The Aftermath – 2009 edition: Part 2
The 2008-09 NHL season is now finished. The Detroit Red Wings stormed through the playoffs only to meet the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Final again. This time however, Pittsburgh returned the favour by ending Detroit’s defence of the Championship in their own city.
This six part series will consist of brief, but informal summaries of every team’s performance this season. Part 2 will cover the Northeast Division.
Boston Bruins
Final standings: 53W, 19L, 10OTL, 116 points, 1st Northeast, 1st Eastern Conference, 2nd NHL
After signing players such as Michael Ryder and Stephane Yelle, high expectations were raised for Boston. The B’s lived up to said expectations, as they looked to improve on their previous season in which they made the playoffs for the first time since 2004. The team’s best months this season were November (11-1-1) and December (12-1-0), and during this time period, Phil Kessel managed to equal Ed Olczyk’s record for the longest point streak by a US born player in NHL history, with an 18 point game streak. The Bruins finished the season atop the Eastern Conference, and in the first round of the playoffs met the eighth seeded Montreal Canadiens, sweeping them for the third time in history and making the second round for the first time since 1998-99. In the second round, their opponents were the Carolina Hurricanes. The Bruins were down 3-1 after the first four games, and then made a valiant attempt to prolong the series to game 7, in which they were eventually defeated.
Buffalo Sabres
Final standings: 41W, 32L, 9OTL, 91 points, 3rdNortheast, 10th Eastern Conference, 18th NHL
The Buffalo Sabres unveiled a freakin’ sweet third jersey prior to this season: an updated version of their original blue jersey in the team’s current colours. Not much else can be said for the Sabres this year, as they did very little to improve on their previous season, finishing with a near identical record, even finishing in the exact same position in the conference and league standings, although they did earn one more point. Once again, just like last year, they only just missed the playoffs, and had they won at least one more game, they would have had Montreal’s eighth place seed in the standings, having scored just one more goal than the Habs this year.
Montreal Canadiens
Final standings: 41W, 30L, 11OTL, 93 points, 2nd Northeast, 8th Eastern Conference, 13th NHL
Much of this organisation’s season was spent celebrating the franchise’s 100th anniversary, and as part of the celebrations, they were allowed to host both the 2009 All Star game and the Entry Draft. The celebrations may have affected the Canadiens’ performance this season, as they did significantly worse than last year, when they were the number one seeded team in the East. This time around, they only just beat the Florida Panthers to the number eight spot: both teams had an identical overall record, although Montreal scored more goals than the Panthers, thus making the playoffs. Much like last year, they met division rivals the Boston Bruins, only to be swept. Happy Centennial indeed, Montreal…
Ottawa Senators
Final standings: 36W, 35L, 11OTL, 83 points, 4th Northeast, 11th Eastern Conference, 22nd NHL
The Sens started their campaign with numerous personnel changes, hiring new head coach Craig Hartsburg, letting go of players such as goalie Ray Emery, signing three returning forwards and many free agents. For the first two games the Senators flew over to Sweden to play against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the two teams split both games. Going back to North America, Ottawa would play very mediocre hockey until Hartsburg was fired in February, and replaced by the AHL Binghamton Senators’ previous coach Cory Clouston, under who the NHL Sens played much better hockey for the rest of the season. Sadly, it wasn’t enough for them to make the playoffs, but look for them to be better next year.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Final standings: 34W, 35L, 13OTL, 83 points, 5th Northeast, 12th Eastern Conference, 24th NHL
Much like division rivals the Buffalo Sabres; the Leafs posted a near identical record to last season, finishing with exactly the same amount of points, and the exact same places in the standings. Expectations weren’t high for Toronto, because of their young roster, and said expectations proved to be correct. Partway into the season, interim general manager Cliff Fletcher moved aside to let former Anaheim GM Brian Burke take his place, and is now a senior advisor to the team. The Maple Leafs played a little better near the end of the season; however they failed to qualify for the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season. Brian Burke will be rebuilding the Leafs, so expect the team to be very defence heavy. Perhaps expect him to shorten the team’s name to the Toronto Leafs and change the logo to a boring wordmark as well.
Coming up next in Part 3 will be the Southeast Division.
