The Metropolitan division has two teams (Washington, Pittsburgh) fighting for the division, the conference and the Stanley Cup. The rest of the division is fighting for the third playoff spot. Every team has a chance except Carolina.
- WASHINGTON CAPITALS – The Capitals are loaded at forward. Alex Ovechkin, Nick Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov are scoring machines. TJ Oshie and Justin Williams provide grit and key goals. Tom Wilson provides an intimidating presence. The Capitals defense was exposed last season in the playoffs. John Carlson is an all-star. Matt Niskanen is a gamer but the rest of the group was overrun by better competition. Goaltender Braden Holtby was also exposed, as a truly great goaltender.
- PITTSBURGH PENGUINS – The Pittsburgh Penguins are the reigning Stanley Cup Champions and return with essentially the same team. Sidney Crosby, the
Ian Cole (28) defends Joe Thornton (19) in front of Matthew Murray- Photo by Jack Lima 2016
best player in the world is at the peak of his game. The HBK (Hagelin, Bonino, Kessel) line is magical. When Evgeni Malkin, a sure fire Hall of Famer is the third line center, your team has few worries. One worry is the Penguins played playoff hockey for five months last season, a pace that is hard to keep up. Another is will last year’s rookies have the same fire in their sophomore seasons? Defenseman Kris Letang was amazing last season. Brian Dumoulin, Trevor Daley and Olli Maatta play the Penguins system to perfection but they’re not a very physical bunch. The Penguins have two goaltenders who have each won the Penguins a Stanley Cup (Marc-Andre Fleury, Matt Murray). Head Coach Mike Sullivan needs to keep them both happy.
- NEW YORK ISLANDERS – The Islanders have the only thing that is underrated in New York City, John Tavares. Tavares is a superstar who willed the Islanders to a first-round playoff win last season. Andrew Ladd was brought in to help JT but I would have kept Okposo. The Islanders are expecting young guys like Ryan Strome and Anders Lee to increase their scoring. Matt Martin went to Toronto
John Tavares – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
breaking up the best 4th line in hockey. Number one defenseman Travis Harmonic is staying in New York. Dennis Seidenberg is joining an already very capable unit. Goaltender Jaroslav Halak was amazing at the World Cup and needs to stay healthy.
- NEW YORK RANGERS – The Rangers looked like an old team last year and they’ve only gotten older. Ryan McDonagh and Marc Staal lost a step on defense. Dan Girardi lost two. New York needs to give young defensemen like Brady Skjei and Dylan McIlrath more ice time. Up front, Mats Zuccarello, Derek Stepan, TJ Miller and newly acquired Mika Zibanejad will score plenty of goals. Michael Grabner and Nathan Gerbe will provide a speed upgrade. None of this will matter though if Rick Nash doesn’t bounce out of his funk. Chris Kreider must gain consistency. Goaltender Henrik Lunqvist appears more human every year and needs back up Antti Raanta to win some games.
- PHILADELPHIA FLYERS – Flyer forward Claude Giroux was a healthy scratch for most of the World Cup but other Flyer’s forwards Jakub Voracek, Sean Couturier and Pierre-Eduardo Bellemare gained valuable playing experience. Wayne Simmonds was left off Team Canada but he is one of the best power forwards in the league. Radko Gudas plays ”Flyer“ hockey on the blue line. Defensemen Shayne Gostisbehere is the Ghost but the rest of the defense is haunted by inconsistent play. Rookie Ivan Provono is being painted as their back end savoir. It had been a few generations since Philly had solid goaltending but last year they did. The only problem was it was split between two men (Steve Mason and Michal Neuvirth).
- NEW JERSEY DEVILS – New Jersey is the NHL’s version of The Expendables. Kyle Palmieri, Mike Cammalleri, Adam Henrique, and Travis Zajac are total pros who get the job done under the radar. New Jersey added Taylor Hall. Hall has a load of talent and will relish a fresh start. Defensemen Adam Larsson as traded to acquire Hall leaving New Jersey without a number one defensemen. The Devils acquired Stanley Cup Winner Ben Lovejoy to provide leadership and steady defense. Goaltender Cory Schneider is great and will keep the Devils in every game and the playoff race until the end
- COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS – The Blue Jackets always use injuries as an excuse. They can also use Head Coach John Tortorella. All Tortorella did was spurn the team’s veterans and run off the team’s franchise center. This team is
Sergei Bobrovsky – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
huge and has talent. Boone Jenner and Cam Atkinson are works in progress but Brandon Saad has two Cups and can excel in any situation on the ice. Nick Foligno and Scott Hartnell will be playing for their careers this season. Seth Jones leads a young defense that is tough if not seasoned. If Columbus stinks again this year it will be Tort’s fault and not goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky ‘s. Bobrovsky looked to be back in his Vezina form in the World Cup.
- CAROLINA HURRICANES – Justin Faulk, Noah Hanifin and Jaccob Slavin give the Carolina Hurricanes defense a young, mobile and ultra-talented defense. The defense will be exciting. The offense not so much. The Hurricanes added Teuvo Teravainen, Lee Stempniak and Victor Stalberg to improve the offense. Their offense will be improved but Jordan Staal is the number one center. The Hurricanes ranked 29th in goaltending last year so they gave Cam Ward a new contract. Which in GM Ron Francis’s defense makes more sense than Jordan Staal as a number one center.
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