B.C. division predictions

The B.C. division now.....

B.C. Division:

1. Vancouver - the Giants have a little more adversity this season than most teams do (losing their star sniper to the NHL at 18 & being kicked out of their home rink for two months) but I still think there's enough here to land them the top spot in the division - but it'll be a lot closer race than it was last year. #2 or even #3 wouldn't surprise me for this team either if everything doesn't fall into place. Even without Kane, there's a decent scoring attack with the likes of Wright (who I do expect to return from the NHL soon), Cunningham, Gallagher, Mappin, Bouma, Henry, etc - plus Garry Nunn, who is out for a while but who will return. Not Murderers Row but it should get the job done with some help from some experienced offensive-minded blueliners like Manning and Connauton. Plus, don't completely rule out Evander Kane returning either. One other plus for the Giants is the presence of the WHL's best coach in Don Hay....I don't think the value of that can be overestimated. On the downside, there's a lot of inexperience on the Giants defense and that comes with mistakes - mistakes that end up in the net if the similarily inexperienced goaltending tandem don't shine. Overall it's not a powerhouse Giants team like in the last couple years but one that I think is good enough for first in what should be a weaker division this year than in years past too.

2. Kelowna - the Rockets took some huge, huge losses from last season but I think they have the depth that they should recover nicely. They are not going to be what they were last year but I think they're a good pick for 2nd in this division. Scoring took the biggest hit but there's still Novotny, McMillan, Bloodoff, St. Denis, and super-rookie McColgan here, plus another 3 or 4 guys who add great depth to the 2nd & 3rd lines. Defence is maybe more of a concern, where they could really use Tyler Myers to return from the NHL, but if he doesn't there's still four guys who were on last year's team, including a good top two in Barrie and Bowman. Still though, there's a lot of rookies and inexperience on the blueline so there's some growing pains that will have to be expected here. In net they have the same pairing they used last year in Guggenberger and Brown; Guggenberger is hurt but will return eventually. There's still a lot of pieces here from last year's championship team and I expect the Rockets will do well for that.

3. Kamloops - the Blazers are getting better by the year, but it's a slow improvement as opposed to a meteoric one. There's a couple good scoring lines here - Stretch, Shattock, Ranford, Wiebe, Bubnick - and a decent supporting group with size and experience. The defence is a little light on star power but there's two or three very quality guys there and a good group of supporters as well - could be stronger in the depth there maybe but altogether not bad. The one question mark is in net, where consistency has been the enemy of both Leclerc and Groenheyde for their entire WHL careers. They can both be really strong one night and then not so good the next. The Blazers could really use one of those guys to step up and play well enough on a consistent basis to beat the other one out of a job. Even if the consistency doesn't come though, I don't think goaltending is a major issue here, they're going to get enough good performances out of these guys that they should easily be 3rd (Chilliwack and Prince George aren't going to be close to the top three teams here) or even 2nd in the division and I think they have a shot at home ice in the first round of the playoffs too.

4. Chilliwack - I think this team would probably not come close to making the playoffs if they were in the Eastern conference, but they're not.....so they can only miss by being worse than the worst team in the U.S. division, which they won't be either. They're one of the oldest teams in the league, which goes to prove that older isn't always better at this level. Still hurting from a bad 2006 draft, there is still almost no proven scoring on this team after Howse and Sundher and there's a lot of very average 18 & 19 year olds. The defence has a couple decently bright lights but the depth is not there after the top four. The goaltending is maybe the strongest area on the team, but still neither of the goalies here are likely going to be candidates for the all-star team. The good news is that there's some good 16 & 17 year olds here, both on the team and in the system, and of course there's also a new coach/GM from a winning background. Hopefully the young players will get to play and perhaps 2010-11 can be a big turnaround year for the Bruins. As it stands, I still like them more than Prince George and they should squeak into the playoffs.

5. Prince George (miss playoffs) - well, where to begin? Top to bottom this is my pick for the weakest lineup in the league, with very little in the way of top-end forwards, defencemen, or goaltending. There's just a lot of players here (at least 9 or 10) who were not good enough to play on other teams in the league and were acquired for free or very cheaply by the Cougars - that's not going to put a winning team on the ice very often. At forward the Cougars have one of the league's brightest young stars in Brett Connolly, but he has very little to play with up there. Viedensky, maybe Rodgers or Stanfield. Lots of average and below average-ness after that. On defence there's another very bright prospect in Jesse Forsberg, and I think the injured Dallas Jackson is an underrated player in the league. After that though - lots of below averageness. And in net, Michael Salmon is a well-regarded prospect but he & James Priestner are going to get thrown to the wolves a lot of nights this year and I don't think either of them is in the nightly game-stealing category quite yet. Maybe down the road, but not right now. Overall, I give them an excellent shot at #1 or #2 overall, which means in 2011-12 we'll probably see both Forsberg brothers wearing Cougars colors.