KINCH'S CORNER

Brought to you by Lasse Kinch

Date: 28/4-02


Season prediction!


With the TWHL3 season only about a week away its about time I take a look at how I think the teams will do this year. This is by no means an easy task however, I guess that most of you recall how wrong Demi Moore was when she predicted that Cairo would finish on top of the Pele division last year.

This off-season has seen many trades, in fact there have been so many trades that the leagues trade commissioner had enough and quit. So far there we've had 42! trades confirmed.

Enough about the trades, lets take a look at the divisions instead. As usual I'll start out with the disliked ALI division.

ALI

The ALI division has been the second strongest division in the league behind the Lee division for almost two years now. Do the Ali division teams have what it takes so challenge Lee at the top ? Accordingly to me, NO!

Montreal
Wayne Gretzky, Alexei Zhamnov and Chris Drury. Montreal is stacked at C, question is if these three great players can carry the lines by themselves. LW looks ok, but they are vulnerable to injuries. Johnson, Kennady and Nemirovsky don't scary anyone but they can perhaps surprise if it runs out that Gretz and the others manage to carry the enormous weight that has been laid on their shoulders. Sandis Ozolinsh will need to play as good as he did last season if Montreal are to make it to the playoffs. Tugnutt is another key player on this franchise. Has Passmore and Hurme what it takes to back Tugnutt up ?

NYR
Can Mark Messier lead the team to another playoff ? The Rangers snitched the playoff spot that had LA written all over it last year. Messier, Pittis and rookie Montgomery is at least on papers three very capable centers. Brian Leetch is yet another defender that has been moved to wing this season. Tommy Salo and Felix Potvin provides solid goaltending and if everything goes well maybe the Rangers can upset the others again.

Toronto
Toronto is still one of the best teams in the league even though their own GM can't see it, or if he sees it he isn't willing to admit it. The Leafs have done some changes to their lineup, They lost last years Vezina winner Chris Osgood in the FA draft. Brendan Shanahan was sent away for a draft pick that turned out to be Jaroslav Bednar. Bednar proved to be an asset to the team in the Rolle Stoltz Memorial a week ago. Mike Modano has been shipped away to Prague, something that raised a lot of eye browes around the league. Toronto will win the division unless Punch Imlach screwes up.

Chicago
The Blades did well in this years FA. The signing of Krivokrasov helps the right wing out significantly. Nylander and Sittler are two of the best available centremen in the League. However Nylander needs to perform better then last year or the Blades playoff chances might fly out the window. Defense has taken a blow now thats Albelin has been moved up to LW. Albelin is reportedly very happy about the move. Goalkeeping might also turn into a problem. Chicago will be battling with Montreal and LA for the 3rd and 4th place.

Vancouver
They took a hard beating in the FA and it looks like the same thing will happen this year. Nikolishin developed into a real superstar during last season and the Greenpeace will be dependant on Nikolishin this year. Patrick Stefan is another key player that needs to score if they are to repeat last seasons place in the final. They have been spoiled with solid goaltending from Cruz and Khabibulin the last couple of seasons. Scott Niedermayer, last season's Conn Smyte winner, will also have a lot of pressure on his shoulder. RW is looking a bit thin after the Bertuzzi trade. Vancouver isn't as good as the Leafs but they can with good coaching and a bit luck challange Toronto.

L A
Oboy, This team has really changed since the change in ownership last season. Gone are stars like Stastny, Briere and Arvedsson. The team isn't as strong now as it was at the start of last season, but that is mostly because of the horrible slumps that ruined most of last season for this team. Rob Blake will be a key player for sure, just like Doug Weight and Marcel Dionne. Speaking of Dionne, if he has as good at hockey as he thinks he is at golf the Wolves will be fine this season. I've managed to get a hold of both GM Wayne and Millionaire Mark Burgess for comments.
WAYNE: We are building towards moving into the upper echelons of the TWHL, although anything is possible, I don't want to come out and say we will be the Champs--there is still much work to do in that regard--We should make the playoffs and hope to provide entertaining hockey to our deserving fans--the rebuilding begins this year.
MMB: After all the trades that Trainor and Bowman have made, I have heard there has been 42 trades in the league so far--I am sure LA has been involved in a fair percentage of them--the team will take time to gel before they start firing on all cylinders. I still have some questions about some of the moves made over the offseason, but the team is definitely centered around Blake and Dionne. Should Dionne continue his Midas touch exhibited in other aspects of his life, ahem, how did the pudgy little turd end up with ...oops c'ant say that----I can see the Wolves making vast improvements over last season.

Prediction
1 Toronto
2 Vancouver
3 L A
4 Chicago
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5 Montreal
6 New York


PELE

Mexico and Cape Town have domintated this division for the first two seasons. Cape Town went a bit surprisingly all the way to the finals in TWHL1. This year the other teams look stronger than ever though. Will they be able to challenge Mexico and Cape Town ?

