LOS ANGELES – The Atlantic Division once again hosts a two-time defending Stanley Cup Champion. It is once again a Florida franchise, the Florida Panthers. For years the Atlantic division was divided between the top 4 and the bottom 4. The top teams Florida, Tampa Bay,Toronto and Boston were the top teams. Detroit, Buffalo, Montreal and Ottawa were at the bottom. Every year we waited to see a bottom team to rise up and a top team to drop.
Last year was the year. Montreal and Ottawa rose and Boston fell.
This season the Atlantic is divided into 3 classes. The Stanley Cup contenders Florida, Tampa Bay and Toronto. The Middle class consists of Montreal ,Ottawa, Detroit and the Gavin McKenna lottery hopefuls Boston and Buffalo.
1. Florida Panthers – The 2 time defending Stanley Cup Champions Florida Panthers are returning almost the exact same team. Only replacing sixth defenseman Nate Schmidt with Petry and backup goalie Vitek Vanecek with Daniil Tarasov. They still have the best top 9 in the NHL led by their top center, captain and Selke winner Aleksander Barkov. Sam Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe and Eeto Luostarian are lethal wingers. Centers Sam Bennett and Anton Lundell give the Big Cats the best center depth in the league. Florida’s heart and soul Matthew Tkachuk is out until 2026 but The Rat Brad Marchand will be there all year. The defense will have Seth Jones all year. The top pair of Gustav Forsling and Aaron Ekblad are second only to Cale Makar and Devon Toews in Colorado. Hall of Famer Sergei Bobrovsky is in net. Many say Florida knows they will make the playoffs and won’t try to win the division. Paul Maurice’s team is just too good not to win the division. Tampa and Toronto have holes. Florida has none.
2. Tampa Bay Lightning – The Tampa Bay Lightning have an incredible top line. Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Jake Guentzel may all be in the Hall of Fame one day. Tampa doesn’t have the depth in lines 2-4 they did in their Championship years despite Brandon Hagel, Anthony Cirelli and Nick Paul still being there. Yanni Gourde returning and Pontus Holmberg coming down from Toronto help but GM Patrice Brisebois will need to add at the deadline. Victor Hedman is playing at near peak Victor Hedman on the blueline. Ryan McDonagh and Erik Cernak have lost a step. Never count team with Andrei Vasilevskiy in net, Jon Copper behind the bench and a lethal power play out of Stanley Cup contention. The Bolts take too many nights off as a team to win a division.
3. Toronto Maple Leafs – The Toronto Maple finally broke up the Big 4. Auston Matthews, William Nylander and John Tavares remain. The Leafs will miss Mitch Marner’s 100 plus point in the regular season but not his disappearing act in the playoffs. Matthew Knies is ready tto be a star power forward. The rest of the forwards will play the rough Craig Berube style hockey but will they score enough? The defense is also built to play the way the head coach wants but the Leafs still do not have a number one defenseman. The Dynamic duo in net Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll will be missing Woll to begin the season as he deals with a personal matter.
4. Montreal Canadiens – The Montreal Canadiens made the playoffs last seasonbecause the franchise never misses the playoffs 4 years in a row. The Habs have high expectations. Their top line of Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkofsky is talented enough to meet them. Russian scoring phenom Ivan Demidov will be with them all season. Hopefully former Swedish scoring phenom Partik Laine can stay healthy and be productive all season. Josh Anderson and Brendan Gallagher provide veteran grit. Calder trophy winning defenseman Lane Hutson will be joined by newly acquired Noah Dobson. The pair gives Montreal a 1-2 on the right side of the blueline. Underrated Sam Montembeault is backed by the solid Kaapo Kakhonen in net. Head coach Martin St Louis will not let the Canadiens rest on last season’s accomplishments.
5. Ottawa Senators – The Ottawa Senators finally made the playoffs. The Canadien media has been waiting or begging for that to happen for years. Tim Stutzle is now a bona fide number 1 center. Brady Tkachuk is worthy of his last name. Drake Batherson, Fabian Zetterlund and Dylen Cozens give the Senators championship caliber top tier talent. The Senators depth unfortunately is not championship caliber. Chippy doesn’t win playoff series. Jake Sanderson is outstanding. The rest of the blueline is adequate. Linus Ullmark is a good goaltender who needs consistency to be great.
6. Detroit Red Wings – The Detroit Red Wings have been waiting a long time to make a return to the playoffs. Unfortunately they will have to wait another year. Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond and Alex DeBrincat give the Red Wings formidable top tier scoring. Young Marco Kasper showed signs of becoming a top tier scorer. There is still gas in Hall of Famer Patrick Kane’s tank but not newly acquired James van Riemsdyck’s tank. The bottom 6 is the grittiest Detroit has had in a decade. Moe Seider a true number 1 defenseman. Simon Edvinsson has the makings of a top pair blueliner. The rest of the Wings backend is old and past their prime. Veteran John Gibson should stop Detroit’s disappointing carousel in net. There is a world in which Detroit makes the playoffs. Overly patient GM Steve Yzerman needs to make a couple bold moves as the Motor City residents are growing very impatient.
7. Boston Bruins – The Boston Bruins always made the playoffs because they played Bruins hockey. They always found a way to win. The players who perfected Bruins hockey Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Brad Marchand are all gone. David Pastrnak remains. Pasta is still in the handful of top wingers in the league. The rest of the forwards are 2nd liners at best on a playoff team. Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm are a great top defense pairt. Disappointing Nikita Zadorov needs a bounceback season. So does netminder Jeremy Swayman. Swayman never found his game after missing training camp due to a contract holdout. New head coach Marco Sturm has his work cut out for him.
8. Buffalo Sabres – The Buffalo Sabres are the worst team in the Atlantic. Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch may put up good fantasy numbers but they will not be able to lead this group of forwards to relevance past Valentine’s Day. Rasmus Dahlin is an excellent defenseman. The rest of the blueline is overpaid and or on the trade block. Sabres goaltenders Ukko- Pekka Luukkkonen and Alex Lyon show flashes but are usually
siege. You gotta feel for head coach Lindy Ruff.
You must be logged in to post a comment.