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Hockey : NHL 2009/2010 season preview

Pittsburgh won third championship

The Pittsburgh Penguins captured the 2009 Stanley Cup with a 2-1 win over the Red Wings in Game 7 and became the first road club to win in this series and avenged 2008 painful six-game loss to Detroit in the final round. Pittsburgh claimed its third championship in team history and first since taking back-to-back titles in '91 and '92. Pittsburgh head coach Dan Bylsma became the 14th rookie head coach and just the second hired in the middle of the season to win a championship.

East
Pittsburgh - Carolina   4 : 0
Washing. - Pittsburgh   3 : 4
Boston - Carolina   3 : 4
Pittsburgh - Philadel.   4 : 2
Boston - Montreal   4 : 0
Washing. - NY Ran.   4 : 3
N. Jersey - Carolina   3 : 4
West
Detroit - Chicago   4 : 1
Detroit - Anaheim   4 : 3
Vancouv. - Chicago   2 : 4
Chicago - Calgary   4 : 2
Detroit - Columbus   4 : 0
Vancouv. - St Louis   4 : 0
San Jose - Anaheim   2 : 4
Atlantic Division
1N. Jersey10651-31
2Philadel.9944-38
3Pittsburgh9945-37
4NY Ran.9543-39
5NY Islan.6126-56
Northeast Division
1Boston11653-29
2Montreal9341-41
3Buffalo9141-41
4Ottawa8336-46
5Toronto8134-48
Southeast Division
1Washing.10850-32
2Carolina9745-37
3Florida9341-41
4Atlanta7635-47
5Tampa B.6624-58
Central Division
1Detroit11251-31
2Chicago10446-36
3St Louis9241-41
4Columbus9241-41
5Nashville8840-42
Northwest Division
1Vancouv.10045-37
2Calgary9846-36
3Minnesota8940-42
4Edmonton8538-44
5Colorado6932-50
Pacific Division
1San Jose11753-29
2Anaheim9142-40
3Dallas8336-46
4LA Kings7934-48
5Phoenix7936-46

NHL 2009/10 key dates

  • October 1: Regular season begins
  • October 2-3: NHL Premiere, Helsinki and Stockholm
  • February 16-28 : Winter Olympic
  • April 11 : Regular season ends
  • April 14 : NHL Playoffs begin

Favorites

These are odds to win 2009/10 Stanley Cup published by online bookmakers before the start of the season:

Detroit Red Wings6New Jersey Devils26Nashville Predators41
Pittsburgh Penguins7New York Rangers29Los Angeles Kings41
Chicago Blackhawks8Toronto Maple Leafs29Minnesota Wild41
San Jose Sharks9Carolina Hurricanes29Dallas Stars41
Boston Bruins10Montreal Canadiens29Florida Panthers51
Washington Capitals15St. Louis Blues29Colorado Avalanche67
Vancouver Canucks16Buffalo Sabres34Tampa Bay Lightning67
Philadelphia Flyers17Edmonton Oilers34Phoenix Coyotes67
Calgary Flames19Ottawa Senators34Atlanta Thrashers81
Anaheim Ducks21Columbus41New York Islanders151

No team took more hits as a result of the salary cap staying flat than the Detroit Red Wings this summer. With Nick Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Brian Rafalski and Johan Franzen eating up more than 50% of the team's cap space, GM Ken Holland had to watch as Marian Hossa, Mikael Samuelsson, Conklin, Jiri Hudler and Tomas Kopecky all headed elsewhere. It would be a mistake, though, to count out what has been the best franchise the past two decades.

Dan Bylsma took over for fired coach Michel Therrien late last season and installed an aggressive system that woke up the Penguins, vaulted them back into playoff contention and all the way to the team's third Stanley Cup title. Although the Pittsburgh Penguins lost a third of their starting defense corps with the departures of Rob Scuderi and Hal Gill, they'll begin their championship defense with key contributors Bill Guerin, Ruslan Fedotenko and Craig Adams. All three forwards took pay cuts to stay in Pittsburgh and, with the free-agent additions of shot-blocking defenseman Jay McKee and mammoth center Mike Rupp, the Pens look poised to make another run at the Stanley Cup.

