FanHouse NHLSeasonPreview

Welcome to the NHL FanHouse 2008-09 season preview. While other sites are previewing "30 teams in 30 days," we decided to take advantage of the extra time off before the start of the season to bring you all 30 previews over the next three weeks. We're counting down in reverse order of finish from last season in each conference every weekday from now until October 3. Look for an Eastern Conference preview every morning and a Western Conference preview every afternoon. Click here to read them all.

Who's In: Brian Rolston, Bobby Holik

Who's Out: Vitaly Vishnevski, Sergei Brylin, Arron Asham, New York's Sean Avery signed in Dallas (probably worth mentioning)

What's Changed: Not a whole lot has changed in New Jersey, although it was interesting to see Lou Lamoriello open up the wallet during the off-season. The Devils brought back both Brian Rolston and Bobby Holik this summer in an effort to turn the clock back to 2000 (can Ken Daneyko and Scott Stevens be far behind?). Sources tell me that later this week Lou will unveil his plans to build a time machine in the basement of the Prudential Center. Actually the reasoning behind the signings was more than likely to, you know, improve the team but it's fun to imagine what schemes Lou is thinking up.

The team had a heck of a season last year, when most people were picking them to take a step back. Despite being in a tough division, the Devils managed 99 points and the third most points in the conference. They also managed to lose to the Islanders and Rangers a total of 13 times last year, which doesn't make any sense at all considering they only lost to the rest of the NHL 16 times. Obviously, they're going to have to focus a bit more on their tri-state area rivalry games.

The Devils are going into this season about the same they went in last year, except this time no one is sleeping on them. Despite a defense that leaves a bit to be desired, they still have Marty Brodeur and as long as they have him and he isn't aging horribly, you can't leave the Devils out. I apologize, because you're going to hear that line about a million times this year, and you've probably heard it a million times already. But it's true. He's still the best player on the team and posted a 2.17 GAA and .920 SPCT last season. Pretty sick numbers, to be sure. Oh and he's 36, which in goaltender years is almost unheard of. A few more years and the shelter is going to have to put him down for his own good.

Welcome to the NHL FanHouse 2008-09 season preview. While other sites are previewing "30 teams in 30 days," we decided to take advantage of the extra time off before the start of the season to bring you all 30 previews over the next three weeks. We're counting down in reverse order of finish from last season in each conference every weekday from now until October 3. Look for an Eastern Conference preview every morning and a Western Conference preview every afternoon. Click here to read them all.

Who's In: Markus Naslund, Nikolai Zherdev, Dmitri Kalinin.

Who's Out: Martin Straka, Jaromir Jagr, Brendan Shanahan (could still return), Sean Avery, Fedor Tyutin.

What's Changed: Another year and it's still the same old Rangers -- spend, spend, spend. In February the team signed stud netminder Henrik Lundqvist to a six-year deal that came out to about $6.5 million per. During the off-season they nabbed UFAs Wade Redden and Markus Naslund for the low price of $11.5 million this season. Not that this is a bad tactic, they did pretty well this past season with their spending spree from the summer of 2007 (Gomez, Drury). But, in all serious, not a whole lot has changed in terms of the philosophy in New York. The faces, however, are a different story.

With Jaromir Jagr in Russia, Brendan Shanahan in limbo, and the departure of Martin Straka, the Rangers are going to be without three of their top five scorers from a year ago. The trio combined for 158 points last season, something the Rangers will dearly miss. The addition of Naslund and Nikolai Zherdev will help ease the stress, but it will certainly be interesting to see how the new faces, and the loss of some old faces, pans out.

With a little less than 24 hours to go before the NHL drops the curtain on the 2006-07 season with a pair of regular season games between the Ducks and Kings in London, I've asked my colleagues here at FanHouse to gather up all of their predictions for the upcoming season. First up, he's the overall order of finish by division starting with the Eastern Conference based on the season preview posts that we've been writing since the end of August.

Who's In: Ryan Shannon, W (ANA) Jim Sharrow (ATL), Brad Isbister, W (FA-NYR), Byron Ritchie, C (FA-CGY), Curtis Sanford, G, (FA-STL), Aaron Miller, D (UFA-LA)

Who's Out: Jason King, LW (ANA), Jesse Schultz, C, Jan Bulis, W, (RUSSIA), Rory Fitzpatrick, D (UFA-PHI), Lee Goren, W, Josh Green, LW, Tommi Santala, C, Bryan Smolinski, C (MTL) and Brent Sopel, D (DET).

What's Changed: After a breakthrough season, in which the Canucks transformed into a defensive-oriented team and made the playoffs, GM Dave Nonis retained almost the exact same roster over the summer, save for a few tweaks here and there. With many of the core players already under contract for another season, Nonis decided against blowing up the roster or making any drastic changes, opting to hope the Canucks would get better seasons from players such as Markus Naslund and Brendan Morrison, who both fared poorly under coach Alain Vigneault's tight-checking system.

