Everyone else in the Metropolitan Division is looking up at the Carolina Hurricanes.
The reigning Stanley Cup champions bring back nearly everyone after running away with first place and winning 16 of 19 playoff games. They are the example for any NHL team looking to break through.
“That core of guys spent however many years together, and they finally got over the hump and won,” Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski said. “You put all that time in with
one organization and you get the job done, and I feel like that’s what I want to accomplish."
It's a concept that applies to the Blue Jackets and everyone else in a division that resembles a free-for-all after Carolina. And when considering the Atlantic might take up five of the Eastern Conference's eight playoff spots as has happened the previous two seasons, there is not much room for everyone from Washington and Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, New Jersey and the New York Islanders and Rangers to qualify.
“Someone’s got to miss, right?” Werenski said. “Whoever gets off to a good start, whoever plays most consistent, whoever gets points — finds ways to get points in games maybe you shouldn’t — is going to make the playoffs.”
Last season, it was the Flyers and Penguins. Before that, the Capitals and Devils. In 2023-24, the Rangers, Islanders and Capitals.
The Hurricanes, missing just veteran goaltender Frederik Andersen, are clearly the team to beat.
“How our locker room is built, just the character of guys in our locker room, they’re hungry already,” Carolina's Jaccob Slavin said. “That speaks to it of just what has been built."
Washington, with career goal-scoring leader Alex Ovechkin returning for a 22nd season, has been part of the old guard and has not fallen off. The Capitals after just falling short last year in a hectic wild card race spent the summer loading up, trading for forwards Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou and signing Boone Jenner and Vincent Desharnais in hopes of a long playoff run.
“We want to win a Cup,” said Tom Wilson, who along with Ovechkin are the last remaining players from the 2018 championship team. “That’s all that matters to me right now in my career. That’s all it matters to Ovi in his career.”
Philadelphia is a decade and a half removed from its last trip to the final and a half-century from back-to-back Cup titles. The Flyers won 15 of 21 games down the stretch last season to make the playoffs ahead of schedule and even beat cross-state rival Pittsburgh before losing to Carolina in the second round. Jamie Drysdale said neither he nor his teammates are “bracing for regression.”
“I think we have a good team, and I think that we’re also one year older, which I think for us helps,” Drysdale said. “We had a lot of good young players and we get a sniff last year, but I think we’ll all go with a little bit of an itch.”
The Islanders looked to be cruising toward a playoff spot last spring before losing 14 of their final 22 games. The Blue Jackets experienced a similar swoon. Each will try to bounce back after making midseason coaching changes.
The Penguins got in, and now the core led by Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang will try to do it again.
“That experience last year was great,” Crosby said. “We were a lot better than people expected, and now there’s a little bit more of an expectation. We’ve got to find a way to elevate again, so that’s kind of the challenge.”
New Devils general manager Sunny Mehta decided to keep Sheldon Keefe as coach. While there are goaltending questions, New Jersey should have the talent to contend for a playoff spot, and the first couple of months of the season will go a long way toward determining the organization's direction.
Across the Hudson River, GM Chris Drury made changes that he believes gives the Rangers more organizational depth.
“We have a great group of guys, we have a lot of skill, a lot potential and we’re going to work hard to be good,” newly acquired winger Pavel Dorofeyev said.
If those changes don't work out, big changes could be afoot in New York.
Carolina, Washington, Philadelphia, New Jersey, N.Y. Islanders, Columbus, Pittsburgh, N.Y. Rangers. ___
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