Old News Report

With every good player that Toronto has had in recent history, a plethora of trade rumors have surrounded him. Well, Tomas Kaberle's no-trade clause has kicked in, so the thousands of trade rumors involving Kaberle have been buried six feet under. He won't be going anywhere. Tampa Bay fell through, apparently Ryan Malone was the key in that trade and it didn't happen.  Really. That's it. Now we should all move on.

                                                                                                                                                                                                          A look into the crystal ball....

In other news, The Hockey News released their 2011 Yearbook, which includes their predictions for the regular season standings and their winner for Lord Stanley's Cup.

The winner they predicted : the Vancouver Canucks.

Makes sense. Vancouver has all the right pieces, but desperately needs to put it all together. Reminds me of a certain team in the Northeast. The Hockey News picked the Flyers to win it all last year, but pulled the plug on that prediction just before the start of the playoffs, and picked Washington. Well, we all know how that turned out. After the comeback of the decade against Boston, (or in the Bruins case, the collapse of the decade) the Cinderella Flyers came within two wins of glory. Washington turned out to be about as sharp as Nick Kypreos, and lost to the Montreal Halaks in the first round.
My point is, predictions honestly mean nothing, that and go with your first instinct. Something that didn't surprise me is, once again, the Senators have been overlooked, and not included in the top eight in the East.
It didn't stop them last year. Instead, Tampa Bay was penciled in at number 7, and once again, the Habs were predicted to be an eighth placed team. Boston was predicted to win the Northeast, and that reminds me of how mediocre that division is.  Washington and Vancouver were predicted to win their respected Conferences, with Florida and Edmonton finishing last. Washington, who is turning into the Sharks of the East, are looking really no different than last year, besides blockbuster additions of Dany Sabourin and Kyle Greentree. I don't know why George McPhee didn't make a bigger move, except for cap reasons, but unless they think of another strategy, besides Backsrtom waiting, and passing it to an open Ovechkin on the low point, they're going nowhere.
Considering the Oilers last place finish this year, It wouldn't shock me if they repeated as champions of the basement. Although, looking at the lines they could have, (Hall- Gagner- Eberle) they could surprise. I expect more from them this year. Maybe thirteenth place?
Getting back to Vancouver, the one position they should be worried about is Goaltending. Weird, isn't it. Luongo wasn't playing like an all-star when the Blackhawks ousted them in the second round. But with Vancouver's talent, he may not have to. As long as he plays solid and steals games when he has to, the Canuckleheads will be fine. Speaking of Luongo, does Vancouver deserve all the criticism they get for naming him the Captain. It doesn't really matter, Vancouver has their leaders, and if Luongo is one of them, who cares? He doesn't take ceremonial face-offs for them, and the biggest thing about being a captain, is getting to hoist Stanley first, and Luongo could be doing just that this spring.