Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 3.4

www.afootinthecrease.com

So here we sitwith the 2007-2008 NHL regular season mercifully upon us. Lots of personnel movement between teams this past off season will see some teams improve drastically and others fall from grace. Let’s start our look in the East. There will again be lots of parity especially between sixth through eleventh. The Leafs were one point shy of playoff hockey last year despite having to deal with several significant long term injuries to Sundin, Wellwood, Tucker, Ponikarovsky, Antropov, Kubina and Kaberle while putting up with shoddy netminding. If they stay relatively healthy this season and get better goaltending, the Leafs can finish as high as sixth.

The Sens, Pens and Rangers will battle it out for top spot while the Sabres will still remain very competitive and finish in 4th. The Flyers, with their numerous new additions, will challenge for a playoff spot as well. As for the Islanders, Lightning and Thrashers: no post season ticket for them this time around, they’ll be golfing early this spring. And as for a surprise team, watch out for the Washington Capitals. They are full of quality young players, and made shrewd free agent moves getting Tom Poti and Michael Nylander to help anchor and lead their youngsters.

Out west, expect Edmonton to return to contention now boasting several talented young forwards, including Robert Nilsson, Sam Gagner and former St. Mike’s Buzzer, Andrew Cogliano. LA should compete too, while Colorado will no doubt return to the playoffs. Other playoff teams from a year ago: Detroit, Anaheim, Vancouver, San Jose, Dallas and Calgary, all will return to the post season. Nashville was torn apart as they faced uncertainty regarding their ownership situation and Minnesota, well they didn’t really improve while other aforementioned teams that finished below the Wild last year did. They’ll be hard pressed to skate in the second season this year. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.