Atlantic Division Update

Edition 2 of the league-wide update! This time, we'll look into the teams in the Atlantic Division, starting with the division-leading New Jersey Devils and working our way on down.

New Jersey Devils
Record: 21-14-3
Last 10: 5-4-1
Offence: The Devils forwards struggled with the departure of Scott Gomez and a new system being implemented by Brent Sutter, though Zach Parise seems to have been the exception. He's been on fire practically all year long. John Madden has also been a valuable offensive asset this season. As for the rest of the EGG line, Brian Gionta has been faring okay, but Patrik Elias is having a brutal season so far. As usual, New Jersey is not exactly a powerhouse offensive team, as their offence is 28th in the league so far with 92 goals.
Defence: New Jersey is lacking a bona fide, clear-cut number one defenceman this season, but the group is pretty solid. Players like Colin White, Karel Rachunek, Paul Martin and surprisingly Mike Mottau provide good support in their own zone, and it also helps that the Devils have always had strong back-checking from their forwards. The Devils defence has allowed the less goals this year so far in the Eastern Conference, and are just behind San Jose for the league lead.
Goaltending: Well, Martin Brodeur. Not much to say here. Sure, he had a rough start to the season, but the Devils were adjusting to Brent Sutter's new system, and now Brodeur is back in the spotlight as one of the best. Kevin Weekes has also been a solid backup for New Jersey. Not that they really use him a lot, though...

New York Rangers
Record: 20-15-4
Last 10: 5-3-2
Offence: The Rangers forwards have been inconsistent this year, and struggled a lot early on in the season. Now, players like Jaromir Jagr and Scott Gomez seem to have finally found their game. However, New York is still in the bottom half in terms of offence. Are they really that dependent on Henrik Lundqvist? Probability is that the Rangers forwards will improve in the second half, or else they might trigger a trade involving Micheal Nylander's return to the Big Apple - his absence seems to have put Jagr off his game for a while.
Defence: The Rangers started the season with a relatively unkown defence, but since then Michal Roszival has emerged as an important all-around asset for this team, and Dan Girardi has been a pleasant surprise so far, at least offensively. However, the Rangers' no-name defence corps isn't exactly the bright spot of the hockey team, and New York's low GAA is mostly because of Henrik Lundqvist.
Goaltending: Lundqvist may have salvaged the Rangers' season, especially when their play was so poor at the start of the year. While he recently went through a tough patch, his overall play has stolen many victories for the surprisingly goal-starving Rangers. Right now, he definitely deserves consideration for the Vezina Trophy and, bizarrely, the Hart Trophy.

Philadelphia Flyers
Record: 19-14-4
Last 10: 4-4-2
Offence: The Flyers offence has been led by Mike Richards all year. Yes, Daniel Briere is an important asset and gets a lot of points, but Richards is, right now, the top Flyers gun. His all-around skills are definitely underrated. As for the rest of the Flyers forwards, they have helped produce a division-high 115 goals, better than Sidney Crosby's Penguins. The emergence of players such as Joffrey Lupul and R.J. Umberger has been a key to that, and the Flyers' defencemen have chippen in offensively themselves.
Defence: The Flyers evolved from a slow-skating defensive corps to a capable blueline group this year. The addition of Kimmo Timonen and Jason Smith has been the main reason, and you can't ignore the contributions of players such as Randy Jones, Lasse Kukkonen and Braydon Coburn. Not the best in the league, but certainly the most-improved compared to last year.
Goaltending: Martin Biron had an excellent start to the season, carrying over from last year's solid play, but since then he has cooled off. He has also been getting a solid contribution from Antero Niittymaki, who has physically and psychologically recovered from last year's nightmare season. Biron has been a nice change for the Flyers, who have struggled a lot to find a good goaltender in recent years.

Pittsburgh Penguins
Record: 20-16-2
Last 10: 6-4-0
Offence: While Sidney Crosby was scheduled to have a monster season this season, teams have been holding him in check pretty well as of late. Sure, he has 52 points in 38 games, but his points-per-game average was a bit higher last year. Evgeni Malkin and Petr Sykora have done a good job providing secondary scoring and Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney are among the best offensive d-men in the game, but after that, it tails off. Pittsburgh is sorely lacking a good winger for Sid the Kid, and as good as Crosby is, he can't do it all alone. Also, what happened to Jordan Staal?
Defence: As I just mentioned, the Pens have a lot in the way of offensive defenceman. But are they actually good in their own zone? The Penguins find themselves in the bottom half of the league in goals against, and Mark Eaton's injury doesn't help. After Sergei Gonchar (arguably their number 1 defenceman) made two horrible giveaways that led to goals in a recent game against Washington, you have to wonder if this defensive corps is actually solid.
Goaltending: Marc-Andre Fleury had a terrible start to the season that had Pittsburgh fans screaming for a trade. Then, he started progressively playing back into shape, with Dany Sabourin providing good backup support. And just when he was playing respectable hockey again, he got injured with a high ankle sprain. It's not a good situation for the Penguins, as Sabourin is definitely not a number one goalie. Pens fans can just hope Sabourin and Ty Conklin hold the fort until Fleury or another goaltender (Curtis Joseph, anyone?) comes in.

New York Islanders
Record: 19-16-2
Last 10: 6-4-0
Offence: For a team ridiculously short of talent, the New York Islanders are faring okay. While their offence isn't very productive, the Isles have been able to survive so far thanks especially to the likes of Mike Comrie, Bill Guerin and Miroslav Satan. However, New York cannot always rely on its great defensive game because Rick DiPietro has been injured in the past. The club should perhaps consider a trade for more offensive firepower if it wants to get into the play-offs this season.
Defence: Like New Jersey, the Islanders don't really have marquee names on defence, but their defensive game is pretty solid. Chris Campoli seems to have emerged as the better defenceman, but Bryan Berard, Freddy Meyer, Brendan Witt and Andy Sutton have been solid, too. As long as Ted Nolan is behind the bench, expect more of the same as he stresses on good defence.
Goaltending: Rick DiPietro is one of the most underrated goaltenders in the league, as he is easily the Islanders' MVP. We saw last season what happened when he got a concussion, and Wade Dubielewicz had to step in to revent a tailspin out of the play-offs. The only problem with DiPietro is that he has been injured in the past, which shows that he is not Martin Brodeur (Brodeur has almost never suffered a serious injury in his career, at least not that I know of).

That's all for today! Next up is the Southeast Division.