in regards to the list...
tuomo ruutu - how can he "bounce" back when really hasn't had a good year since his rookie year, and even then, only the last two months of that season were any good. he has not lived up to all his pre-NHL hype as the poor man's peter forsberg.
loui erickson/andrew ladd - they have yet to begin to blossom, but finally showed signs of doing so last year.
nikolai zherdev - he had his best all-around year last year in the league, what is he "bouncing" back from?
radim vrbata and phil kessel both had decent years last year, the former producing his best stats ever, and the latter progressing into the player he has been predicted to be. chris higgins and olli jokinen? they didnt exactly have bad years either last year.
guys like mccabe, raycroft, stoll, j.staal, s.gagne, wellwood, etc;, those are the kind of guys who need to rebound after off-years from their previous form.
a few more...
anaheim - scott niedermayer played poorly when he came back.
morrison has something to prove too, and should
bounce back.
atlanta - lehtonen. better stay healthy and play better, he has a
hungry prospect breathing down his neck (pavelec).
boston - bergeron/fernandez. both coming off injuries, and fernandez
not guaranteed anything with tim thomas around, and tuuka rask
waiting in the wings.
buffalo - afinogenov.
calgary - lombardi at a crossroads in his career, as he has seen it stall.
cammalleri struggled badly in LA with injuries, and didnt
play well when he was healthy. needs to make the most
of a new start.
carolina - joni pitkanen.
chicago - havlat needs to prove he can stay healthy, and khabibulin
needs to prove he is still an elite goaltender. last year was
the first season since he left tampa, that he had a winning
record. the pair are both playing for contracts next year.
colorado - john michael liles.
columbus - freddie modin.
dallas - philippe boucher.
detroit - hard call here, but you would have to think brad stuart's
stats should be better with this team.
edmonton - sheldon souray.
florida - radek dvorak. simply put, his stats should be considerably
better with this talent and the amount of ice he gets.
los angeles - handzus and calder. jarrett stoll has to put up
better stats than last year, he cant be that bad,
can he?
minnesota - he is a free agent with something to prove...parrish.
montreal - would have said ryder, but he is gone. not many had
a bad year last year with the habs.
nashville - shea weber..injuries only thing that stopped his ride
to stardom last year.
new jersey - while elias didnt end up with bad stats by any means,
he still should be putting up much more. gionta in the
same boat.
new york islanders - wow, the whole team?
new york rangers - peter prucha.
ottawa - gerber needs to produce more consistently. he doesnt need to
look over his shoulder this year.
philadelphia - simon gagne.
phoenix - no glaring players here, but derek morris can be alot
better than last year.
pittsburgh - jordan staal. miro satan is in here as well.
san jose - patrick marleau.
st.louis - paul kariya should put up more points, and eric brewer
surely can produce more than just one goal.
tampa bay - goaltending as a whole needs to be better, and should
be better, than last year. kolzig, ramo and smith are
better than holmqvist and denis.
toronto - well, with raycroft, tucker, mccabe, etc;, all gone, i'd say
hoping for mark bell to rebound to something close to his
form in chicago. not quite, but close to it.
vancouver - kevin bieksa, healthy this year. luongo needs to be better,
even though he was not terrible last year, but a far cry
from his first year in van city.
washington - two guys back from injuries...semin and nylander.
some of these guys are "bouncing" back from injuries, and some from just off-years. bring it on, the best game in the world is just a month away now.
Plyrs99
