|
Everyone knows that the NHL season and playoffs are exciting for hockey fans because of all the great action. But in the NHL, even the off-season can be an exciting time for fans. In June, the NHL Entry Draft takes place and young players from around the world get one step closer to fulfilling their dreams of winning the Stanley Cup. Fans get a glimpse of the future and teams get a chance to land the next great player.
Every summer, July 1st marks the beginning of the NHL free agent season. This past summer, dozens of players signed with new teams. As result, some teams improved themselves by leaps and bounds. But when one team makes itself better by signing a free agent, it comes at the expense of another team. The result is that there were some pretty important player moves around the NHL during the summer of 2007. Here’s a look at some of the biggest names who will be wearing new jerseys this season.
• Jason Blake (Toronto Maple Leafs): Set career highs with 40 goals and 69 points last season and was named to his first NHL All-Star Game. The speedy winger should fit in nicely on Toronto’s top line. |
 |
| |
|
 |
• Chris Drury (New York Rangers): Topped the 30-goal mark for the second year in a row last season with the Buffalo Sabres. Drury has proven himself to be a clutch player who consistently plays a strong, two-way game. |
| • Scott Gomez (New York Rangers): Should compliment the Rangers’ snipers nicely. The 1999-2000 Calder Trophy winner is a slick playmaker with great vision. If Gomez can’t get the puck to Rangers, like Jaromir Jagr, Brendan Shanahan and Drury, in good scoring positions, nobody can. |
 |
 |
• Daniel Briere (Philadelphia Flyers): Finished 10th in NHL scoring in 2006-2007 with 32 goals and 63 assists for 95 points. After struggling to stay in the NHL early in his career, Briere found himself centering the top line for the Sabres—the highest scoring team in the NHL last season. Briere should be just the kind of quick, crafty center that the Flyers need to jump-start their offence. |
| • Ryan Smyth (Colorado Avalanche): Is playing for his third team in nine months. Smyth left Edmonton in tears at the trade deadline last season to help the Islanders make a run into the playoffs. He’ll fill a spot on one of the Avalanche’s top two lines in this season. |
|
 |
• Paul Kariya (St. Louis Blues): Led the Nashville Predators in scoring last season. At just 32 years old, Kariya has already played 12 NHL seasons and scored more than 860 points. He’ll provide scoring punch on the wing and leadership in the room for the rebuilding Blues. |
| • Michael Nylander (Washington Capitals): Flourished during the last two seasons playing for the Rangers. That’s not surprising when you center Jaromir Jagr—who scored 219 points while playing alongside Nylander. Now Nylander is off to play with one of the best young players in the world, Alex Ovechkin. Look for Nylander to keep producing at close to the same pace if he gets to play regularly with Ovechkin. |
|
| |
• Bill Guerin (New York Islanders): Was signed on July 5th and named the team’s captain on July 9th. Guerin scored 36 goals for St. Louis and San Jose last season. He’ll be counted on to fill the offensive gap left by the departure of Jason Blake from the Isle. |
| • Dustin Penner (Edmonton Oilers): The summer’s most controversial signing. Edmonton GM Kevin Lowe first tried to sign Thomas Vanek away from Buffalo. When the Sabres matched Edmonton’s offer, Lowe set his sights on Penner. The 6’4”, 245 pound winger scored 29 goals in 2006-2007, his rookie season. He’ll be counted on to score at least that many in Edmonton this season and will be a big body to plant in front of the net on the power play. |
 |
| |
• Brian Rafalski (Detroit Red Wings): Has spent the last two seasons as the New Jersey Devils’ top defenceman. The 34-year old is a fast, puck-moving defender who will replace Mathieu Schneider in Detroit. Having played for the Devils, Rafalski is also used to defence-first hockey. His well-rounded game makes him a perfect fit in HockeyTown USA. |
| • Mathieu Schneider (Anaheim Ducks): Is entering his 21st NHL season and seems to be getting better with age. He arrives in Anaheim—after recording two of his three best offensive seasons in the last two years—to join an already loaded Ducks defence corps. Look for Schneider to approach 60 points again this season. |
 |
| |
• Roman Hamrlik (Montreal Canadiens): Comes to Montreal from the Calgary Flames, where he turned himself into a strong, two-way player. The former 1st overall selection by Tampa Bay in 1992 finished last season with 7 goals and 38 points and was a plus-22. In Montreal, he’ll be asked to play the point on the power play and team with Andrei Markov as a shut down defence pairing. |
| • Tom Preissing (Los Angeles Kings): Finished tied for third in NHL +/- last season (with Nicklas Lidstrom) at plus-40 and led the Ottawa Senators’ defence corps in scoring. He was one of the hotter free agent defencemen on the market over the summer and ends up on a vastly improved Kings team. The Kings just may have the top offensive blue line in the NHL with Preissing, Rob Blake, Lubomir Visnovsky, Jaroslav Modry, Brad Stuart and youngster Jack Johnson. |
 |
 |
• Sheldon Souray (Edmonton Oilers): Finished 3rd in scoring amongst NHL defencemen last season and led all defencemen in goals scored, power play goals and game winning goals. His minus-28 wasn’t a great showing, but that was as much a reflection of the entire Canadiens team as it was of his own play. His booming shot and puck-moving ability should help the Oilers play their traditional, attacking style with a little more success this season. |
| Dany Sabourin and Ty Conklin (both Pittsburgh Penguins): From Vancouver and Buffalo respectively, they will battle for the number two job behind rising star Marc-Andre Fleury. |
|
| |
• Curtis Sanford (Vancouver Canucks): Takes over for Sabourin behind Roberto Luongo. Barring an injury to Luongo, Sanford will have to work hard to start ten games. |
| • Kevin Weekes (New Jersey Devils): Comes over from the Rangers to back up Martin Brodeur. Brodeur is getting older, so you’d have to think he’ll start playing less sometime. But since 1995-1996, when he took over the starting job in New Jersey, Brodeur has AVERAGED almost 73 games per season. So unless Brodeur gets hurt, Weekes should see…well, you can do the math. |
 |
| |
• Jocelyn Thibault (Buffalo Sabres): Will serve as a backup for Ryan Miller. Miller has been hit by the injury bug in the past. So Thibault could see the most action of any of the summer’s goalie signings. |
• David Aebischer and Alex Auld (both Phoenix Coyotes): From Montreal and Florida respectively will be in a dog-fight with
returning backup Mikael Tellqvist to see who can take over for Curtis Joseph as the number one ‘tender in the desert. Both have had some success in the past, but have bounced around between teams lately. Expect them to split time unless one really falters or takes the reins
and runs. |
|
|
|
|
