On the eve of free agency...

Well, here's the rundown as to what's going down:

The day after the waiver process began for buyouts:
- Ethan Moreau was claimed from the Edmonton Oilers by the Columbus Blue Jackets
- Phoenix Coyotes traded Jim Vandermeer to the Edmonton Oilers for Patrick O'Sullivan. Phoenix then exercised their option to buy out O'Sullivan's contract.
- Jonathan Cheechoo was bought out by the Ottawa Senators.
- Philadelphia Flyers re-signed Michael Leighton to a two-year contract. Will they still go after another goaltender?
- The Calgary Flames traded forward Jason Jaffray to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for forward Logan MacMillan.
- Ville Koistinen was bought out by The Florida Panthers.
- Rod Brind'Amour announced his retirement.
- The NHL and Phoenix Coyotes announced that Doug Moss was fired from his duties as President and COO of the team. New COO Michael Nealy is the interim President of the team.

Pretty action-packed day. Here's the rundown for the teams we cover and whatever else's clever.

Detroit Red Wings:
Detroit General Manager Ken Holland says he doesn't plan on being active on the First because most of the pieces are already in place. While most of their key RFAs were qualified (Evan McGrath and Johan Ryno were the only ones not qualified) it appears as if their remaining unrestricted free agents will be testing the open market (Todd Bertuzzi and Doug Janik will both be back with the team.) Kirk Maltby might come back if he's willing to take a two-way contract but he'll more likely try to find a solid NHL job elsewhere. Andreas Lilja also wants a pay raise and will have to look elsewhere for it. The team is looking for a third-pairing defenseman who can bring "the sandpaper" (Nick Boynton comes to mind, though Janik could steal the job in camp if he plays well enough) as well as an enforcing fourth-line forward who's willing to take a two-way contract and fit in the Wings' system. Sadly, enforcers like Zenon Konopka, Derek Boogaard, and Arron Asham (guys who could play in the Wings' system) are more likely to secure one-way deals than guys like Brian McGrattan and Andrew Peters (who wouldn't play well in the Wings' system.) Otherwise, the team's good from top to bottom and is pretty set going into next season.


Phoenix Coyotes:
GM Don Maloney's got his work cut out for him. Zbyenk Michalek is looking like he'll take off and that the Ottawa Senators are a very likely destination. Matthew Lombardi, Lee Stempniak, and Derek Morris are also free agents, but those players appear to be closer to re-signing than Michalek is. Still, nothing's guaranteed and while Mike Modano might replace Robert Lang's spot in the lineup, the team still has some fine tweaking to do in every department other than goaltending (that's actually pretty solid.) Luckily there are guys like Viktor Tikhonov, who are ready for an NHL job, but will the team try to rely too much on their young talent instead of getting who they really need because of their budgetary constraints? If we had our way, they'd re-sign Lombardi, get Modano and Alex Tanguay in on short contracts to play with Shane Doan until Kyle Turris and Brett MacLean are ready to not just play in the NHL, but to dominate as well, re-sign Derek Morris, and either re-sign Michalek or get in another solid shutdown defender because many will be made available.


The all-Free Agent Team

Forwards:
Ilya Kovalchuk - Matthew Lombardi - Maxim Afinogenov
Alex Tanguay - Saku Koivu - Colby Armstrong
Ray Whitney - Vaclav Prospal - Lee Stempniak
Eric Nystrom - Zenon Konopka - Arron Asham

Defense:
Sergei Gonchar - Alexei Volchenkov
Dan Hamuis - Paul Martin
Zbyenk Michalek - Pavel Kubina

Goaltenders:
Evgeni Nabokov
Chris Mason

Emerson Etem Gets Drafted By Hometown Anaheim Ducks

Our Predictions For The NHL Awards

Hart Trophy (Most Valuable Player): Sidney Crosby
Personally we'd give it to Alexander Ovechkin instead, but Crosby's got a gold medal.

Vezina Trophy (Best Goaltender): Ryan Miller
Silver-medal winning workhorse led Buffalo back to the playoffs.

Norris Trophy (Best Defenseman): Duncan Keith
Duncan Keith lost his teeth but he won a Stanley Cup.

