NHL: Midseason Grades: Atlantic Division

I'm trying to pump these out quick, but I have a lot to say, so it's tough. Plus, there's a lot of pressure. But it's all good.

Last one's was rather lengthy, no? I'll try to cut this a little shorter. No guarantees.

(mind you, these standings could change tonight: however,I'm not counting on the rangers beating the ducks. but I could be wrong!)

I'll do my best to remove my Flyer bias.

STUFF

1. New Jersey Devils (3rd)
-I never give this team any credit, because in the past, they haven't really deserved it. Every time it seems as though they screw up, don't score enough, then rely on Martin Brodeur to save them. See for yourself:



If that isn't enough, familiarize yourself with these facts:
1. Brodeur most likely would have surpassed numerous goalie records this season (had he not gotten hurt).
2. The Devils don't score often.
3. The Devils do not have a particularly good defense.

But like I said. He's hurt. And let's give the Devils some credit. The defense is without any stars, but somehow coach Brent Sutter makes it work.

And the offense? Patrik Elias is looking like his old self again. He's putting up great numbers. Perhaps even better is that it appears Zach Parise is finally breaking out. After putting up around 60 points for the past two seasons, he has seems as though he's ready to smash his career highs (he's firmly on pace for 94). Elias is right behind him, aiming for about 92 points. While we're doling out some credit, winger Brian Gionta is on pace for his best offensive season since 05-06, while center Travis Zajac will most likely set several new career highs.

How about that Scotty Clemmensen? After serving as Brodeur's backup for several seasons, he finally got bored on the bench (Brodeur usually eats up most of the starts...when healthy) and spent a season in Toronto, where he was fantastically average. Fast forward...not too much...to now. Clemmensen's GAA rests at a respectable 2.30 while he's maintained a sparkling .922 Sv%. Brodeur's backup in Clemmensen's absence, Kevin Weekes, has also managed to put up decent numbers (2.58 GAA, .914 Sv%).

Final Grade: A. I don't like the Devils. Don't fool yourself, though: Clemmensen and Weekes are playing good hockey, but the real credit goes to the rest of this team. Maybe they finally panicked after losing their star goalie long term. Whatever it was, they're playing incredibly as a group. Right on.



2. New York Rangers (5th)
-Half of me doesn't want to talk about the Rangers, while the other half of me doesn't really want to either. This team disgusts me when I watch them. Don't get me wrong, sometimes they come out and completely take over a game. But that's rare. Most nights they seem to be playing without any heart. To put it simply, they have no spark.

Now, some credit to goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. He's had a few rough outings so far this year, but he's shown up to most of the games. Sure, that 2.54 GAA and .913 Sv% may not be great, but the numbers don't always tell the story.

Now, as for the rest of these guys...the signing of defensemen Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival to ludicrous contracts (they have cap hits of 6.5 and 7 million, respectively) is, well...ludicrous. The Rangers lead the league in shorthanded goals against, which typically occur when a defenseman mishandles the puck at the blue line on a powerplay. In other words, these two men are primarily to blame. Please, take a moment, and join me in pointing the finger at them.

I will continue to make fun of the Rangers and their complete ignorance of the salary cap. Centers Scott Gomez and Chris Drury both have cap hits of just over 7 million. Both of them have about 30 points. Sure, Gomez missed a few games with an injury, but it's not excusable. Offseason acquisition Nikolai Zherdev leads the team in scoring with 38 points in 47 games. Apparently nobody on Zherdev's old team (the Columbus Blue Jackets) told the Rangers he was absurdly streaky.

You may have noticed I didn't mention the actual statistics of Redden and Rozsival. That's because, while they're not terrible...they're not good, and not as good as they should be.

Final Grade: D. This team will drop in the standings. Badly. Expect it to be a close cut for the playoffs.



3. Philadelphia Flyers (6th)
-At the start of the season, they were terrible. Every game was a shootout (that they managed to lose). The Flyers were the last team to win a game. So this is a nice turn around.

Jeff Carter is finally showing why the Flyers made him a first round pick back in 2003, sitting pretty at second in the league in goal-scoring. Captain Mike Richards has shown last year was not a fluke, and he's looking at an 80+ point season. Lastly, Simon Gagne has made a successful return from a concussion filled season, posting 43 points in 42 games. Meanwhile, center Daniel Briere has spent most of the season being injured/figuring out how to get injured again.

The defense isn't so pretty. Kimmo Timonen has rebounded from his slow start to post 28 points in 44 games. Braydon Coburn's season has been slightly disappointing after last year's success (only 18 points in 45 games so far), but some credit must be given to this unit as a whole. Despite several injuries to depth defensemen such as Ryan Parent, Randy Jones, and Derian Hatcher, they have somehow managed 19th in the league in Goals Against per Game. This group needs a little fine tuning come next offseason. Though it isn't all their fault...

