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Ron Raymond’s Stanley Cup Contenders
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fficeffice" /><o
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Well, it’s been a while since we’ve dropped the puck and played for real, but it’s nice to see some hockey back on the tube. The last time I wrote anything hockey related, I predicted the Calgary Flames at 44-1 would win the Stanley Cup and in some minds, they did win it in Game 6, but some were fortunate to edge their Game 7 pick.
<o></o>
I’ve gone through the team-by-team matchups and I think you will be surprised with some of the sleeper teams I like to contend for the Stanley Cup this season.
<o></o>
Here’s 7 Teams I feel will have a shot at winning the Stanley Cup this season.
<o></o>
Short odds:<o></o>
<o></o>
Ottawa Senators @ +1250: The Ottawa Senators have one of the most all round balance teams in the NHL from head to toe! Brian Murray will have the luxury of having 3 solid lines and 2 reliable blue line combinations on the defense. Daniel Alfredsson is the leader of this team and with the addition of Danny Heatley, should add a bit of playoff grit come April. Look for Jason Spezza to have his coming out party after a year off because of the lockout and the Sens will no doubt have between 90 to 100+ points this season. General Manager John Muckler gave up allot by obtaining Heatley, as Marian Hossa is a good regular season player, but tends to disappear in the playoffs. My only concern is Hasek between the pipes. At the ripe old age of 40, I just hope he’s injury free come April, because without an experience goaltender, they are toast!
<o></o>
Calgary Flames @ +1450: I’m back to the well with the Calgary Flames and there’s no reason to shy away from the Flames in the playoffs. Calgary has one of the top players in the world with Jarome Iginla and have one of the best defensive units in the league. Hamrlik should be a nice QB for the Flames during the power play and that should help them during the playoffs, as most of their goals were garbage type goals and they were involved in allot of low scoring games during the 2004 Stanley Cup playoffs. Kiprusoff seems to be in tip top shape and Calgary will no doubt be a team people will not want to play in April. Plus, whenever you have a Sutter coaching your team, you know you will need the ice bags after those games!
<o></o>
New Jersey Devils @ 1550: The secret to success in the playoffs is goaltending and to my eyes, the best goaltender in the world is Martin Brodeur. There’s a reason why the Canadian Olympic team is always after Brodeur to goal the pipes for the big games, because he’s the go to guy who gets the job done and his Stanley Cup rings demand respects from his peers. However, my only concern is the Devils defense on the power play, as they lost their QB Scott Neidermayer to Anaheim and Scott Stevens retired.
Furthermore, with these new NHL rules, it should give the highflying forwards more scoring opportunities. When you have Martin Brodeur, how can you not consider them in April?
<o></o>
Medium Odds:<o></o>
<o></o>
Los Angeles Kings @ +2050: The L.A.Kings are going to make some noise in the Western Conference and Mathieu Garon will be in the top 5 of goaltenders in GAA and Save Percentage. What I like about this Kings team is the grit they are going to bring to the table each night. With high intensity guys like Jeremy Roenick on the team, he will bring that extra spark in those close games and there’s no doubt in my mind he will be playing with a chip on his shoulder after the Flyers dumped him for Forsberg. Plus, Pavol Demitra will be the top goal scorer on this team and look for the 3<SUP>rd</SUP> and 4<SUP>th</SUP> line players to be the energy lines. However, this team will be Mathieu Garon’s team and I would go as far as saying, he outplayed Jose Theodore while he was in Montreal and the Kings are very lucky to get him! Vezina candidate? <o></o>
<o></o>
Montreal Canadiens @ 2250: Whenever you have a world-class goaltender in your organization, you will always have a chance to win the close games. In fact, the goaltender in Hockey can be considered like the Closer in Baseball or the QB in football. Without a good closer or QB, you won’t win those close games. However, this Montreal team is starting to look like an old Dallas Stars team from a few years back and with Bob Gainey at the helm, you know they will be an exciting team, as Montreal fans will not allow anything but a Stanley Cup berth. I consider the Montreal organization the New York Yankees of hockey, as they have all the winning tradition history and they have unbelievable fan support that makes them the 7<SUP>th</SUP> player at times. Plus, watch for the rookie of the year to come out of Montreal, his name is Guillaume Latendresse, this kid is unbelievable and he’s turning some heads all around! Unbelievable hands!<o></o>
<o></o>
Florida Panthers @ +2550: As you can see, I’m very “goalie oriented” when it comes to winning Stanley Cups and gritty forwards makes the balance of a winning combination. The Panthers have a solid goaltender in Roberto Luongo and with the acquisition of Roberts and Nieuwendyk; you have a nice mix come April. However, being that I’m from Ottawa, I had to endure the Jacques Martin defense first and offense second theory of hockey and it could be the Panthers deathbed. Martin will stress too much defense and for some reason, he doesn’t let his skill players play their game in the playoffs. Martin is the type of coach who likes his players to capitalize on the other teams mistakes and it always comes back to bite them in the butt. However, Luongo can get on a hot streak and with a few trades at the deadline, the Panthers are worth a shot here. But not much!
