The Aftermath – 2009 edition: Part 1
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, starting with the Atlantic Division.
New Jersey Devils
Final standings: 51W, 27L, 4OTL, 106 points, 1st Atlantic, 4th Eastern Conference, 5th NHL
This year’s Devils squad overall did slightly better than last year’s, beating the previous points tally by 7 points, with a particularly good part of the season being an eight game winning streak during January, although a seven game slump near the end prevented them from gaining a higher playoff spot. For the second straight postseason, the Devils couldn’t get any further than the first round, losing in game 7 of an evenly matched series with eventual Conference finalists the Carolina Hurricanes.
New York Islanders
Final standings: 26W, 47L, 9OTL, 61 points, 5th Atlantic, 15th EC, 30th NHL
Prior to this season, the Isles brought back an old jersey from their early years in the 70s as a rather nice third uniform. Unfortunately, not much more good would come for this team as the piss-poor managed Islanders finished with the worst record in the league, also suffering from the misery of being the only team from the Atlantic Division to miss the playoffs. Anyone remember their embarrassing 22 game 2-17-3 record through December and January? I certainly wouldn’t want to if I were a fan of this team. On an upside, the Isles won the 2009 draft lottery, choosing Jon Tavares of the OHL’s London Knights as the Number 1 overall draft pick in Montreal.
New York Rangers
Final standings: 43W, 30L, 9OTL, 95 points, 4th Atlantic, 7th EC, 12th NHL
After a disappointing preseason tournament, the Blueshirts spent some time in Europe, winning 8-1 in an exhibition game against SC Bern of Switzerland, and then defeating Metallurg Magnitogorsk 4-3 to win the inaugural Victoria Cup (Yay?), soon going to Prague, Czech Rebublic for two regular season games against Tampa Bay, winning both games 2-1. After these two games and going back to North America, the Rangers began with their best start in franchise history, going 10-2-1 over the first 13 games, and had a pretty good season except for a 14 game 2-8-4 slump through the end of January and into February. During the first round of the playoffs, the Rangers met up with the Washington Capitals and appeared to have the upper hand after game 4 with a 3-1 series lead. Unfortunately for them, the Caps bounced right back and won the next 3 games, taking the series away from them in game 7, no thanks to head coach John Tortorella’s suspension after a quarrel with a fan during game 5.
Philadelphia Flyers
Final standings: 44W, 27L, 11OTL, 99 points, 3rd Atlantic, 5th EC, 9th NHL
The Philadelphia Flyers this year got off to a good start during the early months of the season, with an 8 game points streak (7-0-1) in November and a 7 game point streak (6-0-1) in December. For most of the season, they held onto the number 4 spot in the playoffs, but the inconsistent hockey they played for the rest of the year eventually cost them their home ice advantage in the playoffs. Much like two of their division rivals, the Flyers weren’t able to make it past the first round as they lost in 6 games to state rivals Pittsburgh. During the offseason, the Flyers were able to boost their defence by acquiring Chris Pronger from the Anaheim Ducks, so look for the Flyers to have a much tougher presence on the ice, as well as… well, more Pronger hate by other teams’ fans being directed onto them.
Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins
Final standings: 45W, 28L, 9OTL, 99 points, 2nd Atlantic, 4th EC, 8th NHL
After going back to North America after two games in Sweden with the Ottawa Senators, the Pens started off fairly good, until December and January when they suddenly started playing inconsistently, posting a 10-16-2 record over the two months. During February, head coach Michel Therrien was fired and replaced by Dan Bylsma, previously the coach of the AHL Penguins, and for the rest of the season the Penguins played far more consistently, and under their new head coach posted a record of 18-3-4, losing only one home game. Their sudden rise in the standings allowed them to gain home ice advantage over Philadelphia, beating them 4-2 in the first round, and then moving on to the second round to defeat the Washington Capitals in 7, sweeping the Carolina Hurricanes in the Conference Finals and then, like last year, met Detroit in the Stanley Cup Final, making this the first time in 25 years that two teams met in back to back Cup Finals. Detroit held the home ice advantage for this series, and for the first 6 games the home team came out as the victor. However, Pittsburgh won 2-1 in a very tight game 7 in Detroit, winning their third Stanley Cup in franchise history.
Stay tuned for Part 2 as the Northeast Division will be covered.