NHL's East an equal-opportunity jumble

[Derek21]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/hockey/colu...mnnhleast_N.htm

Rink Rap: NHL's East an equal-opportunity jumble

By Kevin Allen, USA TODAY

The NHL's Eastern Conference has become a landscape of equal opportunity for teams looking to reach the Stanley Cup Finals this season.

Whether you have a hole on defense, or a slug in your top six forwards, you have reason to believe you have a chance. If you had chosen a committee to shuffle players from roster to roster to make every team equal, you could not have created as much parity as we now have in the Eastern Conference after this summer's wheeling and dealing.

Most of the top teams lost talent, and all of the bottom teams improved themselves significantly.

The Buffalo Sabres were the No. 1 team and they lost their top two scorers in Daniel Briere and Chris Drury. The New Jersey Devils were No. 2 and they watched top defenseman Brian Rafalski and No. 1 playmaker Scott Gomez leave the team.

Meanwhile, the last-place Philadelphia Flyers are probably the NHL's most improved team after landing Briere, Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell, among others.

The Florida Panthers landed the goalie they needed in Tomas Vokoun and Washington's Alex Ovechkin got the center he needed in Michael Nylander.

The Capitals haven't made a serious playoff run since Bill Clinton was in the White House, and yet it's not unreasonable for them to believe they have a shot this season.

The Eastern Conference might be more wide open this season than at any point in NHL history.

Even the Boston Bruins, who performed miserably last season, should be able to rationalize their way into believing they are in the hunt. Never mind that they haven't significantly improved their offense; they theoretically solidified their goalkeeping by acquiring Manny Fernandez and the hiring of Claude Julien is supposed to make them a stingier defensive team. And Zdeno Chara has to play better than he did last season.

Last season, the New York Islanders made the playoffs, but they lost everyone but the trainer to free agency. After a bunch of replacement signings, the Islanders enter this season with some assembly required. They have a bundle of new parts, but we won't know what we have in New York until coach Ted Nolan puts them all together.

For sure we know that the Flyers are improved, but it's impossible to project how much success they will have. Spending bundles of cash on talent doesn't always create a blockbuster. Remember the Ishtar scenario. In 1987, a movie studio brought together Academy Award winners Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman with Oscar-winning songwriter Paul Williams. It was supposed to be a sure-fire hit and it ended up one of the biggest flops in movie history. Likely the new Flyers will be a hit, but maybe they will be Ishtar.

It seems as if the Ottawa Senators kept their talent supply intact, but when you factor in that Bryan Murray has replaced John Muckler as general manager and John Paddock has replaced Murray as coach, you can't be certain that we will see the same product we saw last season. And really it's too early to know whether Ray Emory is an elite goalkeeper. One good playoff run doesn't assure a young goalie's transformation into a proven winner. Just ask the Carolina Hurricanes who, by the way, have every right to believe they can make a run if Cam Ward is as effective as he was in 2006.

The New York Rangers are also a trendy pick because they have upgraded their offense with Drury and Gomez, and goaltender Henrik Lundqvist has established himself as a difference-maker. But not everyone in the hockey world is sold on the Rangers' defense.

Everyone likes where the Pittsburgh Penguins are headed, but the consensus is that they are a year away from dominance. The Atlanta Thrashers looked like they might be on the way down, but with the arrival of Tobias Enstrom, there's suddenly some optimism that they could be better defensively than last season.

The Tampa Bay Lightning didn't have the money to make the goalie switch they would have liked, but the Vinny Lecavalier/Martin St. Louis-led offense might be enough to carry them if Johan Holmqvist can be credible between the pipes.

The Toronto Maple Leafs missed the playoffs by one point last season, and you know they believe that the acquisition of Vesa Toskala will be worth six or eight points to them.

All the uncertainty should make the Eastern race even more exciting.

Certainly there are time-honored theories to embrace when making your selections in the Eastern Conference. Picking the teams with the best goalies seems logical. That gives you reason to squeeze Florida into your top eight, and perhaps a reason to keep out the Lightning. That allows you to keep New Jersey and Buffalo in the hunt. It makes the Rangers a nice fit as a hot pick.

You could put your faith in star power or team defense, which puts Ottawa right back in the picture with their top scoring line and their strong defensive team.

But season's Eastern Conference could end up like many office NCAA basketball pools. Someone is going to accurately predict the top eight finishers right, and you will discover that they drew names out of a hat or picked the teams based on which teams had the most colorful uniforms.

Historically I've always liked to embrace numerology when making my picks. In various years, I've like to pick teams that had a No. 99 on their roster. In other years, I elected to go with teams with a No. 66 in the lineup.

This year I'm partial to any team with a No. 87 leading the way.

[jkrdevil]

This year I'm partial to any team with a No. 87 leading the way.