense, Defense, and Goaltending are all solid. Somehow, their defensive core is still one of the best in the league despite losing many key D-Men since winning the Cup in '09. The Penguins will win the Atlantic Division, and should be making a deep postseason run once again. But how far will they go?

Tomorrow's post takes a look at the Northeast Division.