With the start of the regular hockey season comes the end of most "experiments" that take place during the silly season - like the invariable attempt to throw someone other than Daniel Alfredsson on the Dany Heatley/Jason Spezza line. Coaches have come to their senses, and as a result, each team's depth chart is significantly more accurate. Here's a line on some key pickups early in the season.
Brandon Dubinsky - New York Rangers
No Jaromir Jagr flanking Brandon Dubinsky this year. No problem. Dubinsky's dominant play early in the preseason forced coach Tom Renney to alter his plan of having Scott Gomez, Chris Drury and Dubinsky play up the gut. Drury and Gomez now play on the first line while Dubinsky centers a surprisingly dominant second line. The sophomore center has two goals, four points, a +2 rating and four penalty minutes in three games thus far. He has formed chemistry with Nikolai Zherdev and the recent promotion of Aaron Voros on the other wing provides even more grit. It looks like this kid is the real deal.
Aaron Voros - New York Rangers
The aforementioned Aaron Voros is a true sleeper. He is an up and coming agitator in the Chris Neil-Daniel Carcillo-Sean Avery mould who can score goals, hit, fight and rack up plenty of PIMs. He started the season on the third line but played his way on to the second unit after Nigel Dawes struggled there. Voros had seven goals, 14 points and 141 penalty minutes last year with Minnesota, and has 20-goal, 40-point, 200 penalty minute potential. In three games, he already has one goal, two assists, five penalty minutes and a +3 rating.
Andy McDonald - St. Louis Blues
While preseason stats are about as reliable as a five-day weather forecast, it's hard to ignore Andy McDonald's domination over the past month when he led the league in scoring with four goals and 13 points in five games. He is only one season removed from a 78-point campaign and two removed from an 85-point one. McDonald performed better as soon as he was dealt to St. Louis from Anaheim last year when he collected 36 points in 49 games, which was enough to get his confidence back. He is a sublime playmaker who has developed unwieldy chemistry with Brad Boyes, a pure goal scorer. More importantly, these two will play a ton and anchor the top power-play. He collected two assists, both with the man-advantage, in the team's first game of the regular season Friday night.
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David Booth - Florida Panthers
While David Booth isn't playing on the top line with Stephen Weiss and Nathan Horton - that spot went to Cory Stillman - Booth truly is good enough to anchor a line on his own. He is one of the fastest skaters in the NHL and showed how difficult he is to handle with his one goal, one assist performance in the season opener Friday. He will easily surpass the 22-goal, 40-point performance of last season, and 30 goals is a distinct possibility.
Devin Setoguchi - San Jose Sharks
Devin Setoguchi has been playing on a line with Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau. That alone is worth the gamble. As a rookie last year, Setoguchi had 11 goals and 17 points in 44 games. He is developing into the scoring forward the Sharks projected him to be when they took him with the eighth overall pick in the 2005 entry draft. He had one goal and two points in the season opener and will surprise many with his point production this year.
Kris Letang - Pittsburgh Penguins
The Penguins' power play was almost as awkward as the Sarah Palin-Katie Couric interview in the season's opening two games against the Senators in Sweden. Fortunately, that awkwardness will disappear over time - for the Penguins. While they will struggle without lynchpin Sergei Gonchar and the reliable Ryan Whitney on the blueline, Kris Letang is an adequate backup. He was a junior scoring sensation and had a solid freshman season last year when he collected six goals and 17 points in 63 games. He was on the top power-play in both games with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. When those two find their game, the power-play will once again produce and Letang will be the biggest beneficiary. He should easily double his totals from last year.
Jared Boll - Columbus Blue Jackets
Doctors advised Jared Boll not to drop the gloves in the preseason after Boll broke his hand in the off-season. He obliged, but once the regular season began on Friday, Boll dropped the pins and quickly racked up nine penalty minutes. He had five goals, 10 points and his 226 penalty minutes were good for second in the NHL behind Daniel Carcillo. He has served notice that he wants the PIM crown this year and we like his chances.
