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 Pacific Division for the 2009-10 NHL Preview.

1. San Jose Sharks

The Sharks managed to disappoint yet again in the playoffs last year after being eliminated in the 1st round by the Ducks. They’re hoping that the addition of a superstar winger and new captain will change the result, time will tell.

Despite loosing some depth in their trade with Ottawa the Sharks still have some very talented forwards. Joe Thornton will look to remain as one of the best playmakers in the league and Devin Setoguchi will look to build off of a great sophomore season that saw him collect 65 points. It’ll be interesting to see how Patrick Marleau reacts to his captaincy being taken away and how long it takes for Dany Heatley to find chemistry on the top line.

San Jose is set on defence with a good combination of toughness and offence. Dan Boyle and Rob Blake will yet again be the key catalysts for offence on the point. Marc-Edouard Vlasic will also be able to supply some scoring from the point and Douglas Murray will use his aggressiveness and toughness to hold things down in the Sharks end.

Evgeni Nabokov will be looking for his 3rd 40+ win season in a row and with an unknown backup in Thomas Greiss  it isn’t that unrealistic as Nabokov will most likely end up playing 65+ games in the regular season.

2. Anaheim Ducks

Despite the loss of two key defencemen over the summer the Ducks still have a solid roster and will look to build off of a fairly successful playoff run that saw them beat the Sharks and give the Red Wings everything they had.

Up front Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry still lead the Ducks offence. Teemu Selanne will be able to help out with the secondary scoring and Bobby Ryan should have a great sophomore season. Saku Koivu should be solid as the team’s 2nd line centre and Joffrey Lupul will look to forget his days in Philly and rekindle the success he had in Anaheim before being traded to Edmonton.

On defence veteran Scott Niedermayer leads what will be an underrated group. Ryan Whitney will be helping out Niedermayer with offence from the blue line and Luca Sbisa will show why he was picked 19th overall in the 2008 draft. Nick Boynton will look to build off of a successful 2008-09 season with Florida and James Wisniewski will have a solid season as he collected 11 points in 17 games with Anaheim after being traded from Chicago last season.

In net the Ducks will have a healthy battle between Jonas Hiller and Jean-Sebastien Giguere. Jiggy struggled last season which saw him loose his starting job to Jonas Hiller who had a great showing in the playoffs. If I was a betting man, I’d put my money down on Hiller to win the starting job.

3. Dallas Stars

Dallas had a terrible 2008-09 that saw them end with just 83 points and end up on the outside looking in during the playoffs.

Dallas really missed captain Brenden Morrow last season as he was only able to play in 18 games in which he managed 15 points. They’ll also be looking for a solid season out of Brad Richards as he was able to collect 48 points in just 56 games last year. The underrated Mike Ribeiro will be looking to crack the 70+ point mark for the 2nd season in a row and Loui Eriksson should be good for 30+ goals again. Budding power forward James Neal will look to improve from a successful rookie season as well as Fabian Brunnstrom who had 29 points in 55 games.

Although the Stars defence is fairly young and talented they’ll sorely miss the play and leadership of one Sergei Zubov.  Matt Niskanen will be taking Zubov’s spot as the go-to guy on the point on the power play with help from Stephane Robidas and Trevor Daley. Mark Fistric and Nicklas Grossman will give the team some solid defensive play and Jeff Woywitka will look to solidify himself as an NHL defenceman.

Marty Turco will have a great rebound season and Alex Auld is a solid reliable backup who can also start a few games if Turco happens to fall to injury.

4. Los Angeles Kings

As expected the Kings had a terrible 2008-09 season. However, there’s some optimism surrounding this young team heading into the season.

Anze Kopitar is the star of the Kings offence, although he took a bit of a step backwards last season recording 66 points and Dustin Brown brings a combination of toughness and scoring ability. There are some big question marks regarding three players: Alexander Frolov, Ryan Smyth and Justin Williams. Frolov seems to be on the outs and has been rumoured to be playing on the checking line. Ryan Smyth brings with him some leadership qualities but he’s run into some injury trouble the last couple of seasons which will effect his offensive production. Big fan of Justin Williams and think he’ll be great on the team’s top line, but he’s another case of a skilled winger who can’t seem to stay healthy.

