Looking ahead: UFA forwards

Mike Cammalleri: Half-way through this season Cammalleri is the second leading scorer in Calgary with a 50/50 split in points with 22 goals and 22 assists. Not the biggest player at 5”9 and 185lbs. he’s somewhat injury prone. Cammalleri is the perfect complementary scorer and will average around 30 goals and 80 points if he stays healthy. He’ll be looking for a raise of his current 3.6 million so Calgary will be in a tough spot when it comes to re-signing him.(Possible destinations: Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal)

Johan Franzen: The “Mule” as he’s known in Detroit has really emerged since March of last season as another star goal scroing Swede developed in Detroit. Sitting at 21 goals at the halfway point he’ll also be tough for his current team to re-sign due to cap problems.(Possible destinations: Detroit, Columbus, Los Angeles, Vancouver)

Marian Gaborik: Maybe the biggest waste of talent due to injury’s that I’ve ever seen. Gaborik has speed to burn and a lethal shot, he’s pretty well burnt his bridges in Minnesota and Vancouver is rumoured to be his destination of choice while LA is also but a report out of LA says that they’re interest level is at sub-zero temperature due to his injury history.(Possible Destinations: Vancouver, LA, Pittsburgh, Toronto)

Brian Gionta: Small New Jersey forward who notched 48 goals the year after the lockout, he’s currently sitting at 11 playing on the second line in NJ. He’s more a 25 goal guy who’s good in his own end. I don’t see him staying in the constricting system of NJ and he doesn’t seem to mesh with coach Brent Sutter(Possible destinations: NYI, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Buffalo)

Martin Havlat: A lesser Gaborik. Injured constantly although ala Sheldon Souray he’s managed to stay healthy for his contract season. He’s at 15 goals this season and he’s about a 30 goal man but won’t be back in Chicago because of the cap(Possible Destinations: Columbus, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Washington)

Marian Hossa: The biggest gun for hire the second year in a row, Hossa is a potential 100 point player every season. He’s on pace for 90 this season. More so the Franzen, Hossa’s price tag will be too big for Detroit after this season. Will the Oilers give him another whopper offer?(Possible Destinations: Edmonton, Vancouver, Toronto, Minnesota)

Saku Koivu: The heart of the Canadiens for a decade, Koivu will either take a pay-cut to stay on as the Captain in Montreal and try and win a cup or maybe sign in Minnesota to play with his younger brother(Possible Destinations: Montreal, Minnesota)

Alex Kovalev: The most enigmatic and moody talent in the game. Kovalev probably has the most raw talent in the game but he marches to his own drum at all times and that hurts him at times. If he takes a pay cut he’ll be back in Montreal(Possible Destinations: Montreal, Pittsburgh, Washington, Atlanta)

Andy McDonald: The Anaheim Ducks offense hasn’t been the same since they dealt him to St.Louis for Doug Weight. A fast slick playmaker with 90 point potential every season. Injured this season but he’ll be back(Possible Destinations: St.Louis, Columbus, Minnesota, Los Angeles)

Joe Sakic: Old man snowblower will either resign in Denver or retire.(Possible Destinations: Colorado, retirement)

Daniel + Henrik Sedin: The sisters are in a unique position cause they come as a package deal. Henrik is the playmaker while Daniel is the sniper. I believe they’ll stay in Vancouver but if they go anywhere else the team will need a lot of cap room wanting a quick fix(Possible Destinations: Vancouver, Toronto, Florida, Columbus)

Mats Sundin: Oh great he’s going to be a free agent again? Please go away Mats.(Possible Destinations: Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, retirement)

Alex Tanguay: Tanguay is a smooth playmaker who doesn’t shoot nearly enough. Was off to a good start with 26 points in 34 games before separating his shoulder. I doubt Montreal would bring him back at 5.375 million so he’ll move on to a non-hockey market(Possible Destinations: Anaheim, Florida, Phoenix, Los Angeles)

Henrik Zetterberg: This superstar isn’t going anywhere. Reports are that a newly signed contract will be delivered by end of the month.(Possible Destinations: Detroit)

