Questions About The Northwest

The Northwest Division is going to be a battle from start to finish, and unless something catastrophic happens, any team can win it. Last year saw the Wild grab it and even though they lost Brian Rolston and Pavol Demitra, can they defend their title? Or will a new brand come in, like Calgary or Edmonton? Just a hoot, these aren't my predictions, but assumptions.

The Canucks had a busy off-season letting long-time Canucks Brendan Morrison and Markus Naslund go, while signing Pavol Demitra. They also offered Mats Sundin a 2-year $20 million dollar contract, but that may not work out, at least for now. The Canucks are going to the road of last season, if though their offense may be a bit improved, it's going to take more than Roberto Luongo and Kevin Bieksa to supply this team not only for the division, but for the playoffs.

Minnesota lost 2 of their best scorers in the off-season, and even when they were around, their offense was hurting under the Lemaire system, so imagine now. They lost Sean Hill to Russia, although they traded for Marek Zidlicky. Many have put them already in the playoffs, but I'm not so keen on them. With the distraction of Marian Gaborik's contract, the Wild will have to fight for a playoff spot.

The Avalanche had an OK off-season, signing former Leafs Darcy Tucker and Andrew Raycroft, although they lost goaltender Jose Theodore, defenseman Jeff Finger, and could potentially lose Joe Sakic. Even without Big Joe, I think this team can make it. If Budaj improves his play and the offense comes out to a fast start, I think they will make the playoffs.

Calgary made some changes this off-season, by re-signing key players, and signing bigman Todd Bertuzzi, who oculd play awesome with Jarome Iginla. They lost Kristian Huselius so right now we will have to see if they can cover that up. Their defense stayed the same and will be dominant as always, and Miikka Kiprusoff will play great again. They have a great chance for the Northwest title but in my mind they're gonna lose it on the last day of the season to......

The Oilers had one heck of an off-season, trading away Jarret Stoll, Matt Greene, Joni Pitkanen, and Raffi Tores for Lubomir Visnovsky, Erik Cole, and Gilbert Brule. The offense will be extraordinary with Andrew Cogliano's speed, Ales Hemsky's playmaking touches, Shawn Horcoff's finishing abilities, Erik Cole's big time scoring, and Sam Gagner's clutch play. Their defense should get bigger and better with a healthy Sheldon Souray and a big puck player in Visnovsky. Tom Gilbert also improved and should continue this year. The only question is goaltending where either can win the starting job but htey should be able to win the Northwest.

Thanks For Reading, and be sure to check out the new blog over at http://www.nhlrumour.blogspot.com/!

LIVE CHAT INTERACTIVE: Many Topics Covered

Another Live Chat came and went, with special guest Brad Ratgen from Hockeybuzz joining us. Here's what he said about the upcoming tussle in the Northwest division this season:

"The Northwest will be tight as always. The question is will Calgary step up? Will Edmonton catch up? Can the Wild repeat as division champs?"

We will see. We discussed the best games of last season, and it ended up being the HB Exclusive Poll Question, which turned out like this:

Wings vs Pens (S.C Game 5) ( 9% )

Habs Comeback vs Rangers (Season) ( 73% )

Kings Comeback vs Stars (Season) ( 9% )

Stars vs Sharks (WC SF Game 6) ( 9% )

We also covered Michael Ryder, Stephen Legein, early Stanley Cup favs, Teemu and Mats, and Russia and the KHL!!! Plus much much more.

If you want to see the live chat and how it unfolded, check the replay of it on the bottom of the page. And stay tuned for info of the next live chat, if you want to be apart of the COVERITLIVE experience!

My Own Site

Hey everyone The Source here while I'll continue to post my blogs right here on the great Hockeybums I have opened my own site.

Here is the link its all Maple Leafs all the time

http://leafscrazyrumors.blogspot.com/

Come on over while I'm completley new to the world of Blogspot I will figure out my site in time so be patient thanks guys and I'll hope to see you there.

The Source

Legein retires!!

Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Stefen Legein decided he won't play hockey as a living. He is 19 years old and was on the Canadian junior team! Legein was drafted in the 2nd round by the Blue Jackets...

Maple Leafs Choose GM and Fletcher wants Bouwmeester.

I just want to put this out that the Maple Leafs may have found their man, and we didn't even notice. According to sources close to the team Joe Nieuwendyk will become the Toronto Maple Leafs general manager after this season.

It is believed by many that Cliff Fletcher will groom Joe into the role and Nieuwendyk will take over after this year. While I dislike the idea of another rookie GM, at least they have a timetable to train the person who they feel is best for the job. Joe Nieuwendyk comes to Toronto with an impressive resume which includes a Stanley Cup and a very good knowledge of the sport. While this is unconfirmed, many including the likes of Darren Dreger, Bob McKenzie, Nik Kypreos, and Howard Berger have all said they feel that Joe will take the role when Fletchers contract expires and that he will be something the Leafs have needed for a long time someone with hockey sense.

