The Atlantic Division is a microcosm of the United States. There is an upper class, a lower class and an ever-shrinking middle class. The Tampa Bay Lightning, Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs are the upper class of the Atlantic. All three teams are Stanley Cup contenders and barring catastrophic injuries locks to make the playoffs.
The Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadians and Ottawa Senators are the lower class.
Montreal and Ottawa are disasters.
A good season for them would be to be watchable.
The Red Wings have a higher ceiling but are not close to the playoffs.
The middle class of the Atlantic is interesting. The Florida Panthers are close to being an upper-class team but every time this franchise seems poised to crack the upper class they fall back.
The Buffalo Sabres have the potential to break out of the lower class.
The Tampa Bay Lightning (1) are the best team in the Atlantic. The Lightning’s top nine forwards are the best in the division. Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov are the best center/winger combo in the division and maybe the entire NHL. The Lightning defense is also the best in the Atlantic. Tampa’s defense is led by Norris trophy winner Victor Hedman. Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi are old but sophomore Mikhial Sergachev will be able to handle a bigger work load. Andrei Vasilevskiy is the Lightning’s Vezina runner up goaltender. He tired near the end of last season so back up Louis Domingue should be given a few extra starts. Head coach Jon Cooper knows the pressure is on Tampa this season. GM Steve Yzerman just resigned and the coach knows he will be next if expectations aren’t met because Yzerman signed every key team member to a long-term deal before he left.
Most people are picking the Toronto Maple Leafs second because they acquired John Tavares. Tavares and Auston Matthews give the Leafs the best 1-2 center combo anywhere but Pittsburgh. The Leafs have too many question marks to be ranked ahead of the Boston Bruins (2).
The Bruins have the best line in hockey (Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak). Jake DeBrusk and Ryan Donato received valuable experience in last year’s playoffs.
The Maple Leafs (3) are the most top heavy of the Atlantic’s three best teams. The Leafs will rely heavily on Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander. All three need to be up to the challenge considering their contract status. The Bruins also have a much better defense. Boston’s Zdeno Chara, Charlie McAvoy, Torey Krug and maybe Brandon Carlo are all better defensemen than Toronto’s best Morgan Reilly. The two teams are even in net. Toronto’s Freddie Anderson maybe slightly better but he will face more rubber than Boston’s Tuukka Rask.
The Florida Panthers (4) have the offense to be in the upper class of the Atlantic. Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Vincent Trocheck and newly acquired Mike Hoffman will put the biscuit in the basket. Florida needs a commitment to team defense to make the playoffs. The Panther’s Aaron Eckblad is a stud number one defenseman and the defense core is serviceable. Roberto Luongo is no spring chicken in net and will need his team to limit his shots faced.
The Buffalo Sabres (5) have improved dramatically over the offseason. The city of Buffalo finally won something, the draft lottery. They drafted can’t miss defensemen Rasmus Dahlin. He will have an immediate impact on the Sabre’s blueline. So will acquiring goaltender Carter Hutton/ Hutton gives them a chance to win every game something former goaltender Robin Lehner rarely did.  This is a put up or shut up season for Sabres center Jack Eichel because the Sabres acquired proven goal scorers Jeff Skinner and Conor Sheary to play wing. Rookie center Casey Mittelstadt will give the Sabres even more fire power. Kyle Okposo is still in Buffalo looking for a bounce back season while Sam Reinhart wants to build on last season.
The Detroit Red Wings (6) are not dumpster fires but they have no chance to make the playoffs. Henrik Zetterberg may not play this season and that is a good thing. It’s time for the Dylan Larkin, Anthony Mantha and Filip Zadina era to begin. Andreas Athanasiou has the talent to join that group but be needs to make himself part of the core. Every Detroit defensemen is a 5-6 on a true contender. Mike Green and Trevor Daley can move the puck but can they shut anybody down? Jimmy Howard and Jonathan Bernier will share the net because historically neither has been consistent enough to stay the number one goaltender all season.
The Montreal Canadians (7) and the Ottawa Senators (8) are the two worst teams in the NHL. Montreal will finish ahead of Ottawa because their best player (Shea Weber) will return to the Habs blueline by Valentine’s Day. Ottawa’s best player, Erik Karlsson was traded to the San Jose Sharks Thursday this week. While both team’s best defensemen have very different problems their best forwards have very similar problems. Montreal’s Jonathan Drouin and Ottawa’s Matt Duchene are both underachievers. Underachieving is not a trait you want in a number one center. Montreal will win more games than Ottawa because Montreal has Carey Price in net. Craig Anderson is no slouch, but no one would give him fifteen million dollars a season. Price’s contract is why Montreal is a disaster. Ottawa’s owner Eugene Melnyk is their reason and will continue to be until he sells the team.
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