March Of The Penguins Back To Cup?

By Chad Klassen
Love of Sports Correspondent

--Northwest Division Preview
--Central Division Preview
--Pacific Division Preview
--Northeast Division Preview

The talented Atlantic Division was the best division in hockey last year.

It produced the two conference finalists, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, and four teams are legitimate playoff contenders in a relatively weak Eastern Conference this season as well.

Depending on injuries, which have already hit Steel Town hard, the Penguins, Rangers and Flyers are all good enough to take down the division.

Atlantic Division Preview

Pittsburgh Penguins
Record: 49-28-5
Division: 1st
Conference: 2nd

After suffering through the rebuilding years, the patience of drafting and developing good young players paid off last season. The Penguins cruised through the playoffs before running into a powerhouse Detroit team in the Stanley Cup Finals, eventually falling in six games.

The team, of course, boasts one of the NHL’s best players in Sidney Crosby, who enters his fourth season in the league. He had only 24 goals and 74 points last year, but it was a season highlighted by his ankle injury that forced him to miss 21 games. The previous season, he won the scoring title with 120 points to become the young player to win the Art Ross Trophy. But there’s more to the Penguins than Crosby. Even without their superstar, the team went 11-6-4 when Crosby missed time, largely thanks to Evgeni Malkin, who had his best season as a pro and emerged as a true superstar in his own right, with 47 goals and 106 points.

Joining Crosby and Malkin as the offensive weapons is Petr Sykora, who was a terrific signing last summer and paid dividend with 28 goals during his first season in Pittsburgh. Third-line centre Jordan Staal had an off year with only 12 goals, but stepped it up in the playoffs with six markers and will be looking to repeat that performance. Pittsburgh may have lost two forwards that were integral parts of its success, Marian Hossa and Ryan Malone, but GM Ray Shero quickly signed a pair of Islanders, Miroslav Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko, who both have Stanley Cup experience.

All the focus is appropriately on the firepower offensively, and it will need the Penguins sport a solid top six. Pittsburgh, though, will be minus their two top defensemen in Sergei Gonchar, who was second in the NHL in defense scoring with 65 points last season, and Ryan Whitney. Brooks Orpik will become the top guy on the blueline, bringing a much-needed physical presence to the backend In goal, Marc-Andre Fleury finally lived up to his first-overall billing, having a standout year and backstopping his team to the Stanley Cup final. As long as he can keep stopping pucks, the Penguins will be just fine.

Prediction: Despite missing two key defensemen, the same dynamic group of young players return and will help the Penguins repeat as Atlantic champs. The combination of Crosby and Malkin up front makes Pittsburgh too good.

Philadelphia Flyers
Record: 46-28-8
Division: 2nd
Conference: 4th

The Flyers had one of the greatest single-season turnarounds in NHL history last year, going from a 22-win team that were at the basement in the East to a 42-win team that made the playoffs and advanced the Eastern Conference final. GM Paul Holmgren made more than a few key offseason moves to make that happen and has build Philadelphia back up to the point where it’s among the upper-echelon teams in the East.

This is one of the more lethal teams offensively, with tremendous scoring balance on its top tow lines trying to build off the breakout year that saw six players post 20-goal seasons in Philly. The guy with the most firepower is Daniel Briere, who enters his second season after a 31-goal campaign a year ago. He gives the team a legitimate threat down the middle and will likely be paired alongside the resurgent Simon Gagne, who only played in 25 games with concussion problems. Gagne’s a two-time 40-goals scorer in the NHL that will do nothing but fill the net beside Briere, and possibly Jeff Carter, who notched 29 goals and 53 points during third season in Philadelphia. However, the team also boasts other outstanding scoring threats on the second and third lines – with the likes of Mike Knuble (29), Mike Richards (28), Scott Hartnell (24) and Joffrey Lupul (20), all of whom scored a minimum of 20 goals in 2007-08.

On the backend, the Flyers lost gritty defense Jason Smith via free agency, but still sport a top pairing of Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn, who emerged as elite defenseman in the league. But besides those two rock-solid guys, the roster’s pretty thin, pointing to why Philadelphia suffered so much without the pair in the conference finals. There’s the talented young defenseman Ryan Parent, but while gaining valuable on-ice experience during his 22-game stint with the team, he didn’t get much playing time. Goaltending, on the other hand, is a deep position with a quality one-two punch in Martin Biron and Antero Niittymaki roaming the crease. Biron’s clearly the starter and was a big reason why the Flyers advanced as far as they did in the postseason.

Prediction: The Flyers will keep the momentum going from last year and are a lock to clinch home-ice advantage in the playoffs, not to mention compete for the Atlantic. They have two top forward lines that are scoring threats at any moment and are more than qualified between the pipes with Biron.

New York Rangers
Record: 44-28-10
Division: 3rd
Conference: 5th

The Rangers have been one of the more consistently successful teams since the lockout, especially the last two seasons with consecutive appearances in the second round. GM Glen Sather went out and signed free agents to bolster his roster that looks to advance another round or two.