...considering how sub-par goaltenders Martin Biron (2.88 GAA, .908 Sv%) and Antero Niittymaki (2.57 GAA, .915 Sv%) have been. Philadelphia hasn't seen a true number one goaltender for quite some time, and they don't exactly have any stud prospects in the minor leagues.

Before ending this, I would like to personally thank Scott Hartnell for this and the occasional hat trick.

Final Grade: B-. This team needs to be better defensively if they want to make a legitimate run at the Cup. They've hit a few bumps in the road lately; here's to hoping they can right the ship.



4. Pittsburgh Penguins (9th)
-I planned on starting off this one by being hateful, but let's face it, I hate every team in this division that's not the Flyers. Except the Islanders (most of the time). More on that later.

Okay, the Penguins lost their top defensive pairing of Ryan Whitney and Sergei Gonchar before the season, but...come on! The fact that they're out of a playoff spot is, well, terrible. They've been in a funk as of late, though it's possible they snapped it in their 4-2 win against the Flyers in Philly. It certainly carried over to their 3-0 win over the Rangers a few nights later, where a returningish Marc-Andre Fleury posted his second shutout of the season. Though he was rather nice to the Flyers in that Philly game:



The offense! Sidney Crosby! Sid the Kid! OMG!

His other nickname is...can you guess it?...Cindy Crosby. But let's face some facts: Crosby, along with teammate Evgeni Malkin, lead the league in scoring (Malkin sits at the top with 69 points, while Crosby is tied with Alex Ovechkin at 59). Of course, the usual situation has arisen. Crosby and Malkin have posted great totals, and the rest of the team suffers from a lack of depth/skill at the winger position. Miroslav Satan seemed to be the answer at the start of the season (18 points through October and November), but has slowed down as of late (only 12 points in his last 24 games).

Whitney is back on defense, so the powerplay improved somewhat. However, I don't really care about "the great job everybody did on defense while Whitney and Gonchar were gone". Because, quite frankly, most of them have stopped overachieving and realized who they really were. Don't get me wrong, they're not as bad as their play lately might suggest: it's just that they were lucky to start off as well as they did.

Ah, now for the goaltending! Fleury hasn't been too good for most the season (2.84 GAA, .908 Sv%). While Fleury was out, backup Dany Sabourin showed just how incapable he could be at handling back-to-back starts, putting up a 2.85 GAA and .898 Sv%. However, he was shipped to Edmonton in exchange for Mathieu Garon, who, despite having a down year (3.17 GAA, .895 Sv%) is usually a quality backup. A change of scenery may do him good, and Fleury has responded well with the added pressure.

Final Grade: C+. This is a playoff team. They need to be in a playoff spot. They made the Stanley Cup Finals last year! C'mon!



5. New York Islanders (15th)
-For those of you unaware of how NHL standings work, there are 30 teams in the league. 15 in each conference. The Islanders have the dual honor of ranking both last in their conference and the whole league.

Islanders goaltender Rick DiPietro is signed through the 2019-2020 season. Bad call. DiPietro is one of the most injury-prone goalies out there. He played intermittently this year until finally calling it a day (season) recently. What might be my best example of how his love for injuries is how he hurt himself last year...in the All-Star Game. My bad, it wasn't in the actual game. It was in the skills competition. Get the idea?

Career backup Joey MacDonald did as well as one could ask. Same for Yann Danis, considering MacDonald recently went down with an injury. The concept of bringing back Wade Dubielewicz was stopped during the process when Dubie was picked up on waivers by the Columbus Blue Jackets. They Isles are left with the incredible duo of Yann Danis and Peter Mannino.

On paper, the Islanders defensive corps doesn't look to bad. Key words: On paper. They sit second to last in Goals Against per Game. Mark Streit deserves credit for managing to rev up the power play (sort of), and for leading the team in points (it's rare for a defenseman to manage that, though the Isles are just bad enough for him to pull it off). Brendan Witt can dish out the pain, but his -27 is unacceptable. Chris Campoli has been underachieving, while injuries to depth defenseman such as (let's face it, all of them are depth defenseman) Andy Sutton, Radek Martinek, and Freddy Meyer haven't made life easier.

Meanwhile, the offense has been full of surprises (other than Streit). Bill Guerin is rebounding from an off year with 32 points in 46 games. Doug Weight has experienced a similar revival with 32 in 37. Assume every player I mention has a +/- in the negative. The only person above 0 is Sutton, with a paltry +3. And like I mentioned earlier, he's missed time with injury.

The organization must be thrilled! Weight, Guerin, and center Mike Comrie are all having decent/quality years! And for a team sitting in last place, this makes all of them fantastic trade bait for some draft picks and prospects. Expect at least one Islander to be shipped as the deadline gets closer.

Grade: D-. It'd be an F, but there were no expectations prior to this season, so I'll deal with it. Oh well, another year of reconstruction in the books.



OVERVIEW
The Rangers just won. But they won't hold onto the division lead. Expect it to go to the Devils or Flyers. The Rangers will drop, the Penguins will rise, and the Islanders will enjoy watching the league from the basement window.