Calder Trophy (Best Rookie): Tyler Myers
Matt Duchene was excellent for the Avalanche, but Myers put forth a very impressive inaugural campaign.

Byng Trophy (Most Gentlemanly Player): Martin St. Louis
Dave would give it to Datsyuk on account of being Datsyuk. St. Louis accrued less penalty minutes though, and was a very productive player for a substandard team.

Selke Trophy (Best Defensive Forward): Pavel Datsyuk
Jordan Staal and Ryan Kesler are both deserving, but players go as far as to comment on Datsyuk's play without the puck as they do about him with it.

Adams Award (Best Coach): Dave Tippett
Took over the team mid-way through training camp and led the Phoenix Coyotes to their best season in franchise history.

Masterson Memorial Trophy (Dedication To Perseverance): Kurtis Foster
This is the award no one wants to win and frankly we think all three of these guys deserve the award for their dedication to perseverance.

In Jed Ortmeyer's case, he suffers from a pulmonary embolism, which requires him to go through daily injections in his stomach to make playing possible.

Meanwhile, Jose Theodore suffered through the death of his 2-month old son Chace during the summer of 2009. He and his wife turned around and founded a charity called Saves for Kids which benefits the Children's National Medical Center. You can read all about it here.

You think it couldn't get worse than that. Sadly, it does.
Kurtis Foster's career nearly ended March 19, 2008, when a hit from Torrey Mitchell shattered his leg as they were chasing an icing puck. He wouldn't resume his career until almost a year later, where he was able to complete a tryout in the American Hockey League and finish the season having played 10 games for the Minnesota Wild, scoring 6 points in the process. With the Wild not wanting to take a chance on him due to his injuries, Foster signed a modest contract for the Tampa Bay Lightning and went on to have a career year, putting up 42 points in 71 games. It was the feel good story of the year.
On May 5th, Kurtis Foster welcomed his daughter Lila into the world. She died 5 days later.
I don't think words can describe...

Sorry to bring the mood down but it has to be shown these aren't just guys who are paid to play a game; they're humans like the rest of us.

Ted Lindsay Award (Best Player Voted By NHLPA): Alexander Ovechkin
Because Crosby will get the Hart...

Bridgestone Messier Leadership Award (Best Leadership Qualities): Shane Doan
The Coyotes already have the GM of the Year (Don Maloney) and Dave Tippett seems to be a lock for the Adams Award. Doan would just complete the trifecta.

NHL Foundation Award (Most Dedication to Their Communities): Dustin Brown
He'll get it because this is his second consecutive year being nominated but in our opinion, he, Mike Green, and Ryan Miller equally deserve the award for their constant and consistent efforts to charity. Job well done guys.

Season Review: Chicago Blackhawks

Now that the season's over, we will be concluding our season reviews and getting ready for the draft and upcoming off-season.

Now the Stanley Cup Champions: The Chicago Blackhawks.

Season expectations: Barely two seasons removed from when Rocky Wirtz inherited the ownership of the team from his father, the late Bill Wirtz, he decided he was going to invest in a team that the city would be proud in. Through bringing on Dale Tallon and Stan Bowman, the team was able to draft and develop key components to their squad such as Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, Dustin Byfuglien, and Brent Seabrook while signing Brian Campbell, Antti Niemi, and Marian Hossa to compliment their squad. Though not originally acquired by them, Patrick Sharp has really found his niche in the development of the team and provided complimentary scoring and leadership to two players who are still finding their way around. Though the team is very talented, the reality of their salary constraints meant that only winning a Stanley Cup this season would be acceptable and anything that would come up short would be tantamount to failure; for the group looked like they would be all but disbanded following the season.

My prediction: I predicted Chicago would end up first overall in the Central Division and third overall in the Western Conference.

The truth: The team was first and second, respectively. The team advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they defeated the Philadelphia Flyers in six games to capture their first championship in 49 years.

What went right?: Simply stated, this was the most complete team in the league this year. The group managed to play a sound style of two-way hockey that ensured there would be enough toughness to keep the flies off without having too much goonery, which usually leads to bad penalties.

