Takin' a T/O With BT: Ten NHL Storylines to Watch in 2009

The past calender year has been one of the busiest and most successful in the NHL's recent memory.

The year began with the highly anticipated Winter Classic between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Buffalo Sabres, which ended in storybook fashion as NHL Wonderkid Sidney Crosby scored the shootout winner amid piling snow, letting out a ferocious cheer as the puck crossed the line.

From there we entered into a flurry of activity throughout the month of February, including a 25-deal trade deadline day as teams prepared for the future—whether their concern rested on draft day or their future plans involved the NHL playoffs were another matter.

As the Spring weather began to filter through the dreary winter drab, the NHL playoffs came with it, along with so many memories: The first glimpse of an upstart Boston Bruins squad, the cement-like properties of Patrick Thoresen's groin as he faced Mike Green's slapshot crotch-on, the "coming to power" of the dynamic Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Detroit Red Wings once again leaving their stamp on the year as the NHL's best.

In June we had the entry draft headlined by Steven Stamkos, and another free agent class wreaked havoc on the economic future of the NHL by exploiting an ever-rising salary cap and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

And once that was all done, it was time to start another season with brand new storylines, dramatics, and Sean Avery quotes.

But while the 2008 has brought us so many memories—Avery-related (the face-first screen of Martin Brodeur, interning at Vogue, and anger management class) and non Avery-related (um...Ray Emery is in Europe now...and...uh....Wade Belak got traded)—it's time to look towards a new year and new memories that may or may not involve Sean Avery.

Speaking of which....

The Sean Avery Saga

Let's face it—like him or not, the man sells papers, or gets website viewerships, or whatever phrase is replacing "so-and-so sells papers" in the near future.

Avery's brash attitude, disregard for human decency, and keen fashion sense has people talking about him, and with his latest exodus from the inner circles of the NHL, many fans are wondering the same thing:

Will we or won't we ever see Sean Avery in an NHL uniform again.

The fact is, he's forced himself to the forefront of everyone's mind.

The only thing that's for sure at this point is that if he returns, it won't be in Dallas.

10. The Colorado Avlanche's Injury Concerns

Right off the bat we're hitting them where it hurts: In Colorado.

While Brian Willsie is (I'm sure) an important part of the Avalanche's future, the Avalanche have two injuries that will be interesting to monitor: Paul Statsny's broken arm, and Joe Sakic's herniated disc/unfortunate snowblower accident injury (otherwise known as a mutilated hand).

Statsny's injury isn't too devastating to the Avs and their future, as he'll only be out a month, but it'll still be interesting to monitor how Statsny comes back from the injury: Will it take him a while to get his hands back (this would be a terrible joke if I said it about Sakic) or will his transition from IR to ice be flawless?

Fresh off a five-year extension (signed in November), the Avs need Statsny at full health so that he can continue his development and be a centrepiece of a maturing Colorado attack, and hopefully have the Avalanche competing for top spot in the Northwest again by the start of 2009/10.

As for Sakic, his latest injuries leave the end of his career in question. After a frustrating and injury-shortened 2007/08, Sakic hoped to return to health this year but evidently that wasn't to be.

Is Sakic due to try it again next year in hopes of exiting on his own terms or will he hang up the skates for good at the end of the year?

But before you answer that you have to factor in that next year's Winter Olympics will be played in British Columbia, Sakic's home province.

Is the drive still there to represent Canada next Winter, or is Sakic going to pass the torch on to a younger generation?

It's all up to Burnaby Joe.

9. Brian Burke's Toronto Pipedream

I get it, we're all tired of hearing about Brian Burke and the fact he signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

But while the Burke news is old news, many eyes will remain glued to this team for the better portion of 2009.

As the trade deadline approaches, speculation is soaring about whether Tomas Kaberle will be traded, what the future holds for Vesa Toskala, Justin Pogge, and Curtis Joseph, and who's in and who's out as Toronto begins to build for the future.

While the trade deadline is the most immediate source of intrigue for the Leafs, it won't be the only one: Where will they be come draft day? Will they be trading up? What will free agency bring (or not bring) this team?

Like'em or lump'em (I don't know...I read it in a book once) the Leafs will probably do something to impact your favorite team at some point in the calender year.

Sidenote: If you'd rather not have the Leafs impact your team, then watch this; it always cheers me up.

8. The Phoenix Coyotes and the Columbus Blue Jackets

Just for a minute we're going to ignore the fact that the Coyotes are receiving financial aid from the NHL and that the Blue Jackets are currently second-last in the NHL in attendance; these are going to be two exciting teams in 2009 folks.

