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September 30, 2013
The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.
MONTREAL CANADIENS
BOOM The Canadiens overachieved in the minds of some last season, but after a second-place Eastern Conference finish, expectations are high for essentially the same team. As long as they’re healthy, the Habs will challenge at least for a playoff spot, if not the top of their division. They can produce offense – they finished tied for fourth in the league in goals per game (3.04) last season – and their defense corps is a well-balanced blend of youth and experience, featuring reigning Norris Trophy winner and fan favorite P.K. Subban, shutdown specialist Josh Gorges and offense-minded minded veteran Andrei Markov. Montreal GM Marc Bergevin only brought in former Flyers right winger Danny Briere and enforcer George Parros as Montreal’s summertime additions, an indication of the faith he has in the high-energy…
PHILADELPHIA FLYERS
BOOM Offense won’t be a problem for the Flyers, who had a top-10 offense last season even though key contributors such as Scott Hartnell and Matt Read fell off. By bringing in Vincent Lecavalier, the Flyers get a productive big-bodied center who won’t be crushed by expectations of an overvalued contract. The Claude Giroux-Lecavalier-Brayden Schenn trio of centers has the potential to be one of the most balanced sets in the league – and if all elite teams have one thing in common, it’s a solid collection of pivots. Both sides of special teams were excellent for the Flyers in 2012-13 and could even see improvement with puck-moving blueliner Mark Streit added to the up-tempo offense. The defense took some hard knocks last season (Braydon Coburn, Andrej Meszaros and Nicklas Grossman missed significant…
FLORIDA PANTHERS
BOOM Once again, the Panthers are moving ahead with as many quality young players as they can hoard. That philosophy of patiently building through the draft has come to define this franchise over the past decade-plus, but there’s hope the long-term payoff will be much richer this time around. Jonathan Huberdeau’s Calder Trophy season in 2013 buttressed the belief this buildup will be different and with Aleksander Barkov coming in as an 18-year-old rookie with two seasons of strong hockey in Finland’s top professional league in his back pocket, there’s legitimate hope the team has a No. 1 center wrapped up. Erik Gudbranson’s time on ice rose by four-and-a-half minutes per game last season and will probably go up again, while Dmitry Kulikov should see increased point production on the man advantage. At…
THE BREAKDOWN
IT STARTED AS A CASUAL office debate. “If you were building a team and could acquire any NHL franchise’s array of talent at each position, what would your choices be?” The answer wasn’t as simple as picking Washington’s wingers because of Alex Ovechkin. There’s a major dropoff on the second line. Wouldn’t you rather Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp of Chicago? We decided to rank each team’s talent at every position. We factored in top-end performers, but also their supporting casts, assessing rosters based on the depth charts appearing on pg. 34-63. Teams with star power plus depth, like the Penguins at center, fared best. Goalies were judged differently. While we didn’t ignore depth, we gave it less weight, as teams with elite No. 1s who play…