Hello and welcome to our yearly installment of the Atlantic Division Preview. The Buffalo Sabres have a big challenge in front of them as they look break a playoff drought that is about to go into its teenage years. With a roster fresh off the heels of a playoff push, the organization hasn't been this well set up to push for the postseason in quite awhile, but the Atlantic Division has seen some major shakeup in the offseason.
This could finally be the year they get over the hump, but let’s take a look at the division as a whole, in order of how I think the final standings will fall.
1. Toronto Maple Leafs (Y)
Top Players: Auston Matthews Mitch Marner, William Nylander, John Tavares, Morgan Rielly
Key Additions: Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi, John Klingberg, Ryan Reaves
Key Subtractions: Ryan O'Reilly, Michael Bunting, Luke Schenn, Noel Acciari, Alex Kerfoot, Justin Holl
X-Factors: Matthew Knies, Joseph Woll
As much as we like to clown on the Toronto “Maple Laughs” in the city of Buffalo, it cannot be ignored that they’ve been consistently dominant in the regular season over the past few years. The “Core 4” in Matthews (freshly extended to a league-high deal), Tavares, Marner, and Nylander are going to look to pick up right where they left off as the Leafs finally broke the NHL’s longest active playoff series win drought (passing that honor to…the Buffalo Sabres).
Offensively this team has been lights out, consistently burying the puck night in and night out. Defensively, they aren’t too shabby either, with Morgan Reilly and co. making up a fairly solid blue line. However, the addition of defensive black hole John Klingberg could be cause for concern, and it does look as though Jake Muzzin’s career is over which is a brutal loss. Samsonov and Woll should make up a competent goaltender duo as well, so as much as it pains me to say, I think they will persevere and take the Atlantic division crown. Although playoff success still TBD.
2. Tampa Bay Lightning (X)
Top Players: Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Victor Herman, Andrei Vasilevskiy
Key Additions: Conor Sheary, Luke Glendening, Tyler Motte
Key Subtractions: Alex Killorn, Ross Colton, Corey Perry, Pat Maroon
X-Factors: Tanner Jeannot, Jonas Johansson
The Tampa Bay Lightning are always a team to keep an eye out for in a race for the top of the Atlantic division. I couldn’t name you an organization that has had more success in the past few years than Tampa Bay, but I don’t believe that this season will be as smooth sailing as in previous years for them.
They have already lost franchise goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy to a back injury for the beginning of the season, meaning they will be starting Sabres legend Jonas Johansson in net to start the year. However, a few bumps in the road should not stop the Lightning from continuing to prove who they are and have been. The star power of Stamkos, Kucherov, Hedman, Sergachev, Point should still push the Lightning to a comfortable second seed in the Atlantic division, reinstating the fact that they’re still one of the top-dogs in the East.
3. Florida Panthers (X)
Top Players: Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Reinhart, Aaron Ekblad, Brandon Montour
Key Additions: Evan Rodrigues, Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Key Subtrations: Anthony Duclair, Alex Lyon
X-Factors: Spencer Knight, Anton Lundell
The Florida Panthers are coming off a Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup finals, only falling short to the Jack Eichel-led Las Vegas Golden Knights. This exciting run came with a cost, however, as the Panthers will be without stud defensemen Aaron Ekblad and playoff point machine Brandon Montour to start the regular season. Additionally, it seems as if key contributor Sam Bennett will miss some time to start the season as well.
I had actually considered putting them lower on this list, even out of a playoff picture, but I think this roster is still far too talented to miss. Especially when you got a guy like Matthew Tkachuk up front, who is a top three player in the league for me right now, and Aleksander Barkov bolstering the top of the lineup. The Panthers also have fantastic depth in Carter Verhaeghe and Anton Lundell to go along with their other forwards, featuring some Sabres legends in Sam Reinhart, Evan Rodrigues, and even Rasmus Asplund; they even signed Dmitri Kulikov!. To top it all off, it looks as though officer Bobrovsky is back on the case and living up to the eight-figure contract he signed after having a fantastic postseason.
In my opinion, the Florida Panthers are number three and will grab the last divisional spot in the Atlantic.
4. Buffalo Sabres (WC1)
Top Players: Tage Thompson, Rasmus Dahlin, Jeff Skinner, Alex Tuch, Dylan Cozens
Key Additions: Connor Clifton, Erik Johnson
Key Subtractions: Craig Anderson, Vinnie Hinostroza
X-Factors: Devon Levi, JJ Peterka, Zach Benson, Jordan Greenway
At number four in the division and breaking the longest active playoff drought in the NHL, we have the Buffalo Sabres sneaking into a wildcard spot. This has been a long time coming for the Sabres and their fans, and I believe they finally have the roster to get them over the hump.
Tage Thompson is poised for another tremendously productive year and the rest of the Sabres forwards group will look to follow his lead. Especially 18-year-old, 2023 13th overall pick Zach Benson who has defied the odds and made the team out of training camp. The team does come with its obvious question marks though. The big one being the goaltending situation, as it’s looking like the Sabres will carry three goalies for the start of the regular season. Levi will be the #1 with Comrie and UPL fighting for the #2, but things can always change quickly. Levi is still very young, UPL is notoriously hot and cold, and Comrie has his ups and downs as well. They need to figure out who’s hot and who’s not before the season spirals.
Then there's the defense, which needs no real introduction. The Sabres are mostly hoping that improvement from Power and Samuelsson, along with the additions of Connor Clifton and Erik Johnson to bolster the depth can help alleviate some of the defensive struggles that persisted throughout last season.
