Winnipeg Jets:
General Manager: Kevin Cheveldayoff
Head Coach: Claude Noel
Key Additions: Tanner Glass, Randy Jones, Derek Meech, Eric Fehr (trade via Washington), Kendall McArdle (Trade via Florida)
Key Subtractions: Eric Boulton (NJ), Anthony Stewart (Carolina), Radek Dvorak (Dallas)
The NHL is back in Winnipeg where it ended somewhat 15 seasons ago when the Jets bolted for Phoenix. Now the Jets will be the most displaced team with likely the farthest distance to travel for most of their road games, but only for this season. That is because the Jets are back, but not from Phoenix, this time from Atlanta. They will need to make three trips to Washington, Carolina, Tampa Bay and Florida. All will require more than a thousand miles. The Vancouver Canucks usually are the team with heaviest travel schedule, but Winnipeg will top that this season. Next season they are expected to join either the Northwest or Central Divisions in the Western Conference if NHL decides to realign using 6 divisions with 3 in each conference.
But, now to the Jets team as a whole. They do have a new front office staff as well as coaching staff as they basically got rid of everyone who used to be in the Atlanta Organization which include Don Waddell as Team President, Rick Dudley as General Manager and Craig Ramsay as Head Coach. They brought in Kevin Cheveldayoff as GM and Claude Noel as coach and have a new minor league affiliate in St. John's, Newfoundland. They made some low key quality additions to their roster for toughness, but mostly went with development from within the organization. They are yet to lockup Zack Bogosian, their top defenseman to a new deal, but still have a lot of talent in their club. However, they are a young team with not much offensive upside and I think that they will have a relatively tough first season back in Winnipeg, but at least the NHL is back there. Hopefully with the long travel they will be able to bond. That will be up to captain Andrew Ladd to get them to that level.
Tampa Bay Lightning:
General Manager: Steve Yzerman
Head Coach: Guy Boucher
Key Additions: Tom Pyatt, Ryan Shannon, Mathieu Garon, Matt Gilroy
Key Subtractions: Sean Bergenheim (Florida), Mike Smith (Phoenix), Simon Gagne (LA), Randy Jones (Winnipeg)
The Lightning made a statement this past season under rookie coach Guy Boucher by upsetting the Penguins and Capitals in the first two rounds of the playoffs and nearly defeating the eventual Cup Champion Bruins in 7 games in Round 3. Now, I think they are healthy and hungry to go one round further and they are close to returning to the top form they had in 2004 when the won the Cup. They did lose Sean Bergenheim to division and state rival Panthers, but I think that they have the youth in Steven Stamkos and talent to still be very effective in the unpredictable Southeast division despite their losses like Gagne. They again will be a playoff team in my mind and I think with the correct management of Dwayne Roloson, they can go to the Finals.
Carolina Hurricanes:
General Manager: Jim Rutherford
Head Coach: Paul Maurice
Key Additions: Brian Boucher, Tomas Kaberle, Anthony Stewart, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Tim Brent
Key Subtractions: Erik Cole (Montreal), Joe Corvo (Traded to Boston)
The Hurricanes nearly missed the playoffs by one game when they lost their season finale on home ice against division rival Lightning. This past offseason they added some quality determined to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2009. They will again have to rely on the effective goaltending of Cam Ward.
Florida Panthers:
General Manager: Dale Tallon
Head Coach: Kevin Dineen
Key Additions: Matt Bradley, Tomas Fleischmann, Scottie Upshall, Ed Jovanovski, Marcel Goc, Sean Bergenheim, Kris Versteeg (Trade via Philadelphia), Tomas Kopecky, Jose Theodore, Brian Campbell (Trade via Chicago)
Key Subtractions: Byron Bitz (Vancouver), Niclas Bergfors (Nashville), Darcy Hordichuk (Edmonton), Tomas Vokoun (Washington), Marty Reasoner (NY Islanders)
No team in the NHL made more radical changes than the Florida Panthers. They had the most money to spend and they opened their wallet's immediately when the offseason started. GM Dale Tallon brought in a lot of familiar faces in Campbell, Versteeg and Kopecky that he had while he was GM of Blackhawks. All of them won the cup in 2010 and he is attempting to do the same with the Panthers. He has a new coach in Kevin Dineen after firing current Devils coach Peter DeBoer. Dineen will have a roster with proven winners. But, I think that they will be a bit thin in the goaltending position with Theodore and Clemmensen. However, I think they do have scoring depth and will be a fun team to watch with players like Mike Santorelli, Evgeny Dadonov, Dmitry Kulikov, and Stephen Weiss expected to have big years. This team can make a huge statement this year in the Southeast, but I think they will fall a bit short, but look out for Florida in the next 2-3 years.
Washington Capitals:
General Manager: George McPhee
Head Coach: Bruce Boudreau
Key Additions: Jeff Halpern, Roman Hamrlik, Tomas Vokoun, Christian Hanson, Ryan Potulny, Joel Ward
Key Subtractions: Scott Hannan (Calgary), Jason Arnott (St. Louis), Brian Willsie (Montreal), Marco Sturm (Vancouver), Boyd Gordon (Phoenix)
No team in the NHL has more to prove than the Capitals. Plain and simple, they have been the most underachieving team the past 3-4 seasons. They have yet to make it to the Conference Finals and if they fail to make it to at least the Finals this year, it could bring major radical change both at the top and at the coaching position. Alexander Semin, Mike Green and Nicklas Backstrom will be key to any success they have this season both in the 82 game frame and the playoffs. Last season they tightened up defensively and sacrificed offense, but this season they have to combine a great defense and goaltending with productivity from the offense driven by Alexander Ovechkin. I believe they will win this division this season with a viable goaltender in Vokoun and with the additions they made. Hamrlik will add veteran leadership on defense and Joel Ward will hope to have another playoffs like he did with Nashville this past season. He does not need a good regular season, but a good productive Playoff. I say the Capitals will finally make it to at least the Eastern Final.
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