Goin' down South(east)

We'll now continue our journey down I-95, to some "unconventional" hockey markets. Four of the five teams in the conference came into existence in the 1990s (although you can argue Carolina existed before. Bring back the whale!). Anyway, the Southeast is home to some exciting hockey with the scoring machine in Washington and the Dynamic Duo in Tampa Bay. We also have some news to report that the Chicago Blackhawks have relocated to Miami. Well, alright, that's only partly true, and we'll get into that in a bit.

SOUTHEAST DIVISION:
Last year's standings.

Washington 48-23-11
Tampa Bay 46-25-11
Carolina 40-31-11
Atlanta/Winnipeg 34-36-12
Florida 30-40-12


Washington Capitals: While you car argue it would be difficult for the Capitals to get better, they did it this off season. Amongst rumors of Semyon Varlamov looking to go back to Russia, GMGM (George McPhee) managed to trade him to Colorado for 1st and conditional 2nd round draft pick, which is more than the compensation for his salary if the Avalanche tendered and offer sheet. The capitals also signed Nashville playoff phenom Joel Ward. As if that wasn't enough, they might have made the shrewdest signing this year, Tomas Vokoun, for roughly 1.5 million dollars. The Capitals have had some success with their young goaltenders, but now they have one of the best goalies in the league in recent years at a bargain basement price. Will this be the Capitals year finally? Unfortunately, Vokoun's playoff record is less than stellar, but with a team as deep as Washington's, this could be THE move to bring them over the hump.

Tampa Bay Lightning: What a bizarre summer for the Lightning. RFA scoring machine Steven Stamkos was a challenge to re-sign, but they managed to come to an agreement to keep Stamkos around for awhile. They're also bringing back Dwayne "Rollie the Goalie" Roloson. The ageless wonder continues to defy the critics, as well as nature seemingly. At 41, he appears to play about 10 years younger, with no real signs of stopping. He's possibly the best goalie the Lightning have had since their Cup run in 2004 with Khabibulin. Perhaps the most underrated component to their success is coach Guy Boucher. The Lightning have drafted well, but never managed to click, that is until Guy took the reigns and off they went.

Carolina Hurricanes: Ahh the Cardiac Canes. Or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The Carolina Hurricanes have been as enigmatic as they've been exciting the past few seasons. With Eric Staal, Cam Ward and soon to be sophomore Jeff Skinner, the core of this team is still young and highly skilled. The problem lies in their consistency. Will they be a team that looks more at home in the AHL, or will they look like the team that has won the Stanley Cup 06? If the Canes can get their act together and play consistent hockey, they will soon return to the playoffs. If not, it's another year of outside looking in.

Winnipeg Jets (formally Atlanta Thrashers): A brief moment to say how nice it is to see the Jets back in the 'Peg. With that said, I don't see them making the playoffs this year. While it's not impossible, it doesn't seem like they did enough this year to get past their tougher divisional rivals. They do have some quality young players like Kane and Bogosian, as well as Pavelec in goal. This is another team that has the potential to make a run, if they can string together a nice string of wins, but with Tampa and Washington to climb over, it will be an incredibly tall order.

Florida Panthers: This is a team that has made a lot of noise this off season. GM Dale Tallon has stock piled draft picks and took on some salary to make this team more competitive. This year's draft pick Jonathan Huberdeau has a chance to make the lineup, but some of the more established acquistions this year include Kris Versteeg, Scottie Upshall, Theodore, Kopecky, Jovanovski and Brian Campbell. that's 3 cup winning Blackhawks acquired in less than a week. While a good portion of these players could be considered overpaid, they are winning vets who have a want to win, which is something that's been missing in Florida for quite some time. Will Jose Theodore returned to his Hart and Vezina winning form and help propel this team up the standings, or will he be simply an adequate stop gap replacement for Vokoun? Only time will tell, but on paper the Panthers have improved quite a bit.


Predictions: The Southeast Division is still a two horse race between the Capitals and Lightning, but the rest of the division has the potential to play spoiler to either their divisional rivals or other teams in the conference. It certainly looks like the Panthers have the potential to make the biggest splash in the division. However, the Cardiac Canes and Cats will still leave their fans perplexed and at times furious I'm sure. Look for Washington and Tampa Bay to duplicate their 1-2 position in the division once again this season.

Washington-Tampa Bay-Florida-Carolina-Winnipeg

The Steven Stamkos Saga

Nice alliteration huh?

We can really replace his name with a few of the high profile pending RFA's to be lately, but it seems to be that his name is at the top of the list, and on the tips of tongues and fingers everywhere. For good reason I suppose. As currently as this afternoon Tampa Bay has been signing other players (D-men Bruno Gervais and Marc-Andre Bergerson), arguably deemed lesser players, to their roster but have yet to sign Stamkos to a deal. I can hear you asking yourselves already, what pucking gives?! Quite honestly no one really knows, but I'll try to figure it out as best as I can.

