Faceoff Factor

Pens Cap Atlantic Division Rivals

Matt Bodenschatz | Pittsburgh Penguins

Jul 5, 11:10 AM | Hype this story!

The Pittsburgh Penguins may have lost Marian Hossa, Ryan Malone, Gary Roberts, Adam Hall, Jarkko Ruutu, Georges Laraque and Ty Conklin but their Atlantic Division foes have done nothing to reach the Penguins level even with these losses.

Penguins added forwards Miroslav Satan, Ruslan Fedotenko, and Eric Godard to a lineup led by Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal and Petr Sykora. They have good role players like Max Talbot, Tyler Kennedy and Pascal Dupuis to even out the team. Ray Shero figures to be a busy guy between now and training camp to find capable veterans searching for a job or training camp invite with a fourth line job or two open for competition.

Those veterans are likely to compete against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton veterans Chris Minard, Ryan Stone, Tim Brent, and Jonathan Filewich. While the NHL and AHL veterans are sure to earn the jobs on the fourth line, don’t rule out youngsters Luca Caputi, Dustin Jeffrey, and Nick Johnson making an impression.

For as long as the team has had superstar after superstar at forward since Mario Lemieux arrived, it was a decade long joke when former GM Craig Patrick was around seemingly ignoring the blueline, but joke no more. The defense is as strong as it has ever been with 8 solid NHLers on the roster and another (Alex Goligoski) ready for his second year of training in the AHL. Sergei Gonchar, Ryan Whitney, Kris Letang and Darryl Sydor skate well and move the puck quickly while Mark Eaton, Brooks Orpik, Hall Gill, and Rob Scuderi take care of the back end.

The Penguins penalty-killing success rate improved with the addition of Gill last season and significant positional defense by Orpik. This season could also see an improvement with Eaton returning as the Penguins can use less of Gonchar, Whitney, or Letang.

Shero’s attention to improving the blueline has allowed Marc-Andre Fleury to perform at a level expected of a franchise goaltender selected first overall. The team’s limited cap space (a problem many would allow to happen with the young talent) probably means Fleury will tend net for 70-75 games. Dany Sabourin is capable of not hurting the team as long as he’s in the 10-15 range for games started.

While fans and some media overreact to the losses of Hossa and Malone, few people are willing to recognize the silly season did very little to close the gap for their Atlantic Division rivals.

The New York Rangers replaced Jaromir Jagr, Sean Avery, Martin Straka, Fedor Tyutin, and Christian Backman with Markus Naslund, Nikolai Zherdev, Dan Fritsche, Wade Redden, and Dmitri Kalinin. Naslund is good player but I have doubts he can put the Rangers on his back like Jagr tried to do in the playoffs this year against Pittsburgh. If Redden can’t find his groove of three years ago, his contract will hurt NY for years to come.

There’s no use discussing the Islanders because the Penguins signed two of their top six forwads (Fedotenko/Satan) and they have virtually nothing to excite their fan base. GM Garth Snow added defenseman Mark Streit and a well past his prime Doug Weight to a group of terribly slow marginal NHLers. It should be a crime for the things Charles Wang has done in New York to ruin a franchise in such a large market and tradition.

Next stop in the metro is New Jersey and since the lockout, I’ve done nothing but question the organizational plan and free agent signings by GM Lou Lamoriello. He spent $5 million worth of his cap space on Brian Rolston for four years, Bobby Holik $2.5 million for this season, and $2.9 million worth of cap on Bryce Salvador for four years. While the Penguins and Flyers are a solid four deep at center, New Jersey appears to have the third best core. Zach Parise, John Madden, Holik, and Michael Rupp won’t be scaring defensemen in the Atlantic.

Last season, it was Philadelphia who spent and wasted money on Daniel Briere, which basically cost them the ability to keep RJ Umberger, and GM Paul Holmgren’s decision to sign Jeff Carter to a 3-year deal for cap hit of $5 million per will limit their chances of improving their defense. The Flyers acquired Steve Eminger from Washington and signed Ossi Vaananen to improve their blueline but the upgrades won’t be enough. Flyers currently stand $3.892 million over the cap until the injury status of Mike Rathje ($3.5 million) is made official.

The Penguins may have lost some star power and replaced it with slightly less talented wingers in Satan and Fedotenko but as you’ll see, the current rosters in the Atlantic should not provide fear for fans in Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh Penguins
1st: Pascal Dupuis – sidney Crosby – Miroslav Satan – Mark Eaton – Sergei Gonchar
2nd: Ruslan Fedotenko – Evgeni Malkin – Petr Sykora – Brooks Orpik – Ryan Whitney
3rd: Max Talbot – Jordan Staal – Tyler Kennedy – Hall Gill – Kris Letang
4th: Ryan Stone – Tim Brent – Eric Godard
Extra: Jonathan Filewich – Rob Scuderi – Darryl Sydor
Marc Andre Fleury – Dany Sabourin

Philadelphia Flyers
1st: Simon Gagne – Daniel Briere – Mike Knuble – Kimmo Timonen – Braydon Coburn
2nd: Scott Hartnell – Jeff Carter – Scottie Upshall – Derian Hatcher – Randy Jones
3rd: Joffrey Lupul – Mike Richards – Claude Giroux – Ryan Parent – Steve Eminger
4th: Riley Cote – Glen Metropolit – Patrick Thoresen
Extra: Steve Downie – Ossi Vaananen – Lasse Kukkonen
Goalie: Martin Biron – Antero Niittymaki

New Jersey Devils
1st: Patrik Elias – Zach Parise – Brian Gionta – Paul Martin – Bryce Salvador
2nd: Brian Rolston – John Madden – Travis Zajac – Colin White – Andy Greene
3rd: Dainius Zubrus – Bobby Holik – Jamie Langenbrunner – Vitaly Vishnevski – Johnny Oduya
4th: Jay Pandolfo – Michael Rupp – David Clarkson
Extra: Rod Pelley – Barry Tallackson – Mike Mottau – Sheldon Brookbank
Goal: Martin Brodeur – Kevin Weekes

New York Rangers
1st:Markus Naslund – Scott Gomez – Petr Prucha – Wade Redden – Michal Rozsival
2nd: Nikolai Zherdev – Brandon Dubinsky – Chris Drury – Marc Staal – Paul Mara
3rd: Nigel Dawes – Dan Fritsche – Fredrik Sjostrom – Dmitri Kalinin – Daniel Girardi
4th: Patrick Rissmiller – Blair Betts – Ryan Callahan
Extra: Aaron Voros – colton Orr – Ryan Hollweg – Thomas Pock
Henrik Lundqvist – Stephen Valiquette

New York Islanders
1st: Jeff Tambellini – Mike Comrie – Kyle Okposo – Mark Streit – Brendan Witt
2nd: Blake Comeau – Doug Weight – Bill Guerin – Andy Sutton – Radek Martinek
3rd: Jon Sim – Mike Sillinger – Trent Hunter – Freddy Meyer – Chris Campoli
4th: Sean Bergenheim – Andy Hilbert – Richard Park
Extra: Jeremy Colliton – Bruno Gervias
Goal: Rick DiPietro – Joey MacDonald