posted December 31, 2007 at 13:39 in NHL Articles
Hockey Betting Action - Teams happy to ring in the New Year
The Detroit Red Wings continue to roll past the opposition, but the second half of 2007 wasn’t rosy for every team in the National Hockey League. Here are some clubs that need to resolve to get better in 2008 if they hope to make the playoffs (and make a bit more cash for NHL bettors). We’ll start with the struggling team from the Music City . . .
The offseason shakeup has certainly shaken up the Predators, who now look like they will be in tough to make the playoffs in the Western Conference. Without Paul Kariya and the injured Steve Sullivan the Preds are having a hard time scoring, and without Tomas Vokoun they’re having some trouble preventing goals as well. Nashville needs more consistency from David Legwand and a breakout second half from Alexander Radulov to vault into the conference’s top eight and make another playoff appearance.
Rick Nash is scoring, and Pascal Leclaire has great numbers between the pipes, but the Blue Jackets still aren’t looking like a playoff team. Perhaps it’s because Nash is getting precious little help up front – Nikolai Zherdev is doing fine, but the likes of Sergei Fedorov and David Vyborny haven’t been providing much offense. If Columbus can’t get any secondary scoring they’ll pretty much have to make the playoffs based on defensive play alone – and without a true stopper on the blueline that is going to be one tall order.
Vincent Lecavalier has been outstanding for Tampa Bay this season, but the Bolts have still been floundering around at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. With Martin St. Louis, Vaclav Prospal, and Brad Richards (despite the horrible plus/minus) also scoring the offense certainly hasn’t been the problem in Tampa Bay. So what’s the problem? Defensive play and goaltending, with netminders Marc Denis (now in the minors) and Johan Holmqvist really struggling. Without a quality keeper the Bolts are going nowhere.
A breakout season from the enigmatic Nik Antropov would seem to be a good sign for the Maple Leafs, but the Kazakh’s scoring prowess hasn’t been enough to get wins for Toronto on a consistent basis. Mats Sundin is his usual self, but Jason Blake, Darcy Tucker, and Kyle Wellwood have been disappointments. Tomas Kaberle is steady on the blueline, but he’ll be overworked with Bryan McCabe sidelined by a broken hand. Toronto needs Vesa Toskala to shake off his groin injury and lead them into contention.
After a slow start to his season the Rangers must be happy that Scott Gomez is now leading the team in scoring, but on the other hand they must also be concerned that Jaromir Jagr is not leading the team in scoring. Jagr is on his worst scoring pace since the 1991/92 season, and he needs to keep up his late-December surge to get the Rangers back into contention. Watch for New York to make a couple of moves before the deadline to shake things up, with underachieving Petr Prucha a top trade candidate.
Andrew Cogliano and Sam Gagner are looking like two great forward prospects, but they aren’t contributing enough right now to get the Oilers into playoff contention. Shawn Horcoff continues to overachieve up front, and Ales Hemsky gets points when he’s in the lineup, but players like Jarret Stoll and (now-injured) Raffi Torres simply haven’t been getting the job done. Dwayne Roloson has also been having trouble between the pipes, so it might be up to Mathieu Garon to hold down the fort this season.
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