Bartnick previews the Metropolitan Division Carolina to repeat for the division crown

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The Metropolitan Division has six teams that could potentially win a playoff round. The division’s top two teams the Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils are among the favorites to go to the Stanley Cup Final. The New York Rangers also have Final potential. The Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Islanders and Washington Capitals may win a playoff round but as of now do not appear constructed to win the Eastern Conference.

  1. The Carolina Hurricanes will win the Metropolitan Division. Sebastian Aho is nearing superstar status. Andrei Svechnikov and Teuvo Teravinen join in leading the Metro division’s best forward group. Jaccob Slavin and Brent Burns lead the division’s deepest blueline. Goaltenders Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta are average. The Canes will rack up points because Rod Brind’Amour’s teams always play hard. Carolina runs into problems in the playoffs when everybody plays hard.
  2. The New Jersey Devils top center combo of Jack Hughes and Nico Hirschier is the kind of combo that wins Stanley Cups. Timo Meier, Jesper Bratt and newly acquired Tyler Toffoli give New Jersey fire power on the wings. The Devils bottom two lines are physical and will score goals. New Jersey’s defense and goaltending are not as Cup ready as their forwards.
  3. The Pittsburgh Penguins missed the playoffs last year for the first time in sixteen years. Hall of Fame centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin assure the Penguins top two forward lines will be elite again. New GM Kyle Dubas remade the Penguins bottom six that was putrid last season. Lars Eller, Noel Acciari and whoever Head Coach Mike Sullivan deploys will be an upgrade over last year. Reigning Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson acquired over the summer will help the power play and in overtime. Inconsistent netminder Tristan Jarry finally has a suitable backup in Alex Nedeljkovic.
  4. The New York Rangers have the stars to light up Broadway. Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider great players but they can only do so much. New York needs more out of high draft picks Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko. The Ranger defense led by Adam Fox is somehow not as good as the sum of their parts. Igor Shesterkin is a world class goaltender. The Rangers will get the Lavy bump as Peter Laviolette was hired to be their Head Coach over the summer.
  5. The New York Islanders are almost the same team this September that ended last season last May. You know what you’re getting with captain Anders Lee and Brock Nelson. The vaunted Islanders fourth line of Matt Martin, Casey Cizikas and Cal Clutterbuck is still there. The Fishermen need Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal to live up to their contracts and score goals. The Islanders defensemen are steady but not dynamic. Ilya Sorokin and Seon Varlamov are the best goaltending duo in the NHL. Their goaltending could squeak them into the playoffs again. Once again, they would be a team nobody wants to play in the playoffs.
  6. The Washington Capitals are dedicated to getting Alex Ovechkin the all-time goal scoring record. They may also be a playoff team. Centers Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov need to bounce back from forgettable seasons. Backstrom’s problem was his hip. Kuznetsov’s was in his head. Tom Wilson and TJ Oshie return to add veteran scoring and violence. John Carlson is superb when healthy but the rest of the defense is adequate at best. Darcy Kuemper is more than adequate in net but can’t be counted on the carry a fledging team.
  7. The Philadelphia Flyers are a terrible hockey team, but they’re coached by John Tortorella. He will squeeze everything out of them. Garnet Hathaway was signed in the summer. He has been the most Flyer player in the league for the better part of a decade. Now Hathaway has Nic Deslauriers to hide behind. Torts never let the Flyers sink low enough to “win” Connor Bedard so the Flyers will not be a playoff team for the foreseeable future.
  8. The Columbus Blue Jackets are more talented than the Philadelphia Flyers. The Blue Jackets Johnny Gaudreau and Patrik Laine were superstars on other franchises. Rookie Adam Fantilli will be a superstar someday but probably not in Columbus. The franchise is always a cluster. This summer’s hiring and firing of Head Coach Mike Babcock only reinforced that fact. The question is not will Columbus have a winning season but how does their GM Jarmo Kekalainen keep his job.