Total Pro Sports – With the start of the 2009-10 NHL Season upon us it’s time to take a look and see how each team stacks up. As per the norm, each preview will be broken down by division in order of how we think the team will finish.

Lets take a look at the Southeast Division for the 2009-10 NHL Preview.

1. Washington Capitals

After a less than stellar 2009 playoff performance Washington will look to re-establish their dominance in the Southeast division and anything less than an Eastern Conference Finals appearance will be considered a disappointment.

Offence is what drives the Caps and when you look at who they have up front it’s easy to figure out why. Alexander Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom have been able to develop some great chemistry and Alexander Semin always seems to fly under the radar, mostly due to the fact that so far he’s been unable to play a full NHL season. Mike Knuble was a great pick up during the summer and Eric Fehr will look to improve on his 25 points in 61 games from last season. Brendan Morrison is the wild card as he looks to rebound after a not so great 2008-09 season.

The defence doesn’t appear to be the greatest, but it shouldn’t hurt the Caps in their quest for the Cup. Mike Green, Tom Poti and a healthy Brian Pothier will help supply some offence from the back end while guys like Jeff Schultz, Shaone Morrisonn and John Erskine give Washington some stability and toughness in their own end.

Goaltending is a bit of a question mark heading into the season. Semyon Varlamov had his coming out party in last year’s playoffs but because of Theodore’s contract the Capitals will give Jose every chance to prove he’s still the team’s #1.

2. Carolina Hurricanes

Carolina had a great second half to the 2008-09 season and finished it off with a surprising run to the Eastern Conference Finals. They managed to keep their core together during the summer so it’ll be interesting to see if they can build on last season’s success.

Eric Staal leads the Hurricanes offence and will look to maintain his regular season chemistry with winger Erik Cole. If not, the underrated Ray Whitney is a more than capable replacement. Jussi Jokinen, Sergei Samsonov and Tuomo Ruutu will be looked upon to provide some secondary scoring and captain Rod Brind’Amour will look to rebound from a disappointing 2008-09 season where he put up 51 points and had a terrible plus/minus rating of minus-23.

Carolina’s defence will miss the departure of Anton Babchuk after his breakout season last year but in the end should still be good enough to help make the playoffs. Joni Pitkanen and Joe Corvo bring some offence from the blue line and players like Tim Gleason, Aaron Ward and Niclas Wallin will be able to hold the fort in their own end.

In net Cam Ward will be looking for his fourth consecutive 30+ win season and Michael Leighton will look to improve off of a so-so season that saw him put up 6 wins, a .901 SAV% and 2.92 GAA in 19 games.

3. Florida Panthers

The Panthers surprised a few people last year by finishing with 93 points and contending for the 8th spot in the East. Despite the loss of Jay Bouwmeester I expect Florida to do the same this year too.

The Panthers offence will be riding the coat tails of David Booth and Nathan Horton. Big things are expected of 2006 draft pick Michael Frolik and Stephen Weiss, Cory Stillman and Rostislav Olesz will provide the secondary scoring.

Despite the loss of Jay Bouwmeeester Florida’s defence looks good. Newly appointed captain Bryan McCabe, Jordan Leopold and Keith Ballard will look to anchor the point on the power play with Bryan Allen, Ville Koistinen and Denis Seidenberg rounding out the blue line.

Goaltending appears to be the team’s strength with Tomas Vokoun looking to start this season where he left off last season and Scott Clemmensen out to prove that last year wasn’t a fluke.

4. Tampa Bay Lightning

After back-to-back terrible seasons, 2009-10 is the season the Lightning climb out of the basement.

Upfront is where Tampa flourishes. Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St.Louis, Steven Stamkos, Ryan Malone and Alex Tanguay make up what will be one of the top offences in the league. Steve Downie, Ryan Craig, Jeff Halpern and Paul Szczechura make up a solid bottom 6 providing toughness and good defence.

