3 Biggest Doubts About Your Team

[DChero]

I have a conference call at 11:30am EST, so I need something to do for a few minutes. I don't have anything to present until noon.

What are the 3 biggest worries about your team this year?



For me: Pittsburgh Penguins

1) Crosby's health is probably the biggest question mark. He one of the biggest elements that we need to go from 'good' status to 'contender.'

2) The new wingers working with Malkin. Our scoring has always been centered around our two-headed monster, but if Sullivan and Neal don't mesh with them, then it's going to be a short post-season.

3) Kris Letang and the powerplay make up my last question mark. If he continues to grow offensively, it should reflect in our powerplay. If he gets too overwhelmed, well we already know what that looks like.

 

[mattola]

Canucks

1 - Luongo keeping it together in the important moments. He aint going anywhere and is still a very good goalie but he was pulled too many times in a playoff run and melted down on the road in Boston

2 - Sedins being tougher and not diving in the Playoffs. Im not saying they are sissies anyone who says that does not get hockey. But they need to toughen up a little more for the playoffs and not take the shit they did in the Finals and stop the flopping

3 - Making the Finals - it is tough enough to get there after a 17 run. now to get back the very next year seems almost impossible. I know Pitts and the Wings did it but we dont have Crosby or Lidstrom.

 

[Ho_Brah]

Drew Doughty

Drew Doughty

Drew Doughty

 

[Slimpikins]

Sharks

1- Forward depth. The bottom two lines are going to depend on young guys and lesser guys stepping up this year. A bad injury to one of the top six could really make the lack of depth apparent.

2- Brent Burns. DWil gave up a lot for him and he will need to play well. Is his defensive coverage good enough? Can he keep up the offensive output from last year?

3- Team speed. Has the team improved it's skating and breakout play enough to get over the hump? Chicago and Vancouver knocked the Sharks out in consecutive conference finals, one of the big reasons is that both of those teams were more mobile and better puck moving teams.

 

[DChero]

Canucks

1 - Luongo keeping it together in the important moments. He aint going anywhere and is still a very good goalie but he was pulled too many times in a playoff run and melted down on the road in Boston

2 - Sedins being tougher and not diving in the Playoffs. Im not saying they are sissies anyone who says that does not get hockey. But they need to toughen up a little more for the playoffs and not take the shit they did in the Finals and stop the flopping

3 - Making the Finals - it is tough enough to get there after a 17 run. now to get back the very next year seems almost impossible. I know Pitts and the Wings did it but we dont have Crosby or Lidstrom.

You guys have been in contention pretty consistently. In most people's minds, you're still in the top 3 in the West, so it's certainly possible. Back-to-back Art Ross trophies seems to be on the same level as Crosby and Lidstrom to me.

 

[awaz]

1. team cohesion. i've heard the flyers have added some new faces this year, so it will be interesting to see how they all come together

2. jody shelley. hopefully the flyers FO realizes how bad his 1.1 mil contract is when they get 4-6 minutes a game and 20+ pims/game from him.. so fingers crossed

3. goaltending. this is a flyers team right??

 

[dash]

1. Jarome Iginla - Hasn't skated since the opening day of training camp - If he's on the shelf for an extended period of time, that's gonna be trouble

2. Kipper/Karlsson - Kipper needs to bounce back from an average season (he needs to be supergood again for the Flames to have any chance of the playoffs). Karlsson needs to get between 20-25 starts and the Flames need to be .500 in those games.

3. Goals against - Flames were 5th in the league in goals for, it's the goals agianst that they need to improve.

 

[DChero]

Sharks

1- Forward depth. The bottom two lines are going to depend on young guys and lesser guys stepping up this year. A bad injury to one of the top six could really make the lack of depth apparent.

2- Brent Burns. DWil gave up a lot for him and he will need to play well. Is his defensive coverage good enough? Can he keep up the offensive output from last year?

3- Team speed. Has the team improved it's skating and breakout play enough to get over the hump? Chicago and Vancouver knocked the Sharks out in consecutive conference finals, one of the big reasons is that both of those teams were more mobile and better puck moving teams.

