Today we look at the NorthEast Division. Here were last years standings:
|
Team
|
Wins
|
Losses
|
OTL
|
Points
|
Goals For
|
Goals Allowed
|
|
Buffalo
|
53
|
22
|
7
|
113
|
308
|
242
|
|
Ottawa
|
48
|
25
|
9
|
105
|
288
|
222
|
|
Toronto
|
40
|
31
|
11
|
91
|
258
|
269
|
|
Montreal
|
42
|
34
|
6
|
90
|
245
|
256
|
|
Boston
|
35
|
41
|
6
|
76
|
219
|
289
|
Let’s attack these teams one at a time.
Buffalo
Unrestricted Free Agents: RW Michael Ryan, D Timo Helbling, D Mikko Lehtonen, G Adam Berkhoel.
Re-Signings: F Thomas Vanek (signed 7-year, $50 million offer sheet by Oilers, matched by Sabres), LW Andrew Peters (2-year contract), C Michael Ryan (1-year contract), RW Adam Mair (3-year, $2.275 million contract), D Teppo Numminen (1-year, $2.6 million contract), F Dan Paille (1-year, $585,200 contract), F Derek Roy (6-year, $24 million contract), D Nathan Paetsch (3-year contract).
Notable Additions: G Jocelyn Thibault (Penguins, 1-year contract).
Notable Subtractions: C Daniel Briere (Flyers), C Chris Drury (Rangers), C Dainius Zubrus (Devils), G Ty Conklin (Penguins).
Outlook: Ouch. Looking at those notable subtractions makes you wonder how some of the Sabers fans made it through the offseason alive. It’s tough for any team, even one as canyon deep as the Sabers to lose that many upper echelon players. How would the Rangers be if they lost Jagr, Straka, and Nylander from last year? Probably up the creek. Well, I guess the Sabers fans are happy to know that their team won’t be up the creek, that they will make the playoffs. They are too well coached, and have far too many weapons, some we haven’t even seen much of yet. No, I think these guys will be ok. They won’t be the utterly dominating club we saw for most of last year, but they will still be good enough to secure a playoff spot, especially in this supremely weak division.
Ottawa
Unrestricted Free Agents: D Jamie Allison, C Serge Payer.
Re-Signings: LW Dean McAmmond (2-year contract), D Lawrence Nycholat (multi-year contract), F Ray Emery (3-year, $9.5 million contract), D Christoph Schubert (3-year, $2.65 million contract), F Chris Kelly (1-year, $1.2625 million contract).
Notable Additions: F Niko Dimitrakos (Flyers, 1-year contract).
Notable Subtractions: C Mike Comrie (Islanders), D Tom Preissing (Kings).
Outlook: Ladies and Gents, your defending Eastern Conference Champions. A team that went roughshod right through the Eastern Conference till they met those two mammoth defenseman Neidermeyer and Pronger. They really didn’t better their team, though they did lose Comrie and Preissing. Still, they should be more than good enough to easily win this division, assuming Emery is ok. These guys score a lot of goals, and they don’t give up a lot of goals, but what they don’t have is a good goalie. Ray Emery is an above average goalie at best that looks good at times because of some very, very, VERY solid defenders in front of him, and a team with enough offensive weapons to carry the play for minutes on end. I fully expect them to once again be beastly.
Toronto
Unrestricted Free Agents: C Jeff O’Neill, C Travis Green.
Re-Signings: F Mats Sundin (1-year, $5.5 million contract), D Staffan Kronwall (2-year contract), F Nik Antropov (2-year, $4 million contract), LW Bates Battaglia (2-year, $1.3 million contract).
Notable Additions: G Vesa Toskala (Sharks - trade), F Mark Bell (Sharks - trade), RW Jason Blake (Islanders, 5-year, $20 million contract), G Scott Clemmensen (Devils, 1-year, $500,000 contract), F Tony Salmelainen (Canadiens,1-year, two-way contract).
Notable Subtractions: C Mike Peca (Blue Jackets), C Yanic Perreault (Blackhawks), G Jean-Sebastien Aubin (Kings).
