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Atlantic Division
The Atlantic produced the Stanley Cup champion and four Eastern Conference playoff teams, yet only managed to have the third-best winning percentage in the league at .561.
The New York Islanders are apparently really that bad. Here’s a look at the teams from the Atlantic in the order they finished last year.
New Jersey Devils
New Jersey won the hard-fought division by seven points. They then lost a first-round, seven-game series to the Carolina Hurricanes. The year before, they looked ordinary in losing to the Rangers in the first round.
Former Devil coach Jacques Lemaire has been brought back to try to recapture some magic from 1995.
Brodeur has looked beatable and old in his last two playoff series. Last year, he had most of the season off due to injury and still, the 37-year-old goalie looked creaky and slow in the playoffs.
Scott Clemmenson did an able job filling in for Brodeur, playing almost half the team's minutes with a .917 save percentage and 2.39 GAA.
Brodeur played about 37 percent of his team's minutes with a .916 save percentage and 2.42 GAA. His five shutouts in 31 games were very impressive.
It was comparable to Steve Mason’s league-leading total. Clemmenson was snatched up by Florida to back up Vokoun.
The Devils picked up Yann Danis from the Islanders for the NHL minimum to support Brodeur.
The Devils are famed for playing tight, defensive hockey. Last year, they gave up a middle of the pack 29.5 shots per game (13th out of 30).
The goals against was still fourth-best in the league at 2.52. Even a slight decline in the goaltending has to be expected to drop the Devils closer to the middle of the league in goals against.
Other organizations over the years have been poaching New Jersey Devil defensemen. They last won a cup in 2002-'03 beating, the Ducks in seven. Scott Stevens, Ken Danyeko, and Tommy Albelin have since retired.
Brain Rafalski was picked up by the Red Wings. Scott Niedermeyer moved on to Anaheim.
Colin White is the only defenseman left from that Stanley Cup-winning team. The New Glasgow, Nova Scotia player still provides a nasty, physical element on this team.
Paul Martin brings an adequate puck-moving element to the defense. He quarterbacks the power play and provides half a point a game.
Twenty-eight-year-old Swede Johnny Oduya was a sought-after RFA defender. He’s also a strong skater, providing some offensive minutes from the back end. T
hey experimented with Ansii Salmela from the Swedish elite league last year as a possible power play quarterback. He didn’t work out and was moved on to Atlanta.
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