We are just one day away! That being from the first day of the 2021-22 NHL season. It will be the first time the league plays its’ normally scheduled 82-game season since the 2018-19 season. The divisions are back to how they should be, all the teams are playing each other at least once, and the normal playoffs will be back. What is there not to love?
So, with that in mind, how will the league shape out this season? Who are the projected clear-cut playoff teams? Who look to be the bottom-dwellers? Let’s take a look, division-by-division.
Note, this piece will include predictions for the Eastern Conference only. In the coming days, articles featuring the Western Conference predictions, season award prediction, and playoff predictions will be released.
Eastern Conference Preview
Atlantic Division
The weaker of the two Eastern Conference divisions is the Atlantic Division. The bottom-three teams in this division appear to be very clear: the Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, and Ottawa Senators. The top four in the division should also be pretty concrete: Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, and Florida Panthers. However, the question remains: what is the order?
The Basement
As for the weaker teams, the Sabres seems poised for last in the Atlantic and most likely last in the entire league. Buffalo had an already weak roster and lost the likes of Sam Reinhart, Linus Ullmark, and Jake McCabe. Buffalo is projecting to go into the season with a goalie tandem of Craig Anderson and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. Both the forward group, more so, and the defensive core also features a lot of sub-replacement level players. It will be another long season in Buffalo.
Both the Senators and Red Wings made nice improvements, but each should still remain bottom dwellers in the division and league. The Senators are going to be bogged down by the weak net minding duo of Matt Murray and Anton Forsberg, but have some nice young players that should take the next step forward this season. The Red Wings, on the other hand, got much stronger in net adding Alex Nedeljkovic to pair with Thomas Greiss, who should progress back to numbers that resemble his career. Each of the teams are in very similar positions in their respective rebuilds.
Regression Inbound?
The Canadiens, who made a story book run to the “COVID Cup,” last season should be in for some hard regression. Both Carey Price and Shea Weber are expected to be away from the team for a large portion of time. Additionally, Montreal lost the likes of Phillip Danault, Jesperii Kotkaniemi, Jon Merrill, Cale Fleury, and Corey Perry in the offseason. The addition of defensive-defenseman David Savard should help lessen the blow, but overall Montreal seems poised for an underwhelming year.
The Division Contenders
The Panthers were another team that was a bit of a surprise last season. General manager Bill Zito has done a very nice job building a strong team. The team has a forward core with a very, very strong top-nine and a defensive group that has arguably a top-three, top-pair in the league. So, what is the issue? Simple, the Panthers will only go as far as their shaky goaltending takes them. Sergei Bobrovsky, who has the worst contract in the league, and rookie Spencer Knight both are huge question marks entering the season.
Like the Panthers, the Bruins have a very strong team but a bit of a question mark in net. After losing Jaroslav Halak to Vancouver and Tukka Rask, who is still a free agent, the Bruins brought in former Sabre Ullmark and are going to rely on the young Jermey Swayman. The Panthers may have the slightly better roster, but the Bruins should edge them in goaltending. Each should be playoff teams nonetheless.
The Division’s Best
The top of the Atlantic appears to be a drag race between the Lightning and Maple Leafs. The back-to-back defending champions did lose quite a bit this offseason. Yanni Gourde, Blake Coleman, Tyler Johnson, Barclay Goodrow, and David Savard all moved on. Despite this, there is no reason to believe the Lightning will not still have one of the best records in the league. Where it gets interesting is will they be able to hold off the Maple Leafs?
The Toronto Maple Leafs have arguably one of the most complete roster, top-to-bottom, in the league. The forward group is loaded with talent and improved over last year by adding Michale Bunting, Nick Ritchie, and Ondrej Kase. Meanwhile, the defensive core is still vastly underrated and a very strong unit. So, what might hold the Leafs back? Once again, goaltending. The Maple Leafs made a great move to bring in Petr Mrazek to compliment the surprise Jack Campbell. This duo should be enough to given the Leafs around league average goaltending which is all the team needs to be Stanley Cup contenders.
Projected Finishing Order
- Toronto Maple Leafs
- Tampa Bay Lightning
- Boston Bruins
- Florida Panthers*
- Montreal Canadiens
- Detroit Red Wings
- Ottawa Senators
- Buffalo Sabres
Metropolitan Division
The most contested division in the league should be the Metropolitan. Unlike the other divisions, there seems to be very little consensus on how the Metropolitan is going to shake out this season. The main reason for this? It appears each of the divisions top teams have gotten worse this offseason. Bringing them closer to the lower half of the division.
