Years ago it was the San Jose Sharks & the Ottawa Senators who were
the darlings of the experts; everyone picked both teams of those teams win the
east & west hands down. And how many Stanley Cups did they win? Over the
past three-four years, both TSN & Sportsnet have turned their attention to
the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Vancouver Canucks. I know Sidney Crosby is the
new Mario Lemieux of this decade; but to me it’s like the Pens are Canada’s 8th
team. I've never been sold on either team and especially more nowadays. Here are
a few reasons why neither team will contend for a Stanley Cup for this upcoming
season.
Penguins
TSN before training camp started made the Pens the top ranked
team. Their making Brandon Sutter out like he’s the 2nd coming Jordan Staal.
Despite playing one less season than Staal; Sutter has only had one 20 goal
season; unlike Staal’s 3 (20 goal) seasons.
Despite having Crosby & Malkin; the Penguins are not loaded with
scoring depth up front. One can say Chris Kunitz & James Neal are the only
other top six forwards. The Pens as per usual will depend on the Tyler Kennedy’s
& Pascal Dupuis to help out up front top six.
The biggest problem I see with the Penguins are #4-#6 on their back end.
Matt Niskanen, Derryk Engelland & Ben Lovejoy, are ok but should not be
playing more than 15 minutes a night. Marc-Andre Fleury was not the only major
issues the Penguins had vs the Flyers in the first round last year. The
defensive coverage as a whole was shoddy at best; at times it was
mind blowing with how poor they were as a whole.
The other concern they should have is Brooks Orpik. The nasty
defenseman is only getting older; eventually time will catch up to him. He’s
been prone to injuries and with no Zbeynek Michalek this year, the Pens cannot
afford an injury on the back end
Canucks
Vancouver has never been known for having the best 2nd line in the NHL.
More so this year more than ever; with Ryan Kesler & David Booth going to
miss more than half the season who do they have left? A second line of Mason
Raymond (25 goals in last 2 years), Jordan Schroeder & Andrew Ebbett are
going to win you the Northwest? Not anytime this century. With all due respect
Max Lapierre (9 goals 10 assists) is more of a fourth liner than he his third
line material. They do have Chris Higgins & Janik Hansen; but again they
are more third liners compared to that of a top six.
The Canucks had a bargaining chip in Roberto Luongo; but waited to long
to move him. Newsflash they will not be getting Tyler Bozak or Nazim Kadri from
the Leafs anytime soon. General Manager Mike Gillis faked himself into thinking
more team wanted Luongo. The only chance they have of getting something in
return for him; is if Columbus falters early and is willing to give the Canucks
RJ Umberger for Luongo.
The Canucks will be a boring team to watch this year; I see allot of
2-1; 1-0 specials.
When it’a all said & done
The Penguins quite easily could be the third best team in the Atlantic
Division. You know at sometime; they’ll buck up and make a bold move at the
deadline; by the looks of it they need help upfront & on the back end.
Again with the Canucks; they will not contend for a Cup with the
2nd-3rd-4th line as it stands. When Kesler comes back will he be @ 100%; that is
unlikely; just like the chances of Booth being a 40 goal scorer again.
No comments:
Post a Comment