According to Capgeek.com, the Lightning have 21 million dollars in cap space right now. Let us just assume for a moment, that Stamkos is looking for Vinny LeCavalier type money (a 7.7 mil cap hit until next millennium). With the current state of of long term deals it seems simple enough to ink him to a long term front loaded contract with a cap hit around 6 million dollars. There is some speculation out there that Steve Yzerman trying to follow the Detroit business model where the top end guys take a little less money for the good of the organization, and it looks like Stamkos isn't biting. Why should he? Back to back 90+ point seasons, with 45 or more goals. The kid is turning into everything that he was expected to be, and possibly more. He has every right to ask for more money. Now on June 22nd TSN reported that Stamkos Says He's "close" to a Deal with Lightning. What could've happened within the span of a week to change all that? With mum being the word from all sides, it's hard to gauge. Without trying to dissect this even further, I'm going to skip right to the speculation flying around. Yeah yeah, enough pucking around, I know.

Let the rumors begin. July 1 is literally right around the corner. Tampa Bay has cap room, but it is being reported that they have lost from anywhere from 20-30 million dollars this past season, despite coming within one game of the Stanley Cup finals. That certainly doesn't bode well for a long term lucrative deal for Stamkos. There are also reports that Stevie Y. has said that he's ready for anything, you have to wonder if there will be money enough to match any/every offer sheet that comes through the door. With the cap floor being so high, a lot of teams are struggling to make it there, so an offer sheet could come from teams with cap room to spare, or from a big market club with space and money to burn. Barring an offer that is completely out of reach you have to wonder if Tampa Bay will match year after year until Stamkos becomes a free agent, or they will manage to iron out a deal before someone else comes along with an offer sheet to good to refuse.

Undoubtedly the compensation will be four consecutive 1st round draft picks, as there is no way the Lightning will be unable to match a smaller offer, nor will one be issued in all likelihood. Teams rumored to be in on the possibility of an offer sheet are Toronto and Philadelphia although any number of teams can make a move, as long as they have their picks to offer as compensation. However, it doesn't make any sense for those to clubs. For starters, Philadelphia has only 8.2 million in cap space currently, and still has to reach deals with recently acquired RFA's Voracek and Simmonds, while also attempting to re-sign pending UFA Ville Leino, whom the Flyers have expressed great interest in locking back up. Not to mention the Flyers are in need of some depth players and possibly a younger defenseman to come in and learn the system while playing a limited minutes role until some key veterans retire, which may be sooner than later. Despite what amounts to rumor mongering by Frank Seravelli of the Philadelphia Daily News, it just seems illogical for the Flyers to make that kind of run at a player. Although to be fair to Frank, this is Philadelphia we're talking about so anything is possible. Toronto seems more likely with over 18million in cap space and an overwhelming need for a number one center. However, with the state of their team, and the bitterness over losing two first round picks for Phil Kessel (which resulted in the second overall pick in the draft, Tyler Seguin and a Stanley Cup for Boston) I cannot see Brian Burke willing to give up four years worth of draft picks. However, if anyone is "crazy" enough to do it, it would be Burke.

Another option could be the New York Rangers. While they are front runners for Brad Richards once free agency opens up, if that goes awry, they do have the space and the craziest of all GM's in Glen Sather to possibly pull this off. I see this as a dark horse at best, simply because they're freeing up their cap space for Brad Richards, and given that player's close relationship to current coach John Tortorella, it's hard to imagine Richards going anywhere else. Other teams with cap space to burn and some offensive woes are the Ottawa Senators (who have holes up and down their line up), Nashville Predators (who play a defensive system), St. Louis Blues, Winnipeg Jets and Colorado Avalanche (who are currently deepest at center position).

So as free agency prepares to open its flood gates, we sit and watch as these rumors continue to fly. If you take the time to pause for a moment though, it only seems to make sense that he stays in Tampa Bay. Yzerman will be forever defined by what happens in the coming days, possibly weeks. He's smart and competitive, and there's no way he's simply going to be out bid for a player. If a team puts together a deal, he can simply match it for a year and spend all that time negotiating a long term contract. While fans are enjoying the thoughts of Stamkos in their favorite team's sweater, at the end of the day it's just a pipe dream. Anything is possible, sure, but this one is probably the furthest from it, without being officially impossible.

the Winnipeg Coyotes..

So, here we go again. Another week, another chapter in the ongoing saga of the Phoenix Coyotes. The biggest problem now appears to be the selling of the bonds to help finalize the sale. Apparently, the Goldwater Institute is crying foul, and thus throwing yet another wrench in this whole process.

Sadly all of this could've been averted if the NHL didn't have such a hard on for sticking it to Jim Balsillie. Make no mistake, I am not condoning or approving of his back door approach to purchasing an NHL team, but one cannot imagine all this drama going on if the league relented and gave him the team he has been chasing for so long. Lest we forget, he was almost the owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins before Bettman handcuffed him by stressing the team stay in Pittsburgh.

At the end of the day this current issue will more than likely be settled in court. Again. One has to feel sorry for the few citizens who actually support the team, but therein lies the problem. This team has never been successful in the desert. Even with the teams recent successes they still have a poor draw and continually lose money. NHL is ultimately a business, and how it fails to see that this is a failed venture is beyond me. In the simplest of terms, the Coyotes are a failed experiment. It is time to admit to that and return the team back to where it all began.

Yes there will be the undoubted economic impact on the city of Glendale, and that is most unfortunate. Businesses close and/or relocate every day. We do not cry foul with the turning of every lock, so why are we starting now? I'm not saying it's fair either way, but I can't accept this argument in keeping a failing team in a failing market. Right or wrong, however this soap opera plays out, there will still be plenty of questions to be answered. I say we do everyone a favor and just pack them up and send them home.