NHL 2011-12: Bruins Focused on Winning an Improved Northeast Division

The NHL's Northeast Division was very active in free agency this past summer, with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres making bold moves to try to knock the Boston Bruins off their Stanley Cup perch.

The Ottawa Senators were the only team in the division that did not make a major signing this offseason.

The Bruins won the division last year, thus earning the third seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, which helped them earn two postseason series with home-ice advantage en route to the Stanley Cup Finals.

"Our main focus right now, we’re not even worried about repeat or anything like that," said Bruins forward Milan Lucic. "It’s just going out there and winning the division like we did last year.”

Winning the division will be more difficult this season with all the improvements Boston's Northeast foes made this summer, especially in Buffalo, where the signings of defenseman Christian Ehrhoff and forward Ville Leino will help their offense tremendously.

Montreal's signing of Erik Cole gives their offense more toughness, and despite losing defenseman James Wisniewski to free agency, the Canadiens re-signed veteran D-man Andrei Markov to a new multi-year contract in the summer.

“Buffalo added some key pieces to their lineup, also Montreal adding Cole, pretty good top-six forward, and even younger guys who had big seasons in Toronto last year, and are a year older now and just getting better," said Lucic. 

“Definitely our division is getting tougher and tougher, and that’s a challenge in itself."

The Maple Leafs are certainly a hungry team with a roster full of players trying to prove themselves and establish their presence in the league, and Bruins forward Brad Marchand acknowledged they are getting tougher to play against.

"I watched Toronto a bit last year. Towards the end of the year they were very tough to play against," said Marchand. "They’re gonna be tougher this year.”

Marchand also mentioned the Tim Connolly signing in Toronto, who when healthy, which has been a struggle for him, is a top center.

His great passing skills and playmaking ability will help winger Phil Kessel develop into the goal scorer the Leafs hoped he would become when they acquired him from the Bruins via trade for two first-round picks prior to the 2009-10 season.

Toronto certainly has a roster good enough to return to the playoffs for the first time since the 2003-04 season, and will play with great passion and determination throughout the season.

There's no doubt the Northeast Division will be quite strong this year when you consider that there's multiple Original Six rivalries, improved teams fighting for the division crown, and valuable playoff spots on the line.

The Bruins must take care of the division first because having home-ice advantage is massively important in the playoffs.

Due to the fact they won the division last year, Game 7 of their first-round series against Montreal and Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals versus Tampa Bay were played at the TD Garden, and not in a hostile road environment.

All quotes were obtained first hand at Bruins media day on Wednesday. For more on the Northeast Division, click here.

For updates on all Bruins news throughout the season, follow Nick Goss on Twitter. Follow @NicholasGoss35.

Nicholas Goss is a Boston Bruins featured columnist for Bleacher Report and was the organization's on-site reporter for the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals in Boston.