The team's offensive stars did an excellent job of carrying the mail. Toews, Kane, and Sharp managed to find themselves at a point-per-game basis or better during the playoffs. Beyond that, Hossa had a strong showing and respectable postseason campaign (as a second-liner) while Byfuglien, Kris Versteeg and Dave Bolland found comfort in providing solid and dependable secondary scoring (even if Byfuglien had Chris Pronger to deal with in the finals.) There was absolutely no shortage of toughness up front for the Blackhawks either, as Andrew Ladd, Ben Eager, and Adam Burish managed to effectively get under the other team's skin or effectively patrol the team to ensure no funny stuff went down (Eager even made the game winner in Game 2.) While there were many forwards concerned with scoring or being tough, it was John Madden, Tomas Kopecky, and Troy Brouwer who were concerned with providing a defensive presence for their forward group.

The team's defense was as solid as expected as well. Duncan Keith, who in my opinion should have been the Conn Smythe Trophy winner, finished second on the team in scoring for the season and was one of the best performers come playoff time (there are many other people who've had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup who haven't given up 7 teeth to do so.) Though many people thought he would be prolific, Brian Campbell managed to become far better defensively than he's been in the previous seasons; making his salary seem somewhat justified. Brent Seabrook made noise and effectively put himself out there as the team's Number 2 or 3 defenseman through putting up a campaign that was not too far off from Campbell's during the regular season while being far superior during the postseason. Niklas Hjalmarsson's been steadily developing into a top-four NHL forward while Brent Sopel, Nick Boynton, and Jordan Hendry kept things tidy as the team's depth defenders. Trading Cam Barker to the Minnesota Wild for Kim Johannson didn't work out as planned, but the team ended up being too-well stocked to have noticed.

However, what seems to have made the most noise was the goaltending situation. This may effectively mark the first time in NHL history that the Stanley Cup Champions had a goaltending tandem that was completely European (Niemi being from Finland, well-overpaid backup Cristobal Huet being from France.) This was Niemi's first season in the NHL and second overall in North America. Though the team won in front of Huet (he posted a 26-14-4 record in 48 games), he was not performing at the level a starting goaltender needs to at the NHL level (owning up to his .895 save percentage) and that thrust Niemi into action. The result? Niemi went 26-7-4 in 39 appearances with a .912 save percentage, 2.25 goals against average, and 7 shutouts. His numbers were equally impressive come playoff time, as he would go 16-6 in 22 games with 2 shutouts, a 2.63 GAA, and a .910 save percentage. He is up for a new contract and it definitely looks like he's going to get a raise.

One intangible thing that helped out was the fans. Now that the city has a team to be proud of, the fans have responded, going back to when R. Wirtz took over, by going back to Blackhawks games and supporting the club they love. 2 million people showing up at a Stanley Cup parade can't be wrong and for having so much to cheer for after one of the most bleak periods in team history, I salute you Chicago.

So what's next?: Winning came at a steep cost, as the team is already at $58.8M toward the cap for next season (you have to wonder if the NHL awarded Toews the Conn Smythe on purpose to give Gary Bettman's Phoenix Coyotes another team a chance at winning the Cup next season. Certainly the team could look to bury Huet's contract in the minors or Europe, but they'll still need enough money to qualify Niemi, qualify their depth forwards, qualify their RFA defenders (including Hjalmarsson), and look to add reinforcements for all the above. It would be intriguing if they could repeat but their cap situation may have to make them dismantle a portion of the team. It should be interesting to see what happens.

Season Review: Philadelphia Flyers

Now that the season's over, we will be concluding our season reviews and getting ready for the draft and upcoming off-season.

Now the Eastern Conference Champions and runners-up in the Stanley Cup Finals: The Philadelphia Flyers.

Season expectations: The Flyers were sick of all the attention in Pennsylvania going to the Pittsburgh Penguins and rightfully so; they had an excellent squad that was severely underrated in comparison to their cross-state rivals. They boasted a group of excellent forwards in Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Daniel Briere, and Simon Gagne. Throw in a blueline that boasted Kimmo Timmonen, Matt Carle, and the great Chris Pronger (who was acquired from Anaheim via trade) and the team looked like one that was a solid cup contender. There were some questions in the crease and to remedy that, the team brought on Ray Emery, a young and aggressive goaltender, to be their starter while Brian Boucher was re-acquired to back him up. Some other teams could be playoff performers but for the Flyers, it was going to be Cup or bust.

