Atlantic Division

Discuss the Atlantic Division here.

this is a hard one since at the moment NJ is playing amazing hockey but the chance they make the playoff are very slim. So my vote went for the flyers since I believe they have all the ingredient to make a push since they have a amazing top 9,good enforcer,good young goaltender and amazing D.

At this point, I'd have to agree. Pittsburgh has too many injuries to make a push right now.

The Philadelphia Flyers win the Atlantic division, even though Pittsburgh had the same amount of points and two more wins. I guess the Penguins had more shoot-out wins.

The Flyers will face the surging Buffalo Sabres in the first round. This should be an interesting series, as the sabres have been playing for their playoff lives over the past 6 weeks.

Flyers trade Carter and Richards on the eve of the entry draft:

Richards to LA for Brayden Schenn, Wayne Simmonds and a 2nd

Carter to Columbus for Jakub Voracek, 8th overall pick and 3rd

(Rumour has it Philadephia wanted Kulemin and Kadri for Mike Richards or Jeff Carter. Burke thought the price was too steep for Carter and was mulling over the deal for Richards, but in the meantime Philly pulled the trigger with LA.)

They also signed Ilya Bryzgalov now being referred to as "Ilyadelphia" to a monster 9 year 51 million dollar deal.

I think both deals are fair, but I'm sure a lot of Flyers fans will be upset about trading 2 core players. I guess they wanted to change the culture of the team. I heard rumours of Richards being on Pronger's bad side. I think Pronger will surely become team captain. Claude Giroux broke out in last year's playoffs and it seem van Riemsdyk is poised to do the same after a great playoff performance.

Thoughts?

I think the deal will work out well for the team, and it shows guts on the management/owner side. The deals spread out their offense and give them the cap-space they need to resign UFA Leino and their RFAs Simmonds, Voracek and Carcillo. The group in place should make a push.

I think the Flyers are worse off than they were last week. Farther from a cup now, that's for sure

I think they still have that chance. Everybody forgets that Briere is a center, and a good one at that. I think Briere and Giroux, along with the rest of their forwards, need to step up to make it happen. They have a team with the pieces they need to win, which is a credit to their GM and front office. Not many teams can trade away their top 2 centers and be able to fill those holes.

We'll see how it pans out, but I think that Philly took a step back, signed a good goalie (Not great) to a huge contract, I don't think he'll be as good as he was in Phoenix. I think LA and columbus are laughing right now. One good thing for Philly is that they were able to scoop up Sean Couturiere with that 8th pick, I don't think they expected that.

Very true! I think Couturier is going to be an impact player in a few years, and they are lucky to have him. But the divisional rival Devils got a potential #1 pick in Adam Larsson. In my opinion, he's the best player to come out of the draft and he will make an impact on the Devils (or any other team he plays for).

Devils love their defensemen, I was not surprised at all that when he was available for them, they scooped him up

He'll be their next version of Neidermayer. When he gets use to the NHL, he looks like he'll have the same ability to control the flow of a game while he's on the ice. Like a point-guard in basketball, this kid is cool with the puck and knows where to distribute it. I'm obviously expecting big things from this young man.

NYI and NJ complete a trade, sending Brian Rolston (and his $5M salary) along with a conditional pick to the Islanders in exchange for Trent Hunter ($2M).

Gives the Devils a quality winger to play on the 2nd/3rd line, and a bit more cap room to help sign Parise. The Islanders inch closer to the cap floor, and get a fast and reliable veteran winger to take some pressure off of Tavares.

I suppose this works out for both clubs, isles looking to replace weight's presence

The Devils have bought out the contracts of D Colin White, and recently acquired RW Trent Hunter.

Also, G Evgeni Nabakov is expected to report to the Islanders' Training Camp. He's saying that the reason he didn't report last season was because he needed 4-6 weeks of conditioning, and their organization wanted him to start right away. They did have injuries in goal, so this might actually be the case.

I can't fathom as to why they would trade for Hunter, then buy him out... Less to pay to Hunter than Rolston I guess. I've read they may be after some cap space to go get Zach Bogosian, who has flown under the radar when offer sheet rumours were rampant for Stamkos & Doughty, and the arbitration deadlines looming for Parise & Weber, and Schenn still to reach a deal

They needed the cap space to sign Parise, and they have done just that. They signed him to a 1 yr/$6M contract.

That was done before buying out Hunter though, was it not?

I think it was to make room for Larsson to start the season in NJ.

See that Avery was arrested for assaulting a cop?

Yeah he shoved the cop then locked the door. Then came back out and said something along the lines of "Let's do this"

Chris Drury has officially announced his retirement. I didn't realize how consistent a player he was. 50-60 points and 20 goals every year for Colorado, Calgary, Buffalo, and New York.

A few people are upset he didn't retire in June, thus saving the Blueshirts 3.some million in cap space this season, and 1.67 next season... had he retired before being bought out, he would've saved the Rangers that cap space. But I don't think he wanted to retire, after a buyout, Im sure his ego was hurt, and then no one wanted to offer him a deal.

I think he was offered deals, but not for the top 6 player that he believes he is. Better to go out like that, than to come back and play on some team's 3rd/4th line.