Ranking the Atlantic Division NHL Teams at the All-Star Break
TheHabsFan I love the NHL, and I also love predicting outcomes and ranking teams. As of writing this, it is the all-star break, it's also kind of like the halfway mark (not quite, but almost). So I've decided to rank all four of the divisions, the Atlantic, the Metropolitan, the Pacific, and finally, the Central. From the best to the worst team. Here is my Atlantic division rankings:1. Boston Bruins
They are currently 29-10-12, which is brilliant! The Capitals are ahead of them, but I think the Bruins are the better team. They even played great without Rask, Halak is an incredible goalie to have as backup! Take a look at their goal scorers, they've got three players with 20+ goals! And one of them is Pastrnak who leads the entire league in goals with 37! And their defence is great also; Chara is still playing great, his most notable stat is his 18+ +/-. Then there's Krug too, who has been awesome. I'm not happy putting Bruins first, but they're seriously good. :(
2. Tampa Bay Lightning
They are currently 29-15-4. But since November 20th, they're record is 20-7-1, which is tied for first with the Pittsburgh Penguins. If they keep playing like they have been, they'll end up winning the Presidents trophy again! And I feel they will be more ready this upcoming playoffs than they were the last playoffs. The Lightning also lead the league in goal differential with +38, so that just shows the mixture of great goaltending with great offense and defense.
3. Toronto Maple Leafs
Man am I happy to finally rank a Canadian team! I hope the Leafs can with the Cup because the Cup belongs in Canada! Gees. Panthers are currently ahead of them, but the Leafs have more talent. Don Cherry thinks that Andersen is the best goalie in the league! I'm not with him on that, but Andersen is undoubtedly a great goalie. And then they've also got Matthews, Marner, Nylander (though he's majorly annoying, he is talented), Tavares, and Reilly. I don't get how they're doing so average. Seriously Toronto, get your s*** together!
4. Florida Panthers
It'sbeen painful having the Panthers as playoff contenders. The Habs chances to do anything are majorly reduced. The Panthers are good, especially now that they have Bobrovsky. And man has Huberdeau been playing well! He's passed 60 points this season. Ekblad is playing that amazing, and the same can be said for most of their team. So how do they have as many points as they do? Truly, I don't really understand. It's weird. But they're getting the wins, which is what matters. And Driedger seems like quite the nice backup, maybe that will work out nice for them.
5. Buffalo Sabres
The Sabres have a great team, if they had better goaltending then they'd be easily making the playoffs. But obviously they don't, so they're struggling. Eichel is a beast on the ice, he's turning out to be quite the player. The Sabres seem to recently have great starts to their seasons, but they always seem to fall apart during the second half. If they can keep up their momentum through the whole season, they will definitely make the playoffs. They just need a great goalie. They also have quite the chunk of young talent, so in a few years they may be serious Cup contenders.
6. Montréal Canadiens
I've probably been too hard on my Habs this season, I ranked them 25th in the league. But they clearly aren't that bad. They're doing pretty bad, yes, but they've had some serious injury problems. If their team was completely healthy, then they would be competing for a playoff spot. Price isn't playing that well either, earlier on this season Don Cherry called him "horse s***", which very plainly states the lack of talent at the moment. At least the Habs have shown that they can score goals! They've been scoring so many goals! As a Habs fan that started watching hockey in 2013, it seriously is weird to see them score so many goals. Here's the thing with the Habs, if Price can get back into the groove he had back in 2015, we could be very well looking at the next Stanley Cup champions. But is that ever going to happen? I think not. It's sad to say this, but I think the Habs will miss the playoffs again this year, by probably 8-12 points. :( Lafreniere to the Habs! Lol.
7. Ottawa Senators
To be honest, I though that they'd be doing worse without Karlsson. Don't get me wrong, they're doing terrible, I just thought they'd be even worse than terrible. Brady Tkachuk is playing well, if he can match his brother's talent, then the Senators have some nice value there. But what's up with Pageau!? 13+ in +/-! For this s***ty team!? That's incredible. That's one of the most incredible stats of all time! The Sens are -33! Wow Pageau, keep it up. Maybe the Sens could trade him for some good draft picks.
8. Detroit Red Wings
They're the worst team in the league, let alone the Atlantic! This team is one of the worst I've ever seen. Take a look a Jimmy Howard's stats for an example: he's played 23 games and has only won 2 of those! Or take a look at Andreas Athanasiou, who has played 35 games and has a -35 +/-! The team is terrible, no doubt about that. This is where Lafreniere will be drafted, most likely. The whole team's goal differential is twice as bad as the team that's second to last in that stat. The Red Wings finally are going through a rebuild, after decades they finally are doing it.
And that ends my rankings for the Atlantic division, I hope you liked my view on things. I'm going to do the Central division next, and then the Pacific last. Feel free to comment and make fun of me, if that's you're thing. Thanks to anyone who reads this. Feel free to also personal message me as well. Thanks again.