My prediction: I predicted that the Flyers would be first in the Atlantic Division and second overall in the standings.

The truth: Thanks to a shootout victory against the New York Rangers, the team finished third in the division and seventh in the conference. They managed to make their way to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they lost to the champion Chicago Blackhawks in six games.

What went right?: GM Paul Holmgren made some great moves and put his team in a great position to succeed. When the team was headed in the wrong direction mid-season, he relieved former coach John Stevens from duty and replaced him with Peter Laviolette. From there, the team righted the ship and made an unbelievable rush to the finals thanks to a change in leadership. This was a strong and excellent move for them.

The Chris Pronger trade paid great dividends to the club, as he was able to supply the team with an excellent defensive presence and solid veteran leadership. He may have been a little curt with Richards at times but sometimes tough love is an effective way to get a team captain to man up. That shouldn't take away from the other talent on the blueline, as Timmonen, Carle, and Braydon Coyburn had solid campaigns for Philadelphia this season.

Offensively speaking, Ville Leino was acquired from Detroit and went on to form a very successful line with Briere and Scott Hartnell, whom were among the most prolific forwards in the playoffs. Laviolette was was also successful in integrating tough guys Ian Lapierriere, Arron Asham, and Dan Carcillo into the line up to complement talented forwards like Richards, Carter, Gagne, and Claude Giroux to give the team sound scoring-by-committee while keeping the opposition afraid. James van Riemsdyk was having a successful rookie campaign until he started to run out of gas toward the end of the season; I expect that he'll avoid the sophomore slump because he already hit his wall.

But what was most remarkable was the goaltending situation. Emery was average (no more, no less) but capable until he went down with injury. Michael Leighton was acquired via waivers from the Carolina Hurricanes to back up Brian Boucher until the Flyers resolved their goaltender concerns. When Boucher went down with injury, Leighton was given the keys and ran with it, going 16-5-2 with a 2.48 GAA and a .918 save percentage before going down with injury himself. Boucher went into the playoffs and propelled the Flyers through their series against New Jersey and into their series against Boston until Leighton returned carried the mail into the Stanley Cup Finals. For two goaltenders who're considered backups, they platooned well and properly challenged each other without it being a distraction.

What went wrong?: As valiant as the goaltending duo were, they simply didn't have enough of "the stuff" to push the Flyers over the edge. There was something about Boucher's game that didn't give Laviolette the confidence to put him in through the finals (maybe something about allowing 3 goals on 14 shots in Game 5) which lead to Leighton becoming ineffective at the absolute worst time. While his teammates will hardly blame the goaltending, the Patrick Kane goal was one of those that simply should have been stopped when the sport's most prestigious trophy is on the line. I do give the guy credit though and I hope he secures a good deal somewhere; one that includes a NTC.

To the goaltenders credit, it is a truth that the team in front of them ran out of gas as the series went on. While the team wasn't necessarily starved offensively, the team's forwards didn't necessarily do as well in their own zone as their defenders did. That could be a problem with the system, but when you consider that the St. Louis Blues, Calgary Flames, and Anaheim Ducks all did statistically better than they did, when you play in a weak conference, you can't expect to be adequately prepared when going with the best of another.

So what's next?: The team has $48.61M committed to salaries next season and will need to get another goaltender, qualify their defensive RFAs while getting another defenseman, and look to qualify their RFA depth forwards while rounding out their depth forwards (like making the decision as to whether or not Asham will be coming back.) They could build from within but a well-executed trade may make the difference between merely making the playoffs versus winning it all next season. The nucleus of talent is there so with the exception of finding/developing a dynamic goaltender, they just need compliments as opposed to building blocks to go forward.

The Chicago Blackhawks: Your 2010 Stanley Cup Champions

That's what a Stanley Cup-winning goal looks like.

If you would have told Chicago fans five years ago this would have happened, they would have either laughed in your face your beaten you mercilessly for mocking them. With that said, Rocky Wirtz, Stan Bowman, and Dave Tallon deserve a lot of credit for making them a championship-caliber team real fast.

Congratulations to the Chicago Blackhawks on winning their first Stanley Cup in nearly 50 years.