Mexico
GM Chrispy has done a lot of trading this off-season,It's hard to tell if the team has improved by all the trades or if it has weakened it. One thing is for sure thoug and that is that Rod Brind'Amour will be the key player for Mexico this season. They have many players that are playing on their last year of their contracts. This year Mexico got hammered in the FA when they had to spend most of their money on re-signing Brind'Amour. RW might be a weakness, only three proteam RW's. If one of them suffers long time injury Mexico might have to go out on the market once again. Defense looks good. Norstrom and Park will be worth watching this season.

Cairo
Cario did really well in the FA, Signing both Peter Forsberg and Vezina winner Chris Osgood. Cairo now has three really good centers in Forsberg, Sakic and Francis. Rumours say that one of these players might be on their way out though. If that isn't the case I'd think that there is a good possibility that one of them gets moved to on one of the wings. Norm Milley was considered to be one of the best players in the FA draft and Cairo picking him at no2 confirms that. Defense might be a problem for the Pharaoes. The team will have huge problems replacing the players that is playing their last season in the league. Trading for Fredrik Olausson sure didn't help out.

Santiago
Santiago finished on 24th place last season but has by some good moves in the Drafts improved their situation significantly. They can with the right management definetly challange the other teams. They can ice two good lines and that should be enough for a playoff spot in the Pele division. The team lacks depth so injuries and slumps might hurt.

Cape Town
Cape looks strong this year, Saku Koivu has been looking very strong so far and might very well score 100 points this season. The team has two good goalkeepers in Turek and McLennan. RW might turn into a problem after this season since Caloun and Kovalenko has stated that this will be their last season of hockey. Cape Town will finish 1st or 2nd in the Pele this year. Larry Robinson and Derek Morris will surly see a lot of PP time.

Rio
This team looks good on paper, but as we could see in the Rolle Stoltz memorial there is still something that is missing. Whats stopping players like Stastny, Jagr, Carter, Tkachuk and Lysak from scoring? They all have great offensive quality, but most of them don't know that their team has a defensive zone. If the Carnavals can find the balance between offense and defense they can challenge Cape Town and Mexico for the division title. Goalkeeping shouldn't be a problem but Joseph needs to play better than he has done this two first seasons.

Havana
The signing of Ratz lw Josh Green was a good move for the Cubans. But my guess is that it wont be enough though. Havana was the biggest surprise last season accordingly to me. I don't see them in the THWL3 playoffs. They currently only have three pro team LW's and have alreay moved Hamerlik to RW. Havana should be looking to strengthen their left side before the start of the season. Havana lost two goalkeepers to retirement last season and has found a short term solution in Tom Barasso. Roman Cechmanek is a decent back up but hasn't what it takes to be a starter in the TWHL today.

Prediction
1 Cape Town
2 Mexico
3 Rio
4 Santiago
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5 Cairo
6 Havana


BORG

The Borg division is probably the weakest of the four divisions. Stockholm has made it to the Semi finals both seasons. That might look good on paper, but would they have been able to get there if they hadn't been playing in the Borg ?

Stockholm
The Ratz have won the division title the last two seasons, and they should be held favorites to do it again. The team lost two great players ( Green/Havana and Eaton/Santiago) in the FA draft. The FA signing of NYR Kyle Calder helped a lot. The team has three good lines and a pretty good fourth line. Defense looks good, but that might soon change. Kravchuk, Johansson and Housley are all old and could retire soon. Stockholm is probably the team that has had the most historical superstars on their roster. Maurice "Rocket" Richard is the fifth in 2 seasons.

London
Magnus Arvedsson sure will be of great help to London as they try to get to the playoffs this season. London gave up a lot of depth to get Arvedsson but it was a good move for the English team. The team have a strong 2nd line with snipers like Cleary and Shvidki. Defense looks thin. Brian McCabe will have to play very good. Corey Schwab is another key player for this team. London have a deep farm team and could get some help from upcoming farm players.

Moscow
There will take more than a miracle on ice for the Bulldozers to make the playoffs this year. They have been forced to trade away most of their stars in order to get enough players to fill their roster. Mark Bell and Jean Beliveau will have to play at top of their capacity all season in order to prevent the 24th place this year. Coach Zinetula Bilyaledinov has shown on several occations that he is a good coach but I don't think that it'll be enough this season.

Rome
Rome played really well last season and were able to challenge Stockholm up until game 65. They promoted many players from their farm team last season and that has lead to them having a deep proteam roster. They have two really good lines and pretty good fourt line. They have no less than 7 pro team rated centers. Maltais, Samasonov, Renberg and Mann will score most of the Gladiators goals this upcoming season. Goalkeeping might be a problem, but a good defensive core will help out. If any team in the Borg division will finish a head of the Ratz it is Rome.

