Pronger a huge asset for the Flyers

I have to admit - as a Flyers fan I have never had a chance to see a defenceman as good as Chris Pronger wear the orange and black. It was too late for me to admire the play of Mark Howe (although I saw three or four classic games with him playing), so until recently Eric Desjardins was the ideal - he was smart in joining the rush and he was exceptional at using his stick to stop the opposing forwards. On joining the Flyers Kimmo Timonen showed that he is just as good or even better than Desjardins (who retired in 2006). Pronger is really good on the PP and his breakout passes are near perfect, but what sets him apart from the other defenceman in the league is the defensive presence. An opposing team's rush against him usually ends up around the blueline - not only because of a hit but also because of Pronger's stick or positioning. With Timonen and Braydon Coburn struggling Pronger is currently leading the league in ATOI with 28:12 (1:10 more than no.2 Joe Corvo). The fact that Luca Sbisa is back in the WHL is another argument that shows that the Flyers trade for Pronger was a great move for the team, at least in the short term.

Image: Davey darling, source: Wikimedia Commons

Leaders in goal

As of right now Ryan Miller and Craig Anderson are statistically the best goaltenders in the NHL. Miller is not a surprise here so he gets overlooked by the media - Anderson gets all the coverage, because he came out of nowhere this season - his first as a starter. If the Avalanche manage to keep playing the way they are now, he is going to be the biggest free agent steal of this past offseason and might be one of the nominees for the Vezina Trophy.

Ilya Bryzgalov is still keeping his GAA under 2.00, but seems to be cooling off after his great start. However his career suggests that although his GAA should be higher, his high save percentage should remain at the current level. The Russian's performance is good news for the struggling franchise in Phoenix - especially after Bryzgalov's average season last year.

In Chicago a Finnish rookie - Antti Niemi is fighting to steal icetime from Cristobal Huet, while Washington's Simeon Varlamov has lost his fight to the veteran Jose Theodore. The former Hart and Vezina winner has started strong for the Capitals, despite the fans' and media's attention on Varlamov. The Caps once again look like one of the teams to beat in the East, but this time around they have two legit options in the net.

Leaderboard full of surprises

A quick look at the scoring leaderboard shows some familiar names - the highly touted Anze Kopitar with his breakout season, the healthy for a while Marian Gaborik, Alex Ovechkin, Joe Thornton and Gaborik's linemate Vinny Prospal. But if you look further down the list, some surprises start to pop up - Dustin Penner the last year's scapegoat in Edmonton is showing the skills that made the Oilers' brass think that he will be a star - he now has 15 points (including 8 goals) in 10 games. Brad Richards is the other player who is looking to put his career back on the right track - the former Conn Smythe Trophy winner is now the playmaker in Dallas (13 points in 9 games), setting up young James Neal (12 in 11. The usual suspect Dan Boyle is currently tied for the defenseman scoring lead (12 points in 12 games) with... Michael Del Zotto - a player who once was listed among those that could push Steven Stamkos out and become the first pick, but fell from grace because of his iffy defensive play. Del Zotto is now the quarterback of the NY Rangers powerplay unit lead by Gaborik and is not looking out of place - he is a sure bet for a Calder nomination right now.

Speaking of Stamkos - he is on a tear, scoring 11 points (7 goals) in 9 games and pushing Vinny Lecavalier out of the spotlight in Tampa Bay. It is also worth to mention the starts of Rich Peverley, Mikael Samuelsson and Ryan O'Reilly. Peverley (10 points in 8 games), whose powerplay scoring and chemistry with this year's first round pick Evander Kane have finally given the Thrashers some scoring depth. The injury-plagued Canucks are relying on free agent acquisition Mikael Samuelsson to provide scoring and he currently has 10 points in 11 games. O'Reilly is one of the biggest stories this year - the 18-year-old was picked in the second round (33rd overall) of this year's draft and not only made the team out of training camp, but also is currently outplaying Matt Duchene, the Avs' first round pick - he has 10 points in 11 games and is one of the league's leaders in +/- with +10.

Although some of those players should cool down soon - especially Samuelsson (might have a reduced role if Demitra and Sedin return from the injuries), O'Reilly (experts are predicting the Avs' fall in the standings) and possibly Penner (is he strong enough mentally to withstand the additional pressure?), they all have the potential to sustain their scoring paces until the end of the season.

Rangers dump Zherdev

After a $3.9 million arbitration award, the Rangers have decided to walk away from a contract with Nikolai Zherdev the 4th overall pick from 2003. The Russian has always been a question mark - his defense, desire and physical play made many people ignore his unquestionable offensive talents. His last two seasons were just ok, he only showed glimpses of his potential - right now it is possible that this will be said after each season of his future career. Nevertheless he is an attractive option for a team looking to boost its scoring and believing that he still has time to improve. The Atlanta Thrashers, New York Islanders, Minnesota Wild or Boston Bruins (if they are forced to trade the rights to Phil Kessel) seem to be the potential buyers.

Cap? What cap?

