You might think it's a little early to be making playoff predictions, but I honestly think the dust has settled to the point that we can make relatively accurate projections of how each division will shake out. I don't think any of the remaining UFA's are talented enough to be high-leverage needle movers for a team to the point that they for example, catapult a wildcard chaser all the way to the top of their division, and as for rumored trades, I don't see a Karlsson, Hellebuyck, Nylander, Lindholm, Scheifele, Hanifin, or even a Backlund trade doing anymore than moving an acquiring team further up than one spot in their divisional standings, or on the inverse, lowering a selling team more than one spot in their divisional standings relative to where we might have projected them to be before. With all that out of the way, let's get on with it.
1. Toronto Maple Leafs: I know everybody wants to bag on the Ryan Reaves signing, but from a cap perspective, it's relatively inconsequential. Getting to the actual meat on the bone, I am a really big fan of the Bertuzzi and Domi acquisitions, I think the Leaf's top six will do very well next season, and even if a William Nylander gets traded, for cap reasons, the Leafs will most likely acquire at least one impact forward in a return package, and even if that player is inferior to Nylander, I don't see Toronto's offense really being impacted all that much, they still have plenty of other offensive weapons. I'm fairly lukewarm on the Klingberg signing, at least it gives Toronto another guy on the back end outside of Reilly who can get the puck to the forwards effectively, and honestly, I think we'd all be talking about Toronto's defense struggling to connect play to the forwards if Klingberg isn't there, even though adding defensive IQ was the team's more pressing need, I don't see Klingberg becoming a redundancy on the back end for them. The only reason people are apprehensive about Klingberg at all is because he's coming off a down season, not so much his actual fit on the Leafs roster. On a goaltending note, I'm content to give a vote of confidence to Samsonov being an above average netminder for a second straight year. All in all, this should be a very good regular season team, beyond that however, oh you know...we'll see.
2. Florida Panthers: Make no mistake, this roster does not have the most balanced lineup, but it's hard to deny the superstar and high end talent that does make this team top heavy as it is, and with Tkachuk leading the charge, this team plays with a sense of bite that not every NHL team can say about themselves. I'm not sure how long Ekblad and Montour will be out, but I don't think the Panthers depth on defense is too shabby with the off-season acquisitions that Zito made, I think they can at least tread water for a short time. Obviously I don't expect Bobrovsky to be elite, but I can see him being average to above average if is able to find that mental "pocket" that served him so well on a miracle playoff run.
3. Tampa Bay Lightning: There is still a pretty good team here with the core they've got, but man have they had to shed a lot of talented support pieces due to the salary cap over the past 2-3 seasons. That's obviously just the nature of being a cup contender for multiple seasons, but now that I look at how limited their depth is at the bottom of the lineup, I honestly start to wonder if this team's contention window has officially closed. By process of elimination, Brandon Hagel might become the next cap casualty on the roster, but at least he's a pending RFA with arb rights as oppose to an upcoming UFA. At this point, a deep playoff run, let alone another championship might have to come on the shoulders of Vasilevskiy finding a new level of beast-mode, which I don't need to tell anyone how realistic or unrealistic that is.
4. Boston Bruins: This team is still too talented to bottom out, but obviously not good enough to compete for a cup, and I don't think whether Bergeron and/or Krejci come back or not is going to make any difference.
5. Ottawa Senators: With some more foundational pieces in place, I think playoff contention is right around the corner for the Senators, but I'm not quite sure it's their time just yet. Would enjoy being proven wrong however. Outside of the 4th line, I don't see any obvious weaknesses with the roster, all the really have to prove is that they can gel with that consistent sense of cohesion for a majority of the season just as perennial playoff contenders effortlessly show capability of doing. We forget that Ottawa had a pretty abysmal November last season before picking things up afterwards. Deja Vu on that would definitely put the team's playoff aspirations in doubt to all of us.
6: Buffalo Sabres: They can score almost at will, but this team still needs to learn how to defend. If the Sabres make a trade for a Chris Tanev or a Brett Pesce(whom I, like a lot of Sabres fans, don't feel really fits their timeline) to help with that, then I can see that moving the needle for them, just not sure it will be enough to get into the playoffs.
7: Detroit Red Wings: Outside of Debrincat, I see a lot of money just being thrown at this roster, but I'm not sure I see the supposed middle-tier additions like Justin Holl and J.T. Compher being enough to justify the cap space committed to them. I don't see a super high ceiling with this team either, and I'm not as optimistic that this roster will manage to boast the same level of cohesiveness as a team like the Buffalo Sabres does despite their own constructional issues.
8: Montreal Canadiens: What can I say, this team is still quite a ways away relative to pretty much everybody else in the division, but I think the Habs can afford to be patient a little longer before getting more ambitious.
Overall, the Atlantic division has a pretty high floor I'd say, as I think all three of Detroit, Buffalo, and Ottawa can make a real push for a wildcard spot, just not sure any of them can overcome Boston in that race unless Boston completely drops off cause they're still deflated from last post-season's upset, yeah, I know I put that tongue-in-cheek, but stranger things have happened in the NHL.
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