Speed can be deceiving at times. Teams that do a good job on the counter-attack can appear to be much faster than teams that actually have the younger speedsters. The Wings have looked ridiculously fast for a while now, but they're also one of the older teams out there. They just do a great job of putting together some great counter-attacks once the puck is turned over.

 

[puckhead]

my view on the Nucks. I'll borrow Matt's first point

1 - Luongo keeping it together in the important moments. He aint going anywhere and is still a very good goalie but he was pulled too many times in a playoff run and melted down on the road in Boston (and Chicago)

2 - general health after a grueling season and short summer - but specifically: Can Manny just be Manny. If we have a terrific shut down 3rd line (like before his injury), that allows Kesler to be in beast mode on offense. That makes us a REALLY tough team to play against. (also, can Kesler regain beast mode).

3 - Special teams consistency in the playoffs. Ehrhoff is gone, but I have very little doubt that Edler can slot into powerplay those minutes effectively. Our powerplay absolutely disappeared when it mattered the most (2 for 33 in the final). Our PK was also spotty (esp against SJ), after dominating in the reg season.

 

[higgyfan4]

The Wings have looked ridiculously fast for a while now, but they're also one of the older teams out there.

There are alot of speedy wingers (no pun intended) on the Wings third and fourth lines. Helm and Abdelkader and both very fast, strong skaters, as is Emmerton who most likely will make the club, especially since he cannot be sent down to GR without clearing waivers.

Back to the original question.

1 - Health

2 - Health

3 - Health

Already in preseason Dan Cleary and Brad Stuart are both nursing injuries, and Jan Mursak is out 2-3 months with a fractured ankle.

I hope Dats, Hank, Mule, Lidstrom and Kronwall stay healthy and fresh this season.

Wish Cleary could fucking stay healthy through an entire season for once.

 

[Comeds]

Health of key players. Max, Markov, Subban, etc

Lack of scoring. The Habs a re a defensive team, too conservative IMO, but they are not necessarily a good one. Price faces a ton of shots and the nights he was not good they didnt win. They need to score more goals.

A center besides Pleks who is productive.

 

[mattola]

You guys have been in contention pretty consistently. In most people's minds, you're still in the top 3 in the West, so it's certainly possible. Back-to-back Art Ross trophies seems to be on the same level as Crosby and Lidstrom to me.

thats pretty high praise indeed. I dont doubt their talent. and the one thing about the Sedins that keeps me REALLY hopefull is that every year they have shown that they learned from the year before to be better and go further. I hope that is the case here as well.

 

[DChero]

thats pretty high praise indeed. I dont doubt their talent. and the one thing about the Sedins that keeps me REALLY hopefull is that every year they have shown that they learned from the year before to be better and go further. I hope that is the case here as well.

The funny thing is that with most teams with two star players, the teams tend to split them up to maximize the pressure they put on the opposing defenses. OV and Semin, Zetterberg and Datsyuk, Crosby and Malkin, Giroux and Briere, etc. Hell, Guy Boucher occasionally drops his stars to the third line to achieve this effect. If the Sedins could be split, it would be interesting how that would work out.

 

[flyersfan4706]

1: Our D. Can Pronger and Kimmo stay healthy and be solid defenders? I dont trust Matt Carle a ton, so I dont want our D to be only Coburn and Mesz.

2. Bryzgalov. I already am starting to be dissapointed by his play. What, you wanna fight about it?

3. Roo and JVR stepping up. No explanation needed.

 

[Destroydacre]

Sharks

1- Forward depth. The bottom two lines are going to depend on young guys and lesser guys stepping up this year. A bad injury to one of the top six could really make the lack of depth apparent.

2- Brent Burns. DWil gave up a lot for him and he will need to play well. Is his defensive coverage good enough? Can he keep up the offensive output from last year?

3- Team speed. Has the team improved it's skating and breakout play enough to get over the hump? Chicago and Vancouver knocked the Sharks out in consecutive conference finals, one of the big reasons is that both of those teams were more mobile and better puck moving teams.

