Hockey Trade Rumors

Hey Hockey Fans Out There:

I’m going to say roughly 90% of the hockey fans out there who visit this site are either Montreal Canadian Fans or Toronto Maple Leaf Fans, so I’m here to debate which team will be better during the 2007/2008 Season.
I will get into last seasons statistics for each team and new players that each team got during free agency/trades or players that they have lost in the off season.

Montreal Canadians: Last Season Ranks

Goals For: 239 Ranked: 16th in the NHL
Goals Against: 251 Ranked: 23rd in the NHL
Power Play: 22.8% Ranked: 1st in the NHL
Penalty Kill: 83.5% Ranked: 13th in the NHL
Plus/Minus: -29 Ranked: 25th in the NHL
Record: 42-34-6 – 90 Points Ranked: 10th in the Eastern Conference

Major Acquistions/Re-Signings:

Chris Higgins
Mike Komisarek
Tomas Plekanec
Michael Ryder
Bryan Smolinski
Roman Hamrlik

Notable Subtractions:

Sheldon Souray
Sergei Samsonov
Radek Bonk

Toronto Maple Leafs: Last Season Ranks

Goals For: 254 Ranked: 8th in the NHL
Goals Against: 262 Ranked: 25th in the NHL
Power Play: 17.7% Ranked: 15th in the NHL
Penalty Kill: 78.5% Ranked: 27th in the NHL
Plus/Minus: +11 Ranked: 13th in the NHL
Record: 40-31-11 – 91 Points Ranked: 9th in the Eastern Conference

Mats Sundin
Nik Antropov
Vesa Toskala
Mark Bell
Jason Blake

Notable Subtractions:

Jeff O’Neill
Michael Peca
Yanic Perreault

Last year the teams were pretty even and most categories other then Power Play and Penatly Kill, in which Montreal did a good job in both while the Leafs weren’t too bad on the Powerplay, but were horrible on the Penalty Kill due to their goaltending not making the big time saves when needed. Toronto last year had a pretty good Plus/Minus raiting at +11 while Montreal had a very poor Plus/Minus rating of -29.

Now to this coming year:

The Toronto Maple Leafs made a pretty good splash in the off season by picking up a really good goalie in Vesa Toskala and also picking up a big power forward in Mark Bell, they have also went out and picked up a 40 goal scorer this past season in Jason Blake, for people to say that 5 million is too much for this guy are crazy, if the leafs did not sign him for 5 million I’m sure he would have got 5 million or more from another team, nobody is going to pay 2.5 million for a 40 goal scorer, whether it be 1 season he scored or 4 seasons.
The Montreal Canadians have re-signed the players that they needed to re-sign this season in Chris Higgins, Michael Ryder, Tomas Plekanec and Mike Komisarek, but they let the big one go in Sheldon Souray, the core of their PowerPlay and Defense. They have picked up Bryan Smolinski and Roman Hamrlik to fill in some of the holes, but Hamrlik will not replace Souray’s presents on the blue line.

Conclusion:

I think that the Maple Leafs this season will be contenders up there in the Eastern Conference, if (and I mean a big IF) their goaltending in Toskala and Raycroft will hold up, which I think will, I’m going to rank them 5th in the Eastern Conference this year.
The Montreal Canadians will have a good year this year and I think they will some how get into the playoffs. Their PowerPlay is going to hurt quite a bit this season I believe, but I think that their Penatly Kill will be even better then it was last season. I’m going to rank them 8th in the Eastern Conference this year.

I would like to know everybodies opinion on if you think this is a good conclusion.