Whether the Kings improve on last year will rely fairly heavily on how the team’s defence performs. Drew Doughty had a great rookie capaign while Jack Johnson is still struggling to find his game in the NHL. Both Matt Greene and Sean O’Donnell are tough hard-nosed defencemen that will play solid in the Kings’ end and they’ll be getting some help in that department with the offseason addition of Rob Scuderi.

In net there should be a good battle for the starter’s job between Erik Ersberg and Jonathan Quick. At the end of the day though, the Kings will most likely just go with the hot hand rather than have a true #1.

5. Phoenix Coyotes

If there’s one team to feel sorry for for the 2009-10 season it’s the Phoenix Coyotes. They have a decent roster on paper, but the off-ice destractions on the sale of the team may be too much to handle for the players.

Up front the ‘Yotes are lead by the usual suspects in Shane Doan, Martin Hanzal and Peter Mueller. Despite only registering 28 points, Mikkel Boedker still had a successful rookie season displaying his speed, offensive and defensive abilities. Speaking of speed, Matthew Lombardi is expected to use his to put up some points and Scottie Upshall will be looking to act as the team’s tough pest while adding 30-40 points. Robert Lang was a savy pickup and will most likely be the team’s #1 centre.

On the backend Phoenix is looking fairly solid. Although his plus/minus takes a hit, Ed Jovanovski is a decent defenceman who plays tough and can also score some points. Zbynek Michalek will look to continue to grow as an NHL defenceman after putting up 27 points last season and Adrian Aucoin will look to continue his offensive play after back-to-back 30+ point seasons.

Ilya Bryzgalov will once again be looked upon to try and stand on his head. Although he is on Phoenix he should still be able to register around 25-30 wins as he’ll most likely end up starting 65+ games this year. Jason LaBarbera is a good backup but nothing special as he suffers from streakiness.

RW – Jonathan Cheechoo – San Jose Sharks: Can officially be called Mr.Disappointment after having back-to-back terrible seasons despite the success of the San Jose Sharks. In 66 games this year Cheechoo  scored 12 goals and had 17 assists for a measley 29 points with only 9 of those points coming on the power play. Jonathan also registered 59 penalty minutes, a plus/minus rating of minus-3, 152 shots on goal and 4 game winning goals.

C – Peter Mueller – Phoenix Coyotes: After a great rookie season in 2007-08 where he recorded 54 points, Peter Mueller had high expectations heading into the 2008-09 season and was going to play a key part in the Coyotes offence. That didn’t happen. In 72 games this year Mueller scored 13 goals and had 23 assists for 36 points with only 11 of those points coming on the power play. Peter also registered 24 penalty minutes, a plus/minus rating of minus-7, 138 shots on goal and 4 game winning goals.

LW – Christopher Higgins – Montreal Canadiens: After a solid 2007-08 campaign in which he posted 52 points in 82 games and looked like a promising top 6 forward, Christopher Higgins had a very disappointing 2008-09 season. In 57 games this year Higgins scored 12 goals and had 11 assists for just 23 points with 4 of those points coming on the power play. Chris also registered 22 penalty minutes, a plus/minus rating of minus-1, 151 shots on goal and one game winning goal.

C – Andrew Cogliano – Edmonton Oilers: Just like Peter Mueller, Andrew Cogliano had a very good rookie season posting 45 points in 82 games. This year however he failed to improve on those stats. In 82 games this year Cogliano scored 18 goals and added 20 assists for 38 points with only 9 points coming while on the power play. Andrew also registered 22 penalty minutes, a plus/minus rating of minus-6, just 116 shots on goal and 4 game winning goals.

