For the next four weeks on Thursdays, Sports World News will preview the 2014-15 NHL season with a division-by-division look into what fans can expect when the National Hockey League returns for another season of action in October. Last week, we looked at the Metropolitan Division and this week we finish off the Eastern Conference by delving into the Atlantic Division.
Metropolitan Division Preview And Predictions
The Atlantic Division sent four teams to the playoffs last year and has seen a lot of personnel changes heading into the new campaign which could see some surprises. Here is a team-by-team preview of what to expect this season in the Atlantic Division in order of how the teams finished in 2013-14.
Note: All projected line combinations are courtesy of NHL.com.
Red Wings Forward Pavel Datsyuk Feels Healthy Heading Into 2014-15
Boston Bruins (54-19-9, 117 points in 2013-14): The Bruins once again come into a season where they are one of the favorites in the Eastern Conference, let alone the Atlantic Division. Boston had a solid regular season and was able to oust the Detroit Red Wings in the first round of the playoffs before falling to the Montreal Canadiens in Round 2 in seven games.
The second-round ouster is still fresh on the minds of the Bruins, but after a long summer of healing injuries, the team comes into 2014-15 with great expectations despite a rather quiet offseason that was only really notable for the departure of Jarome Iginla, who went to the Colorado Avalanche after tying for the team lead with 30 goals last season..
The Bruins offense is built around two strong centers in David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron, who finished first and second on the team last season with 69 and 62 points respectively. Krejci led the entire NHL with a plus-39 ranking last year while Bergeron (plus-38) was second and Brad Marchand (plus-36) was third.
Bergeron (30-32--62 in 2013-14) is projected to center the top line that is anchored by Marchand (25-28--53) on the left and restricted free agent Reilly Smith (20-31--51) on the right. Krejci (19-50--69) will center the No. 2 line that consists of Milan Lucic (24-35--59) and Loui Eriksson (10-27--37), who will look to stay healthy.
Defensively, the top pair of Zdeno Chara and Dougie Hamilton is a potent mix while Dennis Seidenberg, who should be fully recovered from MCL/ACL surgery, and Johnny Boychuk round out the top four. Torey Krug is still awaiting a new contract, but will slot next to Matt Bartkowski to round out the defense.
In net, Tuukka Rask returns after leading the NHL with seven shutouts last season and ranking second with a .930 save percentage and fourth with a 2.04 goals-against average.
The Bruins could very well be the deepest team in the NHL heading into 2014-15. With essentially two top lines, a solid defensive group and a rock like Rask in net, Boston will be a force to be reckoned with in the Atlantic Division.
Tampa Bay Lightning (46-27-9, 101 points): The Lightning had a very successful regular season in 2013-14, but the team ran out of gas in the postseason and was haunted by an injury to goaltender Ben Bishop. The injury to Tampa Bay's last line of defense ended up being costly as it was swept out of the opening round by the Montreal Canadiens.
Bishop was third in the league with 37 wins last season and ranked tied for third in the NHL with five shutouts while posting a .924 save percentage and a 2.23 GAA.
The Lightning didn't show any signs of struggle when captain Steven Stamkos missed a great chunk of time with a serious leg injury last season, but the team will be looking forward to having a fully healthy Stamkos back after he put up 40 points in 37 games while ranking tied for second on the team with 25 goals and adding 15 assists.
Stamkos is projected to center the top line for the Lightning along with highly touted 2013 NHL Draft pick Jonathan Drouin and Tyler Johnson (24-26--50), who had a very strong first full season in the NHL a year ago.
Valtteri Filppula is slated to anchor the team's second line at center and will likely be flanked by Ondrej Palat (23-36--59), who enters his second full season and Ryan Callahan (17-19--36), whom the team acquired at the trade deadline last season and subsequently gave a six-year extension to.
Tampa Bay has a lot of intriguing young forwards as on top of Calder Trophy candidates in Palat and Johnson from a year ago, Alex Killorn and Nikita Kucherov should continue to progress after impressing in 2014-15.
The Lightning brought in a lot of veterans to help out with the young talent both on offense and defense and one of those experienced players includes Anton Stralman, who the team acquired out of free agency and is likely to pair with Victor Hedman on the top defensive unit.
Hedman led the Lightning with 42 assists last season. Matthew Carle and Radko Gudas are slated to round out the top four on the Tampa Bay blueline.