After making it all the way to the Conference Finals last season, the Chicago Blackhawks made some major moves to try and push themselves into the Stanly Cup Finals this year. Chicago signed the five-time All-Star Marian Hossa and Tomas Kopecky from the rival Red Wings and added dependable defensive forward John Madden on a cheap one-year deal. Unfortunately Hossa underwent surgery to repair a small rotator cuff tear in his right shoulder. So he won't be ready to play until at least late November. With all the money flying around, Chicago had to make some sacrifices. Those included the loss of Matt Walker and Nikolai Kahbibulin.

Having secured the first Presidents' Trophy in franchise history with a 117-point regular season, the San Jose Sharks were then eliminated in the opening round of the playoffs by the Anaheim Ducks. General manager Doug Wilson and coach Todd McLellan did plenty of figuring in the offseason and waited until just before the opening of training camp to sign two-time 50-goal scorer Dany Heatley. In order to ease the cap crunch, Christian Ehrhoff and Brad Lukowich were traded to the Vancouver Canucks. A lot went right for San Jose last season, including the fact seven players topped 50 points, so much of coach Todd McLellan's challenge will be in simply getting his troops to perform up to the same level.

The Stanley Cup finals in the last five seasons

2009   Pittsburgh Penguins - Detroit Red Wings - 4:3
2008   Detroit Red Wings - Pittsburgh Penguins   4:2
2007   Anaheim Mighty Ducks - Ottawa Senators   4:1
2006   Carolina Hurricanes - Edmonton Oilers   4:3
2004   Tampa Bay Lightning - Calgary Flames   4:3

teamstitles 2003/04 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09
Montreal24 1/4 1/8 - 1/4 1/8
Toronto13 1/4 - - - -
Detroit 11 1/4 1/8 1/2 title finals
Edmonton5 - finals - - -
Boston5 1/8 - - - 1/4
NY Islanders4 1/8 - 1/8 - -
NY Rangers4 - 1/8 1/4 1/4 1/8
Pittsburgh 3 - - 1/8 finals title
New Jersey3 1/8 1/4 1/4 1/8 1/8
Chicago3 - - - - 1/2
Colorado2 1/4 1/4 - 1/4 -
Philadelphia2 1/2 1/8 - 1/2 1/8
Dallas1 1/8 1/8 1/8 1/2 -
Calgary1 finals 1/8 1/8 - 1/8
Tampa Bay1 title 1/8 1/8 1/8 -
Carolina1 - title - - 1/2
Anaheim1 - 1/2 title 1/8 1/4
Ottawa- 1/8 1/4 finals - -
St. Louis- 1/8 - - - 1/8
Minnesota- - - 1/8 1/8 -
San Jose- 1/2 1/4 1/4 1/4 1/8
Vancouver- 1/8 - 1/4 - 1/4
Los Angeles- - - - - -
Washington- - - - - 1/4
Phoenix- - - - - -
Buffalo- - 1/2 1/2 - -
Florida- - - - - -
Atlanta- - - 1/8 - -
Columbus- - - - - 1/8
Nashville- 1/8 1/8 1/8 - -

The table shows the overall number of NHL titles since 1918 and team success in the last five seasons.

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key players

Anaheim Mighty Ducks

Center Ryan Getzlaf, Wings Bobby Ryan and Corey Perry, Defenders Scott Niedermayer and Nick Boynton, Goaltender Jonas Hiller

Atlanta Thrashers

Center Nik Antropov, Wings Ilya Kovalchuk and Bryan Little, Defenders Pavel Kubina and Zach Bogosian, Goaltender Kari Lehtonen

Boston Bruins

Center Marc Savard, Wings Milan Lucic and Michael Ryder, Defenders Zdeno Chara and Mark Stuart, Goaltender Tim Thomas

Buffalo Sabres

Center Derek Roy, Wings Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville, Defenders Toni Lydman and Steve Montador, Goaltender Ryan Miller

Calgary Flames

Center Olli Jokinen, Wings Rene Bourque and Jarome Iginla, Defenders Jay Bouwmeester and Cory Sarich, Goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff

Carolina Hurricanes

Center Eric Staal, Wings Ray Whitney and Erik Cole, Defenders Joni Pitkanen and Aaron Ward, Goaltender Cam Ward

