Tampa Bay. Carolina. Are the Ottawa Senators the next team to crumble under high expectations and ultimately miss the playoffs? In my prediction world, it ain’t likely, but then again this is coming from a guy who selected Jose Theodore with his first draft selection after his Hart Trophy win. Below are my division previews, division winner selections, top player selections and projected team finishes. Atlantic Division
New York Rangers - Scott Gomez and Chris Drury were signed to contracts totaling almost $100M. Only in the Big Apple, huh? With Brendan Shanahan and Henrik Lundqvist locked up for at least this season, superpest Sean Avery and a capable defense to boot (Oh, and some guy named Jagr), the Rangers are FIRST-PLACE ATLANTIC DIVISION WINNERS.
Pittsburgh Penguins - Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury and oh so, so much more. Gonchar, Whitney, Sykora, Recchi and more are all great players and can change a game’s outcome in a heartbeat. The Rangers/Penguins games are about to get really special this season. The Penguins are SECOND-PLACE FINISHERS. New Jersey Devils - It’s not that they’ve gotten worse, it’s that their division rivals have gotten better. Losing Gomez does take away some offense but the Devils were never a scoring machine anyway. The Ducks proved that defense can still win championships and Marty Brodeur’s 48 wins have showed that teams can still succeed with defence. The Devils are THIRD-PLACE FINISHERS.
Philadelphia Flyers - The future is now, and the Flyers are in a situation where they could pull out of the Eastern Conference basement and back to respectability. Adding Daniel Briere to cornerstone their offense was a monster move, and the additions of Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell could pay big dividends. Youngsters Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, Joffrey Lupul and Ryan Potulny could all be difference makers. Martin Biron will be an upgrade over the incumbent Robert Esche. The Flyers are FOURTH-PLACE FINISHERS.
New York Islanders - They lost Ryan Smyth and Alexei Yashin to Colorado and Russia and in their place added Ruslan Fedotenko, Bill Guerin and Mike Comrie, three players who have underachieved and underperformed several times. Head coach Ted Nolan has worked miracles in the past, but when Mike Dunham retires as a goaltender to become your goaltending coach, it doesn’t instill a lot of confidence in me. DiPietro could have a huge year. The Islanders are FIFTH-PLACE FINISHERS.
