Northeast Division Preview

Elite-level Senators look like class of the bunch yet again

Ottawa Senators

The Senators are officially an elite team. Everything they did in winning the Presidents' Trophy during the regular season, as well as coming within a gasp of the Stanley Cup finals, and in the playoffs proved the quality of this team.

There should be little or no drop off this season, either. The Senators, in fact, remain motivated to prove their status because they have yet to get to the finals. Plus, they have a couple of youngsters in Jason Spezza and Petr Schastlivy who have personal motivation -- Spezza to prove that he is ready for regular duty, and Schastlivy that he can stay healthy. That infusion of youthful desire is a necessary tonic for a team trying to move up after the disappointment of coming close to winning the conference final.

Ultimately, the Sens aren't about individuals. Their team game is outstanding on both sides of the puck, and it shows in their overall consistency. The Senators scored the third-most goals in the NHL last season, and ranked fifth in goals surrendered. They amassed 56 points during the first half of the season and 57 in the second half. They took care of business no matter the opposition as well, posting the third-best record against teams with winning records (24 wins) and the second-best mark against sub .500 teams (28 wins). Their 52 wins led the NHL.

Save for a holdout here and a hungry youngster there, the Senators are poised for a repeat performance of excellence.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Unlike the Senators, the Maple Leafs have relied on proven veterans in recent years rather than building from within. That formula is again on display, as the Leafs signed known quantities in rugged rearguard Bryan Marchment and center Joe Nieuwendyk.

Both fit the mold of a Pat Quinn-coached team in that they know the league and their place in it. The pair adds to the Leafs' recent legacy as a veteran crew with proven top end talent and little room for those without NHL credentials. That holds true from goaltender Ed Belfour (38 years old), to offensive stalwarts Alex Mogilny (34) and Mats Sundin (32), and grinders Tom Fitzgerald (35) and Travis Green (32).

Yet, just as you can expect the Leafs with all of their NHL expertise to be in the playoff mix come April, their make-up also guarantees the need for some younger legs to fill in at various points of the season. Take Gary Roberts and his temperamental shoulders and Owen Nolan's wonky back for instance. The Leafs are ill equipped to handle injury-plagued campaigns from this duo. The organizations best young forwards are a couple of seasons away from being ready to step in. The prospect picture is much brighter on the blueline, where as many as three rookies could see time throughout the season, with one possibly starting the season in the top-six due to the retirement of Robert Svehla and the departure of free agent Glen Wesley and the severing of ties with Phil Housley and Jyrki Lumme.

All of which points to a radical roster makeover at some point -- just not this season.

Boston Bruins

The Bruins rode a phenomenal 19-4-3-1 start to the season a long way -- all the way into the playoffs. In the overall, however, it masked many issues -- or at least delayed the need for addressing. Reality crept in from December on, resulting in a dismal road record, a losing mark in the second half and an ordinary mark of four games above .500 against teams with a losing record.

Acknowledgement began when general manager Mike O'Connell fired head coach Robbie Ftorek late in the season and went behind the bench himself, only to name assistant Mike Sullivan the bench boss this season. It continued when Jeff Hackett came over at the trading deadline from Montreal. He signed with the Flyers, forcing O'Connell to ink veteran netminder Felix Potvin.

Does "The Cat" have one of his nine lives remaining? O'Connell and the B's brass sure hope so. Otherwise, the Bruins might not fair as well as 24th defensively this time around because as it stands, the right side of their defensive corps is a wreck. Jonathan Girard is lost after sustaining serious injuries in an offseason car accident; Bryan Berard is in limbo after the Bruins elected to walk away from his arbitration award, though they did get Nick Boynton back from his holdout on Tuesday. Offensively, the Bruins again should flourish. Joe Thornton and Glen Murray are terrific together, and Sergei Samsonov and Martin Lapointe are back and healthy bolster the second and third lines, respectively.

The challenge for Sullivan will be to get this group of freewheeling, forechecking forwards to make disciplined decisions away from the puck in order to help take pressure off the blueliners -- not to mention giving the veteran Potvin a chance at succeeding.

Montreal Canadiens

The Canadiens look the same as they have the last few seasons, except they might be younger, with as many as four youngsters vying for regular duty. Otherwise, they remain small and passive relying on skating to generate chances and goaltending to make the difference.

This formula worked two seasons ago, but has failed every other year, including last season. Goaltender Jose Theodore had a phenomenal second half in 2001-02, and the NHL duly decorated him with both the Conn Smythe and Vezina Trophy. Last year, Theodore started slowly and never found a consistent level of comfort.

To show you how small the margin is that we're talking about here, the Canadiens scored 207 goals and allowed 209 two seasons ago. Theodore stretched the most out of the meager offensive output, backstopping the Habs to the playoffs. Last year, his teammates gave him almost the exact number of goals (206) to work with, while the Habs only surrendered 25 more goals than the previous season -- even with Theodore's struggles.

Obviously, then, the Canadiens are counting on a return to top form by Theodore. Beyond that, though, they need a couple of kids to surprise offensively -- Jason Ward and Mike Ribeiro come to mind -- and a career year from someone -- Donald Audette, maybe -- wouldn't hurt, either.

Any way you look at it, the Habs will have to battle hard to survive in the middle of the pack and emerge with a postseason berth in April.

Buffalo Sabres

The Sabres used to subscribe to the same strategy as the current Canadiens -- count on the goaltender to make modest offense hold up. Of course, that was in the era of the Dominator. Dominik Hasek's reign in Buffalo ended in the 2000-01 season when the Sabres gave up the fewest goals in the league. It also marked their final trip to the postseason.

Since then, the Sabres' goals-against average has risen both years, while their offense has produced fewer goals each successive season. That is not a trend steeped in success, not that the Sabres are oblivious to that observation. Thus, GM Darcy Regier acquired Chris Drury, a potential legitimate top-line center. Further, the Sabres focused on adding offense via the powerplay by adding point man and manpower specialist Andy Delmore from Nashville.

All of this positive activity comes on the heels of the Sabres actually finishing two games above .500 in the second half of last season. With such a young team, that is certainly something to build upon, especially on the defensive side of things with defensemen Brian Campbell, Dimitri Kalinin and Henrik Tallinder all getting valuable experience. In goal, this might be the final opportunity in Buffalo for Martin Biron to demonstrate the consistency necessary to be a legitimate No. 1 in the NHL. He certainly has the talent and the incentive to have his best season yet.

Biron's best efforts aside, the Sabres' ascent depends on Miroslav Satan, who missed the first three weeks of training camp in a contract holdout. Buffalo needs his 30-goal production to continue, and with a consistent point producer of his ilk, the Sabres should surprise and move up.

Darren Eliot, a former NHL goaltender, is a hockey analyst for SI.com.