Moving on now I know this has been said 1,000,000 times but word on the street is the deal that was said to be happening is getting bigger! Now by no means does this mean it will happen but I truly feel that this could get Bouwmeester into Toronto if Fletcher wants him bad enough and word out tonight is that he does.

The rumored deal that is reportedly being thrown around is this:

To Toronto: D Jay Bouwmeester, F Richard Zednik

To Florida: D Bryan McCabe, D Ian White, F Alexei Ponikarovsky

I'M GOING TO PUT EMPHASIS ON THIS! "THIS IS A RUMOR NOT FACT"

So please take it as such.

(The Sources Take: Now me personally, I like the trade. It does at first seem a little steep but I think it's better than giving up a 1st, especially if the return is Bouwmeester. With the Nieuwendyk situation I like it better than bringing on Brian Burke who has a big mouth and really needs to settle that whole thing with Lowe down.)

WHATS NEW WITH OUR SISTER SITE???

Hey guys! I got this article from nhlrumour.blogspot.com, our sister site. It's about The Best Player Outside The NHL (who haven't played there either):

This is written by Riley M. I hope you enjoy!

The Elitserien League, or the Swedish Elite League has a lot of ex NHLers but a player that really sticks out it my mind, like..

Johan Akerman

Jonathan Akerman is a defenceman who last season played for HV71 Jonkoping and had remarkable numbers for a defenceman, and all though his 33 points were 15 less then last season he really flourished on a defensive minded HV71 team. He's signed with the Lokomotiv Jaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League and expect more coverage of this all-star Swede. Akerman was never drafted into the NHL.

The KHL has a whole bunch of Ex-NHL players I could of chose, but the player that really stood out in my mind was..

READ THE REST!!!!

The Latest on Andrej Meszaros

The Senators front has been quiet so far and with GM Bryan Murray teeling everyone to keep their mouths closed, it's hard to expect what will happen. Here is the latest on one of the best defenseman left on the market, Andrej Meszaros.

I think everyone is reporting now that Andrej has been given his final offer and even though the numbers aren't out it can't be possibly more than Antoine Vermette got and look for the range in what Antoine got. Meszy, according to Sens Chirp, is also weighing an offer from the newly-formed KHL, though I don't see a guy like Andrej, who isn't washed up like many players who have gone there, going home.

Another possibility could include seeing him being traded, and with many teams steeping up at plate ready to acquire a defenseman, trading could be Bryan Murray's last option. Teams interested could be teams that need to get to the floor, like LA (could we be going back to the three-way deal?), and Atlanta. Kevin Lee from HockeyBuzz says GM Murray wants lots in return, so Atlanta could be in the thick of it with lots of forwards (such as Slava Kozlov) and prospects to choose from.

One thing we know, this is Bryan Murray. The power is in his hands.

The Latest on Gaborik

Talking with Brad Ratgen, the Minnesota Wild Correspondant on Hockeybuzz about the latest with forward Marian Gaborik's supposed contract talks ith the organization. Contract negotitations should be commencing shortly (although it has been reported that they have started already). His agent, Ron Salcer is back from vacation, which will speed up the process because Salcer and the Wild "seem to be able to work together and get deals done", just like the last time Gaborik and the Wild were involved in talks.

Ratgen also says that he "wouldn't be surprised if he re-signed a HUGE deal and I wouldn't be surprised if he simply asks for too much as a way to save face without saying he wants to leave."

And on a quick note, Michael Russo from the StarTribune.com cites Salcer as saying that he denies any rumor of Gaborik ever thinking about playin in Russia. But as we have seen in the exile of many players to the new KHL and such, it is absolutley a possibility.

NEW CHATROOM!

THERE A NEW HOCKEYBUMS CHATROOM CHECK IT OUT!

THEHOCKEYBUMS MESSAGE BOARD!!!

HEY EVERYONE JUST A REMINDER MESSAGE BOARDS HAVE BEEN QUIET. JUST A REMINDER HERES THE LINK LETS KEEP TALKING HOCKEY.......CHATS ARENT THE ONLY WAY!

heres the link to message board or just click the picture on front page that says MESSAGE BOARD

http://hockeybums.proboards103.com/index.cgi

Scotty

Nylander On "A" Market But Not "The" Market

Capitals forward Michael Nylander is in the market.............FOR A NEW HOME. Rumors ran through the world wide web that he had put his Washington House up for sale but theres nothing more to it then wanting a new house in Washington. The Caps would like to have him back and he wants to be back and then you can add the fact that hes got a No-Trade Clause anyway.