<o></o>
Long Shot Odds:<o></o>
<o></o>
Minnesota Wild @ +6050: I’m a big fan of the legends of the 70’s and Jacques Lemaire and Mario Tremblay have a history of winning. The Wild are the type of team who will be fighting for the 6<SUP>th</SUP>, 7<SUP>th</SUP> and 8<SUP>th</SUP> playoff spot, but are a team nobody wants to face in the playoffs, mainly because of their defensive style. The Wild probably have one of the best one two punch when it comes to goaltending with Roloson and Fernandez. Furthermore, with their younger super star players like Gaborik, Dupuis, Bouchard and Kuba being a few years older, they could surprise a few teams down the stretch. Minnesota is worth a shot at this price and with the ex-Habs legends behind the bench; you know the “Montreal Ghost” will be following “Co-co Lemaire and Bluet Tremblay’s” moves in April! Minnesota +6050 is a good long shot!
<o></o>
I hope you are excited about this years NHL season and let’s see how long it takes before Leaf fans will want Pat Quinn fired, as I don’t think they’ll have a very competitive hockey team this season.
<o></o>
Good luck.
<o></o>
Ron Raymond
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com
fficeffice" /><o></o>Well, it’s been a while since we’ve dropped the puck and played for real, but it’s nice to see some hockey back on the tube. The last time I wrote anything hockey related, I predicted the Calgary Flames at 44-1 would win the Stanley Cup and in some minds, they did win it in Game 6, but some were fortunate to edge their Game 7 pick.
<o
></o>I’ve gone through the team-by-team matchups and I think you will be surprised with some of the sleeper teams I like to contend for the Stanley Cup this season.
<o
></o>Here’s 7 Teams I feel will have a shot at winning the Stanley Cup this season.
<o
></o>Short odds:<o
></o><o
></o>Ottawa Senators @ +1250: The Ottawa Senators have one of the most all round balance teams in the NHL from head to toe! Brian Murray will have the luxury of having 3 solid lines and 2 reliable blue line combinations on the defense. Daniel Alfredsson is the leader of this team and with the addition of Danny Heatley, should add a bit of playoff grit come April. Look for Jason Spezza to have his coming out party after a year off because of the lockout and the Sens will no doubt have between 90 to 100+ points this season. General Manager John Muckler gave up allot by obtaining Heatley, as Marian Hossa is a good regular season player, but tends to disappear in the playoffs. My only concern is Hasek between the pipes. At the ripe old age of 40, I just hope he’s injury free come April, because without an experience goaltender, they are toast!
<o
></o>Calgary Flames @ +1450: I’m back to the well with the Calgary Flames and there’s no reason to shy away from the Flames in the playoffs. Calgary has one of the top players in the world with Jarome Iginla and have one of the best defensive units in the league. Hamrlik should be a nice QB for the Flames during the power play and that should help them during the playoffs, as most of their goals were garbage type goals and they were involved in allot of low scoring games during the 2004 Stanley Cup playoffs. Kiprusoff seems to be in tip top shape and Calgary will no doubt be a team people will not want to play in April. Plus, whenever you have a Sutter coaching your team, you know you will need the ice bags after those games!