However, the good far outweighs the bad for this team and they will be a force in this league for years to come. They are young, hungry, and ready to win right now. As newly extended, franchise defenseman, Rasmus Dahlin put it, “win with us, or watch us win.”.
5. Ottawa Senators (WC)
Top Players: Timothy Stützle, Brady Tkachuk, Claude Giroux, Thomas Chabot, Jakob Chychrun
Key Additions: Vladimir Tarasenko, Jonas Korpisalo, Dominik Kubalik
Key Subtrations: Alex DeBrincat, Cam Talbot
X-Factors: Drake Batherson, Jake Sanderson, Ridley Greig, Anton Forsberg
We have now reached the final playoff team on this list. This honor will go to the Ottawa Senators. This offseason was another classic “summer of Pierre” like no other and what I mean by that is... a rollercoaster.
They dealt Alex DeBrincat (who made it clear that he wanted no part of the organization long-term) for Dominik Kubalik and more, but then turned around and used that newly freed up cap space to sign long-time St. Louis Blue Vladimir Tarasenko, along with inking Jonas Koripsalo to a 5 year deal. Dorian then capped off his offseason by extending their franchise defenseman Jake Sanderson to an eight-year deal.
However, in some very unfortunate news, they will be starting the season without Josh Norris, who had only played eight games last year, to another injury related to his past one. Even worse, they’re in such a cap crunch currently, that they can’t sign their young center Shane Pinto to a contract both sides agree on, that would only be reportedly around $2.5 million...woof.
However, with all the craziness in the Sens organization, this team is not to be taken lightly. Claude Giroux and Timothy Stützle are forces up front, and they have Jakob Chychrun, Thomas Chabot, and the aforementioned Jake Sanderson on the back end. This team could make some waves this season, but for now, I have them just squeaking into the playoffs snagging the second wild card spot given the losses they are potentially dealing with to start. Only up from here for the Sens…right?
6. Boston Bruins
Top Players: David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand, Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm
Key Additions: James Van Riemsdyk, Milan Lucic, Morgan Geekie, Kevin Shattenkirk
Key Subtractions: Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Taylor Hall, Tyler Bertuzzi, Connor Clifton
X-Factors: Matthew Poitras, Pavel Zacha, Charlie Coyle
It’s a tradition here at The Sabre Report to believe every year that the Bruins are going to fall off a cliff. Well, this seems like the year they could do it, so much so that they miss the playoffs.
The Bruins, in my opinion, have the best goaltender tandem in the division in Swayman and Ullmark. Also, they still have horses up front and on the back end in Pastrnak, Marchand, McAvoy, and Lindholm. However, the loses they have suffered may have been too great to overcome. Those include the face of their franchise in Patrice Bergeron and longtime Bruin David Krejci to retirement. As well as losing Taylor Hall and Tyler Bertuzzi (who they gave up a first-round pick for). With limited picks, a light prospect pool, and a continuously aging roster it could be a long road ahead for the Bruins. They will be hoping for their sake that the cliff hasn't come for them just yet.
But hey, at least they got Milan Lucic back for the centennial jerseys.
7. Detroit Red Wings
Top Players: Dylan Larkin, Moritz Seider, Jake Walman
Key Additions: Alex DeBrincat, JT Compher, Daniel Sprong, Justin Holl, Klim Kostin, Jeff Petry, Shayne Gostisbehere, James Reimer
Key Subtractions: Dominik Kubalik, Filip Zadina, Alex Nedeljkovic
X-Factors: Lucas Raymond, Michael Rasmussen, Jonathan Berggren
Coming in outside the playoff picture as well, we have the Detroit Red Wings. The Yzerplan everyone has raved about over the years is getting more and more convoluted by the day.
Detroit made splashes in free agency last offseason and it did not seem to work for them, and well…they’ve done it again, signing players like JT Compher, Justin Holl, and Shayne Gostisbehere, along with trading for Jeff Petry and Klim Kostin. It's very weird to see Simon Edvinsson, Elder Soederblom, and Jonathan Berggren all being sent to the minors, while a 35-year-old David Perron eats up minutes that could be used to for development.
The Red Wings still have good players in Larkin, DeBrincat, and Mo Seider but I don’t think it’s going to be enough to get them close. A long jam in your pipeline is a development killer for teams that are rebuilding, and the Red Wings are no exception. This is a very high floor, low ceiling team as it is built currently.
8. Montreal Canadiens
Top Players: Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Kirby Dach
Key Additions: Alex Newhook, Tanner Pearson
Key Subtractions: Mike Hoffman
X-Factors: Juraj Slafkovsky, Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Kaiden Guhle
Our basement dwelling team of the division should come as no surprise as the Montreal Canadiens are in full rebuild mode. The team is still pressed against the cap, with dead cap hits in Jeff Petry and Joel Edmundson and the bought-out contract of Karl Alzner still on the books. They will also have to look for a replacement in long-time franchise goaltender Carey Price, who will most likely never play professionally again. Allen and Montembeault will have the honor of following Price but that is no easy task.
Team defense is also very bare, with Matheson and Savard spearheading the backend, with not much after that. Although, a bright spot in Montreal’s organization is their young talent, with guys like Caufield, Suzuki, Dach, Slafkovsky, and newly acquired Newhook hopefully giving the fans something to cheer for this season. For now, however, they just need more time, and that will be while they finish last in the division and outside the playoff picture.
It’s shaping up to be another exciting season in the Atlantic division and across the entire NHL. Thanks for reading and as always, Go Sabres!
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