When looking at the Atlantic Division heading into the past
few seasons the Penguins, Flyers and Devils have all been looked at as teams
capable of winning the division while the New York Rangers were seen as a team
that hoping to challenge for a playoff spot.
In looking ahead to the 2011-12 season that formula might be
changing. The combination of changes
made or not made by each team and concerns about the health of key players for
Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and New Jersey, the New York Rangers might head into
the season as the favorites in the division.
The Rangers are not without their own series of questions heading into
the season, but at this point in the offseason they might have the fewest
roster questions of any team in the division.
In projecting the division today, the Atlantic might shape out something
like this…
New York Rangers:
The Rangers are not the most talented team in the division,
but they might be the most complete in all three areas of the roster. Boasting one of the NHL’s elite goaltenders
in Henrik Lundqvist, a burgeoning defensive core filled with young talent
coming into their own and an offense that added Brad Richards to help the
offensive talent level and consistency there are less holes in the Rangers path
to a division than the others in the Atlantic.
There are still plenty of question marks concerning how the forward
units will shape out, chemistry questions, whether many of the players on the
team can repeat last season’s performance and if others can rebound, but the
depth the Rangers have might be their savior in those questions. With Gaborik, Richards, Dubinsky, Callahan,
Stepan, and Boyle the Rangers have six different players who scored 20+ goals
last season along with Anisimov who had 18.
The balance they could have in goal production along with their system
which has everyone playing defensively responsible hockey should allow the team
to avoid lulls that turn into losing streaks during the year, if healthy.
New York squeaked into the playoffs last season despite a
down year from their best offensive player Marian Gaborik, despite being
without Ryan Callahan for 22 games and all the other injuries they faced. A rebound season from Gaborik, health from
Callahan and typical Brad Richards production and the Rangers offense will no
longer be their concern. Combine that
with the steady presence they get from Lundqvist, Staal and Girardi in their own
end and it could be a dangerous combination.
The biggest question left might be about the defense corps where Michael
Sauer and Ryan McDonagh had excellent rookie campaigns and need to repeat while
Michael Del Zotto attempts to get back him form and Tim Erixon looks to win a
job as a rookie.
Pittsburgh:
For most of the summer Pittsburgh should have been
considered the favorite in the division considering what Dan Bylsma managed to
get out of his team without stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in the lineup
for much of the year. However, last week
the Penguins admitted that Crosby is still having symptoms from his concussion and
while he is still training the fact that he is still having symptoms from his
January concussion(s) and so close to training camp has to be seen as a
red-flag in expectations for his performance and availability this season. Malkin coming off a reconstructed knee is no
guarantee either, but that has a much cleaner track record than
concussions. Questions about those two
and what they will produce for the Penguins this season will put pressure on
Marc-Andre Fleury to carry them as he did for long stretches last season.
Philadelphia:
The Flyers dismantling of what was once seen as the core of
their team leaves serious question marks as to what they are going to do this
season. Brayden Schenn is the best
prospect in hockey, but that does not mean he is ready to step in and fill Mike
Richards production in their lineup.
Neither is Jakub Voracek for Jeff Carter. The addition of Jaromir Jagr is interesting
to see what he has left, but relying on him as a top line player at this stage
in his career is probably unfair to Jagr.
There are also questions about the health of Chris Pronger who missed
significant stretches last season. The
Flyers improved in goal with Bryzgalov, but the level of improvement between
the pipes is not offset by what they lost, short term, offensively. In order for them to contend in the division
they will need huge seasons from Briere and Giroux who are both capable of
them, and James Van Riemsdyk is going to have to take his playoff performance
and translate it to a huge third season.
New Jersey:
The New Jersey Devils are not as bad as they were at the low
points last season and not nearly as good as the tremendous hot streak they went
on to build playoff hopes. The achilles
injury to Travis Zajac last week certainly does not help a team that was
already thin down the middle. A
motivated Ilya Kovalchuk, and Zach Parise looking to prove he is healthy and
worth a huge contract next summer are dangerous quantities to have on your
roster, but it is not enough to put the Devils into serious contention for the
division as an aging Brodeur looks to prove there is something left in the
tank.
New York Islanders:
Each season it seems that the Islanders are expected to take
another step back to respectability and then something goes horrifically wrong
and they fail again. This season their
young core is going to get even more young talent added to it in hopes of
getting back into contention for a playoff birth. Likely adding at least Nino Niederreiter and
Calvin DeHaan to John Tavares, Matt Moulson, Michael Grabner, Kyle Okposo, Mark
Streit and Travis Hamonic gives the Islanders reason for optimism about the
upcoming season. Questions remain around
their goaltending and whether the young players will transition more like
Tavares did or more like Josh Bailey who was rushed and has yet to reach that
potential. Things are looking up, but
not nearly enough to contend in the division.
