Tag Archives: 2008

The Aftermath – 2009 edition: Part 4

July 16, 2009   wildwing64   No comments

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 4 will begin coverage of the Western Conference with the Central Division.

Chicago Blackhawks

Final standings: 46W, 24L, 12OTL, 104 points, 2nd Central, 4th Western Conference, 6th NHL

New owner Rocky Wirtz’s brief rebuilding of his Chicago Blackhawks seems to have paid off. Looking to improve on their fairly good season last year, the Hawks immediately fired head coach Denis Savard after just 4 games, and replaced him with Joel Quenneville, who would lead Chicago as they had one of their best seasons in years, earning 16 more points than their previous season, and making the playoffs for the first time since 2002. This year, Chicago hosted the Winter Classic at Wrigley Field, home of MLB’s Chicago Cubs, where they played against long-time rivals the Detroit Red Wings, losing to them 6-4. When they playoffs came around, the Blackhawks beat the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks in 6 games in the first and second rounds, before running out of steam and losing to Detroit in 5 in the Conference Finals, ironically much like the last time Chicago made it that far in 1995.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Final standings: 41W, 31L, 10OTL, 92 points, 4th Central, 7th Western Conference, 16th NHL

Last year, the Blue Jackets had their most successful season, winning 80 points which was, at the time, the most in franchise history. After failing to make the playoffs, Columbus fans were in for a pleasant surprise this year as their Blue Jackets, despite a slow start in October, played very good hockey for the rest of the season, keeping well away from the bottom of the league standings and earned a playoff berth for the first time ever, meaning that all 30 of the NHL’s currently active teams have made the playoffs at least once. Their first taste of the postseason, sadly, didn’t last very long as the inexperienced Blue Jackets lost to division rivals Detroit, being swept.

Detroit Red Wings

Final standings: 51W, 21L, 10OTL, 112 points, 1st Central, 1st Western Conference, 3rd NHL

Entering this season as the reigning Stanley Cup Champions, the Detroit Red Wings had a slightly more disappointing overall record than last year, earning 3 points less and also not winning the President’s Trophy for the second consecutive season. They visited Wrigley Field in Chicago to play their long-time rivals the Blackhawks, where the Wings won 6-4. As ever, Detroit had a consistently winning season, with only two slumps: a 6 game stretch (0-4-2) through the end of January and beginning of February, and a 10 game slump (3-6-1) through the end of March and into April. The Wings went on to make the playoffs for the 18th consecutive season: in the first round, they swept playoff newbies Columbus, then played a tough seven game series against playoff rivals Anaheim in the second round, and then defeated Chicago in 5 games in the Conference Finals. In the Stanley Cup Final, they met the Pittsburgh Penguins, who they had previously met in the Final last season, making this event the first in 25 years in which the Cup finalists from the previous season had met in back-to-back Finals. The Red Wings, however, could not hold onto the Cup as Pittsburgh defeated them in Detroit in game 7, making the Wings the first NHL team in 38 years to lose a Game 7 at home.

Nashville Predators

Final standings: 40W, 34L, 8OTL, 88 points, 5th Central, 10th Western Conference, 20th NHL

This year was the Nashville Predators’ 10th season of play (but due to the lockout that cancelled the 2004-05 season, the 10 year anniversary patches were worn on their jerseys last season instead). Sadly, it wasn’t really worth remembering as the Preds failed to make any real improvements over last season’s record and playoff berth. They played mediocre hockey for the first four months, but then somehow, they started playing much, much better through February and March, but they soon failed to qualify for the playoffs, missing out on the number 8 spot by just 3 points, making them the only team from the Central Division to miss the postseason.

St. Louis Blues

Final standings: 41W, 31L, 19OTL, 92 points, 3rd Central, 6th Western Conference, 15th NHL

Here is another pleasant surprise from the Central Division in the form of the St. Louis Blues, who this year made the playoffs for the first time since 2004. They greatly improved on their record by shooting right up in the standings, and earning 13 more points. Expectations were low early on due to injuries to key players such as Erik Johnson, Andy McDonald and goaltender Manny Legace, as well as shoddy play during December (4-10-1). However, things began to look good for the Blues by the time the New Year came, as they played much better hockey for the rest of the season. Their playoff run would unfortunately be very brief, as they were swept by the Vancouver Canucks in the first round.

Coming up next in Part 5 will be the Northwest Division.