Tampa Bay has a solid mix of experienced veterans and young players with a lot of energy and could pose a threat in the Atlantic Division this season. With heart-and-soul players like Callahan, highly-talented young forwards like Johnson and Palat and a healthy Steven Stamkos along with a recovering Bishop, the Lightning have a chance to be highly competitive this season in the NHL.
Montreal Canadiens (46-28-8, 100 points): The Canadiens are coming off of a very successful season that saw the team finish in third place in the Atlantic Division en route to an Eastern Conference Final appearance, where the team was ultimately ousted by the New York Rangers.
Montreal's great playoff run included a dominating sweep over the Lightning, who as mentioned above were playing without Bishop, and then a shocking seven-game victory over the powerhouse Bruins.
If not for a goaltending injury of their own in Carey Price, the Canadiens may have gotten even further than they did in 2013-14. Dustin Tokarski filled in admirably, but Montreal ultimately fell to New York in six games.
The Canadiens announced this week that that forwards Max Pacioretty and Tomas Plekanec and defenseman Andrei Markov and P.K. Subban will all be alternate captains on the team this season and no one will don the 'C' now that Brian Gionta departed for the Buffalo Sabres after spending four seasons as Montreal's captain.
Gionta's departure and the loss of other key veterans was a big indication that the Canadiens plan on having their young core and younger veterans take the next step as leaders of the team after gaining a wealth of experience with the success of 2013-14.
Heading into 2014-15, Plekanec (20-23--43) is slated to center a top line consisting of Alex Galchenyuk (13-18--31) on the left and new import P.A. Parenteau (14-19--33 last season with the Avalanche) on the right.
Pacioretty will be the left wing on the second line after finishing fourth in the entire NHL with 39 goals last season along with a team-best 60 points while adding 21 assists. David Desharnais (16-36--52) and Brendan Gallagher (19-22--41) are set to round out Montreal's top-six.
Markov will serve as a veteran on the team's blueline and will be paired with fellow alternate captain Subban, who signed a $72 million extension. Subban led the Canadiens with 14 points in the playoffs and 43 assists in the regular season last year. The pair of Alexei Emelin and Tom Gilbert is also sure to log some big minutes.
Price will serve as the last line of defense for Montreal after going 34-20-5 and ranking fourth in the league with a .927 save percentage while adding a 2.32 GAA last year.
The Canadiens are a young team on the rise and are out to prove that last year wasn't a fluke. With Subban and Markov flanking a solid defense, Price coming off of a great year that was derailed by injury and a top-six that includes the fourth highest goal-scorer in the league in Pacioretty, there is a lot of reason for optimism in Montreal this season.
Detroit Red Wings (39-28-15, 93 points): The Red Wings had to limp to get there, but they clinched the 23rd consecutive playoff berth for the franchise last season before bowing out in the first round in five games to the Bruins. The team is hopeful that a nice blend of veterans and youth will help it get a 24th straight berth and even deeper into the spring.
Detroit had a quiet offseason as far as arrivals are concerned, but it also parted ways with some veteran players. The team will rely on the veteran leadership of guys like Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall when healthy while young players such as Tomas Tatar, Gustav Nyquist and others will also be relied upon.
Datsyuk (17-20--37) and Zetterberg (16-32--48) each played just 45 games last year due to their health issues, but for Detroit to go far they'll need these guys to stay in the lineup. As of now, they're penciled in to fill the top-line role for Detroit on Opening Night and the team hopes that it will be able to count on them for more than just 45 games.
Nyquist, 25, has played 97 games over the last three seasons and after a promising 2013-14 where he netted a team-best 28 goals and added 20 assists for 48 points, he could find himself alongside Datsyuk and Zetterberg on the top line.
After a successful first full season in a Detroit sweater in 2013-14, Tatar (19-20--39) is slated to play on the left side of the team's second line that is expected to be centered by Stephen Weiss (2-2--4), who will look to bounce back from a disappointing, injury plagued first season in Detroit and anchored by veteran Johan Franzen (16-25--41) on the right.
It remains to be seen if Daniel Alfredsson, who tied for the team lead with 49 points in his first season with the Red Wings last year, will decide his back is healthy enough for him to return, though news broke he may not be at training camp.
