NHL 2006-07 Central Division
Season Preview for Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings, Nashville Predators and St. Louis Blues
Sep 17, 2006
Chicago Blackhawks
Forwards: The Blackhawks signed center Craig MacDonald (Calgary Flames), resigned right wing Brandon Bochenski, and signed right wing Radim Vrbata and center Tuomo Ruutu.
Chicago traded Kyle Calder, who led the Hawks in goals (26) and points (59), and lost their second leading goal scorer Mark Bell to free agency.
Michal Handzus brings to the table a decent checking center who normally produces 40 points a season. Last season in Philadelphia with 73 games, he produced 11 goals and 33 assists.
Martin Havlat and Bryan Smolinski were brought over from Ottawa to help in the scoring department.
Defense: The Blackhawks needed help on defense last season. Adrian Aucoin couldn't stay healthy and only played 33 games, and the same goes for Jason Cullimore who played only 54 games.
The Blackhawks did have a shinning star on the blue line though, and that was Brent Seabrook. The rookie played in 69 games last season, but tallied 32 points.
Duncan Keith and Jim Vandermeer were the only real regulars last season with Keith playing in 81 games (21 points) and Jim Vandermeer playing in 76 games (24 points).
Goaltending: Nikolai Khabibulin was just disastrous last season, playing in 50 games with a goals against average (GAA) of 3.35 and and a .886 save percentage.
The team signed Patrick Lalime, who played 31 games for St. Louis last season with a GAA of 3.64 and a save percentage of .881. The backup's impact is delayed, as he had back surgery and is expected to be out for the first two to three months of the season.
In the interim, goaltender Sebastien Caron, signed in the off-season, and Brian Boucher, who was added to the training camp roster, will compete for the backup goalie position.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Forwards: The BlueJackets signed winger Anson Carter (33 goals, 55 points in 81 games last season with the Canucks), center Eric Boguniecki (2 goals, 4 points in 20 games last season with the Blackhawks), and resigned left wing Jason Chimera and center Manny Malhotra.
Columbus acquired left wing Fredrik Modin from the Tampa Bay Lightning. Modin had 54 points in 77 games with the Lightning last season.
The team still has yet to sign Nikolia Zherdev. Zherdev was the club's second leading scorer last season with 27 goals and 54 points in 73 games.
Rick Nash should be back this year in top form. Last season he only played in 54 games due to a knee sprain, but still tallied 54 points.
Sergei Fedorov's goal total for last year declined, but when he's on, he's on. At 36 years of age, injuries are starting to take their toll.
Defense: The Blue Jackets' defensive corp is virtually unchanged. Adam Foote, Ron Hainsey, Duvie Westcott, Rostislav Klesla and Bryan Berard are all back this season.
Anders Eriksson resigned with the Blue Jackets after spending the last few seasons playing either in Europe or the AHL.
Goaltending: Pascal Leclaire will be the Bluc Jackets' number one guy in net this season after trading Marc Denis to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Leclaire split last season with Denis, and played in 33 games with a 3.23 Goals against average and .911 save percentage.
I believe Leclaire has the tools and the drive to be their No. 1 guy between the pipes, especially after getting a decent amount of playing time last season.
Fredrik Norrena will most likely be the backup to Leclaire this season. Last season playing for Sweden's Linkopings, he posted a 2.16 GAA in 36 games and a 1.90 GAA in 11 playoff games.
Also at the ready is veteran goaltender Ty Conklin.
Detroit Red Wings
Forwards: Detroit lost two key players over the summer. Team captain Steve Yzerman retired, and Yzerman was the Red Wings' heart and soul for 22 years. Then, free agent Brendan Shanahan decided to end his 10-year relationship with the Wings. Shanahan's last season totals were 40 goals, 81 points in 81 games.
The Wings signed center Greg Johnson, who had 19 points in 68 games with Nashville, and resigned center Johan Franzen, right wing Jason Williams and center Tomas Kopecky.
Returning is Pavel Datsyuk (87 points last season), Robert Lang (62 points), and Henrick Zetterberg (85 points).
They're still a very good team, but they will have to overcome their humiliation being ousted so quickly in last season's playoffs.
