With the baseball season beginning and the idea that there would be no hockey and very little movement in the free agency market, I took a hiatus from writing this blog. With the soccer season beginning and taking up most of my time, I fell behind. It's shameful, I know.
But here's the deal: I'm here, I'm back, and I'm ready to blog about hockey.
The Toronto Maple Leafs, my adopted team, have started the season well despite nearly throwing away a four-goal lead at home to Ottawa, a team destined to be beaten 55 times this year. Toronto is currently 2-0 and, unlike last year they do look a little bit better defensively. Reimer earned a shutout in his first match against Montreal, adding credence to Burke's idea that Reimer is a quality starting goaltender in the National Hockey League.
At the moment, Phil Kessel is the leading scorer and looking to banish a few demons. Mike Komisarek comes into the new season having dropped some pounds and some emotional scars and looks a better player. James Reimer appears to be as advertised.
Not too many surprises around the league, glancing at the overall standings and the divisional stats. Pittsburgh may have played four games, two more than some of their divisional competitors but at the moment they are 3-0-1, adding credence to the idea that they are more than just 'Malkin and Crosby' as two of those wins have come without the injured stars. Malkin has, apparently, some general soreness and Penguins brass are keen to protect him. Ideally with the season being as long as it is, the likelihood that the Penguins will end up making a run at the latter stages of the Stanley Cup playoffs come April and May, it's important for Malkin to rest now and be raring to go in the spring. Crosby, well that's apparently on the cusp of being decided as the rumour is that he'll be cleared for contact very soon and ready to start practicing with the team. Imagine: the Penguins are 3-0-1 without having figured out what their team is even going to look like with two of the leagues top 10 players fit and returning.
Philadelphia, same division as the Penguins, looks good as everyone expected they would. New Jersey looks ready to fight for a playoff spot. The New York Rangers look like they threw money at their issues and still haven't solved much. Could this be Tortorella's last season?
Buffalo and Toronto look much improved. Montreal and Boston haven't gotten going yet, and Montreal has quite a few injuries. Ottawa are abysmal and yet they knew they would be.
Washington and Tampa look good in the Southeast division. Winnipeg looks shaky at best. Florida has something to prove after signing so many free agents and upping their overall cap spend.
The Western Conference's Central division looks to be one of the most interesting stories and races as the season progresses, as all five teams are aiming to not only win the division but to make the playoffs. Vancouver looks to have an easy go of things in the Northwest with nobody able to compete with them. The Pacific division boasts five playoff worthy teams, but there's going to be heartache for at least two of them. Dallas tops the division now, but not so much.
Okay, so without stating what everyone already knows I'd like to just briefly run through a few things.
First of all, Brendan Shanahan as the new disciplinary officer. He's doing a fantastic job as far as I'm concerned. Everyone thinks that he's trying to overdo it, but the fact is that he's got the right outlook on his situation.
The former disciplinarian of the NHL Colin Campbell made decisions unilaterally and didn't include a description as to why he levied the fine or the suspension. In fact, most of the discord between fans and the NHL occured because fans are intelligent and can't accept when the chief disciplinarian won't explain why he's made a decision. There are several instances I can remember of a suspension given to someone when it didn't fit the crime. Now, each hit is pored over and broken down and new terms, ones that are easy to understand for the lay hockey person are applied to the situation. The fan can read, watch and compare.
I appreciate this, because as a fan it's going to take some time to undo the wrong doings of the past and to evaluate instances of petulance and properly adjudicate them.
That's it for now. I'll post again when the season is about 10 games in and we're getting a better look at what's happening.
