Pre-Season Preview: #6 Alberta Bears

Coach: Sean Slevin
Trophy Case: POH1 Championship---POH1 Associate's Cup Winner---POH3 Rathje Division Winner---POH3 Manager of the Year---POH4 Rathje Division Winner

POH5 Regular Season Finish: 4th
Postseason Finish: Semi-Final Loss

Pre-Season Rank
Forwards: 4th
Defensemen: 6th
Goaltenders: 10th
Coaching Pedigree: 2nd
Overall: 6th
Projected Win Total: 73

Keepers:
C Eric Staal (3rd Year in Alberta)
RW Martin St. Louis (3rd Year)
LW Zach Parise (3rd Year)
D Dan Boyle (3rd Year)
G Tim Thomas (2nd Year)

Outlook
With five different champions in five seasons, the discussion of "greatest manager in league history" would likely vary depending on who you asked. But with 509 career wins, two division championships, one Manager of the Year award, an Associate's Cup and a Prince's Pot to his name, we here at Channel 7 are comfortable in giving the nod to Slevin until further notice. In his five-year career, not once has Slevin missed the playoffs...and POH2 remains the only year in which he failed to advance to the semi-finals. All that being said, Alberta fans have waited 4 1/2 years since their last championship and the expectation is the same for Coach Slevin as it has been every season: win it all. The offensive firepower should be elevated from POH5, as franchise player Zach Parise returns after missing all of the 2010-11 season. Parise, like fellow keeper Eric Staal, will put the puck on net 300 times if healthy. Slevin did a nice job surrounding finishers Parise and Staal with set-up experts Martin St. Louis (68 A in '10-'11), Claude Giroux (51), and Derek Roy (25 in only 35 games). The defense may be better than I give them credit for, led by keeper Dan Boyle who will play on a very potent San Jose power play unit. Boyle is joined by Keith Yandle (57 pts in '10-'11), John-Michael Liles (46) and Kevin Shattenkirk (43). All I've done is praise the Bears, but here's where I get to explaining their 6th-place projection....goaltending. Tim Thomas comes back for another season after finishing second in the Vezina voting last season. Thomas has little help, however, as Craig Anderson will get a lot of time in net for the probably-not-very-good-Ottawa Senators, while Al Montoya finds himself in the midst of a three-man timeshare in New York with Rick DiPietro and Evgeni Nabokov. I think of the NWT Moose of last season when I think of these Bears, a team that will find a way to sneak into the playoff picture by virtue of  a high-octane offensive attack.
Players to Watch:

LW-Zach Parise

Maybe nobody in Alberta wants to admit it, but everyone knows it: the Bears' success will depend largely on Parise's ability to recover from the knee injury he sustained last year. With him, they are one of the most feared offensive squads in the league. Without him and they become middle class. That won't suffice with the goaltending as questionable as it appears.

SF/PF-Tim Thomas

This versatile big man can really shoot from long range. Nothing that he does on or off the court will affect how the Alberta Bears perform this season.

G-Tim Thomas

The Bears, who are thin at the Goalie position, will be depending heavily on another stellar season from Thomas. The Bruins backstop posted an extraordinary 35 W, 2.00 GAA and 93.8 SV% in 2010-11. With young stallion Tuukka Rask waiting in the wings, and the Bruins hoping to preserve Thomas somewhat for another postseason run at the Cup, it'd be hard to imagine him duplicating a similarly brilliant season.

C-Derek Roy
Roy was on a tear last season before suffering a season-ending quad injury 35 games into the year. The Sabres center had 10 G and 25 A in that span. The Sabres spent the off-season upgrading their offensive talent, and nobody figures to benefit more from that than Roy. He'll be the Bears' No. 2 center alongside Eric Staal, but don't be totally caught off guard if he leads a talented group of centers (Stastny, Lecavalier, Spezza) in scoring.