The 09-10 Season begins!

So after a long summer of slacking, I'm back to doing this again. So the season starts up with many new faces on different teams. The Dany Heatley Saga has ended with the disgruntled sniper going to the sharks in hopes of being 'a key part' of the team. His debut was less than stellar in providing his team with a -3 effort, visibly coasting back to his defensive zone on one of the goals against. He did however redeem himself by setting up some goals on the next game but the prolific scorer has yet to put one in the net despite Big Joe Thornton as his centre. The season started just as poorly for Ottawa, beginning with a 5-2 loss to the Rangers. Both Michalek and Cheechoo have yet to show what they can do while Ottawa's back end shows just as much uncertainty. New Rookie Erik Karlsson impressed with his slick play and quick stick in the preseason as well as Pascal Leclaire showing Sens fans what he's capable of in exhibition games. Both played reasonably but each didn't perform up to par with Karlsson making a rookie gaffe at his blueline and Leclaire letting in a few goals up high.

Toronto GM Brian Burke beefed up his blue line in the off season adding Mike Komisarek and Francois Beauchemin among other big bruising defencemen. The team still lacks offensive bunch and the addition of Phil Kessel may bring that extra offence once he's back from Injury. The beginning of the season has showed that goaltending could be an issue as Toskala has struggled in his first two games. The Monster may be able to steal the job if Toskala continues to slide. Toronto's big defence might have issues should they continue to parade to the penalty box just as Mike Komisarek did in both the season opener and the second game against the Capitals.

Montreal has started with back to back overtime wins but being heavily outshot might very well be a problem. The loss of Andrei Markov for at least 4 months will hurt in the long run and the lack of a #1 puck moving defenceman might prove to be their downfall if Carey Price can't keep his confidence up. The Habs small offensive corps proved they can win against a big blue line like Toronto but the long run may prove to be a big grind and even more so in the post season.

Vancouver is looking to get their first victory after two straight losses despite Roberto Luongo's need for a strong showing to secure the #1 job in the Winter Games. The Canucks, despite their off-season additions of Christian Erhoff and Mikael Samuelsson, need Luongo to get off to a quick start despite his tendency to take a while to warm up. They have the potential to get very deep this year given their current group but as it always does, it relies heavily on the back end starting with luongo.

Calgary's acquisition of Jay Bouwmeester has bolstered an already formidable blue line. If Kiprusoff can keep up his play and Calgary can avoid cap issues from injuries, they have the potential to be a tough team. The issue now lies with the loss of Cammaleri, Can Iginla keep carry the offence. If not, who can they rely on to pick up the slack?

Edmonton's a young team and with the addition of Khabibulin and Coaches Pat Quinn and Tom Renney, the Oiler's group of players can make a good push. Reacquired centre Mike Comrie shined in the preseason leading the charge in points. Dustin Penner is looking to have a bounce back year from being sub par the last couple of seasons and the new coaching staff might be what he needs to find his touch. the young group of Gagner and Cogliano will have to step up despite a slow season last year but the addition of a veteran goalie should give this team a fighting chance and maybe a visit to the post season.