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Atlantic Division: An Unbiased analysis


TrentonDevils

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There's too much unknowns on all these teams

Are the Devils a remodel of the 1995 squad ... lots of role players and guys willing to play the system?

Can the Rangers fit all those egos on the ice and gel as a team?

Does Pittsburgh have a defense and goalie that can match the offensive firepower?

Is Briere and Biron the saving grace for Philly?

Right now, for me, it's a three-tier division

Pens/Devils

I think the Pens are the team to fear in the future ... right now they are a year or two away from dominance, but they have the personnel to prove me wrong

Devils are going to surprise a few people. They are always written off, but I think the sum of their parts is going to be a solid team. I think a new respected coach gives them a bit of an edge because I think we are going to see accountability plus the Devils are always a team that can absorb loss of personnel (sans Captain Scotty, of course)

Rangers/Philly

Rangers look great on paper ... the questions are matters of chemistry and egos. Also I think Sather is going for broke this year, which has added the now or never pressure. For players like Shanny and Jagr, that works. If there are injuries or something happens to Lundy, I can the Rangers missing the playoffs and the Flyers sneaking in. But right now I would put the Rangers third in the division. But ...

Philly added some key pieces and I think they will be way better than expected. And could easily finish third in the division. A lot of the Bobby Clarke mistakes are gone, but I think they still need a few more pieces before they move up.

Islanders

And this could all change once the teams get on the ice for camp :uni:

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Manta, 'quality depth' is not something the Devils 'sorely missed' last year, and the Devils didn't add 'quality depth'. They added a 5th defenseman in Rachunek and a replacement for Lukowich in Vishnevsky. Yippee - prepare the Jennings Trophy now. The Devils' GAA will go up, and not just because Brodeur won't be playing 78 games anymore.
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I agree 100%...our most significant loss this season was Rafalski by a quarter mile. Gomez hurt but Zubrus is a good yet different player. Rafalski, while known to make bonehead mistakes on a daily basis, was a true top line defenseman. As it stands right now, we don't have a replacement. Here's our potential defensive pairings, if the lineup remains unchanged.

Martin - White

Matvichuk - Rachunek

Vishnevski - Green / Oduya

Not exactly championship calibur....

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Please tell me your kidding Tri.

We ran Rafalski and Martin into the ground last year because we didn't have the confidence in Fahey, Brooks, Fraser or Greene and when Oduya hit the freshman wall in January his time got cut as well.

Last season, was the most uncharacteristic season I have ever seen in a LL era. We lost so many games because we couldn't hold a lead in the third period last year.

Rachenuk is a very good acquisition, regardless of your hatred towards him. Vishnevsky is a great acquisition.

Add Matvichuk, a more mature Greene and a sophmore season for Oduya, we are in a much better position for the Jenning this year than last season.

The Devils GAA will go down this season, because Brodeur will be rested and because our top 4 defensemen will not be burned out by the third period next season, because of the depth.

Edited by Triumph
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Easy question, Martin and White will be our shut down pairing much like the latter part of last season.

After them I would imagine Matvichuk/Rachunek and then maybe Greene/Oduya Vishnevsky.

Eitherway, we have more flexiblity than last year because of the quality depth.

No third period leads lost, more wins and a fresher Marty.

Again, our GAA will be lower next year.

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Easy question, Martin and White will be our shut down pairing much like the latter part of last season.

After them I would imagine Matvichuk/Rachunek and then maybe Greene/Oduya Vishnevsky.

Eitherway, we have more flexiblity than last year because of the quality depth.

No third period leads lost, more wins and a fresher Marty.

Again, our GAA will be lower next year.

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Not to walk the fence with this one but I think our two different sides here have some points. How big was the loss of Rafi in reality? Don't know. Will VV slide into our system and shine? Don't know. Will having Weeks play more than Clemmy help Marty later in the year? Think so--but don't know. Which of the Rachuneks will we actually see? Don't know. Only gut feeling I want to go public with is I think that something will happen to derail all the Rags starpower either injuries or egos or something (hopefully all of the above and more) but they will not be going to the Cup and I don't even think they will win the division. As an earlier poster said if something goes wrong over there and the pressure builds all those glamour picks aren't gonna hang together like a true team.

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Easy question, Martin and White will be our shut down pairing much like the latter part of last season.

After them I would imagine Matvichuk/Rachunek and then maybe Greene/Oduya Vishnevsky.

Eitherway, we have more flexiblity than last year because of the quality depth.

No third period leads lost, more wins and a fresher Marty.