Prague
The Czech team has improved their defensive core significantly during the off season. Mike Modano was recently brought in from Toronto. Mike has in his two seasons in Toronto shown that he has what it takes to lead a team. Scoring is the weak spot of this team, but GM George isn't building his team on offense he is building it from the goalies and up. Johan Hedberg and Wade Flaherty will provide solid goaltending. Can rookie defensmen David Tanabe and Andrew Ference provide solid defense ? Well all isn't up to them Jeff Jillson and Richard Smehlik will get much ice time aswell. GM George has promised the fans .500 hockey this season. I don't see that happend but I do see them in the playoffs.

Berlin
The TWHL's only German team will struggle this season. They lost their no 1 center, Chris Drury in the Fa draft. They can at best ice one good line with the players they have right now. Guy Lafleur and Geoff Sanderson will be counted on to score all the goals. But who will provide the assists ? Berlin do have one of the league's best goalies in Brian Finley. How long will he stay in Berlin ?

Prediction
1 Stockholm
2 Rome
3 London
4 Prague
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5 Berlin
6 Moscow


LEE

The Lee division has been the best in the TWHL in both TWHL1 and TWHL2. The fact that teams from the Lee have won the cup both years proves that. Its amusing to see that a team like Taipei still hasn't managed to get out of their own division in the first couple of seasons.

Taipei
Hated Taipei has been the strongest team in the league for two years now, well at least on the paper. This year they don't look as strong however. The loss of Peter Forsberg in the FA draft was a hard blow. But they should be glad that they didn't lose Nieminen or Turgeon too. The team is well balanced but the forwards are overall better than the defenders with one exception, Bobby Orr. Vokoun was one of the league best goalies last season and will probably be so this year too. Taipei is one of three teams that I feel can win the Lee. They have some really good players sitting down in Ping Tung.

Singapore
The Dips won the cup last season and is looking stronger than they did last season. That doesn't necessary mean that they will win the cup again, in fact its not a certainty that they finish 1st or 2nd in the division. Vincent LeCavalier and Steve Yzerman will continue to lead the team. Hasek and Shields gives the Dips good goaltending. Slaney and Daze will score a lot of goals. The team lacks depth at RW however and if the management don't do something about that it might cause problems down the road.

Melbourne
The Aussies have improved a lot since TWHL1. Mario Lemieux, Doug Gilmour, Luc Robitaille will play a significant role in the Sits this year. These guys are all old and might be doing their last seasons as active players. Recchi, Klatt and LeClair are also players that must perform in order for the Sits to make the playoffs. Melbourne, Hong Kong and Calcutta will have to battle for the fourth and last playoff spot in the division. Cloutier will have to play very good all season to keep the Sits in the race.

Hong Kong
The FA signing of Jamie Lundmark will help for sure. Hong Kong can put two strong lines on the ice but after that it gets thinner. The team only have three proteam LW's so Shayne Corson can count on getting time aswell. Eric Lindros, an upcoming FA, must play at the top of his abilities if HK is to play post seasons games later on. There are some holes in the defense as well, count on GM Howe to adjust that before the start of the season.

Calcutta
Calcutta has two of the best defenders in the league ( besides the HS ) in Ed Jovanovski and Mattias Ohlund. Adam Oates was among the top scorers last season but that hasn't stopped GM Amrit from putting him on the block. Marcus Naslund needs to play much better than he did in THWL2. He is after all their captain, and as such he needs to set the standard for the others. Joe Malone is despite his age looking very sharp. The left wing looks a bit thin behind Malone and it wouldn't be a problem if the Joy played in any of the other divisions, but since they're playing in the Lee it might be the difference from the 4th and 6th place.

Tokyo
Tokyo has the most 80+ rated players in the league (12). They have the most players with a 9 SH (10). Does this mean that they will win the cup ? Probably yes. This team is the strongest ever in TWHL history. Coach Krutov is looking for answers on who to play in his food. Here is a team that can afford to have such a higly skilled player as Joe Thornton as fifth center. Jeff Hereema would be a first line RW on most teams, here in Tokyo he'll be happy to get any playing time at all. One of things I look forward to the most is to see what Mogily, Bure and Fedorov can do. These guys are the best that Russian hockey have today. They still have a bit to go before the can be compared to the KLM line though. Only massive injuries or a change of section W in the rule book can prevent the Dragons from winning the cup this year.

Prediction
1 Tokyo
2 Taipei
3 Singapore
4 Melbourne
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5 Hong Kong
6 Calcutta


Puh, Finally done. Now I can get back to watching Sweden beat the crap out of Slovenia in the World Championship.