What's a Deadline and the NHL's Atlantic Division

Holy Crap, like a Tie Domi elbow, the hockey season is already here and hitting us in the face! It took exactly one night for the TSN panel to have something to get excited about; George Parros getting knocked out during a fight (albeit in an unexpected way). You could almost feel the excitement in the TSN station as every video editor rushed to find similar fight clips that ended with someone literally going 'lights out' to end a fight to incorporate into the usual discussion that does nothing but eat up precious minutes as everybody says 'debate' a lot but nobody ever takes the anti-fighting stance. What we need is a good Piers Morgan, Alex Jones debate, then that will make for some good television. 

As is, there is no debate over fighting if nobody is willing to step up and say 'You're wrong and I'm right'. Not to name-drop but TSN's James Duthie even tweeted me telling me to listen more carefully when i asked him the same thing. He came off as bit of a jerk about it, but maybe I'm being too sensitive. Apparently Stevie Y (Tampa Bay), Jim Rutherford (Carolina), Ray Shero (Pittsburgh) and Scotty Bowman (retired) are on the anti-fighting side but looking at their teams, I can see why they don't want fighting. 

Lost in the Opening Night Parros highlight; Grabvoski tweeting Toronto coach Randy Caryle after his hat trick to thank him for not seeing his true potential and giving him the opportunity to go somewhere and actually score some goals. 

Anyways, a quick look at the Teams as the season's underway.

The New Atlantic Division

Called the Atlantic Division perhaps because most of the teams are connected to the St. Lawrence Seaway via the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Division sounds a bit sissy (not like the Prince of Wales Division of the 80's). Plus there are those two teams down in Florida that needed to be somewhere so Atlantic Division it is!
  
The Atlantic Division teams are going to enjoy record viewership numbers as it contains 4 of the NHL's most popular teams, 3 of Canada's seven teams, 3 great rivalries of varying degrees involving Toronto (Toronto/Montreal, Toronto/Detroit, Toronto/Ottawa). There's also the Boston/Montreal rivalry and the teams down in Florida but nobody cares about them. Perhaps a bit of favoritism here in arranging the division as Canada's teams get to head down to the Sunshine Coast in the middle of winter a few more times than their fellow northern counterparts. 

It's almost a return of the old Adams Division but with 2 exceptions. The Florida Panthers will join the Tampa Bay Lightning in fighting to take over the Hartford Whalers usual spot at the bottom and the Detroit Red Wings have moved over from the Central to replace the Buffalo Sabres. Look for them to wreck havoc on the usual hierarchy. Thankfully the rest of Canada will also get to see more of Detroit and Boston thanks to Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday night or as it's called out west 'the Maple Leafs losing before the real game comes on with Don Cherry'.

The Teams: 

Boston Bruins - the big, bad Bruins have become near-everyone's favorite team after they not only destroyed Canucks destiny a few years ago but then last year giving the boots to the Maple Leafs in the most epic one-game collapse in hockey history. Strong contender for first, as per contract.

Player to Watch - Zdeno Chara D I mean, how can you not? He's so tall he can stop pucks going over the glass simply by raising a hand up. Frankenstein's monster would be scared of him. On Halloween he wears green and goes as Fenway Park's Big Green Monster. Plus, he packs a mean punch when he wants to. Just ask David Koci. Fun fact; both Koci and Chara used to play for the WHL Prince George Cougars. 
  

Detroit Red Wings - perennial contenders, rumor has it the City of Detroit is asking all Detroit players to adopt a neighbourhood, literally. And by adopt, they mean buy. Realtors showcasing the Joe Louis Arena to potential buyers might be a distraction.

Player to (try to) Watch - Pavel Datsyuk - he keeps getting older, but he also keeps getting highlight reel goals. The loss of Nic Lidstrom on the blue line has dropped them down a peg or two but they should still manage to win games just by their presence on the ice and the reputation the proceeds them. They are the Montreal Canadians of the 80's. Always a contender. 

Ottawa Senators - they made huge national headlines last year when they found Coach Paul McLean's lookalike sitting behind him. And of course there was that thing with Eric Kaarlson and Matt Cooke where once again, hockey media tried to blow it out of proportion and imply that Cooke meant to do that. 

Player to Watch - Jason Spezza takes over for the departed Daniel Alfredsson and with fellow always slightly overshadowed by others Bobby Ryan with him, this team could make a fair fight for 2nd place as long as goalie Craig Anderson stays healthy.

Toronto Maple Leafs - TSN's favourite team, look for every move to be analyzed to death, avoidance of mentioning that the success of this team this year is due largely that it was the team Brian Burke built before he was dismissed. If his term could be called a 'rebuilding', then this is where it starts to pay off with wins and another playoff appearance.

Player to Watch - Nazim Khadri looks to follow up his great rookie season last year by staying healthy and proving all that extra time in the minors (as per Burke) was a great idea in hindsight. Along with newly-signed Phil Kessel looking to stay in the spotlight and Dion Phaneuf hoping to stay out of it, this team has good potential to come out with a slightly above 500 win percentage, like pretty much everyone else. 

Montreal Canadiens - the winning-est team in NHL history, they will continue to pile up the wins as well as the losses. They are like the Brett Favre of hockey. They have an eclectic mix of ethnicity, sizes, skill levels and injuries to make this one of the most interesting and frustrating teams to watch this year. 

Player to Watch - PK Subban D. Let's face it, he's going to be the most recognizable guy out there. And who doesn't love shouting PK! whenever your mouth isn't full of poutine and Molson Canadian?

Tampa Bay Lightning - Decided the best thing to do for the team was to fire Vinny Lecavalier so the local media and their fan base would stop pronouncing his name incorrectly. And of course, to keep paying him to go do his thing in Philadelphia.  

Player to watch - Steve Stamkos. Nobody has scored more goals over the last 5 years than Steve Stamkos but because of it being Tampa Bay, nobody takes that very seriously. Marty St. Louis will be a fun watch but due his size it might be difficult if you are sitting high up in the stands.


Florida Panthers- hired Tim Thomas as their starting 40 year goaltender after a year off to deal with the crushing defeat he suffered when Obama was re-elected. They somehow continue to exist and will ice a competitive team, as long as the competition is the Tampa Bay Lightning. It says something when your leading goal scorer is a guy named Tomas Kopecky.

Player to Watch - Jonathon Huberdeau is a young talent that is expected to be going places. And by going places I mean to another team as soon as his entry level contract is up.