Preface: The preseason is weird.
Luke Schenn seems to be a Norris and a Calder Trophy candidate (that is, if defensive defensemen ever got consideration for the Calder), the Dallas Stars have one win, and the St Louis Blues have three players atop the scoring race.
Ken Armer is silently crying in an armchair, facing the fire with a glass of brandy in his hand at this news, while the Detroit Red Wings are silently chuckling to themselves, as they re-examine film of Manny Legace of his days as a Red Wing so as to expose his weaknesses when the games matter.
Alan Bass, meanwhile, is hiding out under the buffet table in the Philadelphia Flyers' media room—so much for college.
I'm going to acknowledge something right now: There are a lot of unknowns in the Northeast Division.
Is Carey Price going to be better this year? We don't know, although all signs point to yes.
Are the Ottawa Senators over last season's (cue Jim Hughson)
malfunction of maganimous proportions, and do they have the offensive depth to compete when Heatley, Alfredsson, and Spezza aren't all on the same line? I don't know.Can the Bruins prove to be a successful dark horse in the Northeast Division? Who knows?
Will the Sabres bounce back from an off year last year and instill Jason Pominville, Derek Roy, and Thomas Vanek as the next great trio? I don't know.
And what the hell will happen with the Toronto Maple Leafs this season? Good luck with that one.
Either way, someone's going to get the shaft in the Northeast this season, and it'll lead to a whole lot of yelling, as it normally does. Remember the scene from Tropic Thunder where everyone's yelling and they completely miss the explosion that Danny McBride (you'd know him as "Cody the crazy pyro") rigged up? Then after the explosion, they just go back to fighting? That's the way the Northeast is.
The regular season is the buildup, the playoffs are the explosion, culminating in the Stanley Cup Finals—which we all shut up and watch, and then go right back to fighting the day after.
And we wonder why some of the other teams in the NHL can't stand us...
Roster Additions: Michael Ryder-F (F.A.), Johnny Boychuk-D (Trade), Mark Marquardt-F (F.A).
Roster Subtractions: Glen Murray-F (F.A./Buyout), Alex Zhamnov-F (F.A.), Glen Metropolit-F (F.A.), Bobby Allen-D (F.A.), Alex Auld-G (F.A.)
How did 2007-08 go? 49-21-12, Eighth in conference, third in Northeast division, lost in first round of Eastern Conference playoffs.
2008-09 Goal: Second in Northeast, Fifth to seventh in conference.
Let's break'er down...
Speaking of the Senators in a roundabout way, they tied with the Bruins for the eighth playoff spot last season, but actually finished in seventh. By virtue of the schedule-makers not making the season longer, the Sens were fortunate to hang on to the seventh spot.
Either way, though, the Bruins made their first-round series with Montreal exciting, and they proved to be a scrappy team that doesn't quit.
9 comments Last one added 9 months ago — Leave a Comment
Shawn Owens 9 months ago
Good article. I am not sure about second in the northeast but I do see them making the playoffs again.
Wheeler is going to be fun to watch this season as is Lucic.
They have depth rolling all the way into Providence. Hopefully Julien can put the right people in the right places to make them or shall I say keep them successful all season long.
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Tony from NB 9 months ago
Bryan,
You said...
"Second will be a dogfight: I think the Bruins and Sens will be fighting it out throughout the entire season, and the Sabres will offer a hell of a fight too.
I think the Bruins muscle their way in, though.
Second in the Northeast"
But you didn't say that the Habs will finish first....are you saying that????
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Bryan Thiel 9 months ago
Yep, the Habs preview came yesterday Tony, sorry about that.
I usually try to cross-reference the entire division when I'm doing these, but I left the Habs out today. I led the Northeast off with them yesterday and pegged them to finish first.
BT
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Alan Bass 9 months ago
Dammit BT!!! You gave away my hiding spot! I guess I'll have to move to Ed Snider's office...shhh don't give this place away!
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Spencer Callaghan 9 months ago
The Bruins have had the Sens number lately, and they play a great defensive game, but 2nd in the Northeast?...I don't see it.
3rd in the Northeast and 7th in the conference.
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Bryan Thiel 9 months ago
It's a difficult decision Spencer—to be completely honest, I would've had as much trouble putting anyone in second because it'll be pretty damn competitive. I can actually see it being tied once again or being separated by a point or two, no matter who is in second and who is in third.
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Clay Punk 9 months ago
Since when does a defensive defensemen ever got consideration for the Norris? They don't.
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TJ Luckman 9 months ago
I like the article, and you make a lot of good points. If Manny doesn't have any more knee troubles, the Bruins are pretty much set in net, something Sabres fans are looking for ever since Marty Biron left. The loss of Glen Murray is questionable to me, but with Michael Ryder as an addition, the Bruins got a better and younger player. The Northeast is the second most unpredictable division in hockey, I think, with the Southeast in first by a LOT.
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Michael Brown 9 months ago
'Bout time I saw some respect for the Bruins! I was beginning to think I was crazy for being the only one thinking they could take 2nd in the Northeast.
That being said, if they had beaten Montreal 3 out of the 8 regular season matchups last year, they would have won the division. If they had beaten Montreal 4 out of the 8 matchups, they would have won the conference regular season title.
Look out for Patrice Bergeron and Phil Kessel. Hopefully, Jacobs won't trade one of them away (and before you say he'd be crazy to do that, remember that a couple seasons ago he traded away the NHL MVP during the season).
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