The NHL Season is right around the corner. Training camps have begun along with the preseason. There are a lot of familiar faces in new places to begin the season.
The start of a new season brings hope as teams look to build towards the playoffs and dethrone the Stanley Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche.
Welcome to the divisional rankings. We’ll look at both the Eastern and Western Conferences, ranking teams in each of the four divisions. Next up in the NHL Divisional Rankings series is the Metro Division – Central and Pacific rankings.
NHL Metro Division Rankings
1. New York Rangers (Last year finished Second)
Expectations are high for the New York Rangers after the Rangers made it to the Eastern Conference Final last season. There is no reason to think this team cannot have a repeat performance. Having the reigning Vezina Trophy winner Igor Shesterkin between the pipes certainly helps their cause. Gerard Gallant has proven he can coach in this league and can get the most out of his players. After Chris Drury went all in at the trade deadline making smart moves, his approach to the off-season was a little more conservative. He had hoped to keep Frank Vatrano and Andrew Copp. Unfortunately, the Rangers’ cap situation did not allow that to happen. After locking up his RFAs, Drury signed Vincent Trocheck to be the second-line centre for this team. The Rangers have been in desperate need to fill this position. New York is hoping Trocheck can be the answer. Outside of Trocheck, all eyes will be on the kids of Filip Chytil, Alexis Lafreniere, Kaapo Kakko, and Vitaly Kravtsov. All of whom the organization has high expectations for.
2. Carolina Hurricanes (Last year finished First)
Carolina finished first in the NHL Metro Division last season. However, they barely hung on as they dealt with injuries to their goaltending. Most notably Frederik Andersen. The injury to Andersen proved critical as the Hurricanes had to go to game seven twice in the playoffs. Carolina could not find ways to score on the road. Entering this season, the Hurricanes will fly under the radar in the Metro Division. Rod Brind’Amour is a great coach and always has the Hurricanes ready to play. Carolina had a busy offseason acquiring Brent Burns from San Jose and Max Pacioretty from Vegas. However, Pacioretty will be unavailable for most of the season due to an Achilles injury. So that meant signing Paul Stastny was necessary after losing Trocheck and Nino Niederreiter via free agency. Carolina’s defence has always been one of the best. Keeping Martin Necas and Calvin de Haan helps. Burns can still shoot the puck and in this system where he might flourish once again. The question for Carolina will be goaltending. Can Andersen stay healthy and be useful in the playoffs for this team to make a serious run at a Stanley Cup?
3. Pittsburgh Penguins (Last year finished Third)
The Pittsburgh Penguins are an interesting team to watch this season. There was a lot of uncertainty heading into the offseason. Many were not sure if they were going to keep their core together. Especially with Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang being free agents. However, the Penguins got to work signing Bryan Rust. Soon after Rickard Rakell was signed. That left Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin without contracts. Letang followed suit taking a discount to remain a lifelong Penguin. Malkin was the x-factor because it appeared he was going to test the market before signing an extension. Pittsburgh was going to make sure Letang, Malkin, and Sidney Crosby were going to remain Penguins for life. In addition to those moves, the Penguins shook up their defence by acquiring Jeff Petry from Montreal and moving out John Marino to New Jersey for Ty Smith. The Penguins are an older team that is looking to get one more Stanley Cup with this group. And where does Tristan Jarry fit in all of this? Goaltending will be a huge factor for the Penguins especially since they have not won a playoff series since 2018.
Spots 4-8 Wide Open
4. New York Islanders (Last year finished Fifth)
Here is where things are wide open in the NHL Metro Division. The New York Islanders are talking a good game about how last year was a fluke. This season, they will not have to deal with a 13-game road trip to begin the season. The Islanders were hit hardest by COVID and it really crippled their season. When they finally did get healthy, the schedule was just too much for them to make up the points. This season, the Islanders are out to prove they are the team that went to back-to-back Conference Finals. One thing will be different this season, no Barry Trotz behind the bench. Instead, Lane Lambert is the new bench boss on the Island. Not much has changed this offseason for the Islanders. General manager Lou Lamoriello missed out on several key players. But it is Lou and there is a method to his madness. However, the biggest issue for the Islanders is scoring and they did not resolve that issue. It will again be the Ilya Sorokin show. Sorokin has the capability to carry the Islanders. But it will be tough. There be a lot of one-goal games in their future.