Nikolai Zherdev: I like to call him Kovalev jr. cause of all the talent he has yet he chronically underachieved in Columbus before finally getting it in New York….in his contract year. I think he’s got a good thing on Broadway and we’ll stay but with the economy the way it is he could also go for the fattest paycheck he can get(Possible Destinations: NYR, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Montreal)

Other notable UFA forwards: Max Afinogenov, Nik Antropov, Derek Armstrong, P.J Axelsson, Steve Begin, Todd Bertuzzi, Radek Bonk, Alex Burrows, Kyle Calder, Erik Cole, Mike Comrie, Tom Connolly, Sergei Federov, Ruslan Fedotenko, Mike Grier, Bobby Holik, Ales Kotalik, Viktor Kozlov, Robert Lang, Ian Laperierre, John Madden, Todd Marchant, Brendan Morrison, Chris Neil, Rob Niedermayer, Mike Peca, Gary Roberts, Jeremy Roenick, Tuomo Ruutu, Mikael Samuelsson, Miro Satan, Brendan Shanahan, Mike Sillinger, Steve Sullivan, Brian Sutherby, Peter Sykora, Keith Tkachuk, Doug Weight, Richard Zednik.

Western All-Stars

FORWARDS
Starting Forwards: Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Ryan Getzlaf. Kane and Getzlaf(5th in league scoring) I have no bones with being All-Star starters but Toews has been bit somewhat with a sophomore slump and hasn’t been as good as he was as a rookie. But he was the fans choice so more power to them.

League selected forwards: Dustin Brown, Patrick Marleau(replaces Pavel Datsyuk), Shane Doan, Milan Hejduk, Jarome Iginla, Mike Modano, Rick Nash, Joe Thornton, Keith Tkachuk.

My Take: Anze Kopitar probably would be a better choice then Brown for the Kings, Ryan Smyth is leading the Avs in points so he arguably should have been there instead of Hejduk. Brad Richards, Mike Ribeiro and Loui Eriksson all would have been better choices then Mike Modano. Modano making this team is just the league putting a large name American in a southern market in there. Tkachuk is the same, Brad Boyes is leading the Blues in scoring and should be there.

DEFENSE
Starting Defensemen: Brian Campbell and Scott Niedermayer. While Campbell deserves to go, not so much as a starter. Niedermayer go in on name recognition only, his stats this season aren’t tearing the roof off. But these are the fans choices.

League selected Defensemen: Dan Boyle, Stephane Robidas(replacing Nik Lidstrom), Sheldon Souray, Shea Weber.

My Take: All these players were deserving except for the injury replacement. Even as a replacement Stephan Robidas shouldn’t be in the All-Star game. That’s a joke. He’s got 19 points and is only there cause he plays in Dallas and the league wants as many players as possible from southern markets. More deserving of being named a replacement for the best defenseman of this genereation, Lidstrom, include the likes of Brian Rafalski, Chris Pronger, Rob Blake, Lubomir Vishnovski, Duncan Keith, Marek Zidlicky, Ryan Suter, Dion Phaneuf(even though he’s the most overrated dman in the game), hell even Tom Gilbert is more deserving!

GOALTENDERS
Starting Goalie: JS Giguere. The most ridiculous choice by the fans(don’t criticize, don’t criticize!). Giguere’s been a sieve all season. But the fans voted him in!(*insert teeth grinding*)

League Choices: Nik Backstrom and Roberto Luongo. Luongo’s on for name alone. Evgeni Nabakov and Mikka Kiprusoff are more deserving but the Canucks needed someone to go. Backstrom should win the Vezina so he should be there.

Next up, it’s not to early to start thinking free agency and the key UFA’s!

My opinion of the Eastern All-Star Roster

FORWARDS

Starting three forwards: Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Alex Kovalev. The fans voted these three into the game so I’m not going to criticize their choices, although Alex Kovalev’s play this year doesn’t really deserve an all-star spot. Andrei Kostitsyn is a more deserving Canadiens forward if the fans had to vote another one in.

