2010- 11 NHL Season Starts Today: The Reinders Reader

The long-awaited start to the 2010 NHL season is finally here everyone. Tonight starts the race for the 2011 Stanley Cup. Exciting stuff. Questions, hopes, and dreams all abound today and every fan of every team has even a little hope, some in different ways then others (Sorry, Toronto and Edmonton fans, the Cup is not coming to you this year, but there is hope).

Now onto some season thoughts.

New captains get to see their first action today. Guys like Dion Phaneuf, Shea Weber, Joe Thornton (just given the captaincy today), Brian Gionta, and Shawn Horcoff all get chances to prove they deserve the recognition their respective teams placed in them.

Some of them have it a little harder than others. Some of them have a herculean task ahead of them to prove they deserve the captaincy to management and crazy fans. All of them have lots of work ahead for them. All of them get the chance to make enormous impacts. All of them will never be the same.

Today is the best day of the NHL for any fan. Everyone can claim their team is first in the NHL and almost everyone gets to hold claim to the number one draft pick overall in the upcoming draft (let the jokes fly about the Leafs giving up another top-five pick, you're SO original). Gary Bettman should start using this as a tag line for the next CBA.

With all that's being made about the Mark Streit injury, one overlooked player that could benefit is Calvin De Haan. If he gets the chance to play, look to see him run with it. The kid has talent, and feeding Tavares off the power play could be the start of something great.

TSN recently unveiled its list of the NHL's top 50 players in a recent NHL special. A few surprises were on the list and some were not. The Stanley Cup had its obvious effect as Toews (third) and Keith (fifth) were both in the top five, Kane 15th, and Sharp and Seabrook were surprise additions (50th and 48th respectively). Now I'm not debating that Chicago has an amazing core and all five are great players, but the positioning is a little odd. Toews, Keith, and Kane are top 50 players, but the rankings were exaggerated in my opinion. They got a little overrated from one season.

Kane above Parise, St. Louis, Getzlaf, and Daniel Sedin? Really? Is it possible he will be better than all them one day? Sure, but he isn't there yet. I'm not going to even bother mentioning anything about Seabrook and Sharp as the point has been made multiple times on multiple sites. Nicklas Backstrom got a little bit blindsided too, but at least he was rated above Stamkos.

Am I the only one not picking New Jersey to be a force in the playoffs or season? Sorry, but that defense isn't all that great after losing both Martin and Mottau (he was a 20-minute guy for them last year). Volchenkov is a great addition, but he is only a No. 3 guy tops and has never played a full season. That isn't going to change anytime soon either; the evidence is in the game he plays. Tallinder is a great fourth or fifth guy, but again, not a top two D-man. Plus they have no puck mover outside of Andy Green. Who? Exactly. Plus they have to ice a 20-man lineup just to get under the cap. Brodeur just doesn't impress me either. He plays too often, and look at him in big games (anyone remember the Olympics?), he can't cut it anymore.

Now I will concede having Parise and Kovalchuk will definitely help, and having a coach willing to let them loose could just wreck everything I just said.

Toronto Maple Leafs have a lot of stuff to be happy about at the moment. The team has a top line with chemistry and one that has some danger to it. Kris Versteeg, Tyler Bozak, and Phil Kessel were deadly in the preseason. Now we all know how much preseason means, but at the very least, the chemistry exists between all three. Also, the top two draft picks for the Leafs in 2010 have won the Player of the Week awards in both the WHL (Brad Ross) and OHL (Greg McKegg). Maybe Brian Burke wasn't just blowing steam when he claimed he felt the team picked up two players he felt should have been first rounders.