We're almost ready to drop the puck!

Yes friends and neighbours it's nearly that time again when I am watching playoff baseball and the beginnings of both the NFL and the NHL seasons! I LOVE this time of year! Especially when I don't have to stay up all night to watch. But whatareyougonnadoo????

I've just been looking around the NHL and trying to see who might be good picks for the upcoming season. I've also been following pre-season scores closely. Not like they make much of a difference but... There are a few pretty exciting teams this year! You might be surprised which ones I think they are too. The following are my picks of what I think will be the top ten most offensive, (and therefore most exciting), teams to watch this year.

1: Washington Capitals. Most exciting team will be Washington again. No surprise there I'm sure. Ovechkin, Semin, Backstrom, Green, and they got an old speedy ex-Canuck to add some excitement too in Brendan Morrison. So I'll like them even better.

2: Pittsburgh Penguins. Again, no surprise. These two teams were just awesome to watch and I can't figure how they won't be numbers 1 and 2 in points at the end of the season either. Crosby, Malkin, Kunitz, Guerin, Gonchar and because they lost Whitney I think Chris Letang will be up there in defenceman scoring this year too. Staal, Kennedy, Cooke, just a solid character team! No shame in giving them the cup.

3. Chicago Blackhawks. The list of right wings on this team is incredible! Kane, Hossa, Sharp, Versteeg, Byfuglien... and their number one left wing is Andrew Ladd? Toews, Bolland and Madden are three good centres but I think they'll have to swap a right winger or two over to the left side. Plus they have Campbell, Seabrook, Keith and Sopel on D. Those are some good scorers on D!

4. Columbus Blue Jackets. Yes that's right. I told you this might be surprising. Take a look at their roster and you see absolutely NO defence except for Commodore, who's injured. That's my kind of team! Their top two defencemen, Klesla and Tyutin are both fairly offensive, and also injured. Mason and Garon are gonna see a LOT of rubber this year. But that's okay. If somebody scores on you, just got out and score two goals on THEM. This looks to be the perfect team to use their offence. And it just might put asses in seats too. Rumour has it that there is chemistry between Nash, (who scored 40 goals last year with a plumber centering his line), and Derick Brassard. Remember THAT name for your pools everybody. I've already picked him. With Jakub Voracek on the right side they'll be deadly. I always felt sorry for Vermette on Ottawa because they were so deep at center he couldn't show his skills. Well, now he can. They also have Huselius, Modin, and a candidate for rookie of the year the sharpshooting, young Russian, Nikita Filitov. Some cheap pick-ups for your pools.

5. The Toronto Maple Leafs! Don't look now but there's gonna be some scoring in Toronto! They have three, even FOUR lines who can put the puck in the net! Grabovski, Stajan, Mitchell, they'll all have good wingers to work with. Jason Blake will have no trouble getting 40 goals again. Maybe 50. I like the trade they made for Stempniak. He can score. They'll need him to hold the fort at right wing till Phill Kessel gets healthy. Another good acquisition. And watch out for the rookie Viktor Stahlberg on left wing. He's been a madman in pre-season. Defence is good too. Yet another great pick-up, Beauchemin will surprise many and Kaberle, Komisarik and Finger will likely fill the nets. Toronto could be both fun to watch AND dangerous this year!

6. The Edmonton Oilers. It's no secret that the small market teams who are not getting full houses are the teams who seem to get better by trying this new thing called scoring goals instead of worrying so much about the other team scoring on you. That's what the fans, including me, want to see. They have Visnovsky and Souray on defence. Maybe only Detroit has a better point on the power play than that. They still have old stand-bys like Horcoff and Hemsky but all the really young guys they had last year now have a full year under their belts and they'll be a LOT better for it. Watch for Gagner, Cogliano, and Nilsson to improve a lot. O'Sullivan could get 30 goals or more. And there's a young fella named J.F. Jaques who looks very good! And don't forget Mike Comrie and Ethan Moreau. What about a Gagner/Moreau/Jaques French Connection line? I will enjoy watching this speedy young team again this year!

7. The Montreal Canadiens. As much as I hate to see it, Montreal my be moving in the right direction. I might even have to vote for them a little this year. Any team with 4 offensive defencemen like Spacek, Mara, Markov and Hamrlik is gonna get some goals from point shots. And they shopped around and STOLE Mike Cammalleri one of the best young players in the NHL, and Gomez and Gionta to play with him. That'll be a strong power play even if they don't play together. They still have Plekanec and the Kostitsyn brothers. Plus they have two guys that I think could get more use in Montreal than they got on their former teams. Two GOOD guys named Travis Moen and Glen Metropolit. Trust me, they can score if you put them out there. I hope they play some offence now that they have the team for it.

8. Philadelphia Flyers. They'll be exciting but I don't think they'll be as exciting as last year. They will probably become a bit more defensive.

9. Ottawa Senators. I think they'll be the opposite of the Flyers and with new additions Kovalev and Cheechoo they'll try to be a little more offensive.

10. Boston/N.Y. Rangers. The Rangers have already traded for a guy, (Gaborik), who could win the scoring title if he were allowed to play offense and the coach has told him he WILL be set loose. Unfortunately he doesn't have a superb supporting cast. If the Rangers can get Dany Heatley, and they're trying, then they'll be my number 10. If not the Bruins will be awesome with Savard, Krejci, Bergeron, Wheeler, Ryder, Kobasew, Recchi, Lucic, Sturm, Chara... geez the list goes on. If Washington and Pittsburgh aren't first and second then maybe the Bruins will be.

Anyway, as we all know hockey is a dangerous game. There are always injuries and trades that change everything. It'll be fun to see it all play out this year. THESE are the teams that I will be watching.


P.S. I'm glad to see the Canucks picked up Samuelsson and have solidified an offensive defence with Ehrhoff and Schneider. I'm also glad that Demitra won't be playing for a while to start the season. This might give the Canucks a chance to let some younger, better players play. I wanna see Wellwood bust out this year offensively. And I'd like to see both the Sedins score 100 points. But I'm afraid that when you build your team around a goalie, even if you have the players to play offensively, you likely won't. But I REALLY hope they doooo!

I think it's gonna be a good year.

P.P.S. I didn't include one obvious team, (just to bug Angie), Detroit because with guys like Lidstrom, Rafalski, Datsyuk, Franzen, Holmstrom, even Bertuzzi, it's almost unfair. They'll be up there too, of course.

I think it's going to be a great season and I sure hope we have more than ONE 50-goal scorer this year!