Outlook: The Leafs and Habs played an epic game to close up their season, one that ended up not mattering, but still, they were inches from making the playoffs. That ends this year. Not only will they not be inches from making the playoffs, I dont think theyll even be remotely close to making the playoffs. This team just doesnt frighten me. They have some good size on their top line, and as always are anchored by future hall of famer Mats Sundin, but they still have very little after that which makes me think they will win many games. They once again continue their revolving door of goaltending, one year after acquiring Raycroft they go out and acquire Toskala. He won’t make much of a difference, these guys should have torn it down and rebuilt.
Montreal
Unrestricted Free Agents: D Janne Niinimaa, LW Mike Johnson, RW Aaron Downey, D Jassen Cullimore (Blackhawks, contract bought out).
Re-Signings: F Christopher Higgins (2-year, $3.4 million contract), D Mike Komisarek (2-year, $3.4 million contract), C Tomas Plekanec (2-year, $3.2 million contract), D Josh Gorges, F Michael Ryder (1-year, $2.95 million contract).
Notable Additions: D Roman Hamrlik (Flames, 4-year, $22 million contract), C Bryan Smolinski (Blackhawks, 1-year, $2 million contract), F Tom Kostopoulos (Kings, 2-year, $1.8 million contract), D Jamie Rivers (Blues, 1-year contract), D Patrice Brisebois (Avalanche, 1-year, $700,000 contract).
Notable Subtractions: F Alexander Perezhogin (Salavat Yulayev Ufa - Russia), F Sergei Samsonov (Blackhawks), C Radek Bonk (Predators), D Sheldon Souray (Oilers), G David Aebischer (Coyotes), F Tony Salmelainen (Blackhawks, contract bought out and signed by Maple Leafs).
Outlook: Turnover, turnover, turnover. Looking at the comings and goings of this team it certainly does look like theyve made a lot of changes, though many of them are of the inconsequential variety. These guys will be about as good as last year. Even with a (one would suppose) healthy Huet, and up and comer Carey Price, I still don’t think this team is good enough offensively, or defensively to make the playoffs. They ranked 15th in the NHL in goals for last year with 245 only to lose all-star Sheldon Souray and his 26 goals from the blueline. Sheldon may have been as defensively inept as they come, but he anchored the Habs top ranked power play with 19 power play goals. Without Sheldon back there unleashing the howitzer, their attack becomes far more easier to handle. A team that would literally win most of their games on the power play just got a lot weaker. Expect a decent dropoff.
Boston
Unrestricted Free Agents: D Jason York, D Nathan Dempsey.
Re-Signings: F Brandon Bochenski (1-year contract), D Andrew Alberts (2-year, $2.5 million contract), LW Jeff Hoggan.
Notable Additions: G Manny Fernandez (Wild - trade), RW Shawn Thornton (Ducks, multi-year contract).
Notable Subtractions: LW Petr Tenkrat (Timka IK - Sweden), G Joey MacDonald (Islanders), G Hannu Toivonen (Blues).
Outlook: I’m surprised Boston won as many games as they did last year. With a crappy defense, and even worse goaltending they simply were…well…crappy. Yet they managed to put up 76 points and were in the playoff race for much of the season. Not this year. They added goalie Manny Fernandez, which should bring a bit of stability, and improvement in their putrid goals against total. But even he won’t help these guys. Say hello to the worst run franchise in hockey not located in Long Island..
Thoughts
If not for the presence of the Senators and Sabers this division would border on the AHL level. None of the bottom teams scare me, and should really be handled with relative ease. Expect the very good Senators and pretty good Sabers to put up big point totals in the standings, by beating up on some pretty crummy competition in the division. The Senators are your #1 seed in the East by a very wide margin., and possibly your Presidents Trophy winners, with Buffalo likely coming in 4th (in the conference).
Projected Final Standings
|
Team
|
Points
|
|
Ottawa
|
110
|
|
Buffalo
|
100
|
|
Montreal
|
81
|
|
Toronto
|
78
|
|
Boston
|
70
|
-Inferno