What was puzzling to most fans and analysts was the fact that Nonis did almost nothing to improve the Canucks' biggest weakness: a lack of goal scoring.

Apart from trading for the diminutive Ryan Shannon (from the Cup-winning Ducks), and signing minor league retreads such as "Buffet Brad" Isbister, Nonis seemed extremely reluctant to patch an enormous hole in the lineup. Only eight clubs had fewer goals last season, and the Canucks have scored only 12 goals in five preseason games.

Opting for a differing strategy, Nonis decided to play to the Canucks' strength and bolster up the defense corps and goaltending. If the Canucks are excellent at keeping the puck out and winning games because of that, Nonis must be thinking, why not ensure the Canucks do an even better job defensively this season? The signing of veterans Aaron Miller and Curtis Sanford, along with the try-out of Dan McGillis, will help give the Canucks the deepest and stingiest defense/goalie combos in the NHL.

Who's In: Chris Gratton, C/W (Trade-FLA); Jan Hlavac, LW (FA-Europe); Brad Lukowich, D (FA-NJD); Michel Ouellet, RW (FA-PIT)

Who's Out: Ruslan Fedotenko, LW/RW (FA-NYI); Eric Perrin, C/W (FA-ATL); Nolan Pratt, D (FA); Luke Richardson, D (FA-OTT); Corey Sarich, D (FA-CGY)

What's Changed: Ownership. Out with the (really, really) old, in with the new (which includes a horror flick producer and the genius who put together the juggernaut that is the Columbus Blue Jackets). But GM Jay Feaster is still calling the personnel-related shots and the, um, unconventional and outspoken John Tortorella is still coaching 'em up, so it's business as usual (for now, at least) in Tampa -- perish the thought that this team cannot win with three elite forwards, a stud blueliner, a handful of extras and a duo (trio?) of netminders whose numbers were a driver and an iron from respectability last year.

Who's In? Erik Johnson, D; Martin Kariya, F; Paul Kariya, LW (Nsh); Keith Tkachuk, F (Atl); Hannu Toivonen, G (Bos)

Who's Out? Dallas Drake, F (Det); Radek Dvorak, W (Fla); Glen Metropolit, F; Ville Nieminen, F; Curtis Sanford, G (Van)

What's Changed? The most significant move for 2007-08 actually came midway through last season, when broadcaster-turned-team-president John Davidson turfed then-coach Mike Kitchen in favor of veteran bench boss Andy Murray, who almost immediately turned the Blues' fortunes around.

St. Louis put together a 19-game stretch last season where they went 13-2-4 under Murray, something that turned heads around the league and really set the team up nicely to at least entertain thoughts of the playoffs this season. Given the Blues finished dead last in the NHL with 57 points about 18 months ago, that's quite a leap.

Other major changes will see Paul Kariya take on top-line duties alongside Keith Tkachuk, and having a bona fide NHL sharpshooter should help St. Louis bump their offensive production up from last season, when the team was 26th in goals scored. Other room for growth up front will come from the likes of Brad Boyes, Lee Stempniak and David Backes, all young and all headed for decent offensive careers. Boyes, in particular, could rebound on the top line after struggling in his sophomore season.

The blue line remains relatively intact, with the notable exceptions being the presence of a (hopefully) healthy Jay McKee, who missed all but 23 games last season, and rookie Erik Johnson, the franchise-saving first-rounder from the 2006 entry draft.

Who's on the Hook? It's more of a pressure-on-a-committee type situation here, but if there's any one player who the Blues absolutely must have a big year from, it's Barret Jackman. Jackman, 26, finally got in a somewhat healthy campaign last season, and his presence went a long way toward stabilizing a back end that's been in disarray since Al MacInnis's retirement three years ago.

Who's In: D Brad Norton (FA-DET), D Sandis Ozolinsh (FA-NYR), C Jeremy Roenick (FA-PHO) and D Alexei Semenov (FA-FLA).

Who's Out: LW Mark Bell (Trade-TOR), RW Bill Guerin (FA-NYI), D Scott Hannan (FA-COL) and G Vesa Toskala (Trade-TOR).

What's Changed: Rather than augment a lineup that finished only three points behind Pacific Division champion Anaheim and tied with Dallas last season, GM Doug Wilson looked to replenish the talent pipeline.

On draft day Wilson kicked things off by shipping Bell and Toskala to Toronto in exchange for a package of draft picks that with the help of St. Louis and Buffalo he turned into Ottawa 67's Center Logan Couture at #9 overall and Defenseman Nick Petrecki at #28.

While both might be promising talents, they won't be arriving in San Jose anytime soon. Allowed to leave without much fuss were deadline acquisition Guerin and Hannan, who proved to be the most popular defenseman during the July shopping spree. Instead of keeping Hannan, Wilson opted to save $4 million over the length of a four-year contract to retain another deadline acquisition, Defenseman Craig Rivet.

The one player everyone expected to depart, Center and Team Captain Patrick Marleau, managed to make it back to training camp, though you have to wonder what his relationship with Head Coach Ron Wilson is at this point after getting called out in the media during the playoffs last season.