With the addition of Mattias Ohlund and a healthy Andrej Meszaros the Lightning’s blue line will be much improved over last year’s. Paul Ranger and Mike Lundin will look to keep on improving and Matt Lashoff could surprise.

Between the pipes Tampa Bay is set with Mike Smith who posted a .916 SAV% and 2.62 GAA in 41 games last season and Antero Niittymaki as a solid backup.

5. Atlanta Thrashers

Despite some nice additions to their forward and defensive groups I still see the Thrashers finishing last in the Southeast Division and obtaining another top 5 draft pick.

Ilya Kovalchuk leads Atlanta’s offence along with youngster Bryan Little and will look to develop some chemistry with Nik Antropov. Vyacheslav Kozlov, Rich Peverley and Todd White will be looked upon to supply some of the secondary scoring with Colby Armstrong assigned as the team’s pest and Eric Boulton as the muscle.

The Thrashers look pretty good on defence with Pavel Kubina, Tobias Enstrom, Ron Hainsey and Zach Bogosian making up the top 4. Nathan Oystrick, Anssi Salmela and Boris Valabik will battle it out for the 3rd pairing.

Net is a big question mark right now. Kari Lehtonen appears to be the #1 still, but if he falters the team wont hesitate to go with Johan Hedberg or Ondrej Pavelec.

There are a number of players that are also having great first years, so let us take a look at some of them

1. Steve Mason (Columbus Blue Jackets) – Mason is enjoying a career year thus far, and is a front runner for the Calder trophy, with Martin Brodeur out for an extended period of time he may have a chance at the Vezina trophy as well.  Steve Mason has carried the team on his shoulders, as injuries have depleted the Blue Jackets roster, they have stayed competitive thanks to Mason’s great goaltending.

His numbers are pretty good considering he is playing in Columbus, here is how they stack up, a 16-10-1 record with a 1.61GAA and .936 save percentage.  He is making approximately 26 saves per contest and has 6 shutouts already this season, very impressive.

2. Bryan Little (Atlanta Thrashers) - Bryan Little may be a name that few people have heard before, the reason is because he plays for the Atlanta Thrashers.  He is quietly having a terrific season, through 42 games, Little has notched 20 goals and 13 assists, he has a -2 rating which is not bad considering where he plays, 7 of those goals have come on the power play and he has tallied 3 game winning goals. He is reaping the benefits of playing alongside Slava Kozlov and should have an increased role next season.



3. Milan Lucic (Boston Bruins) - The 6-4, 220lb power forward is one of the main reasons the Boston Bruins sit atop the Eastern Conference.  His feisty play coupled with his nose for the net allows him to blend in nicely on a line with Phil Kessell. Lucic has 11 goals, 15 assists and is a +16 already this season, he also has 84 penalty minutes and is not afraid to drop the gloves when his team is in need of a momentum swing.  This guy will be a fixture on the wing for a long time for the Bruins, his game really marvels that of Boston legend Cam Neely.



4. (St. Louis Blues) - We knew this kid was going to be something special when he played for Sweden at the World Juniors, who knew it would have happened so quickly. Berglund is your prototypical center, has has size, speed and a set of great hands, he has maturity beyond his years as this is evident in his +13 rating.  He has contributed an even 14 goals and 14 assists on arguably the worst team in the league.  The Blues are grateful to have selected Berglund and he will be their No.1 center for years to come.



5. Kris Versteeg (Chicago Blackhawks) – Kris Versteeg is flying right below everyones radar, the Balckhawks have a plethera of young talent and Versteeg is right up there among them.  In 41 games this year he has registered 13 goals, 4 on the power play, 2 short handed and 2 game winners. He has 23 helpers and a +16 rating, that gives him 36 points on the season second on the team behind only Patrick Kane. That is quite impressive considering Chicago is a playoff contender and may possibly make a Stanley Cup run.

You will also find some surprising players early in the season putting up some big fantasy numbers.  Don’t take this to literally as they will eventually die off and they’ll just be hidden somewhere on your fantasy hockey teams bench. 