As Steve Mason continues to make a case to unseat Montreal's Carey Price as the best goaltender under the age of 22, the Blue Jackets have stockpiled young talent up front as well.

When Derick Brassard gets back from his shoulder injury, Nikita Filatov finds his game, and Rick Nash finds some linemates that can keep up for an entire season (Most likely Brassard) then this team will be solid and fun to watch—an attitude that can hopefully be established next season, while the defense has proven that they can hang tough on most nights.

I expected big things from them at the start of this year, but hopefully the Jackets can finish strong and transfer that over to a hot start next season.

As for the Coyotes, they've found a way to plant themselves in seventh for the time-being with some exciting young (yet inconsistent) scorers in Martin Hanzal and Peter Mueller, a few solid veterans in Shane Doan and Oli Jokinen, and a defense that trusts itself more and more each game.

With a variety of pieces already in place and some yet to find their NHL legs (Kyle Turris) the Coyotes may be in line to surprise a few people not only this season, but early on next year as well.

And who knows, if neither of these teams can string together a few winning streaks, then maybe we can turn our attention back to the financial aid and attendance issues.

After all, exposure is exposure right?

7. The Race for the Calder Trophy

As we already mentioned, Derick Brassard is injured and out for the rest of the season, and that means your rookie of the year is going to have to outshine a closely knit pack.

Behind Brassard players like Kris Versteeg, Patrik Berglund, Blake Wheeler, Drew Doughty, Alex Goligoski, Luke Schenn, and Mikhail Grabovski were all making a name for themselves.

With Brassard out, it's now up to one of them to truly rise above the pack and prove that they are the premier rookie of the 2008 class.

While some are goal-scoring virtuosos, others are point-producers. Others still have stepped into an NHL lineup, eaten up big time minutes or taken on a top-line role, and haven't missed a step.

These kids are only going to get stronger down the stretch this season.

6. Mats Sundin's Impact on the Vancouver Canucks

For the last half of 2008, we were waiting for Mats Sundin to make a decision on where he was going to play.

Then, with 13 days to go in the 12th month of the year (I'm sure if there was a 13th month in the year it would've been 13/13) Sundin decided upon the Vancouver Canucks.

So now we're left with a few more questions: How will Sundin perform with the Canucks? Once Roberto Luongo comes back does Vancouver suddenly rise to the top as a contender in the West? Does Sundin stick around for another year if Vancouver catches some late-season success?

And you thought the questions would stop once he came back. Who knows? We may have another "semi-retirement" on our hands in a years time.

5. A Pat Quinn Return to the NHL

1,318 NHL games coached, 657 NHL wins, 15 career playoffs appearances, and two Jack Adams awards—you'd think that'd be enough to get someone a job interview at least.

Apparently it wasn't.

After being let go by the Toronto Maple Leafs following the 2005/06 season, Pat Quinn never received a call from an NHL team inquiring about the future Hall of Famers' services.

So, like his former goaltender Curtis Joseph, Quinn decided to return to the International Ice Hockey ranks where he was once an Olympic Champion, as well as a World Cup of Hockey champion.

He won gold as Head Coach of the Under-18 Canadian team and is now serving as Head Coach of the Canadian World Juniors where Canada won a strong-willed opening game 8-1 over the Czech Republic, and thrashed Kazakhstan 15-0 on Monday night.

While the tournament is far from over, Quinn is hoping that a fifth-straight gold (and fifteenth overall) for Canada will be enough to get him back into the coaching ranks of the NHL.

After all, Brent Sutter and Craig Hartsburg each coached Canada to two consecutive gold medals at the World Juniors and they're coaching in the NHL now without anything close to the track record Quinn has.

There's no doubt in my mind that Quinn is the best coach not to have an NHL job right now, but look for that to change in 2009.

4. Martin Brodeur's Re-Assault on the History Books

This was it. This was supposed to be the year that Martin Brodeur would surpass fellow French-Canadian Patrick Roy as the winningest goalie in the history of the NHL and Terry Sawchuk as the stingiest goalie in NHL history.

Coming into this season, Brodeur had 538 career wins and 96 career shutouts, both totals good enough to place him second on the respective lists.

Six wins and two shutouts later, Brodeur's march to the Hockey Hall of Fame was put on hold thanks to injury.

So as of November 1st, 2008 Brodeur had 544 career wins (7 behind Roy's 551) and 98 career shutouts (5 behind Terry Sawchuk's 103).