Defense: Detroit resigned last season's Norris Trophy (NHL's top defenseman) winner, Nicklas Lidstrom, over the summer. Lidstrom had 80 points in 80 games last season.
Also signed was Danny Markov. Last season, Markov played only 58 games with Nashville due to injuries, and had 11 points.
Chris Chelios (81 games last season), Andreas Lilja (82 games), Niklas Kronwall (27 games) and Brett Labda (46 games) are also back.
Goaltending:
The signing of Dominik Hasek has caused a lot of waves in Detroit, and I can easily understand why. Some love the return of a proven elite goaltender, while others feel he's a waste of roster space due to him being prone to injuries.
Hasek will be their number one man in net, but expect to see a lot of quite capable and unerrated backup goalie Chris Osgood. The Wings will do whatever they need to do to keep Hasek healthy so when they make the playoffs, he'll be there for them and not on the injured reserve.
Nashville Predators
Forwards: The Predators were a busy team during the off-season signing and resigning players.
Topping the list of players they signed are center Jason Arnott and right wing J.P. Dumont. Arnott had 32 goals and 44 assists last season with the Dallas Stars, and J.P Dumont had 20 goals and 20 assists in 54 games with the Buffalo Sabres. Both are strong additions.
Nashville also signed Ramzi Abid, who only played in six games with the Atlanta Thrashers. He mainly played for the AHL's Chicago Wolves last season, where he had 76 points in 75 games.
Coming back to the Predators are Scott Hartnell (48 points in 81 games), Martin Erat (49 points in 80 games) and David Legwand (26 points in 44 games).
Jordin Tootoo will remain in the Predators system this season, and I would expect to see him in the NHL more this year.
Expect to see Martin Erat on the first line with Paul kariya. Jason Arnott will be a teacher for youngster Legwand.
Defense: The Predators signed Alex Henry, who will bring a lot of physical presence.
Nashville also signed another punisher in big man Nolan Yonkman. Yonkman has incredible size and strength, but is injury prone.
Marek Zidlicky (49 points in 67 games), Kimmo Timonen (50 points in 79 games),Ryan Suter and Dan Hamhuis will be returning.
Goaltending: The good news for Predators fans is that Tomas Vokoun is resigned, healthy and ready to play. After the inability to play after being diagnosed with pelvic thrombophlebitis (a blood condition creates clots) last April, Vokoun feels good and is ready to get back in net.
Last year before he stopped playing, Vokoun had a record of 36-18-7 with a 2.6 goals against average and a .919 save percentage.
Back up goaltender Chris Mason was also resigned by the club.
St. Louis Blues
Forwards: St. Louis is another club that has been busy during the off-season. The Blues have brought in some veterans that may help this club long-term by establishing some role models for the youngsters, but don't expect a lot this year.
By signing Martin Rucinsky, they're adding a 35-year-old who has great speed and had 55 points in 52 games with the New York Rangers last season.
Bill Guerin is also 35 years old and had 40 points in 70 games with the Dallas Stars. He can provide a good combination of speed and power.
Dan Hinote is 29 and is very effective on the penalty kill. Radek Dvorak, also 29, gives this team speed and a player who can rack up some points.
All of these players bring experience and know-how to a club with a lot of younger players.
They have also resigned jay McClement, Petr Cajanek, Dallas Drake, Ryan Johnson and Doug Weight.
Defense: On defense, the Blues signed long-time Sabre Jay McKee. Mckee is coming off a great season and the Blues are hoping he can still ride that wave. What I like most about McKee is that he won't shy away from giving out big hits.
The club also resigned Christian Backman, Jeff Woywitka, Eric Brewer and Matt Walker.
Jay Mckee (29) won't shy away from a hit and is a quality defenseman coming off a great last season.
St. Louis signed Jamie Rivers and Jay McKee, and resigned Christian Backman, Jeff Woywitka, Eric Brewer and Matt Walker.
Goaltending: During the off-season, the Blues picked up Manny Legace. Legace seemed to have been taken the brunt of the blame for Detroit's early dismissal from the playoffs last season. In all honesty, it wasn't completely his fault.
Last season, Legace had a record of 37-8-3 with a 2.19 goals against average and a .915 save percentage.
Curtis Sanford will be Legace's backup, with Jason Bacashihua ready to go.
