Puck 'n' steroids

Who is Jason Grimsley and what does he do?

Grimsley is the former Major League pitcher that had his house raided this year after Big Brother found out he was using steroids, and according to the investigation regarding his steroid use, he’s traded in his pitching glove for a pitch pipe.

Grimsley has fingered Roger Clemens, Andy Pettite, Miguel Tejada, Brian Roberts and Jay Gibbons during the investigation, claiming they have all used performance enhancing drugs and anabolic steroids.

No issue with the guy singing. As a fan, it’s going to hurt when we find out who’s using. Imagine Jays fans, Vernon Wells is ‘roided up. That’s not something anybody wants to find out about, but for the good of the game, we have to know.

And how is it that collectively, fans are going to be shocked to read Clemens’ name attached to this story, but at the same time believe there’s no way Barry Bonds can be so good after age 40 without steroids?

To me, that’s the bigger issue. Now back to the hockey previews

Division overview:

The Northwest used to be the toughest division in hockey, but they’re losing talent quickly. Calgary and Edmonton have supplanted Colorado and Vancouver as the perennial leaders, and Minnesota, while improved, seems incapable of intimidating their opposition. Few teams will out-work Calgary, Edmonton and Minnesota, but most teams will outscore them easily. Edmonton’s 15^th-ranked offense was tops among the trio, while Calgary and Minnesota ranked 28^th and 25^th respectively.

Calgary Flames

Despite scoring a putrid 218 goals last season, the Flames won the division on the strength of great goaltending and very good defense. The team is simply built from the net out. In goal, Mikka Kiprusoff takes up residence. You may recognize him as the reigning Vezina Trophy winner, and the hottest goalie in the league the last two seasons. In front of Kipper is a strong defense corps built around a K.I.S.S. mentality. They hit hard, make a good first pass, and keep the puck away from their goalie. Before long, there are Norris Trophies waiting for Robyn Regehr and Dion Phaneuf. Roman Hamrlik, Rhett Warrener and a rotating cast of role players fill out this team’s strongest suit. Up front, it’s all about captain Jarome Iginla. He’s among the best players in the game and will finally have a true set-up man to play with in newly-acquired Alex Tanguay. If the Flames can improve their offense, there is no reason to believe they won’t be the class of the Western Conference.

Fantasy Sleeper: Kristian Huselius more than doubled his production when he arrived in Calgary last season. He went from eight points in 24 games to 39 points in 54 games.

Rookie Watch: Forward Andre Taratukhin has a good chance to make the team. He plays the Flames’ style, and could help out offensively.

Edmonton Oilers

Edmonton will be hard-pressed to repeat their run to game seven of the final of last spring, and they will feel the loss of Chris Pronger on defense, as any team would. But this is a team that is looking ahead and focused on the pieces they have in place. Pronger and (pylon) Jaroslav Spacek are out, but the Oilers think Matt Greene can grow into his expanded role and one of Ladislav Smid or Mathieu Roy can step into a full-time role. Up front, the Oilers suddenly have more offensive talent than they’ve seen in more than a decade. Shawn Horcoff and Jarret Stoll grew into their roles perfectly last season, and youngsters J-F Jacques, M-A Pouliot (Sidney Crosby’s running mate in Rimouski), Joffrey Lupul and Alex Mikhnov will be asked to take this team into the league’s top third offensively. Rob Schremp, the Oilers first pick in 2004 will start the year in the American League, but likely won’t stay there. Dwayne Roloson and Jussi Markkanen may platoon in goal, though Roloson will carry the bulk of the load.

Fantasy Sleeper: The power play is M-A Bergeron’s to quarterback now. He tallied 35 points last year in a secondary role.

Rookie Watch: Roy, Pouliot, Jacques and Mikhnov are all ready for the big time, and the undrafted Patrick Thoresen has nearly forced his way onto the roster. All five will be expected to contribute.

Vancouver Canucks

More than anything, the absence of two players (Todd Bertuzzi and Anson Carter) may play a bigger role in the Canucks’ fortunes this season. They combined for 58 goals last season that the Canucks opening-night roster will not account for. That said, new goalie Roberto Luongo should be able to make up for those 58 goals and then some. The all-world goalie steps out of the hot south Florida sun and into the hot Vancouver market, and while there is some question about his ability to perform under pressure for the first time, his international track record shows he should be able to hack it. Of greater concern is the ability of the Sedin twins to find chemistry with a new linemate, and the young defense (which should feature at least one rookie) to grow up quickly under the tutelage of incumbents Matthias Ohlund and Sami Salo (the only returning full timers from last season). Markus Naslund and Brendan Morrison have to rebound from sub-par seasons for the Canucks to even sniff the playoffs.

Fantasy Sleeper: Matt Cooke is the only offensively-gifted right winger Vancouver has, and he should see top-line action most of the year. Sophomore defenseman Kevin Bieksa is likely to see time on the second power play unit.

Rookie Watch: Rick Rypien had an excellent camp and will get a long look as most of Vancouver’s top prospects are rearguards.

Minnesota Wild

A large portion of the hockey world thinks the Wild will battle for a playoff spot this season. It’s a notion based largely on the fact they traded for Pavol Demitra to play with Marian Gaborik. But here’s the bad news: Brian Rolston is almost sure to record fewer than his career-high 79 from last year, Keith Carney and Kim Johnsson can’t replace Alex Henry, Filip Kuba and Daniel Tjarnqvist on the blue line, and Manny Fernandez is untested as a starting goalie. Meanwhile, even if Demitra and Gaborik approach 80 points each (something Demitra’s done twice, and Gaborik has never done), only P-M Bouchard and Rolston figure to have a shot at 50 or more. That leaves a bunch of third-rate producers in front of a depleted defense corps and questionable goaltending. Also, it says here Josh Harding will force the Wild to return to a platoon system sometime between Christmas and the All-Star break.

Fantasy Sleeper: The power play will run through Kim Johnsson, a talented defenseman that posted 25 points in 47 games last season.

Rookie Watch: Harding figures to be the only rookie to make the team. He has the potential and attitude to be a number one goalie in the very near future.

Colorado Avalanche

How the mighty have fallen. Colorado has a nice collection of young talent, but it’s not to the level they produced when Alex Tanguay, Milan Hejduk, Jon Klemm and Martin Skuola were their hot-shot youngsters with unlimited upside. First, only Hejduk remains, and while his defensive game has improved greatly, another 40-goal season seems almost inconceivable at this point. Joe Sakic returns and is a lock for 80-90 points, and it’s hoped Marek Svatos and Wojtek Wolski can continue to improve offensively. But Sakic had 24 more points than any other returning players. Of course, the last time the Avalanche appeared to suffer from a lack of offense, they became a great defensive team and won the Stanley Cup. Outside of John-Michael Liles, though, such a transformation seems unlikely (especially since Jose Theordore is no Patrick Roy). After Liles, Karlis Skrastins, Jordan Leopold and Ossi Vaananen are guaranteed minutes, while four others will platoon for the rest.

Fantasy Sleeper: Andrew Brunette was seven points shy of a career high last season and will likely reach the 60-point mark again.

Rookie Watch: Wolski remains Calder-eligible, and unfair as it is, will play a huge role in Colorado’s fortunes this season.