On defense, Kronwall, who tied Alfredsson for a team-best 49 points and also paced Detroit with 41 assists, will pair up with Jonathan Ericsson on the team's top unit while the second combo is slated to be Brenan Smith and Danny DeKeyser, who is still awaiting a new contract.
The Red Wings will have to hope that Jimmy Howard starts to live up to his long-term contract extension after posting his worst save percentage (.910) since 2010-11 while going 21-19-11 and adding a 2.66 GAA.
The Red Wings have a great blend of veterans and youth, but they'll need guys like Zetterberg and Datsyuk to be healthy if they don't want to be faced with having to back into the playoffs again. The team will also need Nyquist to prove last year's production wasn't a fluke and hope to get Weiss going if it is to compete in the Atlantic Division. Howard's play between the pipes also needs to improve if Detroit is to get back to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2009.
Ottawa Senators (37-31-14, 88 points): The Senators are coming off of a season where they finished in fifth place in the Atlantic Division and missed the postseason for the first time in three seasons. Ottawa is hopeful that its young centers and new imports will help lead it back to the playoffs after a step backwards last season.
The Senators enter play without their captain after a July trade that sent Jason Spezza to the Dallas Stars in exchange for forward Alex Chiasson and some prospects. As mentioned above, Ottawa lost Alfredsson last offseason to the Red Wings and will now have to address the vacancy once again.
While the Senators have plenty of young centers like Kyle Turris, they also brought in veteran center David Legwand out of free agency to help guide some of the team's youth. Legwand will likely fill a bottom-six role.
Turris is slated to center the top line after leading the team in goals (26) and leading all forwards that are currently with the team in assists (32) and points (58) in 2013-14. Turris will likely be anchored by Clarke MacArthur (24-31--55) on the left and Bobby Ryan (23-25--48) on the right.
Rounding out the top-six, Mika Zibanejad, 21, the sixth pick in the 2011 NHL Draft (16-17--33) is projected to center the second line that will consist of Milan Michalek (17-22--39) and Chiasson (13-22--35).
Ottawa's defense still runs through all-world blueliner Erik Karlsson, who led the team with 54 assists and 74 points last season while adding 20 goals. Karlsson and Marc Methot will likely serve as the top defensive pairing for the Senators this season. Karlsson will lock the down the most minutes, so he'll likely get playing time with every defenseman.
In net, there could be a bit of a goaltending battle between Craig Anderson and Robin Lehner as Lehner is expected to progress into a No. 1 goaltender down the line.
Anderson went 25-16-8 last season when healthy with an alarming 3.00 GAA and a .911 save percentage while Lehner wasn't much better, going 12-15-6 with a 3.06 GAA and a .913 save percentage. Anderson will likely continue to be the No. 1 but could potentially lose the job if he falters.
The Senators have a lot of exciting young players and a strong defense anchored by Karlsson, but they could lack the depth to get back to the postseason this year while their goaltending issues will definitely have to get fixed if they are to make a deep run.
Toronto Maple Leafs (38-36-8, 84 points): After ending a seven-year playoff drought in 2012-13 and losing a heart-wrenching first-round series to the Boston Bruins, the Maple Leafs failed to make the postseason in 2013-14 and have seen a lot of departures and new arrivals heading into 2014-15.
The Maple Leafs brought in Brendan Shanahan to serve as their president and alternate governor as they look to avoid the same struggles that hampered them last season -- including dropping 12 of their last 14 games down the stretch.
Phil Kessel was the best player on Toronto last season, leading the team with 37 goals, 43 assists and 80 points, and he'll be back on the right wing of the team's top line that is projected to feature Tyler Bozak (19-30--49) at center and James van Riemsdyk (30-31--61) on the left wing.
The second line is projected to feature promising young center Nazem Kadri (20-30--50) centering a line that will be flanked by Joffrey Lupul (22-22--44) and David Clarkson, who will look to bounce back from a disappointing first season in Toronto where the former 30-goal scorer went just 5-6--11 in 60 games.
The Leafs brought in David Booth, Daniel Winnik and a few other forwards to round out the lineup this season.
The defense still runs through captain Dion Phaneuf, who led the team with a 23:33 time on ice per game in 2013-14. Phaneuf is slated to slot on the left side of newcomer Stephane Robidas on the team's top pairing while Jake Gardiner and Cody Franson, who led all Maple Leafs blueliners with 33 points last season, will round out the top-four. Roman Polak was also brought in to help the defense.
