Eastern Conference Review

October 7, 2008 6:45pm CDT

Now that the exhibition games are winding down, it's time for the serious shooting off of the NHL's regular season. If fact, four Eastern Conference clubs have already got the ball rolling with four games over in Europe.

This week we will give our views on which teams have improved, which ones took a step backward and ultimately project how the Eastern clubs will finish. We will break things down by division, showing the conference rank in brackets beside each team name.

NORTHEAST DIVISION

Montreal (2)- The Habs are marking the 100th anniversary of their club history. This season they will not surprise opponents. They will again emphasize a speed game featuring skilled forwards like Alexei Kovalev and Alex Tanguay up front and have surrounded them with a number of dogged checkers like Saku Koivu that have sufficient offensive upside, as well. On defense, there is a good mix with offense from Andrei Markov and the tough presence of Mike Komisarek. Behind all of that is the rookie revelation of last season in goalie Carey Price, who will prove that last year was not a fluke.

Ottawa (4)- The Sens opted to go for an injection of character at the expense of skill level in an attempt to gain a better team focus. In goal, Martin Gerber will be the undisputed No. 1 goalie and should be improved over last season. He will benefit from a more physical blueline corps featuring Jason Smith and a top shut down duo of Anton Volchenkov and Chris Phillips. The power play quarterback role will fall to newcomer (via trade) Filip Kuba. Despite some early shuffling up front, the big line of Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley, and Daniel Alfredsson will be together. Young talent Nick Foligno and feisty veteran Jarkko Ruutu are being asked to make the Sens a more difficult opponent.

Boston (9)- The Bruins are an interesting blend of veterans and youth. But their biggest reason for optimism is the return of two players that missed most of last season due to injury. Manny Fernandez, recovered from a serious knee injury, has had a strong camp and will split duties with Tim Thomas in a fine goalie tandem. Patrice Bergeron is a gifted scorer who is over the concussion issues that plagued him. He will join Marc Savard to give the B's a top notch 1-2 punch at center. Young David Krejci and Phil Kessel are skill players who will be complemented by the toughness of Milan Lucic and conscientious play of Marco Sturm. The blueline is led by big Zdeno Chara and filled out by a pack of dependable veterans.

Buffalo (11)- It is widely noted that no team has been decimated by free agent losses over the last couple of seasons as the Sabres. They are left to pin their hopes on their former third line center Derek Roy and an injury prone Tim Connolly to pace the top two scoring lines. Roy proved he is capable with an 81-point year last season. The jury is still out with Connolly. With Tomas Vanek, Ales Kotalik and Jason Pominville, they do have some quality on the wings. They would be a more serious contender if Maxim Afinogenov can rebound from a terrible performance last season (10 goals, 16 assists). The defense is made up of solid, not spectacular, types like Jaroslav Spacek and Toni Lydman. In goal, Ryan Miller will need to duplicate his career-best 07-08 season.

Toronto (13)- The Leafs have stripped their roster of several big names and contracts as a first step toward rebuilding... again. The surprise of training camp is rookie Luke Schenn, who has been very impressive and will start the year in Toronto. Up front, Niklas Hagman, Mikhail Grabovski and Jiri Tlusty excelled during camp and will form a potentially dynamic scoring unit. Some of the returning young veterans, like Nik Antropov and Alex Steen, need to show they can take the next step toward maturing as team leaders. Tomas Kaberle and Pavel Kubina headline a defensive unit will be improved with the additions of Mike Van Ryn and Jeff Finger. Vesa Toskala will be a workhorse in goal and needs to play like the team's MVP.

ATLANTIC DIVISION

Philadelphia (1)- The retooling of the Flyers is now almost complete and they have a lot of talent to show for it. They have three skilled pivots in Mike Richards, Daniel Briere and Jeff Carter to give them strength down the middle. A pool of tough two-way wingers, which includes Joffrey Lupul and Scott Hartnell, is further bolstered by the return of healthy sniper Simon Gagne to form what should be one of the league's best offenses. Kimmo Timmonen will be joined by Braydon Coburn as the top offensive defensemen with Steve Eminger and Randy Jones in a second solid pairing. Martin Biron will shoulder the load in goal and will put up solid numbers backstopping a talented Flyers' squad.

New Jersey (5)-The Devils have always been known as a strong defensively focused team. This year they will fool opponents who do not respect an offense that is a good blend of veterans, like Jamie Langenbrunner and Brian Gionta, along with youngsters Zach Parise and Travis Zajac. The addition of Brian Rolston means another well-rounded forward is on board. The defense is not star-studded but does include solid puck-movers like Paul Martin and Johnny Oduya. Veterans Colin White and Bryce Salvador will make life miserable for opposing forwards again. After that, all-world goalie Martin Brodeur is still among the best active goalies and is on the verge of a few career records.

