Northeast | Pacific
Third part in six-part series
For the last couple of seasons the Atlantic Division has sent four of its five teams to the playoffs. It's a distinction no one else can claim and some evidence to support those who claim this is the NHL's toughest division.
That's debatable, although there's little doubt the reigning Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins are the class of the Atlantic right now. Pittsburgh has spent the summer so far tweaking more than anything, but with its kind of talent, little else is necessary.
In the meantime, last season's division champs from New Jersey have taken a similar approach, perhaps more because of circumstances than design, while the last-place New York Islanders remain committed to the notion of having their young talent go through a patient, if sometimes painful, growing process. The Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers though are in a much greater hurry and have made big splashes so far to prove it.
A graded look at the off-season activity of Atlantic Division teams in order of last year's finish.
New Jersey Devils
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| The Penguins are the toast of the offseason simply by keeping core guys like Bill Guerin. (Getty Images) |
Pittsburgh Penguins
It took the Penguins more than half a season, a coaching change and a couple of understated tweaks at the trade deadline to get up to speed, but once they did there was no stopping them. What should really scare the rest of the league is that Pittsburgh is so young and so well managed that the Penguins could be on the verge of becoming a dynasty. Especially now that they're coming into a lot more money. Pittsburgh has just announced a sellout of all its suites and luxury boxes for its new building, the one that doesn't open until next season. The Penguins have already gone two years without an empty seat at home and they have their core superstar strength down the middle -- centers Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury -- all locked up for several years. And Pittsburgh still has enough cap flexibility to keep the support group around them strong. The Penguins haven't been extremely active this offseason, but they found a way to bring back Bill Guerin, Ruslan Fedotenko and Craig Adams from the Cup team and to fill some of the gap left by Hal Gill and Rob Scuderi on defense by signing Jay McKee. Grade: A
Philadelphia Flyers
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The Flyers really wanted to get defenseman Jay Bouwmeester from the Florida Panthers. Philly begged at the trade deadline and pleaded leading up to the draft, only to come up short both times. Instead, Philadelphia ended up getting Chris Pronger and could end up a lot better off. Pronger cost the Flyers a lot in young talent and draft picks, but nothing that could undermine their chances of winning in the near future. Then Philadelphia signed Pronger to a long-term extension, adding his physical dimension and offensive talent to a very good defense that already features Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn. This is the kind of move that could alter the dynamics for the Flyers against division powerhouse Pittsburgh and conference powers Washington and Boston because the sure-to-be Hall of Famer Pronger is still at the top of his game as he approaches age 35. And especially because the Flyers have forwards who can produce a lot of offense. However the natural concern in Philadelphia always seems to be in goal and there are plenty of cynics questioning the decision to bring back attitude challenged Ray Emery from Russia. Brian Boucher is back too, and Ian Laperriere will replace some of the sandpaper lost by Mike Knuble's departure, but Philadelphia has some tough cap issues to deal with. The Flyers are actually over the limit as allowed in the summer, and still have several roster holes to fill. Grade: A
New York Rangers
Apparently Rangers GM Glen Sather does still have a couple of tricks left up his sleeve. How else to explain his ability to turn Scott Gomez's disastrous contract into a potentially brilliant one for Marian Gaborik? Somehow Sather convinced the Montreal Canadiens to take Gomez and the $35 million left on the center's contract off his hands and then used the cash to sign the free agent Gaborik. The Rangers picked up a good and inexpensive young forward in Chris Higgins and highly touted prospect Ryan McDonagh as well in the Gomez deal. But Gaborik is the kind of gamebreaker New York has missed since Jaromir Jagr's first season there and the type of player that coach John Tortorella craves. Gaborik is a risk because of his propensity to get injured, but he has a clean bill of health and the numbers he puts up when he's not hurting can be remarkable. The Rangers need much more offense, especially with the man advantage to be taken seriously, and Gaborik has to be an important piece. So do the other newcomers Ales Kotalik and Enver Lisin, because New York will have at least nine new faces on its roster and right now no one who is an obvious choice to quarterback the extremely problematic power play. Grade: B+
New York Islanders
The Isles believe that Rick DiPietro will be back in goal for them one day. At least they say they do, but just in case they went out and signed two former No. 1 goalies who were free agents this summer to hold down the fort while their franchise guy recovers from his latest injury setback. No one knows for sure how long that will take, so in the meantime, 40-year-old Dwayne Roloson and Martin Biron will be responsible for keeping New York in games. It's not a bad combination and it's practical since the two combined will earn less this year than DiPietro is paid annually on his 15-year contract. Still, chances are the Islanders won't be much better than last season, although they should at least be worth watching more often because of rookie phenom John Tavares. The Islanders resisted several overtures to trade the first overall pick, instead taking a player who has had his career scrutinized in Canada since he was 14. Tavares is the highest scorer in the history of Ontario junior league hockey and has managed to create an impressive amount of local buzz around a franchise that has struggled as much as this one in recent seasons. He'll be joining a team that has several recent high draft picks who are being allowed to grow together without the pressure of having to win just yet. Grade: B