In net, Jonathan Bernier returns to the crease after going 26-19-7 with a 2.68 GAA and .923 save percentage while the Maple Leafs have said that James Reimer will have a chance to compete for the starting job as well despite his struggles a season ago.
The Maple Leafs have a lot of talent within their top-six forwards, but any injuries or a slow start for any of them could be a dagger to their season. On defense, the pairing of Phaneuf and Robidas should be a solid one as young guns Gardiner and Franson also give fans reason for confidence in the blueline. Bernier will likely win the goaltending battle and he was solid enough last season that it is believable this team can reach the postseason again in 2014-15.
Florida Panthers (29-45-8, 66 points): The Panthers had a rough campaign last season, finishing in seventh place in the Atlantic Division and missing the playoffs for the second straight season and the team hopes that new coach Gerard Gallant will help the team turn it around.
The Panthers have some solid young talent and brought in a group of veterans out of free agency as well as the team has brought in forwards Jussi Jokinen and Dave Bolland, whose $27.5 million pact was highly criticized along with defenseman Willie Mitchell.
Jokinen (21-36--57) is projected to play on the top line that will likely be centered by Aleksander Barkov (8-16--24) and Brad Boyes, who led the team with 21 goals in 2013-14 and added 15 assists for 36 points.
The second line is likely to be flanked at center by Nick Bjugstad, who led the team with 38 points last season on 16 tallies and 22 helpers. Bjugstad is slated to play between Jonathan Huberdeau (9-19--28), who will look to bounce back from a disappointing sophomore season after a breakout rookie campaign, and Scottie Upshall (15-22--37).
On defense, Brian Campbell who led the team with 30 assists last season will likely form the top pairing alongside Dimitry Kulikov while Mitchell will slot alongside Erik Gudbranson on the second unit.
In net, Florida turns to Roberto Luongo, who went 6-7-1 in 14 games with the Panthers after being acquired last spring along with a 2.46 GAA and a .924 save percentage.
With a sure-fire No.1 goalie in Luongo and top young centers like Barkov and Bjugstad developing, the Panthers could turn it around after last year's rough season -- especially if Huberdeau returns to his Calder Trophy-winning form from 2012-13. Still, the team may not have enough weapons to end their playoff drought though the development of their young players this season will give many Panthers fans reason for optimism in the next few years.
Buffalo Sabres (21-51-10, 52 points): After a season that saw the Sabres finish with the worst record in the NHL and only score 150 non-shootout goals, there was a major offseason overhaul in Buffalo as the team looks to end its three-year playoff drought.
The Sabres dropped a few players and brought in a lot of free agents such as forwards Matt Moulson and Rochester native Brian Gionta and defenseman Andrej Meszaros and Josh Gorges to play for Ted Nolan in his first full season behind the bench after being brought in last November.
Moulson (23-28--51 in 2013-14 with three different teams) will find himself on the left wing of the top line that is set to be anchored by center Cody Hodgson, who led the team with 44 points off of 20 goals and 24 assists last season, and right wing Drew Stafford (16-18--34).
No. 2 draft pick Sam Reinhart could very well find himself centering the top line this season in Buffalo and he is projected to be flanked by Tyler Ennis, who led the team with 21 goals and signed a five-year $23 million extension on the right and Chris Stewart (15-11--26) on the left.
Gionta, the captain for the Canadiens the last four years, will take a leadership role and will likely play on the third line with promising young center Zemgus Girgensons.
On defense the Sabres lost veteran components such as Henrik Tallinder and Christian Ehrhoff, Gorges is likely to fill a top spot on the left of Tyler Myers and the two will log the most minutes while Meszaros may find himself in the third pairing.
With long time goalie Ryan Miller gone and the carousel of goaltenders passing through last year, Michal Neuvirth and Jhonas Enroth will battle it out for starting duties.
The Sabres brought in some solid veterans to provide leadership to the young talent. The young core should continue to progress and while it may not transfer to postseason success just yet, Buffalo may be able to crawl out of the basement this season.
Here are Sports World News' projected standings in 2014-15 for the Atlantic Division:
1) Boston Bruins
2) Montreal Canadiens
3) Detroit Red Wings
4) Tampa Bay Lightning
5) Toronto Maple Leafs
6) Ottawa Senators
7) Florida Panthers
8) Buffalo Sabres
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