Around the League: Metropolitan Division Moves

In the fourth and final installment of the series, we’ll take a look at the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference in the NHL. If you missed the first three articles they can be found here: Central, Pacific, and Atlantic.

The Metropolitan Division is home to some of the best hockey players in the league, superstars if you will. The eight team division features the likes of the President’s Trophy Winning New York Rangers, the ever-changing Pittsburgh Penguins, and a few of the best rivalries around.

They’ve also been a few teams that have had their fair share of contributions to the hectic free agency market that began last week. Today we’ll take a look at those eight teams and what has happened recently, as well as what they should take a look at for the future.

New York Rangers

The Rangers have been a rather successful organization over the last few years, but none of their President’s Trophy Winning campaigns or their 2014 trip to the Finals have resulted in a championship. Recently they’ve tried to change that.

On the second day of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft they traded forward Carl Hagelin and two picks (59^th, and 179^th overall) to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for forward Emerson Etem and the 41^st overall pick. They’ve also signed forward Viktor Stalberg and traded for goalie Antti Raanta in addition to announcing Martin St. Louis’ retirement.

To say the least they’ve had a rather eventful last couple of weeks. The focus for the future is simple: win. New York has to find a way to turn their success in the regular season into playoff success and more importantly Stanley Cup victories.

Washington Capitals

The Capitals have, too, made big moves this off-season, with the most notable being the loss of longtime Capital defender Mike Green to the Detroit Red Wings on July 1^st. Washington also inked ex-Dallas Stars goaltender Dan Ellis on July 4^th to a one-year deal.

The Capitals have completely transformed their style of play over the last half dozen years, transitioning from an offense over everything mentality to one that focuses on defense first. Despite their drastic changes, they’ve found limited success.

Washington will have to continue their style of play with consistent production from captain Alexander Ovechkin and their other elite players if they hope to turn their talent into a victorious season.

New York Islanders

The Islanders have also cleared out a lot of their most well known players in hopes of creating more success. With captain and star forward John Tavares leading the way they’ve got a bright future, but they too have to capitalize on their abilities.

Free Agency hasn’t had much impact on the Islanders’ roster as they’ve only signed goaltender Thomas Greiss to a two-year, $3 million deal. New York has also re-signed defenseman Thomas Hickey to a three-year contract.

The Isles will look for a better position in the Stanley Cup Playoffs next season, while also making it out of the first round.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Sidney Crosby and the 2009 Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins look significantly different now than six years ago. They’ve also made the blockbuster deal to date of the free agency when they acquired forward Phil Kessel from the Toronto Maple Leafs in a six-player deal.

Kessel joins a rather elite group of forwards that could potentially make the Penguins more legitimate contenders once again. Alongside Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, Kessel should flourish. (Just imagine their power play. Yeah, it’s going to be scary good.)

It’s all about chemistry, though. If it turns out that Kessel doesn’t fit into the system in Pittsburgh then the deal will have been for nothing. It is simply a wait and see situation.

Columbus Blue Jackets

The Jackets finished fourth in their division and failed to qualify for the playoffs for the thirteenth time in their fifteen seasons in the NHL. Things seem to be looking up, though.

On June 30^th of this year, the last day before free agency, the Blue Jackets acquired forward Brandon Saad from the Chicago Blackhawks. It was a late afternoon, seven-player deal that included Artem Anisimov heading to Chicago. Saad has three years of NHL experience under his belt and he already has two cup wins to show for it. He’s also been successful individually ranking amongst the top five in scoring over the last few seasons.

With Saad on their roster Columbus just got a lot more formidable and should be a team to watch in the coming season that is if they can find a way into the playoff mix.

Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers have been in shambles since they made their way to the Stanley Cup Finals back in 2010 against the Blackhawks, but they’re hoping that period of chaos is coming to an end.

They traded former Dallas Stars defenseman Nicklas Grossmann and the contract of Chris Pronger (for salary cap reasons) to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for Center Sam Gagner on June 27^th. They’ve also added goalie Michal Neuvirth to their roster as he signed a two-year deal as a free agent on July 1^st. Philadelphia then added goaltender Jason LaBarbera as a free agent the very next day when he was inked to a one-year deal.

With their goalie situation seemingly figured out, the Flyers could be a more difficult team to beat this fall. Their main focus, however, will remain on consistency and playing within the legal means of the game.

New Jersey Devils

New Jersey was a rather busy team once as free agency began having twenty-one transactions on July 1^st alone. Of those included sixteen players becoming free agents, one retiring, and four players inking new deals.

The Devils weren’t a successful team in the 2014-2015 season and they haven’t been for a while, so they’re focused on working for the future. That means building a team of youth and talent as well as draft picks they can use down the line to put a championship team out on the ice.

New Jersey will have to deal with the obstacles that come with a lot of new players to a roster, which won’t help the start of their season this fall. That doesn’t, however, mean they can’t find a way to qualify for the playoffs next season, it just makes it more difficult.

Carolina Hurricanes

Lastly for the Metropolitan Division is the Carolina Hurricanes. With the acquisition of a second Staal brother, Jordan, in 2012 it looked as if the Canes were on their way up. That wasn’t the case. Since then they’ve continued to find ways to be unsuccessful in the regular season and it’s something they’re obviously looking to change with their moves this off-season.

They traded Anton Khudobin to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for defenseman James Wisniewski, while also trading draft picks to the Vancouver Canucks for goaltender Eddie Lack on June 27^th. Carolina waived Alexander Semin the day before free agency due to his lack of production and overall underwhelming play, which helped them to free up $7 million in cap space.

These moves will hopefully combine with a healthier line-up so the Canes can have a real shot at making the playoffs once again.

And that’s all she wrote! Again, if you missed the other three articles in the series and you’re interesting in checking them out, they can be found here: the Central, Pacific, and Atlantic.

Which team do you think will be the most improved in 2015-2016? Thanks for reading, as always!

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