So which of your NHL players are hot? and who’s not? early in this 2008-2009 NHL season? 

Hot NHL Fantasy Players 

Aaron Voros, New York Rangers- Who?  That’s what were saying right now as we write this.  Voros, was drafted by the Devils in 2001: 8th Rnd, 229th, this is his first year in the NHL.  He is as of now first in the NHL in points, playing alongside Brandon Dubinsky who is second in the league in points.  How long will this last?  We think not to long.  If you want to grab some quick Fantasy hockey points for your team, we recommend you pick him up.  Otherwise don’t expect this kid to put up more then 40 points this year.

Brandon Dubinsky, New York Rangers- OK, your probably saying that’s not fair the Rangers have played more games than anyone else in the NHL.  But how can we not have Brandon Dubinsky on our list of hot NHL players for your fantasy hockey team?  Last year Dubinsky has a solid first NHL year, he played all 82 games for the Rangers and recorded a solid 40 points.  We can see Brandon Dubinsky easily putting up 65 points this year with a cup contender New York Rangers.  If he’s still available in your fantasy hockey league pick him up as a second option.

Marc Savard, Boston Bruins- The assist man is atop our list of Hot NHL fantasy players for week 1.  Marc Savard this year has an unexpected 5 goals and 1 assist in 3 games.  Your probably typing his name into to google to see if these stats are actually true.  That’s right 5 goals, he’s a third of the way from his total last year and were only 3 games into this early season.  Don’t expect this same production of goals from Savard to continue, we can see him easily scoring about 20 goals this year.  Now if your wondering about assists, the Sky’s the limit for this Bruin.  Savard is always in the top 2 for assists in the NHL, no need to worry about his total so far.  For some odd reason if hes available in your fantasy hockey league, piiiiiccccckkkkk himmmmmmm upppppppp!!!!!!!!!!! He won’t be so no need checking.  If you have Savard on your team start him every week he won’t disappoint you.

Honorable Mention – Mike Green (Capitals), Alexander Semin (Capitals), Andrei Markov (Canadiens), Bryan Little (Thrashers).

Cold NHL Fantasy Players 

Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks- Oh where have you gone Mr. Getzlaf?  4 games played, 0 assists, 0 goals, 0 points and a -3 plus/minus rating.  The Ducks are playing like an expansion team so far in this early NHL season.  Don’t get to worried on Getzalfs stats so far hell pick it up, don’t give up on him yet.  If you can steal him away from another fantasy hockey team owner in your league then we recommend you try to pick him up.  We compare Ryan Getzlaf and the Ducks of Anaheim to the United States economy right now “In the red, and slowly drowning”, but we see him making a quicker return then the American economy, so that can be a plus.

Marian Gaborik, Minnesota Wild- For a first place Wild team Marian Gaborik has 1 goal.  Do you see the trend in our Hot and Cold NHL Fantasy hockey players so far?  Unknowns are Hot and top NHL players are cold.  This is standard reacurence every year in the NHL.  Never fear, Gaborik will pick up the pace and make all fantasy hockey owners very happy.

Chris Drury, New York Rangers- 6 games played, and 1 assist on a high flying New York Rangers team.  Let me repeat, 6 games played, and 1 assist on a high flying New York Rangers team.  This does not make sense, his stats should be more like 6 games played 8 total points.  Drury is so overrated and taken for some reason way to early in most fantasy hockey drafts.  He has never had a better year then 68 points, and he’s getting paid as if hes puts up 98 points a year.  Keep him as a second or third option on your fantasy hockey team.  Even while playing on a great team like the Rangers don’t expect more then 55 points from Drury this year.  Unbelievable for a guy earning $7 million a year.  Well give him credit for one thing he is definitely a leader!

Honorable Mention – Teemu Selanne (Ducks), Steven Stamkos (Lightning), Jonathan Toews (Blackhawks).