early season oh pucks

So the season is a few weeks old, and already some teams have some serious questions.

Let's just get it out of the way, so everyone in Toronto can read it and cry. After pulling out gutsy wins against the Penguins and the Rangers, as well as beating Montreal and Ottawa, the Maple Leafs are back to their losing ways. While you can certainly say this team is still finding it's chemistry with an overhauled roster, the fact remains that they're not scoring right now. Kessel is off to a promising start with 6 goals as of this evening, but they need the secondary scoring. Phil Kessel will not be able to carry this team on his back. also, with a defensive core as deep as the Leafs should be looking so "meh." And what about the promising young netminder Jonas "the monster" gustavsson? The Monster struggled early, but played well during the end of last season, and they were looking to him to have a strong sophomore year, but he seems to be falling victim to the dreaded slump. Also, former Conn Smythe winner J.S. Giguere has also been a bit of a mystery looking sharp at times, and marginal at best at others. Again, the season is early, and Ron Wilson is a decent coach, so i expect this to be a little bit of a hiccup. Although given the lack of quality seasons up in Toronto in recent years, there's always cause for alarm when they start to slump.

The New Jersey Devils are another enimga. The best goaltender to play the game, both actively, and of all time has looked like a shaky back up for most of the season. Yes Martin Brodeur has two shut outs, but one is against Montreal, a team he has dominated for most of his career and the other was against Buffalo where the Devils carried much of the play only to skate away with a 1-0 overtime victory. it is quite apparent that Brodeur is still quite capable of those brilliant performances, but at the same time you can tell he's not the same goalie who has dominated the position for years. The real concern is not so much this season, although with this caliber of goaltending I can see them finishing much lower than everyone has anticipated. After tonight Johan Hedberg has only shown why he has never handled a number one job. He looked overwhelmed against buffalo and didn't even last 40 minutes. If Brodeur is still going to be effective, he has to rest more during the season. the days of 70 some odd starts are well behind him...unless you want to turn into the Sharks of the East and win your division but vanish in the playoffs. Devils faithful have to wonder what is instore for the future of this club in net. Both goalies are in the latter halves of their 30's and their best days are behind them. Having seen more than my fair share of Devils broadcasts, I have yet to hear of any kind of goaltending depth in their farm system. This has to be a huge concern for both fans and the front office of the Devils. This is of course, all speculative considering they have a GM who could lead the CIA when it comes to keeping a secret. "In Lou We Trust" right Devils fans?
What i was astonished to see tonight was the healthy scratch of Ilya Kovalchuk. Yes, you read that correctly. The second leading scorer in the league behind Alex Ovechkin was a healthy scratch. I don't know if this is simply being used as a motivational tool by the coaching staff to light a fire under Ilya, or if this 15 year experiment is already beyond saving. He seems to still be stuck in his "I'll do everything myself," when he doesn't have to be. The Devils top line of Parise-Zajac-Kovalchuk is one of the best in the league. Also why is Kovalchuk playing the right wing? A right handed coming off the left wing can be devastating, and he's shown it. I don't know why they don't move Parise to right wing, or split up the lines and have a 1-2 punch in Kovalchuk-Parise. Whatever. I'm not the coach.

It's also obvious that Tyler Myers misses Henrik Tallinder up in Buffalo as his seems to be in the sophomore slump on a team where he cannot afford it. This isn't to say that he wasn't worthy of his Calder trophy win last season, but can't help but wonder how much of that was aided along by having more expirienced d-men at his side. And what about Roberto Luongo? one would've thought that the captaincy going to Henrik Sedin would ease some of the pressure on him, but apparently not. He's still playing mediocre hockey...as far as a player of his ability is concerned.


There's definitely more to blog about right now, but I'll say it for later.