Chicago Blackhawks

Center Jonathan Toews, Wings Patrick Sharp and Patrick Kane, Defenders Duncan Keith and Cam Barker, Goaltender Cristobal Huet

Colorado Avalanche

Center Paul Stastny, Wings Wojtek Wolski and Milan Hejduk, Defenders Scott Hannan and Adam Foote, Goaltender Craig Anderson

Columbus Blue Jacket

Center Derick Brassard, Wings Kristian Huselius and Rick Nash, Defenders Mike Commodore and Jan Hejda, Goaltender Steve Mason

Dallas Stars

Center Mike Ribeiro, Wings Brenden Morrow and Loui Eriksson, Defenders Stephane Robidas and Karlis Skrastins, Goaltender Marty Turco

Detroit Red Wings

Center Pavel Datsyuk, Wings Johan Franzen and Daniel Cleary, Defenders Nicklas Lidstrom and Brad Stuart, Goaltender Chris Osgood

Edmonton Oilers

Center Shawn Horcoff, Wings Patrick O'Sullivan and Ales Hemsky, Defenders Sheldon Souray and Steve Staios, Goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin

Florida Panthers

Center Stephen Weiss, Wings David Booth and Nathan Horton, Defenders Keith Ballard and Bryan Allen, Goaltender Tomas Vokoun

Los Angeles Kings

Center Anze Kopitar, Wings Dustin Brown and Justin Williams, Defenders Drew Doughty and Matt Greene, Goaltender Jon Quick

Minnesota Wild

Center Mikko Koivu, Wings Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Martin Havlat, Defenders Brent Burns and Greg Zanon, Goaltender Niklas Backstrom

Montreal Canadiens

Center Scott Gomez, Wings Michael Cammalleri and Brian Gionta, Defenders Andrei Markov and Roman Hamrlik, Goaltender Carey Price

Nashville Predators

Center Jason Arnott, Wings Steve Sullivan and J.P. Dumont, Defenders Ryan Suter and Kevin Klein, Goaltender Pekka Rinne

New Jersey Devils

Center Patrik Elias, Wings Zach Parise and Jamie Langenbrunner, Defenders Paul Martin and Bryce Salvador, Goaltender Martin Brodeur

New York Islanders

Center John Tavares, Wings Richard Park and Kyle Okposo, Defenders Mark Streit and Andy Sutton, Goaltender Rick DiPietro

New York Rangers

Center Chris Drury, Wings Christopher Higgins and Marian Gaborik, Defenders Daniel Girardi and Wade Redden, Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist

Ottawa Senators

Center Jason Spezza, Wings Milan Michalek and Daniel Alfredsson, Defenders Chris Phillips and Erik Karlsson, Goaltender Pascal Leclaire

Philadelphia Flyers

Center Mike Richards, Wings Simon Gagne and Danny Briere, Defenders Chris Pronger and Matt Carle, Goaltender Ray Emery

Phoenix Coyotes

Center Matthew Lombardi, Wings Shane Doan and Peter Mueller, Defenders Ed Jovanovski and Adrian Aucoin, Goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov

Pittsburgh Penguins

Center Sidney Crosby, Wings Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin, Defenders Sergei Gonchar and Mark Eaton, Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury

San Jose Sharks

Center Joe Thornton, Wings Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi, Defenders Dan Boyle and Douglas Murray, Goaltender Evgeni Nabokov

St. Louis Blues

Center David Backes, Wings Andy McDonald and David Perron, Defenders Barret Jackman and Carlo Colaiacovo, Goaltender Chris Mason

Tampa Bay Lightning

Center Vincent Lecavalier, Wings Ryan Malone and Martin St. Louis, Defenders Mattias Ohlund and Victor Hedman, Goaltender Mike Smith

Toronto Maple Leafs

Center Mikhail Grabovski, Wings Alexei Ponikarovsky and Phil Kessel, Defenders Tomas Kaberle and Mike Komisarek, Goaltender Vesa Toskala

Vancouver Canucks

Center Henrik Sedin, Wings Daniel Sedin and Alex Burrows, Defenders Willie Mitchell and Alexander Edler, Goaltender Roberto Luongo

Washington Capitals

Center Nicklas Backstrom, Wings Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin, Defenders Mike Green and Milan Jurcina, Goaltender Jose Theodore

 
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