NHL Season Previews: Atlanta Thrashers

The Thrashers seem like the Thrashers of last year, minus of course Marian Hossa. Here's what we see.

Last Years Team
The Thrashers last year finished 14th in the Eastern Conference with a total of 76 points. The season just did not start well, with the firing of coach Bob Hartley six games into the season. From that point, the team was under the lead of GM Don Wadell for the rest of the season. They never really found their groove all season and just underachieved with dynamic scorer Ilya Kovalchuk.

Cap Space
The Thrashers have a cap hit of $38.577 million according to nhlnumbers.com. The Thrashers have decided that they will play on the cheap this season. We may see a move made heading into training camp with teams that need to clear cap space but I would not hold my breath on it.

This Years Team
The Thrashers are always a dangerous team to play against due to Ilya Kovalchuk. Kovalchuk could change the dynamic of a game by turning on the afterburners. The rest of the Thrashers lineup is just not as scary. Tobias Enstrom looked good in his rookie season but can that last. The acquisition of Ron Hainsey from the Blue Jackets looks to solidify the defense but the defense was not all that great last season. Hainsey is good but not enough to bring up that team. Plus Zach Bogosian is going to be the wild card on that defense.

The offense is going to be as solid as it was last year. With the absence of Marian Hossa there is no other show than Kovalchuk, but if the supporting cast can play well enough, it may make a difference. The goaltending as always been solid with Kari Lehtonen and Johan Hedberg. The Thrashers should make a little headway in the Southeast division, but they still will not make the playoffs.

NHL Season Previews: Tampa Bay Lightning

The biggest question mark going into this season is how are the Tampa Bay Lightning going to perform. New owners Oren Koules and company have done demolition on the team and completely started from scratch. Here's the preview.

Last Year's Team
The Lightning had 71 points last year, which put them at worst in the Eastern Conference and tied for worst in the league. Led by the big three at the start of the season; Martin St. Louis, Brad Richards, and Vincent Lecavalier, the Lightning never really got off the ground due to the cap bind that they had created. The Big three were good but the supporting cast was not all there. Their goaltending let them down led by Mike Smith and Karri Ramo. This led to having the highest goals against in the league.

Cap Space
According to nhlnumbers.com, the Lightning are looking at a cap hit of $54.155 million which puts them near the edge on the cap. With all of the spending that the team has done, there really should be no reason why this team would go out and spend more money.

This Year's Team
Because the Lightning had the first overall pick in the draft, they happened to win the Steve Stamkos lottery. Stamkos leads a number of players that have transferred over to the Lightning. They include Matt Carle, Olie Kolzig, Ryan Malone, Andrej Mezaros, and Gary Roberts among others. They are led by former ESPN broadcaster and former coach Barry Melrose. Melrose has not coached in roughly 15 years and while he has followed the game, his techniques may need to be adjusted and tinkered.

With all the new faces the major question mark is how are they all going to play together. As we have seen before, teams that are basically bought do not seem to fare as well as teams that have grown together. There will definitely be some growing pains especially in the first few months. While I do not see this team as a playoff team due to the slow start that they are inevitably going to face, they will be the team to watch and fear in the second half of the season.

Season Preview: Los Angeles Kings

Here is the start of the season previews with the Los Angeles Kings.

Last Year's Recap
The Kings finished last year as the worst team in the league with a total of 71 points. Their leading scorer was Anze Kopitar who had a total of 77 points. Kopitar has been with the Kings for the past two years and is basically the face of the franchise. Most of the issue with the Kings came in the form of the rotating goaltenders who was led by Jason LaBarbera. LaBarbera played 45 games followed by Aubin who played 19, Ersberg played 14 and Cloutier with 9. Those names dont scare anyone in the Western Conference.

Cap Space
For now, according to nhlnumbers.com, the Kings have a cap hit of $31 million. This puts the team around the salary floor of $40 million which they need to be at before the season starts. There are a few names that are being tossed around in the trade market due to some teams needing to dump cap space.

This Years Team
The Kings have not made any real changes in the roster to make them seem any more competitive this season rather than last. The Kings fired head coach Marc Crawford this summer and replaced him with former NHL head coach Terry Murray. Moves that occured in the roster was the trade of Lubomir Visnovsky to the Oilers for Jarret Stoll and Matt Greene. Along with Stoll and Kopitar, the Kings thrive on youth with Cammillari and Jonathan Bernier in goal.

Prediction
While this years team probably will not scare the major teams in the Western Conference, they are poised to make a run probably in the future. With the amount of young talent that this team has, there really is no reason to not believe that this team will meld together and play championship winning hockey within the next five years.