Atlantic Division Free Agency Preview
The Atlantic Division’s Philadelphia Flyers represented the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Final this past season. Oddly enough, Philadelphia barely made the play-offs, and did so at the expense of rival New York Rangers.
Will there be a shift in the power paradigm in the Atlantic? Here are the current situations the five Eastern Conference teams are in:
New Jersey Devils: The New Jersey Devils signed Ilya Kovalchuk to a one-year contract in an attempt to boost their offence. Kovalchuk contributed, but it wasn’t enough. The Devils will be attempting to re-sign him, as Kovalchuk has been a 40-goal scorer for the past six seasons and improved the Devils’ scoring in general upon his arrival.
Basically, the Devils have the roster they want already, they just need to keep it together. To do so, they will also need to re-sign franchise goalie Marty Brodeur’s favourite defence-man, Paul Martin. Speaking of Brodeur, the 39-year-old could perhaps use a stronger back-up goalie to ease some pressure, though his play has dictated otherwise.
The Devils are a well-oiled machine but if they do make any serious attempts at signings aside from Kovalchuk, they need to be sure to leave some money to retain Zach Parise next year when he becomes a free agent. This shouldn’t be an issue as their only signings would most likely be affordable checking defence-men to take the spots Rob Niedermayer and Dean McAmmond.
New York Islanders: The Islanders have the money and the openings to lure in a fair assortment of free agents. Unfortunately, they are the worst of the three tri-state area teams, in terms of wins and fans. Some players may be hesitant to play for a rebuilding franchise that plays third fiddle to two other local teams.
The Islanders absolutely need to re-sign restricted free agent Matt Moulson and could quite frankly use players in any and every position. They will most likely present offers to players like forwards llya Kovalchuk and Teemu Sellane and defence-man Anton Volchenkov. The Islanders do have decent youth prospects, and if they build them up and re-sign players like Richard Park, perhaps they will eventually be able to attract star free agents to the Nassau Coliseum.
New York Rangers: The Rangers narrowly missed the play-offs and can blame their failure on a lack of offensive production. Things were so bad, that during the crucial last weekend of the season, the Rangers had to rely on traditionally nil-scoring Jody Shelley for offence.
If they are to make the play-offs the Rangers need to help out their star player Marian Gaborik with someone else who can produce on offense. Like any team in search of offence, their top choice is Kovalchuk, but to make a realistic offer for him would require a lot of salary cap adjusting.
They Rangers also need to re-sign their restricted free agent defence-men Marc Staal and Dan Girardi, both of whom have merited an increase in wages. If the Kovalchuk deal does not pan out, and it most likely will not, the Rangers will probably attempt to pick up available scorers like Alexander Frolov and Ray Whitney.
Philadelphia Flyers: The Flyers improbably made the Stanley Cup Final without ever really settling on a starting goalkeeper. In fact, goalkeeping is almost a traditional franchise problem for Philadelphia.
Philadelphia had a solid goalie in Michael Leighton, but may want to go for one of the many star goalies that are available as of July 1. Top choices would be Evgeni Nabokov or Marty Turco, though the Flyers can opt for cheaper net-minders such as Dan Ellis, Chris Mason, and Antero Niittymaki. Given such a deep free agency market for goalkeepers, it is unlikely the Flyers will be facing goalie uncertainty at the start of next season.
Goaltending is the top priority for the Flyers, but they would also like to strengthen the defence to help out who ever starts between the pipes for them. To do so, Philadelphia would first re-sign restricted free agent Braydon Coburn. Then, depending on how much they spend on a goalie, they can also try and make offers to Anton Volchenkov and Zbynek Michalek.
Pittsburgh Penguins: The Penguins would like to freshen up their team with some young players to compliment Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. They also have to deal with Sergei Gonchar and Dan Hamhuis, top two defence-men entering free agency.
The Penguins will most likely focus on giving these two blue-liners top salaries, and do so at the expense of not making offers to veteran forwards Bill Guerin and Ruslan Fedotenko. Luckily for the Pens, replacing offensive players should prove easy as a lot of free agents may be willing to take smaller salaries in order to play with Crosby and Malkin.
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