The NHL 2010-11 Season is finally here! It seems like it has been an extra long summer. Maybe because my teams didn't do much? Anyway, it's great to have games that "mean something". That's is obviously compared to the pre-season. It's a pretty long 82-game season. The first half is mostly a warm-up. Teams can certainly put themselves out of the playoffs by starting too slowly and yet are not guaranteed a playoff spot by starting fast either.
I'm just excited to see some of the new players on the Kings: Shenn, Loktionov, Bernier, Mitchell. Seems like the Kings are the sportwriters' pick for another step forward in development. A young and improving team that's easy to like. A few predict them winning the Pacific Division. As a fan, I feel pressure to live up to those expectations. Lombardi's patient building has been showing signs of paying-off for the last 2-years. If this were still the pre-salary cap era, I think more moves could have been made to speed the re-build. But a mistake made nowadays can hurt you for a long time.
Meanwhile, the Senators are a total crapshoot. Some guys have them winning their division, others have them out of the playoffs all together. But, it's a balance. The only reason I even follow the Senators is because 1.) I happened to get Heatley, Spezza and Alfredsson on my fantasy hockey team one year, 2) they are an Eastern team and I can DVR the games and watch them quickly after dinner (unlike west coast games that are watched live) 3.) the Kings went through a brutal phase where their season was over by January & it gave me a team to follow. Nothing would make me happier than having the Kings succeed at the Senators expense (somehow).
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