LW – Darcy Tucker – Colorado Avalanche: Darcy Tucker’s stats have been on the decline since the 2005-06 season and this year they took a big nose dive. In 63 games this year Tucker scored just 8 goals and only had 8 assists for a total of 16 points with 5 of those points coming on the power play, yikes! Darcy also registered 67 penalty minutes, a plus/minus rating of minus-13, 94 shots on goal and one game winning goal.

D – Wade Redden – New York Rangers: Ever since the Ottawa Senators decided to take Wade Redden over Zdeno Chara, Redden has struggled and this year was no exception. In 81 games this year Redden scored just 3 goals and had 23 assists for 26 points with 8 of those points coming on the power play. Wade also registered 51 penalty minutes, a plus/minus rating of minus-5, 161 shots on goal and zero game winning goals.

D – Derek Morris – Phoenix Coyotes/New York Rangers: Besides recording 48 points in the 2002-03 season, Derek Morris hasn’t lived up to the expectations of him after being drafted 13th overall by the Calgary Flames in the 1996 Entry Draft. In 75 games with both the Phoenix Coyotes and New York Rangers this year Morris scored 5 goals and had 15 assists for 20 points with just 5 of those points coming on the power play. Derek also registered 40 penalty minutes, a plus/minus rating of minus-10, 120 shots on goal and zero game winning goals.

D – Andrej Meszaros – Tampa Bay Lightning: After some solid seasons in Ottawa, Andrej Meszaros was projected to be Tampa Bay’s #1 d-man and put up some good points while anchoring the Lightning’s power play. That didn’t happen. In 52 games this year Meszaros scored 2 goals and had 14 assists for 16 points with 5 of those points coming on the power play. Andrej also registered 36 penalty minutes, a plus/minus rating of minus-4, 87 shots on goal and one game winning goal.

G – Jean-Sebastien Giguere – Anaheim Ducks: Since the lockout Jean-Sebastien Giguere has been one of the more consistent goaltenders in the league. However he got off to a bad start this season and wasn’t able to turn things around. In 46 games this year Giguere recorded 19 wins while posting a 3.10 GAA, .900 SAV% and just 2 shutouts. At his age it’ll be interesting to see if he can make an Ed Belfour-like comeback next season. If he does, expect it to be with another team as the strong play of Jonas Hiller will most likely have the Ducks trading Giguere in the offseason.

G – Chris Osgood – Detroit Red Wings: After replacing Dominik Hasek in the playoffs and helping the Red Wings win the Cup last year many expected big things from Chris Osgood this season. Unfortunately he disappointed. In 46 games this year Osgood recorded 26 wins while posting a 3.09 GAA, .887 SAV% and only 2 shutouts. If Chris has another solid playoff run with Detroit one would think that his numbers will improve next season. Time will tell, although if Osgood ends up winning another Cup don’t be surprised to see him retire.

4. Phoenix Coyotes

Along with Chicago, Phoenix is a young exciting team and I think they’ll create a lot of noise in both the division and conference this year.

Upfront Phoenix has a very underrated and skilled group. Peter Mueller, Martin Hanzal and Kyle Turris lead the charge of young skilled forwards.  Shane Doan provides the total package of scoring, toughness and leadership and Olli Jokinen is the #1 center they’ve been looking for for a while.  Mikkel Boedker is a bit of a long shot to make the team, but watching him in Kitchener last year I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him make it and even end up playing on the 2nd line.

As much as I like this team, their weak spot is definitely on defence were they’ll be leaning on Ed Jovanovski and Derek Morris.  Zbynek Michalek will get more ice time and look to improve from last year and Kurt Sauer brings some needed toughness.  Unknown young defencemen Keith Yandle and Matt Jones will try to learn everything they can from Morris and Jovanovski and will look to improve as the season goes on. 

Phoenix probably has the most underrated goaltender in the league with Ilya Bryzgalov who played great when he came over from Anaheim.  Mikael Tellqvist provides solid play from the backup.

They have young talented forwards and a very good goaltender but their lack up depth, especially on defence, could hurt their chances for a playoff spot.