The team lost its leading goal scorer, Jaromir Jagr, who forfeited his spot in New York to play hockey in his homeland Czech Republic, and veteran Brendan Shanahan. But the Rangers attracted Marcus Naslund from Vancouver and Nikolai Zherdev from Columbus to replace Jagr’s 25 goals and 71 points. The former Canuck posted the same goal total, but will play in New York’s more offensive-attacking system and has much better talent surrounding him. Naslund will be receiving passes from the playmaker Scott Gomez and Zherdev on the top line, which is likely to increase his on-ice production. For his part, Zherdev had his best NHL season last year, boasting 26 goals and 61 points last season on a rebuilding Blue Jackets team. But don’t forget about Chris Drury. He had an off year in New York after scoring a career-high 37 goals for the Sabers, dropping down to 25 last season, but is still capable of putting the puck in the net.

Defensively, the Rangers have a solid core of defensemen, which was boosted by the signings of Wade Redden and Dmitri Kalinin on July 1st. Both players replace the departure of Fedor Tyutin, but are significant upgrades on the backend and will compliment guys like Michal Rozsival and Paul Mara as New York’s top blueliners. Redden played a lot of minutes in Ottawa and will likely be slotted in as one of the defenseman in the top pairing with his ability to set up plays and add the odd goal. The Rangers also sport one of the league’s top goalies in Henrik Lundquist, who was a Vezina finalist for the third straight season and has been a crucial part of the franchise’s turnaround the last couple years.

Prediction: The Rangers could challenge Pittsburgh and Philadelphia for the top in the division, but aren’t nearly as deep as the Penguins and Flyers offensively. They’ve got a great deal of depth on defense and in net, which makes New York a top team in the conference.

New Jersey Devils
Record: 45-32-5
Division: 4th
Conference: 7th

The Devils were once an elite team in the East that was always in contention, winning the Stanley Cup three times over the past 14 seasons (1995, 2000, 2003). But since the lockout, the team’s lost more than a few key players, and even with Martin Brodeur in net, is merely a playoff team.

New Jersey suffered big time with a lack of offense after losing Scott Gomez the previous summer, averaging only 2.42 goals a game. Even for a team that plays more of a defensive system, the inability to score last season was a huge concern and ultimately resulted in the first-round sweep at the hands of the Rangers. GM Lou Lamoriello signed two former Devils, Brian Rolston and Bobby Holik. Rolston and his 31 goals from Minnesota last year return to New Jersey after playing with the franchise between 1994 and 2000, while Holik’s and his 15 goals from Atlanta are back after a six-year hiatus. For his part, Rolston will be put on the top line with Brian Gionta and Zach Parise to create quite the dynamic scoring line. Parise led the Devils in scoring with 32 goals and 65 points, and while Gionta had a down year, he put the puck in the net a career-high 48 time three seasons ago. But don’t forget about Patrick Elias, who will move back to the wing and looks to rebound after a lowly 20 goals for his standard.

The backbone of the Devils’ defense is Brodeur, who’s been simply amazing during his 18-year career between the pipes. He won his fourth Vezina Trophy in the last five years with his dazzling performance a season ago, recording 44 wins and a 2.17 goals against average. But outside of Brodeur, this isn’t a great backend. New Jersey’s suffered two major losses the last number of years – Scott Niedermayer and Brian Rafalski – and haven’t been able to patch up those holes. Nothing against the new group of players, but when Colin White and Paul Martin are your go-to blueliners, it points to a pretty mediocre defensive core.

Prediction: The Devils might have taken a few steps back the last couple years, and while they play a tough division, they always have a good chance to make the playoffs with Brodeur stopping the puck in New Jersey.

New York Islanders
Record: 35-38-9
Division: 5th
Conference: 12th

You really to dig into the memory box to remember when the Islanders had a truly “great” team. While the team squeaked into the playoffs two seasons ago, New York fell flat on its face, suffering from an injury to its goalie and sporting an overall inexperienced lineup.

Offensively, this team has little notable talent and comes into the season as last year’s lowest scoring team in the NHL, only accounting for 2.20 goals per game. Mike Comrie centers the top line, but this a guy who put up only 49 points and has underachieved most of his career. Islanders signed the veteran Bill Guerin last offseason, but he scored only 23 goals and doesn’t have much help around him. New York acquired another veteran forward, Doug Weight, to help out Guerin, but the deal’s not saying much. Weight’s been plagued by injuries and inconsistencies in the latter part of his career, totaling a mere 25 points in 67 games last year. Besides those three veteran players, there’s no much to get excited about. It’s clear the Islanders are looking to the future and will give some of their younger players like Jeff Tambellini a lot more ice-time.

All playoffs hopes the Islanders might be dreaming up in their sleep rest on play of Rick DiPietro in goal. He’s easily one of the top goalies in the NHL and can single-handedly steal games for the Islanders. DiPietro was in and out of the lineup last year, with a hip injury and personal issues, but will be crucial to any kind of success in New York. Most wins that come its way will be attributed to him. 

Prediction: Even if DiPietro can remain healthy and play all 82 games, it won’t be good enough for the Islanders to compete in the division, not to mention the Eastern Conference. New York won’t even be close to the playoffs come April.