Northeast Division Free Agency Preview
The Northeast Division produced some quality teams last season, all but one of which made the play offs. However, each team needs to rebuild and retool to certain extents in order to succeed this season. Here is a look at each club’s situation and their possible actions:
Boston Bruins: The Bruins played well last season prior to their play-off collapse against the Philadelphia Flyers. This year, general manager Peter Chiarelli seems to be trying to cut costs by replacing veterans with youth.
The Bruins just drafted Tyler Seguin and thus are going to be looking to rid themselves of centre Marc Savard. The team is also committing itself to 23-year-old goalie Tuukka Rask and would love to shed Tim Thomas’ $6 million deal.
A lot of teams are in the market for top goalies, and the Bruins should easily be able to trade Thomas as he is far too good to be a No. 2. Thomas is 37, but won the 2009 Vezina Trophy for best goalkeeper and can still perform.
The team has lots of depth in most positions, except for a glaring lack of left wingers. Their best bets would be to try and secure a strong left wing player and an older goaltender who would be an inexpensive mentor for Rask.
Buffalo Sabres: Sabres general manager Darcy Regier is a strong believer in internal team development and thus will most likely not delve too deep into signing free agents. Regier’s big choice is going to be which Scandinavian defence-man he keeps: Henrik Tallinder or Toni Lydman, as it appears he has no intention of retaining the services of both players.
The division winners retain most of their line up and only really lose centre Adam Mair and backup goalie Patrick Lalime. They have had some trouble with physical play and scoring as of late, and if they do attempt to sign free agents expect them to go for tough forwards and scoring defence-men. Top choices would be Sergei Gonchar as a top-signing or perhaps adding tough-guy Jamal Mayers to the wing for cheap.
Montreal Canadiens: Perhaps the most surprising team in last year’s play-offs, the Montreal Canadiens defeated both the Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins before succumbing to the Flyers in the Eastern Conference finals.
By trading goalie Jaroslav Halak, the Canadiens have picked up brilliant American Hockey League prospect Lars Eller but now need a No. 2 goalie. It’s doubtful they will spend too much on it as they plan to depend on Carey Price heavily, and the role will most likely go internally to veteran Curtis Sanford or AHL up-and-comer Cedric Desjardins.
The Canadiens have a good, albeit ageing, defence but need to make some moves to increase scoring. Getting a finesse scorer like free agent Maxim Afinogenov would help the team out greatly.
Ottawa Senators: Although they started out poorly last year, the Senators blossomed into one of the best second-half of the season team. While this allows a lot of possibilities for growth, they are trapped in poor contract managing.
The Senators are paying Jason Spezza $12 million, and desperately need to shed the struggling centre whose point totals have continued to decline. Spezza seems to agree and has stated he wouldn’t mind being traded. Alex Kovalev is slated to make $5 million after an injury plagued season, and released winger Jonathan Cheechoo still affects the salary cap.
Due to this, they will be unable to re-sign Anton Volchenkov, one of the defence-men entering free agency. They also have struggled offensively and were ranked a mediocre 15th in scoring.
With their limited funds, the Sens need to find a cheap replacement for Volchenkov and an affordable scorer. If not, they will have erased all the progress they showed at the end of last season.
Toronto Maple Leafs: The Leafs are the unfortunate division team to have missed the play-offs, but they have a chance to get back on their feet. Boston centre Marc Savard specifically listed Toronto as a team he would like to go to. There he would be reunited with Phil Kessel, though Kessel has played well with Tyler Bozak as well.
The team’s problem is its stagnant offence. In defence and goalkeeping, the Leafs are overloaded and tough. They simply cannot score and Kessel was the only player with more than 20 goals.
The Leafs are going to try and get rid of Tomas Kaberle, who has deserved all of his $4.25 million but is simply too expensive for a team that needs offence. Toronto will be attempting to somehow transfer Kaberle and defence-man Jeff Finger in a necessary attempt to buy pretty much any player who can score.
Tags: