|
How do the Habs Stack up in the East? |
|
|
|
|
|
Predicting the competition in the East was extremely difficult last season. Predicting it this season is next to impossible.
The Bruins won the Stanley Cup with a team that will remain largely intact going into this season. Can Tim Thomas be as good as he was? Will the powerplay improve significantly with the addition of Joe Corvo?
The Penguins are likely to start the season with Crosby, Malkin and Staal healthy. They lost Talbot, but they'll get a full season out of James Neal this time around.
The Flyers rid themselves of two franchise players in Mike Richards and Jeff Carter. They also lost Ville Leino to unrestricted free agency. They traded Kris Versteeg and replaced all these players with Brayden Schenn, Wayne Simmonds, Talbot, Jakub Voracek and Jaromir Jagr. Hard to argue that they've improved, but Ilya Bryzgalov--on paper--is the best goalie they've had since Ron Hextall was in their net. They also have 1.5 mil in cap space, and the Flyers are known to spend every penny. Pronger's health remains the key to their success, but quite obviously they're a playoff team at the very worst.
Terry Pegula has kept the stability Darcy Regier and Lindy Ruff offer, and spent a franchise-record in free agency to help improve the Buffalo Sabres. They brought in Brad Boyes at the deadline, added Leino as a UFA, and brought back Kotalik. They'll have a healthy Derek Roy to start the season, and the maturation of Tyler Ennis and Nathan Gerbe in Roy's absence makes them stronger. Bringing in Robyn Regehr and Christian Erhoff alleviates tremendous pressure on Tyler Myers, which has been felt since the club lost Toni Lydman and Henrik Tallinder to free agency two summers ago. The Sabres finished 7th last season, despite a late-season injury to Ryan Miller that should've knocked them out of the playoffs. How much better are they now?
The Lightning were remade under Steve Yzerman, and their conference finals appearance was way ahead of schedule. If anything, they might take a step back from where they got to, especially when Stamkos comes to term on his lucrative contract, which could force a player or two to be traded. With Stamkos signed, they still have enough components to be considered a playoff team. With Roloson and Garon, the playoffs are a likelihood.
Has anyone done as well in the off-season as George McPhee has? Seems to be a discussion point every off-season, but the Capitals are built to once again contend for the East. With Brooks Laich extended, Troy Brouwer and Joel Ward signed, the Caps have more character players. With Halpern and Hamrlik, they have a deeper, more experienced bench. With Vokoun, Neuvirth and Holtby, they've got goaltending covered. Once they clear space to get back under the cap (rumor has it they'll place Poti on LTIR) they'll be more set to compete for a Cup than they've been over the last three years of Eastern dominance.
The Rangers have more than 11 mil to spend on Dubinsky, Callahan and a defenseman. They've added Brad Richards, and they get a full year out of Wojtek Wolski. They don't have a very deep defense core, but they do have a great tandem in Lundqvist and Biron.
Then you have Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Carolina and the Islanders. Any one of them can surprise, but chances are negligible that any of them will play past April.
Two teams that can certainly challenge playoff contenders in the East: The Florida Panthers and the New Jersey Devils.
What can we expect from either one of them?
The Panthers were the worst in the East last year, and they've scrapped together a team of new parts that could combine to either be great or horrible. Fleischmann, Upshall, Kopecky, Versteeg, Bergenheim, Goc, Bradley, Campbell, Jovonovski and Theodore--quite a list there. They have Weiss and a healthy David Booth. They have 14 mil to spend, and they've yet to ink Shawn Matthias. They could be in the playoff race the whole way through, or they could falter and Tallon will have plenty of tradeable assets to move for draft picks, regardless of the terms of overpayment for many of those players. Most of them can be valuable additions for playoff runs.
These aren't John MacLean's New Jersey Devils, and they likely aren't Jacques Lemaire's either. They've got maneuvering to do to get Parise signed, but once they do, Martin Brodeur has one more chance to do something special. I wouldn't bet against him, though most are prepared to suggest he's toast. The Devils are pretty unpredictable this season.
Where do the Canadiens fall in this picture?
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»