5. Washington Capitals (Last year finished Fourth)
There is so much uncertainty surrounding the Washington Capitals this season. Injuries to Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson have put the Capitals behind the eight-ball at the centre position. Having Alex Ovechkin is great, but he will be without Backstrom for most of if not all of the season. We know Ovechkin can score goals and he has gotten better defensively, but it feels like this year the Capitals will take a step back. Granted they signed Darcy Kuemper as Washington revamped their goaltending. Kuemper is a good goalie, but with the defence in front of him, he will see more action than he did in Colorado. Evgeny Kuznetsov is still there as well, so he will elevate some of the pressure from Ovechkin. Though Washington should have won last year against Florida in the playoffs, that loss showed one thing, their ageing defence can be beaten by a faster team. Yes, the team will blame the goaltending and sure they needed a save or two, but defensively it needs to be better. This may be the year Washington missed the playoffs.
6. Columbus Blue Jackets (Last year finished Sixth)
Columbus was the biggest shaker this off-season. Who would have pegged them to sign Johnny Gaudreau. The top-end winger signed a seven-year contract with the Blue Jackets. General manager Jarmo Kekäläinen was going all-in this season. And that is what you want in your GM. Once Gaudreau signed, the Blue Jackets were able to re-sign Patrik Laine to a four-year extension. The Blue Jackets have always been a tough out and now with two lethal scorers in Laine and Gaudreau, they finally have the offence once again to compete. While Oliver Bjorkstrand had to go, having Gaudreau and Laine locked is huge. It gives the Blue Jackets a four-year window to compete right now. And if Joonas Korpisalo and Elvis Merzlikins can have bounce-back seasons, the Blue Jackets have a good shot to make the playoffs.
7. New Jersey Devils (Last year finished Seventh)
A team on the rise this season in the NHL Metro Division is the New Jersey Devils. Things can’t get any worse for the Devils than last season. This young core has been improving each season. Last year, the team saw four 20-goal scorers for the first time since 2012. And players like Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, and Nico Hischier are only improving. In addition, Yegor Sharangovich and Dawson Mercer have shown having the right development can make you into a successful NHL player. New Jersey saw lots of changes in the offseason. The addition of John Marino on the back end improves their defence tremendously. Re-signing Jonas Seigenthaler at a discount may turn out to be a sneaker move by general manager Tom Fitzgerald. The addition of Ondrej Palat gives the Devils more leadership that is necessary to win. Like most teams, it will come down to goaltending. The Devils used seven goalies last season. A majority of it saw Nico Daws handle the load with Mackenzie Blackwood and Jonathan Bernier lost to injury. This season the Devils want Daws to develop, so New Jersey traded for Vitek Vanecek. Through the preseason, the Devils look like a vastly improved team with better goaltending. Again it is the preseason, but if New Jersey gets off to a good start with the change in mentality, this team could push for a playoff spot.
8. Philadelphia Flyers (Last year finished Eighth)
Then there is the Philadelphia Flyers. New head coach John Tortorella has got this team skating hard during training camp. The Flyers missed out on Gaudreau, who wanted to play there, but general manager Chuck Fletcher could not clear space to sign him. In addition, the Flyers are just a walking MASH unit with Sean Couturier missing the start of the season. Ryan Ellis was placed on LTIR and may never play again. Joel Farabee is starting to skate, but his status for the start of the season is up in the air. Key players the Flyers had hoped to make an impact are not there. It will be another tough season in Philadelphia. Goaltender Carter Hart will once again be in the spotlight. Hart has shown he is the goalie of the future, but ever since the Matt Niskanen retirement news, the Flyers defence has not been the same. Thus, Hart has to do more to make up for the lack of defence in front of him. It is just going to be more of the same as last year for the Flyers.
