Faceoff Factor

Preseason Power Rankings: The Southeast Division

Michael Farkas | National Hockey League

Sep 7, 04:06 PM | Hype this story!

The Southeast Division has often been referred to as the “worst division in sports.” While, on paper, it has lived up to such a dubious billing, it has also produced the Stanley Cup champion in 2004 and 2006. The division is evolving however, former basement dwellers Florida and Washington are putting together much stronger teams, while Carolina and Tampa Bay remain stagnant. This division is not guaranteed to produce more than one playoff spot in the East and the team that wins it may be quite the surprise.

5th: Washington Capitals

This really isn’t a fair reflection of what the Capitals will accomplish this year, as a matter of fact, they will push for the division crown until the very end of the season. The Southeast will be very bunched together, so much so, that the third, fourth and fifth place teams will probably be 11, 12, and 13 in the East. The Capitals still have decent goaltending with long-forgotten veteran Olaf Kolzig. Brent Johnson, last season, would be brilliant some nights and get pulled the next, if he can put together a string of consistency the Caps might actually be in good shape in net. The Capitals have a largely ignored group of young talent that is growing and could have a few standouts this year, including Steve Eminger and Eric Fehr. The young core is not as exciting as Pittsburgh’s or Chicago’s but there are some potential gems lodged inside the organization.

The Capitals added veteran Tom Poti, but more importantly, they added smooth passing, never-shooting center Michael Nylander and underrated but very skilled forward Viktor Kozlov. All of sudden, the Caps may have put together a top scoring threat in the league, Nylander to Ovechkin could go so far as to result in a Rocket Richard Trophy. However, George McPhee should get moving on contract extensions for his numerous soon-to-be restricted free agents if he hasn’t already.

The Capitals have laid the groundwork for a solid, albeit quiet, team. This squad will improve this year and could probably take a real run at a playoff spot next season.

4th: Tampa Bay Lightning

Despite their best efforts Tampa Bay made the playoffs last season, I would not expect a similar ending this season. Outside the “big three,” who account for roughly 45% of the team’s payroll, the Lightning don’t have much to fall back on. On the list of “things not to fall back on” is goaltending, which, at least, has no choice but to improve. If Marc Denis comes around and performs like he did in Columbus, he gives the Lightning a chance to win. Until then, the Lightning will just sit on their hands and wait for Karri Ramo and Riku Helenius to pan out in a few years. The Lightning made little in the way of improvements for this season, besides old-face Brad Lukowich and the not-so-fleet-of-foot Michel Ouellet. I use the word “improvements” quite liberally in this instance.

There really isn’t a whole lot to say because there really isn’t a whole lot here. The defense is fairly porous thanks to inviting traffic cones Dan Boyle and Filip Kuba. The defensive defensemen are on the way, but they are still young and inexperienced. The forward depth is lacking, it seems like there’s an influx of bottom six forwards on this team, most of which don’t look overly promising. I would not be the least bit surprised if they beat Washington to the bottom of this division.

The Lightning have a roster that looks like the kind of team you put together when you miss a fantasy draft. You end up with players that don’t belong, players that aren’t in the NHL anymore and pretty bad goaltending.

3rd: Carolina Hurricanes

Carolina Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford has a problem, but he doesn’t know it yet. He has kept the same team together again, this is the third straight year. Now, you’re thinking, “but this team won the Cup in 2006, why wouldn’t he?” Well, that’s quite simple, the 2006 Carolina Hurricanes were the luckiest team in the recent history of sports. The veritable personification of skating rabbit’s feet, horseshoes and four-leaf clovers all mixed into one victorious group. Looking back to last season, the Canes made almost no roster changes and they missed the playoffs. Fast forward a year, the same approach is taken and, you guessed it, the same results will happen. Well, to their credit they added the league’s most expensive third line center in Matt Cullen instead of league’s most expensive fourth line winger Anson Carter.

The team doesn’t look atrocious on paper. Eric Staal, Rod Brind’Amour, Justin Williams, Ray Whitney, Erik Cole and Scott Walker make up a pretty solid top six. The defense is kind of a head-scratcher, perhaps Tim Gleason will make the Canes forget about trading Jack Johnson, although it’s very unlikely. However, Cam Ward is a good goalie, not Conn Smythe good, but a solid starter. If he can rebound somewhat, the Canes should be able to at least contend for a playoff spot. If not, they are just a slightly deeper (at forward) Tampa Bay Lightning.

Provided the Canes can’t shoot pucks 12 feet wide and have them bank in off of shin pads, have their opponents lose five of their top six defensemen and/or a starting goalie to injury they won’t get back to the Cup Finals any time soon that’s for sure.

2nd: Florida Panthers

The Florida Panthers could easily win this division. The young talent is growing quickly and they have a goaltender again. Granted, Roberto Luongo didn’t make the playoffs with Florida, but that was a different team then. Luongo played amazing hockey for the Panthers but there was nothing in front of him besides Olli Jokinen and a young Jay Bouwmeester. Now the kids of have grown up somewhat and this team is ready for the playoffs. Vokoun played well for Nashville for a while and hopefully he can bring the same game to South Florida. The scoring is there for Florida, including under-the-radar signing Radek Dvorak who could put his name right back on the map as a Panther. The defense behind Jay Bouwmeester isn’t all that impressive but it is serviceable at least.

This is a darkhorse team in a lot of aspects. One, they have a legitimate claim for a playoff spot. Secondly, they have players that could really impress on the scoresheet, starting with often-overlooked forward Olli Jokinen. Jay Bouwmeester has quietly become one of the league’s best two-way defenseman and it wouldn’t surprise me if he were to finish top ten in defensive scoring this season. Rostislav Olesz, Nathan Horton and Stephen Weiss will all come in with another year under their belts, the latter two already got their big contracts as well. And of course, if Tomas Vokoun could steal some games when the defense comes up a little short, he could be (a longshot) up for an award at season’s end.

The Panthers have put together a good team over the years and have not been missing the playoffs by much recently. I expect them to make the playoffs for the first time in the post-Pavel Bure era.

1st: Atlanta Thrashers

The Atlanta Thrashers made the playoffs for the first time in their short history last season. However, they failed to get a single win while they were there. A thorough dismantling by the Rangers that wreaked havoc on young goaltender Kari Lehtonen’s confidence hopefully will not have long-term effects. Speaking of dismantling, Don Waddell undid a good five years of “future building through failure” by acquiring Keith Tkachuk, Alexei Zhitnik and Pascal Dupuis of all players. This team isn’t outstanding on paper but the goaltending is. Lehtonen, despite his playoff woes, is one of the league’s premier young netminders. Kovalchuk and Hossa still don’t have a Marc Savard equivalent between them, which is very limiting.

The Thrashers added Todd White, Ken Klee, Eric Perrin and Chris Thorburn who add some mediocre depth to a boom or bust lineup. It’s yet to be seen what young talent makes the team, if the Thrashers see big strides in Bryan Little, Chad Denny and/or Boris Valabik they may be in really good shape. Atlanta’s key needs still remain through another offseason but the individual talent is there to field a playoff team.

The team ultimately boils down to Kari Lehtonen, he has the talent to steal games and be a top ten goalie in the league without question. However, it’s yet to be seen what prevails in his mind, the playoff drubbing, superb goaltending prospect Ondrej Pavelec on his heels or the spark to get passed the first round of the playoffs.