What we think we know about every team in NHL’s Atlantic Division

At this time of year, we know everything.

We know who the contenders are. We know who the bottom feeders will be. We know Connor McDavid will win the Art Ross and that Connor Bedard might be the most exciting rookie since the Oilers captain was one. We know where all the holes are, where the strengths are and we know who some of the trade deadline candidates will be.

At least, we think we do.

The fact is that over 82 games and a six-month regular-season schedule, all sorts of curveballs and surprises will be thrown at us. We’ll look back on several things and wonder, “How did we ever see this playing out differently?”

So, with the regular season nearly here, we’re going to share what we think we know about each NHL team, division-by-division. And nine months from now, after the playoffs are over, we’ll revisit this and see how much we really knew …

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BOSTON BRUINS

We think we know that people will still underestimate the Bruins’ culture, their remaining core and the coach who led them to a historical season in 2022-23. Yes, it’s going to sting losing Patrice Bergeron, and even more that David Krejci is gone too, but they weren’t in their primes anymore — heck, the Bruins lost three playoff games in a row after Bergeron returned to the lineup and saw a 3-1 series lead evaporate.

The Bruins had a top-10 team defence and the two goalies who combined to win the William Jennings Trophy last season are back. We think Pavel Zacha could have another gear and his points could tick up even further with more PP1 exposure. We think Boston could very well trade for another pivot, too. And we think we know coach Jim Montgomery, last year’s Jack Adams Award winner, can squeeze everything out of this team. We think a lot of people are picking the Bruins as the team that will fall out of the Atlantic Division playoffs to make way for one of the upstarts — and we think we know they’ll be dead wrong.

BUFFALO SABRES

No, really, we think we know this is the year Buffalo won’t go into a major early funk. Think about this: In 2022-23, the Sabres started 7-3-0 and then lost 10 of their next 12 in November and were 10-12-1 and chasing by the time the month was out. In 2021-22, the Sabres started 5-1-1 and then won just three of 15 games and were 8-11-3 by the end of November. In 2019-20, the Sabres showed real promise with a 9-2-2 start … and then were sunk by a 3-8-3 November. And while these slumps have tended to happen in November, if we go back to 2018-19, the Sabres were 17-7-3 and were second in the NHL after two months — and then won just eight games total in the next two months.

With higher expectations and a better roster, we think that trend changes this season and the Sabres find greater consistency. Heck, we think they could be the team that holds the Metro Division to just three playoff qualifiers.

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DETROIT RED WINGS

We shudder to doubt the “Yzerplan” in Detroit, given the GM’s track record and the fact that, yes, they did hang in the playoff race until the near-end of last season. Still, we think we know that Steve Yzerman’s rebuild of the Detroit Red Wings is going to start falling behind others in the Atlantic this season. It’s not that this is an inherently bad team. There is a decent mix of veterans and youth, and adding Alex DeBrincat brings the possibility of a game-breaking goal scorer. But do they have the same growth potential as an Ottawa or Buffalo? Is there any chance Columbus could leapfrog them from the Metro? We think we know some tougher questions are going to be asked after this season.

FLORIDA PANTHERS

We think a lot of people are forgetting just how close the 2023 Stanley Cup Finalists were to missing the playoffs altogether. More than Boston or a Vasilevskiy-less Tampa Bay, we think we know the Panthers are set up to disappoint the most from the Atlantic — and not because it’s really all bad here. Rather, they’ll start with a few key injuries and now have to contend with further maturing rosters in the division that already nearly beat them out a year ago. Is it more likely that the Panthers had a soft regular season and showed who they really were in the playoffs, or that they really are a playoff bubble team? We think it’s the latter.

MONTREAL CANADIENS

We think we know Martin St. Louis is a good coach and that we’re going to start finding out exactly how good this season. Expectations remain low in Montreal as the rebuild continues, but gone are the days when winning the least and losing the most is something of a long-term positive. The core is beginning to be defined and more youth is coming all the time. It’s not a playoffs-or-bust season by any means, but we think it’s time they start showing they can compete more often, win more games, and show progress. There will be hard stretches through the meat of the season for sure, but we think we know that St. Louis’ coaching can help squeeze more here.

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OTTAWA SENATORS

We think we know the Senators will be a playoff team in 2024. The heavy lifting has been done through the draft (Tim Stutzle, Jake Sanderson), trade (Jakob Chychrun), free agency (Joonas Korpisalo) and the long-term development of players through their own system (Josh Norris, Thomas Chabot). They have found the sweet spot with their mix of veterans (Claude Giroux, Vladimir Tarasenko) to go with a budding collection of younger players and the reason they added those vets is because it’s time for this roster to move.

They missed the playoffs by six points last season, but could be this year’s version of the New Jersey Devils — who shot out of a cannon to 112 points — if everything breaks just right. If they miss again, we think we know the coach and GM will be on the hot seat.

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TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

We think we know the Lightning are going to be this season’s Bruins. Not that they’ll run away with the Presidents’ Trophy in an historical way, but that they’re going to surprise those who think they’ll struggle early due to injury and then chase the season. In the same vein last season when the Bruins started without key players Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy, the 2023-24 Lightning won’t have Andrei Vasilevskiy in the crease for the first couple months. And with Jonas Johansson the only experienced netminder left, we understand being down on the Lightning.

However, the elite core remains, and while most of the off-season roster losses came from the bottom-six, those aren’t all irreplaceable skaters. What matters is the Lightning still have one of the best coaches and a core group of players that does nothing but win. Plus, we think we know they’ll add a veteran goalie … right?

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

We think we know that not enough has really changed to expect the playoff result to be considerably different. The Core Four is the same, John Tavares is a year older and we’re beginning to question if he should eventually move to the wing. William Nylander’s contract situation looms as he moves to centre, which will challenge him in new ways.

The bones of the team that got past Round 1 and then fell flat on its face in Round 2 — with an atrocious effort in a must-win Game 3 against Florida — are still there. There obviously was a goal to add sandpaper to this lineup in the summer, so will that lead the Leafs being able to grind out more playoff success as the Panthers did? We think we know that the questions we were asking about the Leafs in the summer of 2023 will be the same ones we’re asking in 2024.

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