Metropolitan Division Preview

 Simon B

Here's part three of the NHL season Preview. 

This post, it's all about the Metropolitan Division. A Division that has a perfect mix of speed and skill but also one full of size and toughness.

1. New York Islanders

The Isles may be a boring team to watch but they're certainly effective. They don't score much at all but they finished second in the league in goals against average (GAA). Offensively, almost everything will go through Matt Barzal who lead the team in scoring last season. The loss of players like Jordan Eberle, Kyle Palmeri and, Casey Cizikas means that newer players such as Kieffer Bellows and Oliver Wahlstrom are going to get closer to top-6 minutes. Other than losing Nick Leddy, the defensive group stayed intact over the summer. Expect Ryan Pulock and Adam Pelech to continue to grow as the top pair with young Noah Dobson getting better and better with each passing season. Semyon Varlamov and Ilya Sorokin will once again be the tandem in goal.

Question Mark: How will captain Anders Lee fair after coming off knee surgery and with a contract year looming?

2. Carolina Hurricanes

The Hurricanes had a lot of turnovers this past offseason but full credit to GM Don Wadell for keeping his team a contending one. The top three offensive lines stay pretty much the same with the lethal top line of Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teravainen, and Andrei Svechnikov. Free-agent addition Jasperi Kokteniemi will likely slot in on the second line but I see a scenario where they try him out with his fellow Finns Aho and Teravainen on the first line. Defensively, they lost star, Dougie Hamilton, to free-agency but added a young Ethan Bear who will certainly provide good play in a top-four role. The signing of the controversial Tony DeAngelo was frowned upon by many (including myself) but nonetheless, if he can play well, he will help fill the void left by Hamilton. In goal, it's a new era for the canes' who said goodbye to Petr Mrazek and Alex Nedeljkovic but brought in two players who I think will thrive as a tandem in Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta.

Question Mark: Will DeAngelo disrupt the locker-room culture set by head coach Rod Brind'Amour?

3. Washington Capitals

The window seems to be slowly closing on this generation of capitals but Ovechkin and Co still have a few seasons left I think. Ovi is showing no signs of slowing down and he's slowly closing in on Gretzky's goal record. Nick Backstrom, Evgeni Kuznetsov and, TJ Oshie are proving that they are among the most consistent players in the league (when they don't have COVID) and Tom Wilson is and will always be one of the most annoying players to play against in the sport. Defensively they didn't change anything in their top 6. Veteran John Carlson is still one of the best in the business and he's got great company behind him with the likes of Dimitri Orlov and Justin Shultz. In goal, they've got two young and inexperienced players in Ilya Samsonov and Vitek Vanecek. Odds are, they'll go with the hot hand there.

Question Mark: Can Ovi keep his ridiculous scoring pace and score 50 goals?

4. Pittsburgh Penguins

A lot like Washington, Pittsburgh's glory days are coming to a slow ending. Of course, they will try to be competitive as long as Sidney Crosby's in the fold but they're far from being the favorite. The offense obviously runs through the one-two punch of Crosby and second-line center Evgeni Malkin (who will start the season on the injured list). You can count on Jake Guentzel and Kasperi Kapanen to be great wingers on their lines respectively and both of them should be getting on the scoresheet often in 21-22. Defensively, the Penguins aren't as strong as they used to be. Kris Letang is in the final year of his current contract and he doesn't have many experienced players behind him either. This is a year where I see Pittsburgh experimenting with their younger blueliners. Tristan jarry and Casey DeSmith are two young goalies who are learning the ins and outs of the NHL together and they will tandem in goal.

Question Mark: Is this the final year of contention for this generation of Penguins?

5. New York Rangers

This is a team that will be a ton of fun to watch this season. The talent that the Rangers are taking the ice with is undeniable. However, they're young so we'll have to see how they fair under the lights of NYC. Their top line might be the most underrated one in all of Hockey with Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibenijad (two of the league's best scorer's) alongside Kaapo Kakko who I think will finally get his breakout year. On defence, Norris trophy winner Adam Fox and linemate Jacob Trouba are going to be a solid backbone to an otherwise young defensive group. Igor Shesterkin id the number one in goal to begin the season but if inconsitincey hits, the Rangers can easily put in Alexander Giorgiev who has had some very good stretches at times.

Question Mark: Will 2020 first overall pick Alexis Laferniere finally become the star we all through he could be or is his developpemt path slower than expected?

6. New Jersey Devils

GM Tom Fitzgerald has done a good job of improving last year's team without sacrificing much. New Jerseys offence was pretty bad last season and it should improve as their young stars mature but don't expect New Jersey to rack up goals this year. I like the way the Devils are giving younger players top minutes to try and get them acclimated to the role that they will be taking on a few years from now. Nico Hischer and Jack Huges are the youngest top two center's in the league by average age at 21 so this is again going to be a learning year for them and most of the surrounding wingers. The pickup of Dougie Hamilton will certainly improve their GAA which ranked 27th in the league last season as he will bring experience to the fold. Ryan Graves is another guy with playoff pedigree who can help the younger guys out too. Mackenzie Blackwood will be the clear number one in net with Jonathan Bernier likely to back him up all year.

Question Mark: Is third liner Pavel Zacha going to have another moster season (17G and 18 A in 2021) and move up in the ranks?

7. Philadelphia Flyers

Philly tried keeping and aging core together for a bit too long and this slowed down their retooling a bit. Offensively, I'm not worried at all for the Flyers. The addition of Cam Atkinson to the top line with captain Claude Giroux and Sean Coutourier looks like it could work perfectly, and they basically have two second lines instead of a second and a third with the amount of gritty talent they have. On defence,  they've got a lot of new arrivals. Ryan Ellis, Rasmus Ristolinen and, Keith Yandle are all proven in the NHL but I don't know who well they will mesh together. If they work well, my prediction for the Flyers will be way off and they could be fighting for a playoffs spot. In goal, Carter Hart will once again have a golden opportunity to show he's the clear number one. But if he can't Philly have acquired a great backup in Martin Jones who could easily take the starting role.

Question Mark: Will the defensive group have the right chemistry?

8. Columbus Blue Jackets

It's full rebuild mode for Columbus now. They either traded or lost all their best players to other teams and are souly focused on the future. This is a team looking more or less to finish low in the standings and get a nice shiny first round pick next summer. Other than their fist line of Patrik Laine, Max Domi and Oliver Bjorkstrand, they don't really have many offensive threats. On top of that, Domi is starting the year on the IR. On defense, They don't have much top end talent that can score much other than Zach Warenski (who is probably their best player). Everyone else play very safe and sound defense but that wont help the offense much in that they finished second last in goals per game (GPG). They're probably the best equipped in net this year with two very talented young goalies in Elvis Merzlikins and, Joonas Korpisalo who can evenly split games and keep them close on the scoresheet.

Question Mark: This is a team that needs to take more risks in that they have nothing to lose. Will they?

The Wrap

Atlantic Division to come tomorrow.

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