Pittsburgh (6)- The Stanley Cup finalists have been dealt a bad hand to start the year, as their top two rearguards Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney are both out with injuries for at least the first two moths of the year. Top blueline minutes will be passed on to Brooks Orpik and Kris Letang in their absence. Superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin will pace the offense to be sure. How well the Pens perform will depend heavily on the contributions of new Penguins Miro Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko, who start the year as top six forwards. Goalie Marc Andre Fleury will be asked to duplicate his fine '07-08 season and playoff. .

NY Rangers (10)- The Rangers offense will look different this season, as Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan are gone and Markus Naslund and Nikolai Zherdev are added to the lineup. In our view, that leaves a team that had trouble scoring last season with the same issue this season. The Blueshirts will look for the development of Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky to help boost their surprisingly challenged offense. Wade Redden is a "big name" addition to the blueline, but many feel that his career is in decline. Fellow defenders Michal Rozsival and Dan Girardi will not likely duplicate career years from last season. Thankfully, in Henrik Lundqvist, they have one of the top goalies in the league, who will win games almost by himself.

NY Islanders (14)- The Isles did little to offset the defection of free agents Miroslav Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko, further depleting one of last season's weakest offenses. Highly touted rookie power forward Kyle Okposo is tabbed as a first line winger to play alongside Mike Comrie and Bill Guerin. After that, veterans Doug Weight and Mike Sillinger are the only credible sources of reliable scoring among the forwards. Mark Streit will be asked to bolster a talented but injury prone defense. Chris Campoli is offensively skilled, as well, but will miss some time with an undisclosed injury to start the season. Defensive hardrocks Brendan Witt and Andy Sutton will keep opponents heads up. Rick DiPietro will have to be heroic, in goal, for this Isles' team to be competitive.

SOUTHEAST DIVISION

Washington-(3)- Alexander Ovechkin and defenseman Mike Green led the Caps to a Division title last year. They have added a rejuvenated Jose Theodore to be their top goalie. Offensively they expect to be much deeper as their captain, Chris Clark, has had a great camp and looks to regain his 30-goal form from the '06-07 season. In addition, Michael Nylander and Alexander Semin are also healthy and very capable scorers who hope to avoid their injury-plagued prior season. The big question mark will be the quality of their defense. Beyond Green, Tom Poti has an offensive upside. After that, veteran Brian Pothier hopes to shake his own concussion woes and rejoin Shaone Morrison on the shutdown defensive pairing.

Carolina (7)- The 'Canes head into this season with the most talented rearguard in recent club history. Joni Pitkanen and Joe Corvo will be the backbone of the power play unit. Veteran Frantisek Kaberle has a solid all-around game and is a capable offensive contributor. Tim Gleason has established himself as a top defensive defenseman on this roster. Offensively, Carolina has to feel confident that Rod Brind'Amour is ready to start the season after completing an arduous rehabilitation from last year's knee injury. He will combine with budding superstar Eric Staal as the focal points up front. They will also count on the continued resurgence of Sergei Samsonov and the steady play of Ray Whitney. In goal, Cam Ward is widely underrated, but if healthy he will approach the 35-40 win mark again.

Tampa Bay (8)- Not many teams overhauled their rosters as much as the Lightning this offseason. They expect their first overall draft pick, Steven Stamkos, to step right in and produce as the second lie center. They signed a pair of big, scoring forwards Vaclav Prospal and Ryan Malone and added the fleet Radim Vrbata from the free agent pool, too. Their addition to the dynamic dup of Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis gives the offense much more diversity. The makeover is just as pronounced on defense and inn goal. Andrej Mezsaros and Matt Carle were brought in to help Paul Ranger provide scoring support from the back end. In goal, Olaf Kolzig brings his veteran savvy to the mix in tandem with Mike Smith. It is expected that they will start out by dividing netminding duties

Florida (12)- The Panthers have reinvented much of their defense in the offseason. First, they traded away Captain Olli Jokinen in exchange for Nick Boynton and Keith Ballard, two young and experienced defenders. Then they acquired Brian McCabe in a separate deal. They will join incumbent star Jay Bouwmeester on a pretty solid quartet. Panthers' goalie Tomas Vokoun posted a 2.68 goals against average behind an inferior unit last season. Offensively, the key will be for Nathan Horton to assume the team leadership role and for the likes of David Booth and Stephen Weiss to take up even more of the load than last year. They will also benefit from the steady input of veteran Corey Stillman. Even so, this is a pretty thin offensive lineup.

Atlanta (15)- The Thrashers added middling forwards Colby Armstrong and Eric Christensen in the Marian Hossa deadline deal late last year to give them more grit. They followed that up with the signing of an offensively inclined defender (Ron Hainsey) and veteran international Ilya Nikulin to strengthen an ordinary blueline collection. Among the forwards, they will hope that Ilya Kovalchuk, their lone sniper, plays with the same fire as he showed at the World Hockey Championships. They would also like to see former high draft, the diminutive Bryan Little, make the leap into a top two line forward to take up part of the scoring load. In goal, Kari Lehtonen will again have to be formidable for Atlanta to compete game in and game out.