First half of the season

Well, since I'm back, I might actually write something about hockey too. Thanks for reading.

Last season ended with Chicago taking over and bringing the cup back to original six. That sure was an impressive run. The roster they ended up having in the end of the season would have probably taken twice the current salary cap on this season's paychecks. Really impressive team, very solid all around and even some superstars either peaking (Hossa) or still in the making (Kane, Toews). Sorry, fellow defencemen, no one really counts us as superstars. But this is so last season, I'll move on. Lots to cover in one posting.

2010-2011 has started with somewhat traditional pace. The strong ones are still strong and the rest try to keep up. New Jersey Devils is the exception confirming that rule. What a sorry bunch. And some sort of a wake up signal for the GMs shopping superstars for decades. Come on Kovalchuck!?

Vancouver, Philly, Detroit are leading the pack with very solid rosters. Tampa, Pittsburgh and Washington follow up close with superstar centered approach. I'd be surprised if the eventual champion isn't one of these. And if it's the Lightning, that'll count as a surprise also.

I'd say that the biggest surprise so far is Dallas Stars. They've been good in the past, but the current names on the roster aren't really this good. I can feel happy for the fellow Finn Kari Lehtonen in the goal. Finally playing healthy for a longer stretch and hopefully going through the whole season without surgical operations. Brad Richards is seriously pumping air in his future contract. If the guy is really this good, everyone wants him. Learn from this on playing the last year of your contracts, kids!

The players then. Sidney Crosby seems to have pushed some extra to leave the Sid-or-Alex discussion behind him. No question, he's the one this season. Hopefully he'll come back from the concussion soon. Superstars keep the game entertaining. Ovechkin has somehow slumped (well, against the expectations at least) with the whole Capitals team. Haven't seen the 8-2, 9-3 scores from them lately, but some grinding of 2-1 victory over the Oilers or something instead. Not impressive victories at all and thus not going to be enough in the springtime. Have to improve. Ovechkin barely leads the shots on goal stats? Alex, everyone expects more. Fill in the buckets of ice for the sore wrists!

Steven Stamkos has proven to be a hell of a sniper. Playing with a great playmaker like Martin St. Louis is definitely a recipe for scoring. Maybe the second half will show some slowing down on this duo, but they'll carry on the impressive start for top-5 finishes in the scoring race if nothing dramatic happens.

Gotta love the Sedin twins. It's hilarious to see these guys post point for point and while competing wich each other, making a serious case for taking over the scoring in the whole league. Semi-casually, low-key, the Swedish way. Those Swedes.. The supporting cast in Vancouver seem to be improving every year too. The energetic defensive forwards have started posting big points and all of a sudden this is the team to beat in the league. Some say that Vancouver is one of the nicest cities in the world, probably the cup wouldn't mind ending up there either.

Well, the defenders then. Hats off to misters Bufyglien and Lidström. Big Dustin is wiping the ice with the rest on the scoring race. And old Nick is as good as new. Those Swedes..

Ohh.. this post is bloating. I'll cut off here and continue with the rest of the observations later on another post. There's plenty to cover, I've built a whopping backlog. Later then.