By Sportsnet Connected /

Sportsnet Connected’s regional analysts give their thoughts on early-season successes and struggles of the Canucks, Leafs, Oilers, Sens, and Flames.

Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers are only weeks into their season but Sportsnet Connected reporter Gene Principe has some interesting observations so far.
According to Principe, Head Coach Pat Quinn has been a surprise because of the way he has been able to molud his players into what he wants. It was going to be a challenge to break the pattern of the previous coach who was in the job for nine years.
“JF Jacques has been a huge surprise through training camp and now into the season,” says Principe. “Jacques has been given a spot on the top unit with Shawn Horcoff and Ales Hemsky adding some speed and size...and not a bad set of hands as well.”
Principe also highlights Nikolai Khabibulin as, “coming through as advertised.” He says that despite the difficult pre-season and opening night puckhandling adventure, Khabibulin has truly been solid and on some nights, spectacular.
Finally, Principe points out the much better start to the season by Sam Gagner, even if Pat Quinn called him out in camp.
“He has been physically active, including career fight number three, and at the same time has shown a knack for being around the net,” said Principe.  

Calgary Flames
The Calgary Flames are off to a solid start, but Rogers Sportsnet’s Roger Millions still considers the team a work in progress.
“The Flames are still implementing new head coach Brent Sutter’s defensive system,” says Millions. “While it has had some high points, team defence is still an area ·of inconsistency.”
However, a couple of players have really caught Millions’ eye throughout the first couple of weeks of ·the season.
“On the offensive side, Rene Bourque is off to the best start of his career. The 21-goal scorer has been the scoring leader in this his contract season,” says Millions.
“Big free agent acquisition Jay Bouwmeester leads all Calgary defenceman in ice time and has lived up to the promise from his big contract.”
Overall, Millions is satisfied with the Flames play so far but has a wait-and-see attitude for the team.
“The general feeling is that while the Flames have enjoyed a good start to the season, Sutter is still demanding significant improvement. If this doesn’t occur, I would not rule out the possibility of changes.”

Vancouver Canucks
Sportsnet Connected reporter Dan Murphy, who covers the Vancouver Canucks everyday, was as surprised as most fans when the team started the season 0-3.
“After nearly an unblemished pre-season in which the Canucks went a sparkling 7-0-2, everybody was shocked with the regular season start,” says Murphy, who is also the host of Canucks Hockey on Rogers Sportsnet. “Many people were quick to lay the blame of the start at the feet of Roberto Luongo, although that would be a little unfair, as he was just one of many underachieving Canucks in those first few games.”·Luongo and his teammates managed to pull the city of Vancouver away from the giant panic button with a convincing 7-1 win over Montreal and a shootout victory against the Dallas Stars.
“However, this club is far from out of the woods,” said Murphy. “A major injury to Daniel Sedin, the younger of the two twins, broke his left foot against the Habs. And now Henrik and the rest of the squad must find a way to win games without Daniel, who led Vancouver with 31 goals last season. To make matters worse, the oft-injured Sami Salo sprained his knee in game five of the season, and like Daniel, is expected to miss four to six weeks of action.”

Toronto Maple Leafs
The start to the season has not been kind to the Toronto Maple Leafs as they sort out all kinds of problems in their attempt to climb out of the basement of the NHL standings. Hockeycentral analyst Doug MacLean takes a look at the Leafs problems and what’s needed to get on the winning track.
MacLean points out that the hype surrounding the defensive acquisitions of Mike Komisarek, Francois Beauchemin, Garnet Exelby and goaltender Jonas Gustavsson was warranted, as they were solid additions. However, the emphasis to make the team tougher has shifted some players away from their game.
“These new defencemen are trying too hard to play tough, and that has resulted in taking bad penalties and being out of position most of the time,” says MacLean. “While the goaltending has been a major sore spot, the forwards have not replaced the offence lost from Antropov, Moore and Kubina, which has put too much pressure on the netminders. This is not a confident group.”
MacLean says the team needs to go back to basics by playing responsibly 5-on-5 while exhibiting more cohesiveness on the ice. Ultimately, GM Brian Burke will have to hope Gustavsson becomes a star and Phil Kessel can produce like a 40-goal scorer if they are to make the playoffs.

Ottawa Senators
It is a brand new Ottawa Senators team in 2009 says Rogers Sportsnet’s Ian Mendes.
“They look nothing like the team that stumbled out of the gate last season. In the first week, they posted three straight wins. Something they could not do last season when they ended up missing the playoffs.”
Mendes believes the difference-maker this season has been new goalie Pascal Leclaire.
“The 26-year old has provided stability and consistency between the pipes. Leclaire has only looked weak in one game so far this season (versus Pittsburgh) and he bounced back to allow just two goals in his next two starts.”
Ottawa’s defence has also caught Mendes’ eye in the season’s ·early goings.
“As a group, they have been absolutely terrific. Anton Volchenkov has delivered a bone-crushing hit in every game while the pairing of Matt Carkner and Alexandre Picard is a combined plus-13 to start the season and are logging significant minutes.”
With Alexei Kovalev finally finding chemistry with his new linemates and Chris Kelly seemingly re-discovering his role on the team, Mendes expects this Senators team to only get better as the season progresses.

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