BY JASON MENKVELD – FAN FUEL BLOGGER
With the Stanley Cup playoffs only a week away, it’s time to take a look at how we got to this point. This shortened season has proven to be quite a challenge for most teams and it’s been a season full of surprises as well. It’s given us a chance to see what many teams are made of. The Ottawa Senators for example.
The Senators have had a really tough season this year struggling with many key injuries. The injured reserve list for this team has included star defenceman Erik Karlsson, Jason Spezza, Milan Michalek, and Craig Anderson for most of the season. Based on the Karlsson injury alone, many believed that the Ottawa Senators had no hope of making the playoffs. However, thanks to the leadership of captain Daniel Alfredsson, and some consistent play from players like Jakub Silfverberg, the team was able to win without most of their core squad. Now the club has Michalek and Anderson back, and look to be headed to another playoff berth.
Another team that has done extremely well throughout this shortened season is the Montreal Canadians. It’s clear that the new head coach Michel Therrien has given the team a big boost. The return of Michael Ryder has been vital to the club’s success as well. The younger players like Brendan Gallagher and Alex Galchenyuk have managed to contribute consistently as well. They’ve managed to fit in to the system, and have benefited from playing with players like Brian Gionta. P.K. Subban has taken awhile to settle in this year, but he seems to be back to his normal standard of playing hard and scoring goals. Plus Markov has been able to avoid injury this year as well. And when you add decent goaltending from Carey Price and Peter Budaj, it’s pretty hard not to applaud the great work done by the Montreal Canadians this year. For Montreal, only one question remains now. How far can the team go in the playoffs?
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The Pittsburgh Penguins have probably been one of the most exciting teams to watch yet again this season. In my opinion, this is a team that was helped by the lockout situation. The lockout allowed for Sidney Crosby to fully recover from his previous injury. Earlier in the season he and Malkin were securing victories and points with relative ease. And even though the two are injured now, Crosby still holds the lead for the most points this season. General manager Ray Shero has contributed in a huge way as well by acquiring players like Brendan Morrow, Douglas Murray, and Jarome Iginla. Iginla seems to have settled into his regular role of scoring goals, and has been a fantastic help to his new club. With these new additions to the Penguins roster, Pittsburgh fans should be gearing up for an exciting, lengthy playoff run. I believe in them and I expect that the Penguins will be in the finals this year.
Some Western Conference teams that have thrived throughout this shortened season are as follows. The Vancouver Canucks were a team surrounded by speculations, excitement, and mixed feelings thanks to goaltender Roberto Louongo. The club has once again had to deal with trying to give both their goaltenders adequate ice time. It seems that the team will still have to struggle with that dilemma since Luongo wasn’t able to leave the club on trade deadline day. However, I believe it’s a good dilemma to have when you have two decent goalies fighting for ice time. And now that Luongo is here to stay for another playoff run, I believe the team will do well. Also, Ryan Kesler has done considerably well since his return from injury. I’ll admit it took a while for the Canucks to find their rhythm this season. But now that they’ve secured a playoff berth, it’s just a matter of executing Alain Vigneault’s plans successfully.
Other teams that have surprised me throughout this short season are the Chicago Blackhawks and Toronto Maple Leafs. The Blackhawks had that incredible winning streak thanks to the play of Kane, Toews and Hossa. And the Toronto Maple Leafs has been supplied with strong goaltending thanks to James Reimer. And James van Riemsdyk and Nazem Kadri have had break out seasons this year as well. If I had to pick two teams that really shocked me this season, they would have to be the Montreal Canadians and Toronto Maple Leafs. Both teams have done an excellent job using the squads they have, executing their game plans and bearing down to get wins. I can’t wait to see what the playoffs bring.