Pre-camp preview: Southeast Division
It's time to play Taps for the "Southleast Division."
The little pet name cynics found so endearing over the years is dead and buried, done in by the past two Stanley Cup champions, who just happen to come from the Southeast Division. This is home to the Carolina Hurricanes and Tampa Bay Lightning; take it seriously.
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| Alexander Semin will make a great tandem with Alexander Ovechkin in Washington. (Getty Images) |
Both the Atlanta Thrashers and Florida Panthers have tweaked their lineups and have strong playoff potential, if not outside shots at winning the division, while the Washington Capitals are slightly improved but still mainly a contender for next year's lottery pick.
The Thrashers have never made the playoffs but were good enough to get there last season. A disastrous run of injuries to their goalies ruined the season by forcing the Thrashers to use minor-leaguers for too long last year, but with budding young star Kari Lehtonen healed and ready, things should be a lot different this time around.
Further south in Florida, goalie Roberto Luongo will no longer be the center of the Panthers universe, which might be a good thing for a team with a nice blend of serviceable veterans and high-end young talent. And in Washington, there is the amazing Alexander Ovechkin, who is one of the few NHL players right now who can beat teams all by himself.
Here's a closer look, in order of last season's finish, at what each Southeast team has done since it ended.
Carolina Hurricanes: The Stanley Cup champs didn't have that much time to revel together because free-agency started less than two weeks after they won the title. It cost the Hurricanes defenseman Aaron Ward, goalie Martin Gerber and forwards Matt Cullen, Doug Weight and Mark Recchi.
That's a quarter of their Finals roster, but Weight and Recchi were trade-deadline rentals, Gerber lost his starting job and the other two were replaceable. The bigger problem for the Hurricanes heading into the new season could be the health of remaining mainstays, particularly playoff star winger Cory Stillman, who will miss about half the season because of shoulder surgery.
The good news for the Hurricanes this summer was getting Eric Staal and Erik Cole under contract quickly and adding a productive right winger in Scott Walker for Jozef Vasicek, who was injured nearly all of last season. Carolina filled a few other voids by getting John Grahame to back up Conn Smythe winner Cam Ward in goal, and forward Trevor Letowski, a one-time first-round pick.
They'll head into training with enough of the Cup team intact, but two other defenseman, Frantisek Kaberle (shoulder trouble) and Bret Hedican (thumb), have injuries that could be potential problems. If either player isn't ready for training camp or at least the start of the season, the Canes could be forced into making a move.
Tampa Bay Lightning: Their title defense came to a crashing end with an ugly first-round playoff loss to Ottawa, when coach John Tortorella made clear his disgust with the team's goaltending. So it's no surprise Tampa Bay made sure it got a new goalie.
Despite cap problems, the Bolts managed to make a trade at the draft, getting Marc Denis from Columbus for Fredrik Modin, an expendable part of their offense. Denis has been under the radar with the Blue Jackets and before that as Patrick Roy's backup in Colorado, but he's an upgrade for a team that needs it.
Tampa Bay made a few other changes, saying goodbye to defensemen Pavel Kubina and Darryl Sydor, goalie John Grahame and forward Chris Dingman, and adding defensemen Filip Kuba and Luke Richardson. And earlier they got Brad Richards re-signed, which was a key move, along with Ruslan Fedotenko.
Right now Tampa Bay looks like a slightly better team that it was, at least if Denis holds his own. The tradeoff at the blue line should be a wash, and there's always the big three of Richards, Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis.
Atlanta Thrashers: Atlanta kept Lehtonen in town this summer to oversee his conditioning, which was a problem last year when he kept getting hurt. But the Thrashers have also made sure they have better insurance between the pipes, getting seasoned veterans Johan Hedberg and Fred Brathwaite to call upon if necessary.
Atlanta couldn't match the money 97-point center Marc Savard got from Boston, so Bobby Holik slips into the No. 1 slot between Ilya Kovalchuk and Marian Hossa by default. Holik has his skills, but feeding those two big-time scorers isn't really among them. Steve Rucchin, who was signed away from the Rangers, doesn't look to be the answer either, but Niko Kapanan, obtained from Dallas in a trade for Patrik Stefan, could end up surprising people and earning the top slot.
The biggest loss along the blue line was Jaroslav Modry, but recently acquired Vitali Vishnevsky gives Atlanta the biggest hitter it has ever had on defense. The Thrashers still have the makings of a very potent offense, and their defense will be a lot better than most people realize if Lehtonen stays healthy and plays the way he is expected.
Florida Panthers: The Panthers have experimented with Chemistry 101 by trading away the face of the franchise, Roberto Luongo, and bringing in some well-known veterans with a lot of baggage. Maybe a fresh start will be a good thing for Todd Bertuzzi, and maybe Ed Belfour still has something left at 41 despite a wonky back, but it has been clear for several seasons this franchise needed something big in terms of a shakeup.
Florida played well enough to stay in the playoff hunt for most of the season but never could overcome a month of displacement last November because of Hurricane Wilma's aftermath. It's hard to argue they are better in goal with Alex Auld and Belfour now, but their defense is improved with newcomers Bryan Allen and Ruslan Salei added to the mix.
Beyond those moves, not much looks different for Florida at this point. There's leadership with the likes of Olli Jokinen, Joe Nieuwendyk, Martin Gelinas and Gary Roberts, but the key is getting the young core draftees of the past few years, players like Jay Bouwmeester, Nathan Horton, Anthony Stewart and Stephen Weiss to stay healthy and step up.
Washington Capitals: Patience is a big word in Washington these days, and not only for politicians. The Caps are still in the rebuilding stage around phenom Ovechkin, but at least they've given him a little more talent to work with this season.
Washington convinced highly touted 22-year-old Alexander Semin to come over from Russia, and the Caps traded for Montreal's Richard Zednik, so there is more scoring power. And Donald Brashear will provide muscle to keep opponents honest against Ovechkin, who actually does a pretty good job taking care of himself.
Underrated defenseman Brian Pothier came over from Ottawa and the only key player loss this summer for Washington was center Jeff Halpern, who signed as a free agent with Dallas.
