The Atlantic Division, in my opinion, is probably the most competitive of the four. It’s home to the back-to-back Stanley Cup-winning Florida Panthers, as well as both Eastern Conference wildcard teams, stealing the spots from the Metropolitan Division. Last season was a cutthroat battle to make it to the playoffs, and I fully expect this year to follow that same pattern. That being said, I’m expecting there to be a little bit of a mix-up this season. While I think the top teams will, for the most part, remain top teams, I predict the order will change following injuries and roster adjustments.
- Tampa Bay Lightning
The Lightning have been on the brink of being number one in the Atlantic Division, and, given the state of some of their rivals, this may be their year. Nikita Kucherov led the league in points last year and has the talent to increase that stat this season. Not to mention the other stars, goalie Andrei Vasilevski is an absolute brick wall, already being in the talks of the greatest goalies of history, and forwards Yanni Gourde and Jake Guentzel have been increasing in popularity as of late due to their incredible talent. Do I think they’ll win the Stanley Cup? No, I don’t, but I think that they’ll be able to really define themselves as a team to beat in future seasons.
- Florida Panthers
As the season starts, the Panthers will be missing two leaders: captain Aleksander Barkov, who will be out for more than half the season with a torn ACL, and alternate captain Matthew Tkachuk, who is in recovery following surgery to heal playoff injuries and is expected to return in December. That being said, the Panthers are not lacking in depth of talent at all, with their third line of Marchand-Luostarinen-Lundell being the highest scoring in the playoffs, and Mackie Samoskevich has shown incredible skill in the preseason and first games, not to mention their goalie, Sergei Bobrovsky, is arguably the best in the entire league. I think that they will be able to propel themselves to the top while in the absence of two of their captains, but it likely won’t be enough to overtake Tampa Bay in the end. As for their Stanley Cup chances, only four times in history has an NHL team achieved the three-peat, and quite honestly, if someone could achieve it again, it would be the Florida Panthers.
- Ottawa Senators
This one is definitely debatable, but I think that it’s long coming. Last year, we got a glimpse at how the Senators have been developing and how they were fast approaching becoming a playoff team. Their captain, Brady Tkachuk, is working overtime to make a name for himself, rather than being Keith’s son and Matthew’s brother, and his development over just last year is making him a household name. They also have notable forwards Shane Pinto, Tim Stützle, and Fabian Zetterlund, not to mention Linus Ullmark as their leading goalie. I was debating between the Sens being third or fourth, but after the changes made to Toronto during the off-season, I think that Ottawa has a fighting chance to beat them out, and if I know anything about the Senators, it’s that they love to put up a fight. That being said, I don’t think that they’ll have the juice to bring them to the Stanley Cup finals, much less win it this season. MAYBE we could talk in a few years, but the Ottawa Senators are just not good enough yet to be real cup contenders.
- Toronto Maple Leafs (Wildcard)
Where do I even begin with the Toronto Maple Leafs? Congratulations, Toronto, you drove out arguably your second-best player on the entire team, Mitch Marner. If they think that Auston Matthews and William Nylander can carry them to a cup all on their own, they’re sorely mistaken. And I do see the development of Matthew Knies helping them out, but he is nowhere near the level that Marner was. News flash, Toronto: your team hasn’t been actual cup contenders in decades, why do you think they would magically be one now? It’s a shame that Joseph Woll is developing into such a good goalie, because it doesn’t matter when their captain doesn’t inspire, and their star player is prone to temper tantrums. Is there Stanley Cup potential? Not making it past round two at most. The biggest problem with the Leafs and the playoffs is that they can’t win a game seven; it’s what kills them every time without fail.
- Detroit Red Wings (Wildcard)
This could very much be personal bias; I’m a very big Red Wings fan, but honestly, I can see the Yzerplan finally falling into place. With the addition of their new rookie trio, Michael Brandsegg-Nygård, Axel Sandin-Pellika, and Emmett Finnie, the pieces are all falling into place. It definitely helps that they also have the addition of young stars like Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond, alongside their impressive veteran trio, Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat, and Patrick Kane. Not to mention the fact that this is an important year for the Wings, with it being the Centennial and retiring the number of legend Sergei Fedorov, which I could see being a driving force for the team to succeed. They’re still developing their goalies, and while the addition of John Gibson from the Anaheim Ducks will certainly help, I don’t know if the duo of Gibson and Talbot will be able to pull it off in the long run. I’m going to say that they will make the playoffs, but they are known for choking at the end of the season; they’re not going to go far.
- Montreal Canadiens
Another one that could be debatable, but the Habs have just not impressed me. Yes, they have the most recent Calder winner, Lane Hutson, and Cole Caufield is putting up incredible stats, but it doesn’t change the fact that they really haven’t done anything too show-stopping. The addition of Noah Dobson from the New York Islanders will be interesting to see, but again I’m not sure it will equate to much. And it could be argued that making it to the playoffs in general could disprove that, when they do make it, it’s never very long-lived. Nick Suzuki is a good captain, but his team simply doesn’t have the depth to be successful, and if Detroit can put the pieces together with their young team, Montreal will be a distant dream in terms of playoff contention. I don’t think that they have enough really great players, and it will end up coming back to bite them in the end. Maybe if they make good moves during the trade deadline, they can prove me wrong, but I just don’t see it happening.
- Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are falling apart; we saw it last season, and it’s a fact that hasn’t changed. Their downfall started during the last trade deadline, when they traded away their captain, Brad Marchand, to sunny Florida, where he got better and they got worse. The worst part is, the Bruins don’t seem to notice that they’re falling apart; they think that they can genuinely get it done on the backs of Jeremy Swayman and David Pasternak, and they can’t. The only reasons why they’re placed higher than Buffalo are the fact that one, I don’t think Buffalo will do anything, and two, I think that the Centennial could have some sort of driving factor for them.
- Buffalo Sabers
Last is the Buffalo Sabers, who I’m predicting will be dead last once the regular season is over. The Buffalo Sabers are the most forgettable of the Atlantic Division, and they haven’t really done anything since they traded away their old captain, Jack Eichel, to the desert in Vegas. There’s nothing extraordinary about the Sabers; they’re backmarkers, and this is probably the one I feel most confident about. The only switch I can imagine is with the Bruins for seventh place; the Sabers aren’t going to do anything until they actually add depth of talent to their team.
