Off-Season " Team's Transactions " Review Part 6

Western Conference,

Pacific Division:

San Jose Sharks, 1st Place:

Key Acquisitions: Mark Bell from Chicago, 3-year 6.5 million; Mike Grier from Buffalo, 3-year 5.3 million.

Key Departures: Nils Ekman to Pittsburgh; Tom Preissing to Ottawa, Alyn McCauley to LA.

Analysis: B-

With a terrific second half surge that saw them with the best NHL record after Christmas the San Jose Sharks have much to look forward to this upcoming season. Joe Thornton and Jonathon Cheechoo are just now hitting their prime so there's no need worrying about added bite up front. The addition of Mark Bell from Chicago for Tom Preissing and makes the Shark Tank look even more dangerous. A possible two-line punch might look like this: Cheechoo/Thornton/Bell, followed by emerging Steve Bernier/Marleau/Michalek. Deadly. There'll be a lot of sunburns on the necks of opposing tenders this season.

Anaheim Mighty Ducks, 2nd Place:

Key Acquisitions: Chris Pronger from Edmonton, 6.25 million (this season).

Key Departures: Joffrey Lupol to Edmonton; Jeff Friesen to Calgary; Ruslan Salei to

Analysis: B+

The addition of Chris Pronger gives the Anaheim Mighty Ducks the best D-pairing in the league with Scott Nediermayer. The Ducks are now well suited to make another decent run at the cup. The only question lingers who'll be in net come playoff time. First it was backup Gerber vs. struggling Giguere, and now it's backup #2 Bryzgalov coming off a phenomenal season vs. struggling Giguere. With Bryzgalov wanting the limelight and Giguere with the longterm contract- who'll Brian Burke part with? Bryzgalov's the logical choice, but who knows maybe there's another backup goalie in the Ducks' system ready to challenge Giguere for number one spot.

Dallas Stars, 3rd Place:

Key Acquisitions: Eric Lindros from Toronto, 1-year 1.5 million; Darryl Sydor from Tampa Bay, 1-year 2.128 million; Patrick Stefan and Jaroslav Modry from Atlanta, 900,000 and 1.9 million respectively (this season).

Key Departures: Niko Kapanen and Johan Hedberg to Atlanta; Jason Arnott to Nashville; Willie Mitchell to Vancouver; Bill Guerin to St. Louis.

Analysis: B-

The Dallas Stars surprised a lot of supporters and shut up a lot of critics with their superb 2005-06 campaign. The reason: a revival of the veterans. Jason Arnott, Mike Modano, Sergei Zubov, and Jere Lehtinen put on fabulous performances to kick start a latent and depleted Stars lineup. I'm guessing that success won't be translated this year as Arnott (probably their best forward) is gone, Mike Modano is only gonna get older and slower, Zubov will struggle with consistency, and Lehtinen will continue to be a good player where he has yet to live up to his skill and become a "great" player. Look for the Stars to be down at the bottom of the playoff pool this time around opposed to up top.

Phoenix Coyotes, 4th Place:

Key Acquisitions: Ed Jovanovski from Vancouver, 5-year 32.5 million; Dennis Seidenberg from Philadelphia, 2-year 1.5 million; Georges Laraque from Edmonton, 2-year 2.4 million; Nick Boynton from Boston, 3-year 9 million; Jeremy Roenick from LA, 1-year 1.2 million.

Key Departures: Mike Johnson to Montreal; Geoff Sanderson to Philadelphia; Paul Mara to Boston.

Analysis: A+

Gretzky coming off the worst coaching debut one could conjure up for the Greatest Player of all time, the kind of season you only dread in dark and lonely nightmarish episodes in dreams. Fortunately the Great One came back to prove that he's able to shrug a truck load of soot off his polished resume, and do what he loves to do- be around hockey. In any event the scouting and the transactions this offseason for Gretzky's Crew in Phoenix has been outstanding and the team that the Gretz has to mold into champions in September is astronomically better than the one he had last year. The additions of Ed Jovanovski, Nick Boynton, and Dennis Seidenberg will only tighten a solid backline. Adding Georges Laraque was not needed considered his primitive game is going like the way of the smoking dinosaur (yes, like the recently deceased hockey boxer Tie Domi), but signing Roenick will add some character on a straight forward dump-and-chase attack. Perhaps the weakest link this year will be coaching where Gretz showed a lot of weaknesses as a rookie (remember the misscheck on the scoresheet). Give the Coyotes one more year before a return to the post-season.

Los Angeles Kings, 5th Place:

Key Acquisitions: Patrick O'Sullivan from Minnesota, unsigned; Dan Cloutier from Vancouver, 2.55 million (this season); Alyn McCauley from San Jose, 3-year 6 million; Rob Blake from Colorado, 2-year 12 million; Scott Thornton from San Jose, 2-year 3 million.

Key Departures: Pavel Demitra to Minnesota; Jeremy Roenick to Phoenix; Mark Parrish to Minnesota.

Analysis: B+

I like the trade for Patrick O'Sullivan. He'll deffinately be a Star in this league all too soon. The Kings have made some nice moves this offseason in the re-acquiring of defensive stalwart Rob Blake and the trade for Dan Cloutier, who Marc Crawford obviously twisted some arms for, but they'll not see that turn around into any kind of regular season success, partly because of the talent crop in their division. All four teams San Jose, Anaheim, Dallas, and now Phoenix have more overall depth and offensive punch for LA to move up in the standings. As a result they'll probably even move behind Phoenix this year and claim glum chum last. It's a shame the NHL doesn't think about picking divisions at random before each season. Say, make it like the draft lottery where everyone puts their name in a hat and the teams are placed into new divisions each year. These are the kinds of suggestions I bet were shoo shoed from all the conferences during the lockout. Alas, I can still dream under the stars in my bed each night of my own NHL.

Western Conference Overall Standings Prediction:

1. Nashville Predators
2. San Jose Sharks
3. Calgary Flames
4. Detroit Red Wings
5. Edmonton Oilers
6. Anaheim Ducks
7. Dallas Stars
8. Vancouver Canucks
9. Phoenix Coyotes
1o. Colorado Avalanche
11. Minnesota Wild
12. Los Angeles Kings
13. Columbus Blue Jackets
14. St. Louis Blues
15. Chicago Black Hawks

* The top 5 biggest jumps in the standings will be Dallas five spots down 2nd to 7th; Detroit three spots down 1st to 4th; Edmonton three spots up 8th to 5th; Colorado three spots down 7th to 10th; Phoenix three spots up 12th to 9th.

Biggest Offseason Winners: Phoenix Coyotes, Calgary Flames, and the St. Louis Blues.

Biggest Offseason Losers: Chicago Black Hawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, and the Colorado Avalanche.