In other words, whether it's over the last two months of the 2008/09 season, or the first few months of the 2009/10 season, Brodeur will not only break those records, but he'll be well on his way to establishing almost untouchable benchmarks including a very likely (and vaunted) 600 wins.

But hey, why stop at 2009? His 600th win would have to come in 2010, along with, oh who knows? Another Olympic Gold maybe?

3. Malkin vs. Crosby

Ever since Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby faced off for the Calder Trophy in 2005/06, everyone thought that that was it: These were the two undisputed faces of the NHL, no questions asked.

But no one factored in Evgeni Malkin.

Many thought that Crosby's toughest battle was going to be convincing the fans who was the best player in the NHL between himself and Alexander the Great—not the best player on his team.

Despite being overlooked early on though, Malkin has made a serious case for himself over the past few years.

Malkin took home the Calder trophy in 2007 with 85 points in 78 games. Granted that was nothing compared to Crosby's 102-point rookie season, but that's one piece of hardware that Crosby will never win—the Calder.

Then again if Malkin had to go up against Ovechkin in his rookie year, he may not have a Calder either.

Over his short career, Crosby has earned himself a Hart trophy, a scoring title, and a Pearson award, but Malkin looks to be gunning for some of that hardware himself this season.

On top of that, many were caught off-guard by Malkin carrying the Pens in Sid's absence last year, and the thought of a fall-off this season? Well Malkin dismissed that notion with even stronger play.

As far as production goes, Sidney's point-per game average (1.37) still has Malkin beat (1.27), but the feisty Russian playmaker is certainly cementing himself as a strong foundation for the Penguin's future.

2009 could be an interesting year to watch these two battle it out for Penguin supremacy, especially if Malkin holds on to the scoring title.

2. John Tavares vs. Victor Hedman

This race could simply come down to whatever team that picks number one overall needs more: A workhorse defenseman, or a superstar forward.

Note to Tampa Bay: You went with a forward last year. In fact, you made an attempt to sign every available free agent forward as well. Go defense, Mike Smith will thank you.

For what has seemed like months, the jury has been out on who is going to be the number one overall pick in the 2009 entry draft.

Is it going to be Tavares, the focal point of so many trade rumors in the OHL, or is it going to be Hedman, one of the most highly touted European defenders ever?

As the preseason started up, Hedman was ranked at number one in a survey conducted by TSN (six of ten NHL scouts had Hedman pegged as number one).

As we approached the World Juniors, Tavares had sidled into the number one slot in TSN's rankings (8 out of 10 scouts), while International Scouting Services had Hedman at number one.

Now the two are selling themselves as best they can on the world stage with potential employers lapping it up.

And until one of their name's are called with the number one pick this June, I still don't think we'll know who the true front-runner is.

And once that happens? I think this will be one of those debates that will just go on for years.

1. The Detroit Red Wings

It's kind of cliched to pick the defending Stanley Cup champions as the most interesting story to follow for the 2009 year—after all, they are the defending champions, and no champion has won back-to-back titles since...well...the Red Wings in 1996/97 and 1997/98.

But despite the Wings trailing the San Jose Sharks and Boston Bruins by seven points for first in the league, it's impossible to count them out: They have one of the most balanced attacks offensively in the leauge, one of the most responsible defensive squads, and while their two goalies (Chris Osgood and Ty Conklin) aren't the greatest, they know how to stop pucks when they need to and win games.

But what makes this team even more interesting to follow during the 2009 year, is what could happen in the offseason.

Marian Hossa signed a one-year deal with the Wings because he wanted to win a cup. Now the rumor is that he's happy in Detroit and would love to stay there (and who wouldn't want to, what with the chance to play with Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk) for the foreseeable future.

But in looking at Detroit's upcoming free agents, you have to wonder how that's going to work. Along with Hossa's upcoming unrestrictedness, you've also got Zetterberg hitting the open market after this season, and Johan Franzen testing the waters as well.

Granted these are the only three free agents the Wings have of note this offseason, but they're currently sitting only $274,000 under the cap meaning there isn't much room for a raise for anyone.

So is a higher-priced contract going to be traded? Will everyone resign for less-than-market value to stay with a contender? Or will the Wings just cut their losses, let someone walk, and then just fill from within like they always have?

Whatever their strategy, Detroit's cap structure will undoubtedly be something to behold, as the NHL's model of consistency looks to stay that way for at least the next year.

Bryan Thiel is a Senior Writer and an NHL Community Leader for Bleacher Report. If you want to get in contact with Bryan you can do so through his profile. You can also check out all of his previous works in his archives.