Eastern Conference: Northeast

OTTAWA SENATORS

LAST SEASON 48-25-9 (fourth in East); lost in Stanley Cup finals to Anaheim

KEY ADDITION RW Shean Donovan

KEY LOSSES C Mike Comrie, D�Tom Preissing, LW Peter Schaefer

The Senators have made the playoffs for 10 straight years. They have had six 100-point seasons in that span, including the last four in a row. And after nearly a decade of playoff failures, they finally broke through last spring and reached the Stanley Cup finals. So what did Ottawa owner Eugene Melnyk do? He fired the team's G.M. of five years, John Muckler, and promoted coach Bryan Murray into the job.

Murray has plenty of front-office experience, having run teams in Detroit, Florida and Anaheim, turning the latter two into Cup finalists. But new coach John Paddock's NHL r�sum� is less impressive: a 106-138-37 record in 3 1?2 seasons behind the bench of the Winnipeg Jets in the early 1990s. He is, however, one of the most successful coaches in AHL history, having won Calder Cups with three franchises.

Paddock will still have the bulk of last year's team to work with. The Senators' top three forwards, wingers Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson and center Jason Spezza, are among the best in the league. All three ranked in the top�15 in scoring last season (Heatley was second in the NHL with 50�goals), and each tallied a postseason-high 22�points. Beyond its big three, Ottawa has enough depth that it let Mike Comrie go to the Islanders as a free agent (he'll be their No.�1 center) and traded left wing Peter Schaefer (the club's fifth-leading scorer a year ago) to the Bruins.

On the blue�line the Senators are also loaded, with the likes of Wade Redden, Chris Phillips, Christoph Schubert and Anton Volchenkov. (The latter three were all better than +30.) But the key to Ottawa's playoff run a year ago was hotshot goalie Ray Emery, who emerged as a top�10 netminder (.918 save percentage) after taking over as the No.�1 in November. He was rewarded with a three-year, $9.5�million deal during the off-season and will be crucial to the Senators' chances of taking that final step.

BUFFALO SABRES

LAST SEASON 53-22-7 (first in East);lost in conference finals to Ottawa