It's that season again

[Imakeholesinu]

And the Blues started out 2-0 over in Sweden against Detroilet. GO BLUES!

[Zeus]

You have Steen and Colaiacovvo now, don't you? Fugettaboudit :-)

[Chris]

Sharks may have won the second game and Colorado may be vastly improved but I am really unimpressed with the current sharks team. I'm definitely going to be cheering for the Blackhawks this year as my team of choice.

[Zeus]

I think the team to watch this year are the Capitals. They barely lost to Pittsburg last year and they're probably stronger now. They can skate like the wind and score extremely well. They're definitely pushing for the Cup this year since they figure they're not going to be able keep these guys together for much longer, not with Ovechkin's $9M+ salary kicking in. They may become the team to beat in the East.

Sharks' season means nothing. It's all about the playoffs for them. Honestly, anything short of a conference final and it's considered a lost season. They can do it, they have the talent. It's whether or not they have the testicular fortitude to make it through the playoffs that's the questions. They still have to get through Detroit, Calgary, and Vancouver.

[Imakeholesinu]

You have Steen and Colaiacovvo now, don't you? Fugettaboudit :-)

Cola has been productive on the Blue line last season, plus he wasn't hurt at all. Maybe the Leaf's trainers are just softies.

I'd like to see more point production from Steen but he's a 3rd liner right now and has an excellent defensive game and can skate.

[Zeus]

I've actually always liked Carlo but he just couldn't get it together here and he got the rep of being injury prone. He did play pretty good but the Leafs just got too many D men.

Steen should be a good 2nd line player, not 3rd. He showed so many flashes of being a great scorer but never could do it properly for whatever reason. SO he's had to settle for a checking/defensive winger role. He needed a new start for that to happen, they would never allow that here.

Just so you guys can feel better about it, Stempniak didn't exactly light it up last year. He only had 15 goals and wasn't worth the $3M contract. He's done pretty good the first couple of games and has a goal, but he's been regulated to 3rd line duty here. So you may have gotten the better of the trade.