The Hudler situation is officially over after Detroit signed him to a two-year contract and, immediately after, let him go to the KHL. Hudler has a two-year contract with Dynamo Moscow, so the fans in Detroit won't see him soon. The good thing is that after his European contract expires, he either returns to the Red Wings (I presume that they could be over their cap problems by then) as an affordable secondary scorer or stays in Russia with Detroit off the hook with his salary. Hudler is set on playing in Europe, so Detroit couldn't have done anything to stop him, especially with the current cap situation, but they have guaranteed that his rights remain with them and have left the possibility of the Czech returning open. Score another one for the Ref Wings.

Tampa Bay surprises again

The Lightning have bought out forward Vaclav Prospal, thus ending his third career stint with the team. This buyout is important, not only because Tampa now has too many d-men and too few forwards, but also because it changes the UFA market significantly. The versatile (can play as C or LW) Prospal automatically becomes the second or third best available forward behind Alex Tanguay and Mats Sundin (if he doesn't retire). Additionally his cap hit should be lower than Tanguay's which might mean that he'll find a new home faster than the Canadian. He didn't have his best season last year, but no one in Tampa did, so this shouldn't scare off the teams looking for veteran scoring. Tanguay's negotiations have just gotten a lot more difficult - he use the argument that he is clearly the best option on left wing.

The triumphant return of Andy Delmore (sort of)

According to TSN the Detroit Red Wings have signed defenseman Andy Delmore, who spent the last two years in the DEL, to a two-way contract. A fantastic scorer, Delmore always was absolutely awful in his own zone - a quality that has always hindered his progress as a defenseman. Nevertheless he has cracked 30 points twice in Nashville and was one of two heroes of Philadelphia's playoff run in 1999-2000. He also managed to win the Eddie Shore Award as the AHL's best defenseman in 2005-2006.

It will be interesting to see whether he manages to crack Detroit's lineup. Lidstrom, Kronwall, Rafalski, Stuart and Ericsson seem to be untouchable - this leaves Lebda, Lilja and Delmore battling for the remaining spot in the lineup with one of the losers getting the 7th defenseman's spot in the pressbox. Depending on his cap hit (it hasn't been revealed yet), Delmore could make a run at pushing Lilja out of his spot - Detroit is one of the teams fighting for every Penny and Lilja, an UFA next year is being paid $1.25 million. Delmore also has a higher offensive ceiling than Lebda but he has to be paired with a great stay-at-home defenseman to be effective - fortunately the Red Wings have a lot of those.

Boston's plan?

After trading Aaron Ward back to the Canes for Patrick Eaves and announcing that they will buyout Eaves, the Boston Bruins were expected to sign their top goalscorer Phil Kessel. The yesterday's signing of Derek Morris shows this is not the case - their cap space has actually decreased, so a new contract to Kessel seems to be out of the question - at least until Bruin's GM Peter Chiarelli makes some other moves.

This might actually mean that the Bruins are exploring possibilities of trading Kessel, because his salary demands are too high. They have $4.2 million in cap-space and can trade Chuck Kobasew ($2.33 million) to free some space, but it might not be enough. Kessel showed his potential last season and might want as much as $6 million per year - the $533,000 space that would be left if he gets it might not be enough for the Bruins - if they want to make a run for the Cup, they need more financial flexibility.

The next rookie race

John Tavares, Victor Hedman, Matt Duchene, Evander Kane, Nazem Kadri and even Toni Rajala already have NHL contracts - not all of them will make their respective teams, but all will get a chance to get a spot in the NHL and fight to be the best rookie. Nikita Filatov and Alex Pietrangelo are still eligible, joining Cody Hodgson and Jordan Eberle as possible candidates for the Calder Trophy. James van Riemsdyk probably won't play with the Flyers due to his cap-hit - around $2 million with bonuses (Patrick Maroon is the rookie to root for in Philly) but his fellow 2007 draft pick Mikael Backlund from Calgary will be in the mix. The Rangers have as many as three off-the-board candidates in defensemen Mike Del Zotto, Ryan McDonagh and Bob Sanguinetti.

Who has the best chance to win? It appears that Filatov is the hottest name, especially if Ken Hitchcock gives him the icetime he deserves. Tavares is the biggest talent but he won't get much support in NY, thus might even be overtaken by Duchene. Pietrangelo is also a good pick, especially if the Blues have a strong beggining of the season. As for the next Versteeg, a player not expected to fight for any honors - Eric Tangradi, the prospect traded by the Ducks to the Penguins for Ryan Whitney, could be the one, because he has a great chance of making the roster on one of the top two lines - he has enough skill to play either with Crosby or with Malkin, but has never played pro hockey.

Gearing up for a trade?

The Minnesota Wild have signed Wade Dubielewicz, who played last year for AK Bars Kazan and the Columbus Blue Jackets, but is best known for leading the New York Islanders to a playoff appearance in 2006/07 with a shootout win in the last game of the season. This might be an indication of a possible trade of Josh Harding, who has a lot of talent but is stuck in Minnesota behind Niklas Backstrom. Dubielewicz had awful stats last year but this might have been caused by the problems with finding a right team - after he started in the KHL, he wanted to go back back to the Islanders, but was claimed off waivers by the Blue Jackets.