Starting Lineups - 42-43

[aussiehabit]

It's time to set your expectation and roster for the coming season. A good read for all so let's do it!!!
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After a full season under my belt in Montreal, the hapless Habs are still in amongst the basement dwellers in the coming season. We will need another season to start moving in the right direction due to poor drafting and player development. There are some bright spots in the system but these players are not ready until next season.

The Habs finished W 22 – L 54 – O/L 6 last year. The 50 points was below our expectation but due to key D departures and no one in the system able to step up. The goals scored dropped by 38 from the previous year, and the 333 goals allowed. This year we will look to improve in both offensive and defensive stats.


Fowards :
Dobson (26) – Martens (26) – Panov (25)
Morin (26) - Gallagher (34) – Sorochan (24)
Harney (26) – Pospisil (28) – Maslonka (27)
Thompson (26) – Brabec (24) – Barbeau (28)

Extras: Martin (33), MacLean (22)

Right off the bat as you can see, this is a team full of rejects and castoffs. Poor Sorochan and Pospisil are the only forwards left from the Canadiens roster
that I took over a season ago. Overall, they all have improved over the course of the summer so there’s reason to be cautiously optimistic about this team.
This team will not surge up the East rankings this season but they will be a bit more competitive than the last. Enigma like Dobson will be on a short leash, if
He doesn’t produce right away then look for young MacLean to take up roster spot. The top 2 lines should be able to produce enough that we won’t be embarrassed every night  Harney is starting to look like the PK specialist that I had envisioned when I drafted him. The biggest surprised this season will be Tarek Thompson. The forgotten man who was on the out, with hard practice over the summer, he’s starting to look like a hockey player once again. Gallagher, Maslonka and Barbeau should provide some much needed veteran presence.

If you want to check out the future of the Canadiens then check out the Bulldogs. This season will see the new recruits and upcoming foundation of the franchise playing together. Dobryshkin, Jackson, Henkelman and a few others will try to win the Calder Cup this season.

Defense:
Niinimaki (22) – Evangelista (30)
Dupuis (24) - Henderson (24)
Pszenyczny (29) –

Extras: None

Our defence will probably be one of the worst in the NHL. This group is severely lacking physical presence and will not be intimidating anyone. They will have to hold the fort until some of the recent draftees are ready to take the over. It will be a long season on the blueline. Promising young D Eronen, Galvas, Patrick and Novotny will be playing in the AHL for the duration of the season. Some emergency call ups will give them a taste to see if they are ready for the bigs

Goal:
Vrbata (30)
Upshall (28)

Vrbata has not done anything so far in his career and we are not expecting him to. The heir apparent Boyce will be playing another year in the AHL before taking over the starting role next season. Let’s hope that Vrbata can withstand the barrage every night.

Forecast: We should be sitting around the 12th overall in the East.

[thayner]

Magnusson - Castonguay - Kratna
Pieniniemi - Martenelli - Nurmi
Kocerha - Nystrom - Sigouin
Saffler - Cole - Hidaka

Forward group boasts some high flying offensive powers and is probably one of the best groups in the league, a notch below Detroit and on par with Minny. Magnusson (61-78-139 in 73) was on track to win the Art Ross prior to getting injured. Kratna (48-50-98 in 69) is arguably the best forward this side of Mckay. Nurmi (36-29-65 in 59) combines with Castonguay (43-81-124 in 82) and Sigoin (45-53-98 in 82) to provide game breaking offense up front. Big powerforward Martenello (43-57-100 in 82) enjoyed a breakout season. He's firmly entrenched as the #2 pivot. Newcomers Pieiniemi and Kocerha will both play somewere in the top 9 and should provide valued offense. Speedy center Nystrom (18-18-36 in 72) and hard working winger Hidaka (15-23-38 in 80) add depth and PK ability.

Holy - Mirinov
Hawley - Boutin
Cech - Hickey
Dufour

A group lacking in depth last season should benefit from reinforcements. Holy (16-70-86) and Mirinov (18-49-67) were excellent last year, both will be back. Boutin was signed as a UFA; his defensive abilities will be welcomed. Hawley, 19, will be competing against other up and comers Hansis and Wydareny, but appears to have the inside track. Cech (10-37-47) is a plodding but reliable dman. The 7th spot will liekly go to either Hickey or Dufour- both are hard working journeymen.