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The Aftermath – 2009 edition: Part 3

July 11, 2009   wildwing64   No comments

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 3 will be covering the Southeast Division.

Atlanta Thrashers

Final standings: 35W, 41L, 6OTL, 76 points, 4th Southeast, 13th Eastern Conference, 27th NHL

Not much can be said for the Thrashers this year as, in a similar fashion to the Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs, they ended up with a near identical overall record than last season. They played poorly all season long up until March when they started winning more games, earning a 9-4-0 record… but sadly it was already too late, as once again the Atlanta Thrashers finished right near the bottom of the League standings.

Carolina Hurricanes

Final standings: 45W, 30L, 7OTL, 97 points, 2nd Southeast, 6th Eastern Conference, 11th NHL

Prior to this season, fan favourite Glen Wesley, after playing for 20 seasons in the NHL and 10 for Carolina, retired from professional hockey. Despite this, the Canes marginally improved on their previous season, playing fairly consistently for the majority of the season and earning a playoff spot for the first time since 2006. Along the way, on November 7th head coach Peter Laviolette made American NHL history by recording the most wins by a US born head coach with his 240th victory, in which his Hurricanes beat Ottawa 2-1… but shortly afterwards on December 2nd, he was fired and replaced by Paul Maurice. Come playoff time, Carolina made it all the way to the Conference Finals, having defeated both New Jersey and Boston in 7 games in the first two rounds, but their season was brought to an end as they were swept by eventual Stanley Cup Champions Pittsburgh.

Florida Panthers

Final standings: 41W, 30L, 11OTL, 93 points, 3rd Southeast, 9th Eastern Conference, 14th NHL

During the offseason, former head coach Jacques Martin moved up and became the Cats’ general manager, while Peter DeBoer signed a multiyear contract to take his place as head coach. After a slow start during the first two months, the Florida Panthers quickly began to play better hockey, improving in all areas over their previous season record, earning eight more points and finishing higher up in the standings… but sadly, it wasn’t quite enough as the Montreal Canadiens, with an identical record but with more goals scored, prevented Florida from making the number 8 seed in the Conference standings, making this the eighth consecutive season in which they failed to qualify. Interestingly, despite missing the playoffs, the Panthers still managed to earn a better overall record than the bottom three seeded Western Conference playoff teams: St. Louis, Columbus and Anaheim, in that order.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Final standings: 24W, 40L, 18OTL, 66 points, 5th Southeast, 14th Eastern Conference, 29th NHL

Prior to their 2008-09 campaign, the Bolts made a load of offseason changes such as introducing a new third jersey with… well, “BOLTS” across the front. The team was also bought by film and TV producer Oren Koules, Barry Melrose was signed as head coach despite having not coached since 1995, trades were made, and fan favourite Vincent Lecavalier was named team captain once again, after he was stripped of the honour at the start of the 2001-02 season. After returning from Prague in two games against the Rangers, the Lightning played abysmal hockey for the first two months, resulting in Melrose being fired and replaced by interim head coach Rick Tocchet (who would eventually sign a 2 year contract with the Lightning), after which Tampa Bay continued to play horribly, finishing with a worse record than last season and as the NHL’s second worst team. If there was one interesting thing to point out about this team, that would be the fact that they finished with the most overtime losses by any NHL club, with the next highest team being Toronto, who had 13.

Washington Capitals

Final standings: 50W, 24L, 8OTL, 108 points, 1st Southeast, 2nd Eastern Conference, 4th NHL

After making the playoffs for the first time in five years and being eliminated in the first round last season, it became evident afterwards that the Washington Capitals wanted more. As if just making the playoffs last year wasn’t good enough, this year’s Caps greatly improved on their previous record, winning more games, shooting further up in the standings and earning 14 more points, finishing as one of the best teams in the league. The 108 points earned by the Capitals this season set a new franchise record, beating the previous record of 107 set by the 1985/86 Caps. Come playoff time, Washington beat the New York Rangers in 7 games in the first round, and in the second round they were faced off against the Pittsburgh Penguins, in a clash of the NHL’s favourite two players Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin, who’s Capitals were able to stretch the series to game 7, before being defeated by Pittsburgh who went on to win the Cup.

That’s it for the Eastern Conference, and Part 4 will begin covering the West, starting with the Central Division.

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The Aftermath – 2009 edition: Part 2

July 09, 2009   wildwing64   No comments

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.

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