Atlantic Division is heating up
Leafs close the gap on Boston and Tampa Bay, but they’re not alone
Are the Maple Leafs a better team now than when their season ended? On paper, yes. But how much better are the teams around them, the ones chasing down the three guaranteed playoff spots in the Atlantic Division and the wild-card spots?
If we go by last year’s standings and put aside the pandemic-induced expanded playoff format, the Atlantic Division would have produced three playoff teams: Boston, Tampa and Toronto.
The Leafs had a terrible season by the standard they set for themselves. But somebody had to finish third in the Atlantic, and the rest of the division was awful.
Florida trailed even non-wildcard teams in the Metropolitan. Montreal had thrown in the towel and was in Buffalo when the season was paused. Had the season gone on one more day and Buffalo had won, the Sabres would have been .500 and would have passed Montreal.
Ottawa and Detroit were in the battle for Alexis Lafrenière. Both lost.
But every off-season brings change. Here’s how the Atlantic Division now shapes up:
BOSTON
2019-20 record: 44-14-12, .714 points percentage
The Bruins were the President’s Trophy winners, but the pause broke their momentum. Goalie Tuukka Rask’s decision to leave the playoff bubble certainly had an effect, and his standing with the team could be in an issue. They lost defenceman Torey Krug to St. Louis in free agency. They signed forward Craig Smith, keeping their forward depth intact. They have plenty of cap space. Zdeno Chara remains oddly unsigned. They could troll for a free-agent bargain or two. Skinny: It feels like 2020 was a missed opportunity for a team with a number of core players who are on the wrong side of 30. But even if the Bruins take a step back, they’re so far ahead in so many ways that a playoff spot shouldn’t be in doubt. 2019-20 record: 43-21-6, .657
There’s an unsettled feeling with the Stanley Cup champions, with Tyler Johnson waived and Steven Stamkos in trade rumours. There’s a burgeoning younger core that GM Julien BriseBois is trying to protect from those feared offer sheets: Mikhail Sergachev, Anthony Cirelli, Erik Cernak. They are worse off without Kevin Shattenkirk (who signed in Anaheim), though they can probably replace Zach Bogosian (Toronto) and Carter Verhaeghe (Florida). Skinny: BriseBois has the right blend of youth pushing veterans, plus as solid a goaltender in Andrei Vasilevskiy as there is. A playoff team for years to come.
TORONTO
2019-20 record: 36-25-9, .579
The way the Leafs took off once Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander joined the league, you’d think they’d be an elite team by now. They’ve benefitted from a weak Atlantic, and now have some real work to do. GM Kyle Dubas has brought in some tougher players in Bogosian and Wayne Simmonds, players who’ll sacrifice body parts to win. The hope is their work ethic rubs off on teammates. The addition of T.J. Brodie makes the defence stronger. Dubas needs to find a way to get Travis Dermott and Ilya Mikheyev signed to teamfriendly deals to weather the flat-cap era. Skinny: There’s enough here that making the playoffs shouldn’t be an issue. They should be gunning for home-ice advantage in the hopes that makes a difference.
FLORIDA
2019-20 record: 35-26-8, .565
Aleksander Barkov is the star no one talks about, but you’ve got to wonder if his talents are being wasted. New GM Bill Zito has taken over a franchise that has always seemed to be ready to take a leap forward. The Panthers’ issue: money. They’ll rarely spend to the cap, handcuffing their hopes. Alexander
Wennberg seems like a lowrisk, high-reward signing who should help the second line. Patric Hornqvist and Radko Gudas make them harder to play against. They don’t have a great deal of younger players pushing for spots, but Owen Tippett should make the leap, and maybe Grigori Denisenko. Skinny: The one thing the Panthers spent money on — goalie Sergei Bobrovsky’s $10 million AAV salary — seems like an albatross now. The Panthers seem like a middling team in danger of being surpassed.
MONTREAL
2019-20 record: 31-31-9, .500
There’s some buzz finally around Les Glorieux, the team that probably benefited most from the expanded playoffs. GM Marc Bergevin is spending a lot on goaltending, but he’s given himself plenty of cap room and Jake Allen should be able to give Carey Price some rest. The Canadiens got stronger with Josh Anderson (in a deal for Max Domi), added scoring in Tyler Toffoli, and their defence is bigger with Joel Edmundson. Young players like Nick Suzuki and Jesperi Kotkaniemi took a leap forward in the expanded playoffs, and they have promising youngsters in Cole Caufield and Ryan Poehling. Skinny: The Habs should easily leapfrog Florida as a wild-card contender. To go higher, they’d need their young players to sustain their progress.
BUFFALO
2019-20 record: 30-31-8, .493
Jack Eichel now has Taylor Hall to pass to, so Buffalo has a bona fide scoring threat, if only a for a season. Eric Staal might be past his best-before date but should help Buffalo’s second line. Rasmus Dahlin and Henri Jokiharju continue to progress on the blue line and prospect Dylan Cozens, a centre, may be ready to make the leap. GM Kevyn Adams is inexperienced, but so far his moves have garnered praise. Goaltending (Carter Hutton) remains an issue.
Skinny: The Sabres have missed the playoffs nine straight seasons and are on their sixth coach and fourth general manager since 2013. They could enter the wild-card conversation but they seem to suffer as many calamities they don’t deserve as they do those that are self-inflicted.
OTTAWA
2019-20 record: 25-34-12, .437
Senators GM Pierre Dorion has done a masterful job of acquiring top-notch young talent via the draft, with Tim Stuetzle and Jake Sanderson the latest additions. But his team’s budget prevents him from adding the pieces needed to aid their growth. Not sure how replacing Craig Anderson, an athletic goalie who could steal games, with Matt Murray ($6.25 million AAV), a middling goaltender last year on a much better team, makes Ottawa better. Thomas Chabot ($8 million AAV) is locked up long term, but that’s probably the last thing you like about the Senators’ blue line, at least until Erik Brannstrom breaks through. Skinny: Ottawa is positioned cap-wise to pick up a few bargains, maybe circling back on Anthony Duclair. The youngsters might rise together one day but, right now, Senators fans can look forward to another high pick.
DETROIT
2019-20 record: 17-49-5, .275
If there’s a GM who feels hard done by the NHL’s draft lottery process, it’s Steve Yzerman. His last-place Red Wings picked fourth (Lucas Raymond), with three teams leapfrogging Detroit for franchise types Lafrenière, Quinton Byfield and Stuetzle. Yzerman is buying time, acquiring veterans like Bobby Ryan, Marc Staal and Sam Gagner while waiting for Filip Zadina, Joe Veleno and Moritz Seider to mature. Skinny: They should leapfrog Ottawa and be a bit more competitive, especially if Thomas Greiss is the answer in net. The hockey gods owe Yzerman a draft-lottery victory.