Atlantic Division
1. Tampa Bay Lightning
2. Boston Bruins
3. Montreal Canadiens
4. Florida Panthers
5. Detroit Red Wings
6. Ottawa Senators
7. Toronto Maple Leafs
8. Buffalo Sabers
Tampa Bay
Additions: Brenden Morrow (F), Brian Boyle (F), Jason Garrison (D), Anton Stralman (D), Evgeni Nabokov (G)
Subtractions: Teddy Purcell (F), Nate Thompson (F), Matt Kostka (D), Kevin Aulie (D), Anders Lindback (G)
Key Player: Ben Bishop
Dark Horse: Jason Garrison
Most Likely to be a Bum: Evgeni Nabokov
Final Take: Flat out one of the deepest teams in the league and their off season moves just amplified that fact. If Bishop can stay healthy and if Drouin can have a breakout rookie season, look for this team to not only challenge the Bruins for the Atlantic crown but also take a serious shot at capturing the Stanley Cup this postseason.
Boston Bruins
Additions: -
Subtractions: Jarome Iginla (F), Andrej Maszaros (D), Shawn Thornton (F), Chad Johnson (G), Johnny Boychuk (D)
Key Player: Torey Krug
Dark Horse: Reily Smith
MLTBAB: Gregory Campbell
Final Take: The Bruins will be good and they will make the playoffs again. Shocker. The question will be if whether or not they can make up for the players they lost with the players they already have, a question I honestly cannot answer. Also, Torey Krug and Dougie Hamilton better not have sophomore slumps...or get hurt...or take a game off, because the Bruins are putting a lot of faith in those young D-Men and no longer have the luxury to replace them if they go down.
Montreal Canadiens
Additions: P-A Parenteau (F), Manny Malhotra (F), Tom Gilbert (D)
Subtractions: Thomas Vanek (F), Josh Gorges (D), Brian Gionta (F), Daniel Briere (F), Devan Dubnyk (G)
Key Player: P.K. Subban
Dark Horse: P.A. Parenteau
MLTBAB: Brandon Prust
Final Take: The Habs are basically the same team they were last year. Much of their success will come from whether or not Carey Price can stay healthy and whether or not Subban can live up to his new, humongous contract. Either way I see the Habs making it back to the playoffs - whether they get very far is a story in and of itself.
Florida Panthers
Additions: Jussi Jokinen (F), Dave Bolland (F), Derek MacKenzie (F), Shawn Thornton (F), Willie Mitchel (D), Al Montoya (G), Aaron Ekblad (D - Draft Pick)
Subtractions: Tom Gilbert (D), Jess Winchester (F), Scott Clemmensen (G)
Key Player: Roberto Luongo
Dark Horse: Aaron Ekblad
MLTBAB: Shawn Thornton
Final Take: They threw money at every free agent available and will hope they somehow fit together to create a winning team. Around the free agents, however, are plenty of great young players including 2014 #1 overall pick Aaron Ekblad. If the young guns on Florida can produce and take major strides during the season than Florida will end up being pretty solid. If not....well ya they will probably suck.
Hey, at least they finally have a goaltender worth a damn.
Detroit Red Wings
Additions: -
Subtractions: David Legwand (F), Corey Emmerton (F)
Key Player: Pavel Datsyuk
Dark Horse: Tomas Tatar
MLTBAB: Jonas Gustavsson
Final Take: This team is old as balls. Seriously. Somehow, they keep making it to the playoffs, probably because they have the best coach in the game. I think, however, that that will catch up with them this season as I can't see this team scoring enough goals to win day in and day out. And their defense is......well it's just not good enough to win low scoring games all the time.
Ottawa Senators
Additions: David Legwand (F), Alex Chiasson (F)
Subtractions: Jason Spezza (F), Ales Hemskey (F)
Key Player: Craig Anderson
Dark Horse: Kyle Turris
MLTBAB: David Legwand
Final Take: This team better hope Erik Karlsson scores 5 goals a night because looking at their lineup of forwards, with the exception of Bobby Ryan, is absolutely horrendous - especially down the middle. The fans in Ottawa better hope Anderson finds his form from two years ago as well because if he has another season like last one, combined with the loss of Jason Spezza, could result in a disastrous season for the Sens. Side note: When Kyle Turris is your number one center, you can only expect so much from your team - mainly that you're going to blow chunks.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Additions: Leo Komarov (F), Mike Santorelli (F), Matt Frattin (F), Stephane Robidas (D), Roman Polak (D), Petri Kontiola (F)
Subtractions: David Bolland (F), Carl Gunnarsson (D), Nikolai Kulemin (F), Tim Gleason (D), Jarred McClement (F), Mason Raymond (F)
Key Player: Jonathan Bernier/James Reimer
Dark Horse: David Clarkson
MLTBAB: Colton Orr
Final Take: They Leafs will never win. This team has so many problems, starting from its terrible core of players all the way to its terrible ownership. The only way I could see this team doing anything is if one of its goalies stands on their heads, something that has a very little chance of happening considering who's in net. Plain and simple, the Leafs suck. And will suck for many years to come.
Buffalo Sabers
Additions: Matt Moulson (F), Sam Reinhart (F - Draft Pick), Brian Gionta (F), Cody McCormick (F), Josh Gorges (D), Andrej Maszaros (D)
Subtractions: Christian Ehrhoff (D), Cory Conacher (F), Ville Leino (F), Alexander Sulzer (D), John Scott (D)
Key Player: Cody Hodgson
Dark Horse: Sam Reinhart
MLTBAB: Chris Stewart
Final Take: This team is absolutely terrible and will be a front runner for the Connor McDavid sweepstakes following this season. It's going to be a rough year to be a Sabers fan but hey, at least you have Ryan Miller in goa.........oh ya.
Wow this team is bad.