Labbe - Novak - White - Brisson

I have 4 goalies listed because it's up in the air who will start this season. Labbe performed admirably in the regular season, but crashed in the Cup Finals. Novak is a big, talented enimga, a former 8th overall pick. He is on his last life as an NHL goalie. White is a young former Memorial Cup champ who played well in the AHL last year. Brisson, probably the most talented, in 19 and will most likely start the season in the AHL.

[Big D]

Forwards:

Orlov - Doucet - Vlasak
Rousseau - Alatalo - Sertich
Pavlikovsky - Scott - Ahlstrom
Nieminen - Pess - Dvorak

Callups : Jarret Wallin, Casey Gregoire

Last season was a great offensive season for almost the entire team, and this season will likely be much of the same. Doucet is now 35 and likely on the decline, but with the addition of Ladislav Vlasak at RW I feel he will have another great season .Mitch Sertich, having scored 100 or more points in 3 of his past 4 seasons (and 50 + goals in 2 of those) will slide down to the 2nd line to play with Rousseau and Alatalo (the three of them just 2 seasons ago were the 1st line on this team). Past the top 6, Scott joins the team to anchor the 3rd line where Jarno Hard previously played, and will likely bring more offensive production to the line and help out a previously struggling PK.

Defense:

Hradecky - Berry
Svoboda - Ondracek
Murphy - McMillian

extras: Ladislav Holy, Jimmy-Carl Ouellett

More of the same on the backend for the team. The major difference being Hradecky who put up 90 points last season in Atlanta. He will be paired with Berry both at 5 on 5 and on the Powerplay, and should provide a big offensive punch from the backend. Svoboda coming off a season high in points last season (73 points) will anchor the 2nd pairing and will look to continue on his ironman ways (currently has played 656 consecutive games, not having missed one in his entire career). Murphy and McMillian will provide a strong veteran presence on the 3rd pairing.

Goalies:

Rory Gagne
Robert Schneider

callup: Stephan Mika

This is where we're really rolling the dice, throwing a 20 year old rookie goalie straight into a starters role. Goaltending is an area where the team has historically lacked, and hopefully Gagne can string together a decent season, otherwise there may be changes ahead later in the season.


Overall, I feel like this team is much better than the team last season, and will hope to move past the 1st round for a change..

[vilifyingforce]

St. Louis lines:

Tanti-Gusmanov-Midgley
Dlouhy-Carney-Pinc
Seikkula-Fitzgerald-Herman
Tormey-Buzek-Fomtichev

Green is out for 2 months and nothing is really set in stone beyond Tanti and Gusmanov on the top line. Midgley is an exciting winger who's almost as talented as Tanti, but, is even slower so the two may not work together.

Sullivan-Robinson
Hruska-Kral
Sanders-Petr

Solid d group being pushed by a couple youngsters, we had a big pipeline loss when Lilja signed an offer sheet worth over 10M(one way deal) that I just couldn't justify matching. Really hoping it's a solid pick and the drafts pick back up or that could be a huge mistake.

Nosek
Viitanen

Not excited about either guy at this point with how they've played for me, I think both could use a change of scenery as they're being pushed from below by Rasinanen, McLaughlin and Tessier coming on strong.

Overall I think I'll be better then the 8th seed I was last season; if some deals come together I think I could surprise.

[bloc85]

Phoenix Coyotes

Sundstrom (22) - Jamieson (19) - Sykora (28)
Brockman (23) - Villeneuve (22) - Leroux (20)
Wieler (24) - Michaud (30) - Madden (31)
Kopecky (29) - Beck (28) -Timofeev (25)

The youngest group of forwards I've in my time at the Coyotes. There always has been a veteran forward playing on the top two lines, not this time. Sykora moves back up to the first line. The hope is that he scores the goals from Jamieson's passes. Coming onto the second line is Bill Leroux. He does have stamina and skating issues, but he'll be given the chance to show what he can do. Scoring goals will be a problem this season.