Again, our GAA will be lower next year.

Martin and White aren't that good as a shutdown pairing.

More flexibility is not better than more talent - we had more talent last year. Right now our defense is going to have a ton of trouble making good outlet passes and will get bogged down in their zone, which means more chances against and more goals against. On paper we appear to have a better defense than we do, but lacking a player like Rafalski makes it that much more difficult.

A fresher Marty means using Weekes - these two things should offset one another, if a 'fresher Marty' is a better one.

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There's too much unknowns on all these teams

Are the Devils a remodel of the 1995 squad ... lots of role players and guys willing to play the system?

Can the Rangers fit all those egos on the ice and gel as a team?

Does Pittsburgh have a defense and goalie that can match the offensive firepower?

Is Briere and Biron the saving grace for Philly?

Right now, for me, it's a three-tier division

Pens/Devils

I think the Pens are the team to fear in the future ... right now they are a year or two away from dominance, but they have the personnel to prove me wrong

Devils are going to surprise a few people. They are always written off, but I think the sum of their parts is going to be a solid team. I think a new respected coach gives them a bit of an edge because I think we are going to see accountability plus the Devils are always a team that can absorb loss of personnel (sans Captain Scotty, of course)

Rangers/Philly

Rangers look great on paper ... the questions are matters of chemistry and egos. Also I think Sather is going for broke this year, which has added the now or never pressure. For players like Shanny and Jagr, that works. If there are injuries or something happens to Lundy, I can the Rangers missing the playoffs and the Flyers sneaking in. But right now I would put the Rangers third in the division. But ...

Philly added some key pieces and I think they will be way better than expected. And could easily finish third in the division. A lot of the Bobby Clarke mistakes are gone, but I think they still need a few more pieces before they move up.

Islanders

And this could all change once the teams get on the ice for camp :uni:

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Our team has role players and the standout star Brodeur, and Elias if he can get back on his game. Elias would lead role players esentially because none ofthe other plays generally are the most talented but workign together and chemistry is worth more than you think.

Oh yeah and we have some guy Sutter as a coach... maybe he could help. Obviously with Sutter as a coach we have a more team first approach.

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Martin and White aren't that good as a shutdown pairing.

More flexibility is not better than more talent - we had more talent last year. Right now our defense is going to have a ton of trouble making good outlet passes and will get bogged down in their zone, which means more chances against and more goals against. On paper we appear to have a better defense than we do, but lacking a player like Rafalski makes it that much more difficult.

A fresher Marty means using Weekes - these two things should offset one another, if a 'fresher Marty' is a better one.

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Respectfully disagree. White and Martin are developing into one of the league's premier shutdown pairing.

The problem with last years Devils is that we killed that talent by overusing them. Rafalski was an average defensemen by the third period each game and Marty was burnt out in February. Quality depth addresses that problem. While I DO agree with you that no one was better than Rafi at getting the puck out of the zone, Rachunek is alot better than you give him credit for, Greene showed me alot during the playoffs and I really believe Oduya is going to improve alot off of his freshman year (much like Parise).

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I will have to disagree again here. Matvichuk (albeit rested) was our best D-man in the playoffs last year. Colin White, I know, I know is not who you want to be THE guy but hes still quality. Vishnevski is going to surprise a lot of people. Hes big, strong, relatively fast, can shoot the puck hard and is responsible defensively.. In our system he will work very well....Rachunek is a similar player. Andy Greene really played pretty well last year i thought. If anything I think our defense is better overall right now. I dont agree that Rafalski was a true top dman, hes too small, his stick is too short, and he cant hit. Like I said earlier, hes an effortless skater, and you love to have that on your blue line...But for Devils hockey, its not about the Dman pinching up and creating, its about pouncing on mistakes and moving that puck to your forwards. I think you will see Rafalski have a great year in a finesse system like Detroit, but I dont think he was the best fit for us, never did. He was sure pretty to watch skate though, and Ill miss that.

All good points, Trent...my worry is there are a ton of maybes in our defense. Maybe Rachunek will play to potential and not stink like he did on the Rags...maybe Green will have a consistantly good year...hopefully Vishnevski will surprise alot of people...maybe Matvichuk will stay healthy.

I'm not saying any team is a sure lock defensively but I can't say this defense is better without Rafalski. Lou did his best to fill the gaps without overpaying...give him credit for that...but time will tell if this defense is better or not. Actually, we'll know within the first 9 games. :D

Just for the record, Trent, I hope the hell you're right! :pray:

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