The one significant offseason pickup, Jeremy Roenick, looks to be ticketed for bigger things than most folks anticipated after his surprising signing a few weeks back. Wilson has made it clear that Roenick wasn't brought in to play fourth line minutes, and has spent time playing right wing on a line with Ryane Clowe and Joe Pavelski.

Also in camp trying to resurrect his career is veteran Ozolinsh, though you wonder what role a puck-moving defenseman like him could play on a team that already had the league's second-best power play last season.

The one thing that hasn't changed in San Jose: Expectations. With a roster that boasts Center Joe Thornton, Marleau, Goalie Evgeni Nabokov and some of the best young talent in all of hockey, those expectations have returned undiminished.

Who's In: G Ty Conklin (FA-BUF); G Dany Sabourin (FA-VAN); D Darryl Sydor (FA-DAL); RW Petr Sykora (FA-EDM).

Who's Out: LW Nils Ekman (FA), RW Michel Ouellet (FA-TBL), G Jocelyn Thibault (FA-BUF).

What's Changed: He's a habitual whiner. He dives way too much for an individual who has more talent than many NHL teams have on their entire roster. He's over-hyped, overexposed and lucked his way onto what might become this generation's answer to the Gretzky Oilers.

Despite Sidney Crosby's unquestioned -- and unrivaled -- ability on the ice, there are people who detest him simply because of who they believe he is; like a table full of frumpy goth kids sneering at the head cheerleader in a high-school cafeteria. Entire Web sites are dedicated to loathing Sidney Crosby, while other fans resent everything from the way he plays the game to the way he's inadvertently affected Western Conference realignment (yes, seriously).

It's tempting to buy into that group-think, to ask for citizenship in Hater Nation. But then you hear something that reminds you what an incredibly special player this kid is, and why he's going to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Stanley Cup sooner rather than later.

Who's In: GM Don Maloney (NYR), G Alex Auld (FA-FLA), G David Aebischer (FA-MTL), RW Radim Vrbata (Trade-CHI) , LW Tomáš Surový (FA-SEL) and LW/RW Mike York (FA-PHI).

Who's Out: GM Mike Barnett (Fired), C Kevyn Adams (Trade-CHI), G Curtis Joseph (FA), RW Owen Nolan (FA-CGY), C Mike Ricci (Retired), C Jeremy Roenick (FA-SJS) and C Dave Scatchard (FA).

What's Changed: To celebrate their first 10 seasons in Phoenix last season, the Coyotes coined the slogan, "Decade in the Desert". To which one might respond, "Is that all?" After missing the playoffs four times in five seasons going into 2006-07, it sure felt like the Coyotes had been lost in the wasteland for a lot longer than that.

To help find their way out of their metaphorical desert, former GM Mike Barnett imported a boatload of veteran talent designed to speed their return to the playoffs under the guiding hand of Head Coach Wayne Gretzky.

Think we might have seen this picture before?

With the exception of a surprising seven-game winning streak that straddled New Year's, the results were more or less predictable, as the plan short-circuited well before the end of the season. With a few notable exceptions, the vets were shipped out of town ahead of the deadline or let go in the offseason and the rebuild was on.

Next to go were Gretzky buddies Barnett and Assistant General Manager Cliff Fletcher and in came new GM Don Maloney with a mandate to rebuild from the bottom up.

Who's In: C Daniel Briere (FA-BUF), F Scott Hartnell (FA-NSH), RW Joffrey Lupul (TRADE-EDM), D Jason Smith (TRADE-EDM), D Kimmo Timonen (FA-NSH).

Who's Out: LW Niko Dimitrakos (FA-OTT), G Robert Esche (FA), LW Todd Fedoruk (FA-DAL), F Geoff Sanderson (TRADE-EDM), D Joni Pitkanen (TRADE-EDM), F Mike York (FA-PHO).

What's Changed: There's an A.M. station in Philadelphia with the frequency 610 and the call letters WIP. If you've never had the opportunity to listen, imagine if Lewis Black programmed a sports-talk channel: Caller after caller offering merciless criticism, battling what should be a creeping defeatism with blasts of fanatic outrage.

In thinking about what the Flyers might accomplish this season, I couldn't help but imagine what the reaction on WIP would be if disaster struck for a second straight year. It was then that I realized that for the first time in franchise history, the bar might be set so low for the Flyers that the famous Philly fanaticism -- potent enough to drive players out of town faster than a speeding battery thrown from the cheap seats at The Linc -- might be muted.

After you're the worst team in hockey (22-48-12), you've set a franchise low in points (56) and miss the playoffs for the first time since 1994, anything better than rock bottom will be celebrated -- at least for one season. To put it in Philadelphian terms, watching the Flyers this year will be like watching "Rocky Balboa." Last season was their "Rocky V," and Kyle Calder was their Tommy Morrison; even the palest imitation of the Flyers teams of the last dozen years is bound to be a crowd-pleaser.