Oh! The good old hockey game!

The puck drops on the NHL season Thursday, so Offbeat Sports' weekly edition of Hump Day Hockey takes a look at the upcoming season.  

Yahoo! Sports’ hockey blog, Puck Daddy, poses the question of who will get the next NHL TV deals with the contracts of NBC and Versus expiring at the end of this season.  The stock of NHL on TV must have risen since the last time they negotiated this contract because a) the league has big name players like Ovechkin and Crosby , b) Chicago and LA have re-entered the viewership market in full-force, and c) HD television makes watching games much easier.  I would argue without hesitation that HD improves watching hockey at home more than any other sport; although there’s nothing like getting a ticket and hearing the sounds of the game (the puck being passed, sticks hitting each other, and players getting slammed into the boards). 

ESPN came out with their power rankings this past week.  Pierre LeBrun knows his puck, but I can’t help but disagree with him putting the Canucks and Red Wings so high and the Blackhawks and Sharks so low. 

My top 5 NHL teams would go as follows:   

      1.          Capitals

·      Question marks certainly surround Washington’s goaltender Semyon Varlamov; however, the star power this team has really separates them from the rest of the league.  With Ovi, Alexander Semin, and Nicklas Backstrom scoring goals and Mike Green and Tom Poti playing defense, Varlamov may not have a lot of work he has to do.  I see the Capitals facing a similar situtation as the Blackhawks saw last season.  Granted Annti Niemi played great for Chicago in the post-season, but they really could have gone through their regular season last year with just about any goalie in the league because of how well Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook kept the puck out of the zone.

      2.          Blackhawks

·      Defending Stanley Cup Champions – give them some credit.  Yes they jettisoned half their roster due to salary cap restrictions; however, the core offensive and defensive players on this team remain intact (Kane, Toews, Hossa, Keith and Seabrook).  You’re definitely going to need to see guys fill in roles that they did not serve last year or make names for themselves if they weren’t around last year.  Defenseman Brian Campbell will miss 4 to 5 weeks with a knee injury; however, I still give the benefit of the doubt to the Blackhawks.  Coach Queneville will find a way to get the most out of his seemingly weak 3^rd and 4^th lines. 

     3.          Sharks

·      The signing of Annti Niemi to the Sharks seems like a big move, but you never know if Niemi simply got the hot hand during the post-season – I have similar concerns about the Blue’s new goalie, former Montreal Canadien Jaroslav Halak.  It will be interesting to watch how the Sharks’ netminder situation plays out with Niemi and Antero Niittymaki fighting for time.  Two goalies on the same team with “Ant” staring their first name and “Ni” starting their last name – that’s strange enough for me to point out.  The Sharks still have their offensive core (Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley, Patrick Marleau, and Joe Pavelski).  Also, since many of my readers out there probably have some affiliation to Miami University hockey, the Sharks not only have veteran Dan Boyle on their team (Miami grad ’98), but they also have rookie forward Tommy Wingels, who left the Redhawks after his junior year last season. 

     4.          Canucks

·      The Canucks already playoff-caliber team (probably Stanley Cup finalist if they didn’t run into the Blackhawks every year) received a major improvement this off-season with the addition of Dan Hamhuis.  Vancouver will likely see better numbers between the pipes since Roberto Luongo decided to hand back his “C”, a position no goalie should serve because of the mental roller coaster they experience regardless.   

     5.          Red Wings

·      The Red Wings are primed for a bounce-back year after seeing their arch-rival Chicago Blackhawks take home the Cup this Summer.  If that doesn’t harness enough emotion in Mike Babcock’s team, Detroit surely will find motivation when they watch the Hawks unveil their Stanley Cup banner at the Chicago home-opener on October 9, 2010.  Look for a big year from sophomore goalie Jimmy Howard.  

Yesterday was a slow day in the sports world with the rare occasion of all 4 major sports not competing, but the MLB playoffs start today, Hockey starts tomorrow and before you know it the end of October is here and all 4 major sports teams will be competing on the same day.

Oh! The good old hockey game, 

Is the best game you can name; 

And the best game you can name, 

Is the good old Hockey game!