<o
></o>New Jersey Devils @ 1550: The secret to success in the playoffs is goaltending and to my eyes, the best goaltender in the world is Martin Brodeur. There’s a reason why the Canadian Olympic team is always after Brodeur to goal the pipes for the big games, because he’s the go to guy who gets the job done and his Stanley Cup rings demand respects from his peers. However, my only concern is the Devils defense on the power play, as they lost their QB Scott Neidermayer to Anaheim and Scott Stevens retired.
Furthermore, with these new NHL rules, it should give the highflying forwards more scoring opportunities. When you have Martin Brodeur, how can you not consider them in April?
<o
></o>Medium Odds:<o
></o><o
></o>Los Angeles Kings @ +2050: The L.A.Kings are going to make some noise in the Western Conference and Mathieu Garon will be in the top 5 of goaltenders in GAA and Save Percentage. What I like about this Kings team is the grit they are going to bring to the table each night. With high intensity guys like Jeremy Roenick on the team, he will bring that extra spark in those close games and there’s no doubt in my mind he will be playing with a chip on his shoulder after the Flyers dumped him for Forsberg. Plus, Pavol Demitra will be the top goal scorer on this team and look for the 3<SUP>rd</SUP> and 4<SUP>th</SUP> line players to be the energy lines. However, this team will be Mathieu Garon’s team and I would go as far as saying, he outplayed Jose Theodore while he was in Montreal and the Kings are very lucky to get him! Vezina candidate? <o
></o><o
></o>Montreal Canadiens @ 2250: Whenever you have a world-class goaltender in your organization, you will always have a chance to win the close games. In fact, the goaltender in Hockey can be considered like the Closer in Baseball or the QB in football. Without a good closer or QB, you won’t win those close games. However, this Montreal team is starting to look like an old Dallas Stars team from a few years back and with Bob Gainey at the helm, you know they will be an exciting team, as Montreal fans will not allow anything but a Stanley Cup berth. I consider the Montreal organization the New York Yankees of hockey, as they have all the winning tradition history and they have unbelievable fan support that makes them the 7<SUP>th</SUP> player at times. Plus, watch for the rookie of the year to come out of Montreal, his name is Guillaume Latendresse, this kid is unbelievable and he’s turning some heads all around! Unbelievable hands!<o
></o><o
></o>Florida Panthers @ +2550: As you can see, I’m very “goalie oriented” when it comes to winning Stanley Cups and gritty forwards makes the balance of a winning combination. The Panthers have a solid goaltender in Roberto Luongo and with the acquisition of Roberts and Nieuwendyk; you have a nice mix come April. However, being that I’m from Ottawa, I had to endure the Jacques Martin defense first and offense second theory of hockey and it could be the Panthers deathbed. Martin will stress too much defense and for some reason, he doesn’t let his skill players play their game in the playoffs. Martin is the type of coach who likes his players to capitalize on the other teams mistakes and it always comes back to bite them in the butt. However, Luongo can get on a hot streak and with a few trades at the deadline, the Panthers are worth a shot here. But not much!
<o
></o>Long Shot Odds:<o
></o><o
></o>Minnesota Wild @ +6050: I’m a big fan of the legends of the 70’s and Jacques Lemaire and Mario Tremblay have a history of winning. The Wild are the type of team who will be fighting for the 6<SUP>th</SUP>, 7<SUP>th</SUP> and 8<SUP>th</SUP> playoff spot, but are a team nobody wants to face in the playoffs, mainly because of their defensive style. The Wild probably have one of the best one two punch when it comes to goaltending with Roloson and Fernandez. Furthermore, with their younger super star players like Gaborik, Dupuis, Bouchard and Kuba being a few years older, they could surprise a few teams down the stretch. Minnesota is worth a shot at this price and with the ex-Habs legends behind the bench; you know the “Montreal Ghost” will be following “Co-co Lemaire and Bluet Tremblay’s” moves in April! Minnesota +6050 is a good long shot!
<o
></o>I hope you are excited about this years NHL season and let’s see how long it takes before Leaf fans will want Pat Quinn fired, as I don’t think they’ll have a very competitive hockey team this season.
<o
></o>Good luck.
<o
></o>Ron Raymond