The Division Frontrunners
Any of the following four teams have a great chance to come out on top: New York Islanders, Washington Capitals, or Pittsburgh Penguins. Former Devil general manager Lou Lamoriello had himself a busy offseason navigating the cap. He did a decent job of taking advantage of signing veterans on league minimum contracts to fill out the roster – adding Zach Parise and Zdeno Chara, while retaining Andy Greene. The Islanders, whose roster may not measure up favorably to the league’s other top teams, once again should have the right players in a head coach Barry Trotz system that is so strong.
Meanwhile, the Capitals have a forward group that is solid top-to-bottom. The defensive core is a bit top heavy but does get the job done as well. The goaltender tandem of Ilya Samsonov and Vitek Vanecek does raise a bit of a red flag, and the Capitals season with truly come down to how those individuals perform. The Penguins, out of these three teams, should be the closest to the quickly approaching bottom-half of the division. The team’s forward group is very top-heavy and the defensive group is slightly above league average. The goaltenders, although a bit risky, should do enough to keep the Penguins in the playoff conversation this season.
Where it Gets Interesting
Carolina arguably lost the most and did not do all that great of a job replacing the lost talent. Dougie Hamilton, Petr Mrazek, Alex Nedeljkovic, James Reimer, Warren Foegele, and Morgan Geekie are just some of the names they lost. To replace in comes Tony DeAngelo, Antti Raanta, Ian Cole, and Frederik Andersen among others. Carolina, despite the offseason, still has a very talented squad. Also, even though they did lose three goaltenders from last year’s team, Raanta was a terrific get and Andersen is a solid bounce-back candidate. It’ll be a very interesting season for a new-look Hurricanes team who are usually so strong.
Once again, the Devils have been dubbed by many as the offseason victors. Will we finally see this crown come to fruition on the ice? The additions of an elite number one defenseman in Dougie Hamilton, a top-four defenseman in Ryan Graves, and a top-six forward in Tomas Tatar should all help tremendously. Jonathan Bernier should come in and help create a more than reliable goaltending group. The question will come down to how often will the Devils be able to put the puck into the net, and if the team- who is already struggling with this – stays healthy. There is a lot of “should,” and “if,” but a playoff appearance should not be out of the realm for this team this season.
The Rangers are once again receiving hype as a playoff team. Especially after the little run the team went on to end the season last year. If the Rangers do not receive above league average goaltending those who are giving them these lofty expectations may be disappointed. The forward group, that features one of the best forwards in the league, will need a lot of help from these three young forwards: Alexis Lafreniére, Kaapo Kakko, and Vitali Kravstov. Also, letting a player of Pavel Buchneivch’s caliber walk may hurt. Defensively, the Rangers have arguably the best defenseman in the league in Adam Fox, but outside that it gets a tad questionable. If Igor Shesterkin and Alexandar Georgiev play lights out, which they each are more than capable of doing, then the Rangers may live up to lofty expectations. However, the roster has a lot more holes than people may think.
The Flyers were bogged down by incredibly weak goaltending last year. Like the Hurricanes, they also had a busy offseason, but their changes should help them a bit. Philadelphia brought in Ryan Ellis, Cam Atkinson, Keith Yandle, Rasums Ristolainen, and Martin Jones. Meanwhile, they lost Jakub Voracek, Shayne Gostibehere, Philippe Myers, Robert Hagg, and Nolan Patrick. The new look Flyer team should have an okay forward group, but the defensive group, and mainly goaltending, looks very suspect. Even if Carter Hart bounces back, it may still not be enough to get Philadelphia back into the playoffs.
The Basement
The most likely finishing position of a team in this division is the Columbus Blue Jackets in last place. The “all in to win,” mindset from a couple years ago appears to finally be catching up to the Blue Jackets. The team’s forward group appears to be one of the weakest in the league and the defensive group and goalies most likely will struggle as well. It appears the Blue Jackets are finally beginning a rebuild the team has needed.
Projected Finishing Order
- New York Islanders
- Washington Capitals
- Pittsburgh Penguins
- Carolina Hurricanes*
- New Jersey Devils
- New York Rangers
- Philadelphia Flyers
- Columbus Blue Jackets
Conclusion
As mentioned above, in the coming days the rest of this mega preview will be released. Next up is the Western Conference preview. That preview will then be followed by a final part three which will feature playoff predictions as well as some season award predictions.