Category — Northeast Division

Horton will be a key to the Bruins winning the divisional race.

It’s way too early to make any predictions about division standings and the like.

Although NHL teams are pretty much done wheeling and dealing with training camps about six weeks away from opening, there could still be a tweak done here or there by every club.

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Kaberle

The Bruins have attempted to acquire Toronto defenseman Tomas Kaberle in the past — most famously at last June’s draft, where a deal involving Phil Kessel fell  through — and it looks like Kaberle and the Maple Leafs are headed toward a divorce, finally, this summer.

According to Steve Simmons of The Sun, Kaberle hates playing for head coach Ron Wilson. And after the Leafs’ loss to Atlanta Tuesday night, Wilson took the opportunity to take potshots at Kaberle and fellow veteran blueliner Francois Beauchemin for their poor plus/minus ratings. [Read more →]

Martin

The Montreal Canadiens land at TD Garden for their clash with the Bruins battling a different disease than Boston. While the Bruins can’t seem to throw the puck in the ocean right now, the Habs are “scoring enough to win hockey games. It’s just a matter of being better away from the puck, paying attention to details,” according to head coach Jacques Martin in Pat Hickey’s piece in the Montreal Gazette.

According to Hickey, the Habs went over those details in a video session before they departed for the Hub.

BOSTON — It’s time to stop worrying about the Bruins’ offense, their power play and their overall struggles this season. And that focus now has to shift to a good old-fashioned rivalry game.

The Montreal Canadiens are at the TD Garden tonight, so the Bruins should have all the incentive in the world to get their game in order. For a complete preview of the game, check out the Boston Bruins Examiner.

Cheechoo

At 5-2-1 and tied atop the Northeast Division standings, the Ottawa Senators don’t look like they’re any worse off in the aftermath of the Dany Heatley trade. But while Milan Michalek is doing his part to make the deal with San Jose a win-win, fellow former Sharks forward Jonathan Cheechoo is not holding up his end of the bargain. [Read more →]

It’s always extra important when the Boston Bruins visit Ottawa to battle their division rivals. General manager Peter Chiarelli is from the area and worked for the Senators for numerous years. Head coach Claude Julien and a few players also have ties to the city.

But tonight’s match-up at ScotiaBank Place has even more meaning because the Bruins are looking to split their second straight road trip and surge above the .500 mark now that they’re 4-4-1. You can read a complete preview at Boston Bruins Examiner.

What’s one way to get over the Boston Bruins’ slow start? Divert your eyes away from Boston and take a long, hard look at the struggles of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Last night, the Leafs dropped a 7-2 decision to the New York Rangers to fall to 0-4-1 on the season. [Read more →]

Gustavsson

Two games in and the Toronto Maple Leafs already have a goaltender controversy? Well, at least that’s what the Toronto media, bored in the aftermath of the conclusion of the Phil Kessel saga, are hoping. After Vesa Toskala was lit up Saturday night, rookie Jonas Gustavsson effectively mopped up. And that might lead to a clamoring for “The Monster” to get more playing time. [Read more →]

Markov

The news couldn’t have been worse for the Montreal Canadiens today, despite waking up with a 1-0-0 record after their season-opening win over Toronto.

As feared, star defensean Andrei Markov required surgery to repair tendon damage in his ankle, which resulted from contact with goaltender Carey Price’s skate blade in the Maple Leafs game. [Read more →]

As the preseason winds down and the Boston Bruins get ready to skate in their next-to-last exhibition game against Ottawa, Senators general manager Bryan Murray is struggling to find takers from around the league to pawn off some of his spare players. [Read more →]

While it’s still just preseason and a lot of the probable NHLers won’t be in the Montreal lineup, the Canadiens team the Boston Bruins will face tonight at Bell Centre will still be attempting to change its style of play from the last couple years. [Read more →]

I was hoping to have already turned the page on Phil Kessel, but one comment by Toronto general manager Brian Burke in today’s Toronto Sun inspired me to write just a little more on the speedy winger who forced his way to Leafs Land whether he really asked out of Boston or not.

“He scored 36 goals with a trapping team,” Burke said of his new winger in the Sun. “I’m interested to see how well he does with a team that doesn’t play the trap.” [Read more →]

Kaberle

One of the reasons that I think the 2009-10 Toronto Maple Leafs are a solid pick to be what the 2007-08 Boston Bruins were — a toughened up team with structure that finally secured a playoff berth to end their franchise’s long drought — is their bolstered blue line.

Last night in preseason action, the pair of Tomas Kaberle and Mike Komisarek already showed how much better they’re going to make the Leafs. With the rugged Komisarek at his side, Kaberle has more room to roam — and that can make any player’s productiono increase. [Read more →]

In today’s Toronto Sun, Steve Simmons wonders if the Maple Leafs are wise to roll the dice by acquiring a player like Phil Kessel. Simmons looks back at the prior additions of Owen Nolan and Jason Blake — players with reputation issues that joined Toronto to mixed results — and then explains about Kessel: [Read more →]

Michalek

Regardless off how well new Ottawa winger Milan Michalek fits in with the club — and it sounds like former Senators winger Martin Havlat has done his part to make sure his pal can get comfy — the Sens are going to have to do a number of things to make up for the loss of potential 50-goal scorer Dany Heatley this season. [Read more →]