League selected forwards:

Jeff Carter, Vinny Lecavalier, Dany Heatley, Ilya Kovalchuk, Alex Ovechkin, Zach Parise, Marc Savard, Eric Staal, Thomas Vanek.

Out of the league selected forwards, you could make a case that Ilya Kovalchuk(20 goals), Vinny Lecavalier(44 points) and Eric Staal(35 points) got there because of their names, not necessarily cause they were the most deserving forwards on their teams. Bryan Little(Atlanta-21 goals), Marty St.Louis(46 points) and Ray Whitney(39 points) are more deserving.

DEFENSE

Starting 2 defensemen: Andrei Markov and Mike Komisarek. Andrei Markov is a starter for the second year in a row and definitely deserves to be in this spot. Mike Komisarek being a started in the All-Star game however was the product of fandom. This will be his first and last All-Star game.

League selected defensemen:

Jay Bouwmeester, Zdeno Chara, Tomas Kaberle and Mark Streit.

While I’m not going to argue that Chara shouldn’t be here, his teammate Dennis Wideman(Boston-31 points) is equally as deserving. Tomas Kaberle is a product of the “one player from every team must go” rule, while he’s Toronto’s leading scorer on D he’s also -11. As much as the Islanders suck, Streit does deserve this.

GOALTENDERS

Starter: Carey Price. Tim Thomas probably should have been the starter but Price does deserve to be in the game in my opinion. He’s one of the top 5 goalies in the east and with Mary Brodeur out with injury he takes a spot.

League selected goalies:
Henrik Lundqvist, Tim Thomas.

No qualms with either player.

Friday I’ll cover the Western All-Star team.

The Last of the Oilers greats gets taken care of.

On Sunday January 19th the Edmonton Oilers will be retiring Glenn Anderson’s number 9. It’s been a exciting last few months for Anderson with not only his jersey being retired but also being part of the Hockey Hall of Fame class of 2008 along with Igor Larianov, Ray Scapinello and Ed Chynowth. Quite frankly it was a joke that the Hall took so long to admit Anderson through it’s doors. 498 goals, 1,099 points and 6 Stanley Cups(5 with Edmonton and 1 with The Rangers) and it took him nearly a decade of eligebility to finally get in due to his contraversial manner with the media. The rumors that abounded in Edmonton after his friend drowned in his pool and a child support issue that was solved in 2003 with an ex-girlfriend also contributed to the delay. With all the marginal players the Hall has inducted before him they should be ashamed, but then again, the Edmonton Oilers shouldn’t exactly feel that great about taking this long to retire his jersey either. I believe that he should have had his jersey retired before those of Paul Coffey and Grant Fuhr. Anderson was in Edmonton for all five Stanley Cups while Coffey was traded away because of money issues after the 1987 season so he was in Edmonton for only 3 of the cups. When it comes to Fuhr I’m of the opinion that the only reason he had his jersey retired and ended up in the HHOF was that he was the goalie on the great Oilers teams. His career stats definitely aren’t up there with the greats. Some might argue that Andy Moog(1980-87) was a better goalie.

Now that number 9 will go up to the rafters I hope that the Oilers don’t start retiring jersey’s of players who were simply good but not great now that all the great dynasty players have been taken care of. Players like Kevin Lowe, Esa Tikkanen, Craig Simpson; some people have thrown out Ryan Smyth, Doug Weight, Craig MacTavish, even Kelly Buchberger. NO! Jersey retirements should be saved for great players, not just good players that fans have a soft spot in their hearts for like they do in Toronto(Wendel Clark? Please.). So Oilers organization, wait for the next great player to lead you to a cup then when he retires lift his jersey to the rafters.

Also before I sign off I would like to inform my readers that this is not exclusively an Oilers blog. I am aware that most of you are Oil fans and therefore around 50% of my articles will be about the Oilers. However the other 50% will be the biggest story in the NHL at the time. My personal alliegance to The Montreal Canadiens is well documented and some readers have jumped to the conclusion that I will become to Habs central because of my Lecavalier feature. The only reason I did that feature was because it was the biggest story in the league at the time, not cause it involved the Habs. Hopefully this will put all fears of this developing into a Habs blog to rest.