Gordon (33) - Sanders (23)
Moodie (20) - Taylor (35)
Peters (36) - Irwin (22)

Extras: Laakonen (26), Bolduc (34)

The theme of my defense seems to be an old guy paired with a youngster. One of the big problems of my defense is skating, Sanders is the only one that is isn't average or terrible. Speaking of Sanders, I'm hoping for more of the same from him. His 23 goals made him the third top goal scoring defenseman last season, a few more assists would be nice. Moodie will be given a chance on top four of the defense. I was pleased with how he peformed in his rookie season. Coming up from the AHL is Lou Irwin. He'll be given a prolonged spell to see if he's a NHL player.

Saffer (31) - Pryor (26)

The goalie position is the strongest area of the Coyotes. Saffer is the clear number one, but Pryor is a very good back up to have. One thing for sure is that when you play in goal for the Coyotes you are going to have a busy night.

[-BEHR-]

Calgary Flames

Pearce -- Bolland -- Marek
Koivunen -- V. Yakutsenya -- Vainio
Doucet -- Burgess -- Ponomarev
Solinier -- Jackson -- Berry

With a key player like Lawson out, the flames 2nd line will need a player to step up. Young 2-way winger Koivunen will be the first to be given the opportunity, but the 2nd line could easily see crafty veteran Doucet on the wing eventually. Other than that, its a very similar group to last year with the exception of the addition of Doucet and Pono upgrading mly 3rd line. Berrys numbers will likely suffer this season, as He will see limited offensive time, but will of course be a mianstay on the PK.


Ruutu -- Belousov
Riggs -- Nichol
Patrick -- R. Yakutsenya
Cullen --

Calgary has a very different look on D this season. They were looking to get rougher and harder to play against, and they went out and did just that. The addition of Belousov and R.Yakutsenya should improve our defensive game and PK considerably. Roman joins his brother Valeri on the flames this year, and should play the role of Enforcer quite well. Belousov will be given every opportunity to shine, yet if he faulters at all, he could have his spot as top RD taken by Riggs or Nichol very easily. All in all, the flames have a very great young group of D-men that should anchor this team for years.


Korneev -- Irwin

This tandem in net has been great for a couple of years. This year, however, seems to be likely that Korneev finally takes the reins and runs with them. He posted near vezina numbers last year and seems to be ready. Irwin will get some games in, but they will only be to give Korn a rest here and there. Irwin is currently being shopped around, yet has generated little interest among other teams. Great backup to have in case of an emergency.

[kuulapaa]

Pisani – St.John – Naumov
Jensen – Palmer – McRae
Morin – Matuszewski – Thibault
Cohen – Gibson – Buckley

In Blackhawks 1st line there's – for some reason – nothing new or surprising. 2nd line is brand new in many ways, as Jensen is a new face in the roster and Palmer is coming back from a long term injury. McRae can hold up the same speed than the others and that is the reason for him to move up from 4th line. In 3rd line there are Morin, Matuszewski and Thibault who have been playing together for many years now. They can play 2nd line minutes too if needed. And in 4th line there is Lou Cohen who's making a comeback to Hawks after nearly a decade, Keaton Gibson and Russ Buckley who came in return for moving Colin Chartrand to Philly. Buckley is a clear project player who hasn't been able to live up to the expectations for a 1st round draftee earlier.
In case of need for replacement players there are youngsters Colin Burt and Alfie Crowther that are now in Norfolk but are for sure going to see some ice time in Hawks too during the season.

MacIntyre – Brännström
Plyuschev – Välimäki
Fitzpatrick – Baird

Howe

There are no newcomers in Hawks defence. Chartrand left a big hole on the offensive blueline but now it is the time and opportunity for the likes of Plyuschev, Brännström and later on also Lemieux and Bordeleau to step up and start developing when playing bigger minutes.

Leroux (Huttunen)

Leroux played nearly all of the games last season because of the poor backup situation. Now Hawks has acquired Mika Huttunen from Nucks and he will start something like 20-25 games and help Leroux's development with his experience and giving him a good chance to rest when needed.