2024-2025 NHL Atlantic Division Preseason Power Rankings
Join hosts Nick Zararis and Hunter Hodies on this edition of Locked on NHL for a deep dive into the Atlantic division ahead of the 2024-2025 season. Nick and Hunter tackle the robust bottom half of the division including the Montreal Canadiens, Buffalo Sabres, Ottawa Senators and Detroit Red Wings who are all looking to break playoff droughts, they dive into the fading contenders like the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins, whatever the Toronto Maple Leafs are and why the Florida Panthers very well could go back to back.
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8 Comments
SY has at least 3 yr leash. team is stacked with prospects forwards, Defense and goalie. 3 players Sy has drafted have made the team so far and 2 of them are stars alrdy and expect edvinsson to break out this yr.
i think a lot outsiders get critical and confused by the amont of stop gaps/ insulating vets SY signs and the high dollars that were paid out to some mediocre players.
but what they fail to see is the sucess of the rebuild lives or dies on the success of drafted players and a shytty ufa signing doesnt matter much compared to 1) drafting the right players n 2) give them an optimal environment to develope in. 3) building team 1st cultute
ppl saying the the yzerplan has failed dont see the yzerplan hasnt arrived yet.
Deja vu. I remember everyone picking the Wings to be behind Ott and Buf last year as well. At least Hunter gets it.
Edvinsson is going to be really good. Interesting that both of you didn't talk about him. Lucas is going to be huge this year. Slightly better D and hopefully some better goaltending will see Wings be similar to last year. Not the end of the world if we barely miss the playoffs again.
SY has "no long-term plan" because all his signings were short term. Checks notes: Seider and Raymond sign big contracts within last two weeks. Kasper and Danielson both have great years, looking like very good 3rd/2nd line centers at minimum. Mazur looking great on wing. ASP currently tearing up the SHL. Cossa very solid in net with Augustine looking promising. All the bad contracts are coming off the books soon. Wings have 19 million in cap space for the next summer when big UFAs will be available.
Did you mean "short-term plan?"
Unlike the Habs, Sabers, and Sens, the Wings have received only one top 5 pick, moved down in more drafts than any other team, and had NO decent prospects in the pipeline (sans maybe Veleno/Burgers) before 2019. Ken Holland and his crew did horribly in nearly every draft after Larkin: top picks of E. Svechnikov, Cholowski, Rasmussen (like him, but not over Suzuki or Necas), and Zadina (Q. Hughes was right there!!!!). Only one player in 4 1st round tries were NHL caliber (2 in 5 if you count Veleno as well). There was nothing behind that either (save Burgers and Hronek). Holland's best forward in those 4 years is a 3rd line winger (Hronek is pretty good). SY is already 3 for 3 with 2 top-4 D and a top line winger (2 of which are budding stars).
In that time, Buffalo has traded away more top picks than we've seen. In the past 10 years, Buffalo has had 4 top 2 picks (Rienhart, Eichel, Dahlin, Powers). They have had 3 different GMs and haven't seen the post-season since 2011.
Ottawa isn't much better despite having 3 top 5 picks (Tkachuk, Stutzle, Sanderson) despite Dorian having 6 years. (Steve has had 5). Hell, they started their rebuild with some good players in their system: Karlsson (age 25) , Zibenejad (22), and Mark Stone (23). Best player on the Wings after Larkin when SY took over…Bertuzzi and Mantha.
Most fans of the Wings are giving SY time because we know where we were and can see where we are going. This year ain't the make-or-break. Next year expectations are higher.
LGRW
As a sens fan were not #7
Lightning 1st
If Norris and Chabot can stay healthy, and Ulmark can handle 60 games, i think the sens are the team to sneak into the playoffs. Giroux, Perron and Amadio are good vets to surround the core. The sens problem is they don't have the depth to cope with the loss of any of their best players, though with Pinto available for the full year, their forward group might have the depth needed if there's any injuries. That can not be said about their D. If Sanderson or Chabot miss many games, they will be toast.
Sabres at 8 is insane… calling Lindy Ruff a terrible hockey coach is also insane