Good analysis. Mine would be

1- The 4th line. Ties in with the forward depth issue. I think the third line is going to be fine. It's the 4th line where the question marks are. They don't have to be fantastic, they don't even have to be good, just decent enough to not ruin games for the Sharks while playing 10-12 mins in the regular season and 7-8 mins in the playoffs.

2- Team chemistry. There's a lot of turnover on this team. The big cogs are mostly the same, but everywhere else bits and pieces have been moved and upgraded at least when it comes to skill. But how long is it going to take before the Sharks become a cohesive group? Can they run out ahead of the pack like they did in 2008? Or will they have lackluster starts like in 2009 and 2010.

3- Goaltending. Both Niemi and Niittymaki are hurt right now. Niitty is gone long term, Niemi could be back to start the season. Both Greiss and Sateri have played well in preseason, but it's still a question mark. Have to keep in mind the horrendous start Niemi got off to last season as well before rounding into form, though he lost quite a bit of that form in the playoffs. The improved D should help, but there's still a lot of ?'s surrounding this position right now.

 

[puckhead]

The funny thing is that with most teams with two star players, the teams tend to split them up to maximize the pressure they put on the opposing defenses. OV and Semin, Zetterberg and Datsyuk, Crosby and Malkin, Giroux and Briere, etc. Hell, Guy Boucher occasionally drops his stars to the third line to achieve this effect. If the Sedins could be split, it would be interesting how that would work out.

with the Sedins, 1+1 is way more than 2.
we have seen that each is a hell of a player on his own (when the other was hurt, for example)... but that voodoo that they do so well is just on another level.
but again, that points to the importance of Kesler being unleashed to be a dominant offensive force as well. 40+ goals last year puts him pretty close to star status alongside Zetterberg, Malkin, Semin, etc.

another point, AV tends to work his forwards in pairs anyways, and cycle the 3rd person up and down to shuffle things up if need be.
so the twins staying together fits into his overall system.

 

[sabresfaninthesouth]

1. Offensive production. Some of the Sabres big forwards have a tendency to disappear for long stretches at a time. Notably, guys like Pominville and Vanek tend to be very streaky.

2. Big $ players. Myers just got a huge payday (though it doesn't kick in until next year), Stafford got a big contract, not to mention the Ehrhoff and Leino signings. These guys have to live up to pretty high expectations now.

3. Special teams. The power play improved last year, but the PK went backwards. They've brought in some big names that are supposed to help on special teams, but we'll see.

 

[DChero]

with the Sedins, 1+1 is way more than 2.
we have seen that each is a hell of a player on his own (when the other was hurt, for example)... but that voodoo that they do so well is just on another level.
but again, that points to the importance of Kesler being unleashed to be a dominant offensive force as well. 40+ goals last year puts him pretty close to star status alongside Zetterberg, Malkin, Semin, etc.

another point, AV tends to work his forwards in pairs anyways, and cycle the 3rd person up and down to shuffle things up if need be.
so the twins staying together fits into his overall system.

Very good points. I can agree with that.

 

[DChero]

1. Offensive production. Some of the Sabres big forwards have a tendency to disappear for long stretches at a time. Notably, guys like Pominville and Vanek tend to be very streaky.

2. Big $ players. Myers just got a huge payday (though it doesn't kick in until next year), Stafford got a big contract, not to mention the Ehrhoff and Leino signings. These guys have to live up to pretty high expectations now.

3. Special teams. The power play improved last year, but the PK went backwards. They've brought in some big names that are supposed to help on special teams, but we'll see.

It wouldn't be a Sabres team without this, right? The Sabres have always been one of my favorites since my cousins live there and are actually the ones that got me into hockey when I was young. I find myself looking back at what Brad Richards may have done for this team.

 

[KennyBanyeah]

1. Will some GM give the Sens anything for Filip Kuba

2. Will David Rundblad transition well to NA ice surfaces

3. Will Spezza, Alfredsson and Michalek be healthy for the whole year.