The Avs play four this week, but Marek Svatos (above), Joe Sakic, and Ian Laperrière are all out of the picture...

The NHL has always been in a struggle to bring in new fans. This past week fans of soap operas have certainly been glued to the mess that has become the Toronto Maple Leafs. We have a general manager in John Ferguson Jr. who reportedly wanted to fire Paul Maurice two weeks ago, but was denied by upper management. If that was not enough, the president of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, Richard Peddie, made a public statement stating that it was a mistake to hire John Ferguson Jr. One thing is certain: Leaf fans are becoming increasingly impatient with the team and are having flashbacks to the Harold Ballard years. I can only wonder, what will happen next? Scandals, scoring, and more as we break down another exciting week in the NHL!

Four Games

Colorado, Los Angeles, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Jose,

Normally I would take the Avs due to their impressive 10-2 mark at home, but Colorado is pretty banged up with injuries to Joe Sakic, Marek Svatoš, Ian Laperrière, and Jordan Leopold, so I am going to move on to the team with the next best schedule in my opinion: Los Angeles. The Kings are in last place in the Pacific with a 10-14-1 record, but have a favourable set of games this week. The Kings play host to the Oilers, Sabres, and have a home and home match up against the Coyotes. The Oilers and Sabres are a combined 8-13-2, and Buffalo will be the middle of a dreaded west coast road trip. Phoenix has lost its last three games by a combined score of 12-4, and the Coyotes have fallen off since playing perhaps their best game of the season in a 5-1 victory over the Leafs. The Kings could be without center Mike Cammalleri, and goalie Jason Labarbera, who suffered an injury in a 5-2 loss against Colorado this past Saturday, but the team certainly has the offensive capabilities with future all star Anže Kopitar, and Alexander Frolov leading the charge. The Kings will need to get off season signings Ladislav Nagy and Michael Handzus going, as both have struggled thus far.

Three Games

Anaheim, Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Calgary, Carolina, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Edmonton, Montreal, Minnesota, Nashville, New Jersey, Ottawa, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Vancouver.

I must admit, I did not think the Vancouver Canucks were going to be good this year. They did not seem to have any offensive depth past Henrik and Daniel Sedin, and I was starting to think Markus Näslund was finished being a premier player, but they have certainly proved me wrong. The Canucks are 7-1-2 in their past 10, and Roberto Luongo has been downright amazing posting three consecutive shutouts. I guess you do not need scoring when your goaltender is a brick wall. Luongo has a solid 12-9-2 record with a 2.18 GAA and a 922 SVP. Ryan Kesler and Brendan Morrison have provided adequate secondary scoring, but the team will need more if they are going to be a contender this season. The Canucks have the last place Pittsburgh Penguins coming in to town. Pittsburgh has been a disappointment, and there have been rumblings that the team could be looking at Curtis Joseph to come in and push Marc-Andre Fleury. Vancouver does travel to Nashville and Chicago, but the Canucks do feature one of the leagues best road records going 7-3-1. I am a big fan of riding the hot goalie, so take the Canucks this week until Luongo proves me otherwise.
The Thrashers have been trying to dig themselves out of the dreadful 0-6 start that they put themselves in, and could be over .500 by the end of the week. Atlanta has the Islanders, who they pasted last week, and the Rangers both coming in this week. Atlanta also faces a Washington team on the road who is 3-8-1 at home, and is the worst team in the NHL. Kari Lehtonen made a fantastic return from injury posting a 4-0 shutout against the Islanders on Saturday. Ilya Kovalchuk has scored 21 goals in 25 games, and could hit the 60-goal plateau this year. Tobias Enström has come out of nowhere to become the Thrashers top defenceman, scoring 15 points while routinely playing 20 + minutes a night and leading the team with a +8. If Slava Kozlov and Todd White can get themselves going, the Thrashers could be a feared team down the stretch.

Two Games

Florida, Philadelphia, Washington.

Honestly, none of these three teams schedules do anything for me. Philly plays both games on the road against two of the NHL's best home teams in Colorado and Minnesota. Florida plays a potentially angry Senators team, but a terrible Islanders team both at home, while the Capitals… well, they could be playing two OHL teams and I still would not recommend them. So I guess by default I am going to have to pick the Panthers for the second straight week. Ottawa's goaltending has been awful lately, allowing a whopping 24 goals in their past five games. The Panthers could either face a Sens team playing with no confidence, or could face a furious Ottawa team and get the living snot kicked out of them. In the Islanders, the Panthers face the lowest scoring team in the Eastern Conference. The Islanders are coming off being shut out by the Thrashers, which is no small feat. The Islanders also have no player in double digits in terms of goals. Look for Olli Jokinen to have another solid week

Best Games
Tuesday, December 4th , 2007
Ottawa Senators vs. Tampa Bay Lightning

If this game was being played in Ottawa then there is no way I would recommend this game because the Lightning are terrible on the road, but since it's in Tampa I HIGHLY recommend this one. Tampa is 9-3-1 at home and possesses the best player in the NHL in Vincent Lecavalier. Tampa's line of Vaclav Prospal, Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis usually are unmatched in most games, but they will face a strong test with the line of Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza, and Daniel Alfredsson skating into town. Both teams are having goaltending problems, so the potential for goals is definitely high. Johan Holmqvist will probably get the nod in net, but he has been anything by stellar with a 2.78 GAA and a bad .894 SVP.

Sunday December 9th, 2007
Carolina Hurricanes vs. Detroit Red Wings

For a person who hates the Red Wings with every fibre of my being, I sure do enjoy watching them play. This should be a high scoring match up between the NHL's two highest scoring teams. Thank God that the NHL changed the schedule this past week because it is a shame that these two only play each other once this season. Carolina has in my opinion the most scoring depth in the NHL. The team has 6 players with 20 or more points already, with Cory Stillman and Rod Brind'Amour leading the charge with 31 points apiece. To put this in perspective, the Phoenix Coyotes and the New York Islanders do not even have one player with more than 19. With Detroit, you have one of the top lines in hockey in Tomas Holmström, Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk. Detroit is dynamite at home, going 11-2, and Chris Osgood has continued his terrific start going 13-1-1 so far this season.

Top Players This Week

Centre
Jason Spezza
Joe Thornton
Vincent Lecavalier
Anže Kopitar

Left Wing
Henrik Zetterberg
Vaclav Prospal
Cory Stillman
Brendan Shanahan

Right Wing
Justin Williams
Patrick Kane
Martin St. Louis
Jaromir Jagr

Defence
Michael Rozsival
Ľubomír Višňovský
Nicklas Lidström
John-Michael Liles
Tomáš Kaberle

Goaltenders
Henrik Lundqvist
Roberto Luongo
Martin Brodeur
Chris Osgood

Sleepers

G – Jean-Sébastien Aubin
C – Brandon Dubinsky
RW – Dustin Brown
LW – Mark Bell
D – Craig Rivet
D – Chris Campoli