The Washington Capitals a Step above the Rest: A Look at the Eastern Conference

As the New York Rangers begin their downfall through the standings, things are getting increasingly tighter in the Eastern Conference this season. It seems like as every year passes after the lockout, teams are much closer in the standings, and there are not as many clubs distancing themselves like they used to be able to do.

In fact, the 13th place team, which is currently the Islanders, is only two points out of sixth. That is the tightest I have seen the East in quite a while.

The only team that has a formidable lead over the rest of the pack is the Washington Capitals. The Caps are one of those rebuilt franchises I spoke about on Tuesday, and obviously you see the response is usually a positive one. Below them are the New Jersey Devils in second, and for me, they are not a team that I would have predicted would be so lofty heading into the season. Right now, they are leading the division and rank fourth in the entire league. I guess Jacques Lemaire’s system is still effective even after all of those years.

The Buffalo Sabres, another astounding team, and the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins have been in a back-and-forth battle for the third place spot. Buffalo is the current occupant and rightly so with what they have been able to do. Led by rookie defenseman Tyler Myers, the Sabres have lost only 14 games in regulation this season and are incredible while playing on home ice.

Believe it or not, the Pittsburgh Penguins are having a better season so far than they did in their Cup year last season. At about this time in ‘09, Pittsburgh was going through a coaching change, parting ways with Michel Therrien, and bringing up Dan Bylsma.

During that time, they were in and out of the playoff picture nightly, right along with the Rangers. Sure, they have hit rough patches along the way this time around, but overall they have had a much improved regular season and definitely have a shot at defending their championship title when the time comes.

Occupying the fifth and sixth place positions are two teams calling the bottom of the East their home last season: the Ottawa Senators and Atlanta Thrashers. With the departure of Dany Heatley this past summer, many believed the Sens’ season was over before it even began—boy are they proving critics wrong. An eight-game winning streak has propelled them from ninth to fifth in the matter of two weeks. That is truly remarkable.

The Atlanta Thrashers are in sixth but have only a one-point lead over the Flyers, Panthers, Rangers, and Canadiens. I expect these five spots will hold different teams each and every night, as will the three below them. The Bruins, Lightning, and Islanders make up the 11th, 12th, and 13th spots respectively. They all currently have 54 points and are on losing streaks of various lengths.

Finally, you have the Carolina Hurricanes and Toronto Maple Leafs battling it out for the 15th spot in the conference. Unless something miraculous happens, these two pretty much have no hope at making the playoffs at this point. Although, Carolina has been tearing up a storm lately, as we witnessed when they came in and slapped around the Blueshirts in a 5-1 beating on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.

What does this all mean? Well, it means the playoffs, beyond the top three or four teams, are entirely up for grabs and will likely be that way until the very last day of the regular season. This has teams thinking they will have to fight a very difficult battle after the Olympics conclude, and you are not going to make it by scoring an average of one goal per game.

This is where the Rangers come into play. They have not looked strong enough to engage in this to-be hunt for a spot in the postseason, and once they begin to detach from the group, there will be no coming back for John Tortorella’s boys.

So if they want things turned around, that will have to come now or never. I would go with never based on what I have seen as of late.

(Image courtesy of AP Photo)